P+F Ping Fan & Chen Shu Fen Illustrations

Title: P+F Ping Fan &amp; Chen Shu Fen Illustrations
タイトル: 平凡・陳淑芬イラスト集「P+F」
Pages: 28 (including covers)
Release date: 08/15/2010

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Chen Shu Fen and Ping Fan are a well-known Taiwanese artist duo that also have a strong presence in Japan, with regular appearances in Kikan S magazine and multiple art book releases. They were also interviewed in a recent issue of Etsu Magazine, where some of their newer works were showcased. I didn’t think they were active on the doujinshi scene, but P+F Ping Fan & Chen Shu Fen Illustrations was released at Comiket 78, featuring several new illustrations along with the line works for their photorealistic art works.

P+F is B5-sized and 28 pages counting the covers. The book is more color than black and white, but the line arts occupy 8 pages in total. The photorealism of Ping Fan and Chen Shu Fen’s art work really stands out against a sea of anime style girls, and yet they’re all so perfect they’re equally unreal.

When you look at the line arts of the girls in the back of P+F, you can really see how much of the style is refined and ultimately changed through the coloring. The line arts remind me of Eguchi Hisashi’s illustrations, where faces are simplified to the point of being cartoons, but still retain the details that build the character. If you’re not familiar with his work, Eguchi Hisashi illustrates a lot of celebrities.

As beautiful as the illustrations are, several of the landscape works upscaled for printing so you can see the jagged lines and signs of upscaling. Due to the painted style of the works though, it’s not as noticeable as it would be if they were in a more outlined anime style. I did enjoy the expressiveness of the illustrations.

The cover illustration is repeated in the book, with the line art from it pictured on the back cover. Even though it’s not my favorite style, P+F Ping Fan & Chen Shu Fen Illustrations still gathers some really impressive works from a unique duo of artists that we’ll no doubt be seeing a resurgence from.