Book review of Venice by Jiro Taniguchi

Sitting down with my cup of tea for a well-earned tea break I once again find myself turning to my new book. One I have been wanting for a while but decided to finally get as a Nikolo present to myself this year.

   Ever since getting into Urban Sketching I have been interested in the travel sketchbooks that are showing up all over the internet and especially on Instagram and Facebook.  These beautiful books created during trips to interesting cities inspire me every time I see them and it was with great interest that I discovered that several of them have been printed and turned into books. Thus Urban sketching 'books' are now on my radar.
   Recently I found one which is slightly different than most I have seen until now. A few small changes from the norm make it both charming and unique. This book is called 'Venice' by Jiro Taniguchi, a Japanese illustrator, and author. His excellent drawings are offset by his delightfully whimsical colors.

Here are a few of the things that I find especially nice in this book:

He tells a story:

    I don't know if it is just me, but I was really surprized to get an actual story. I was expecting more of a travel guide style picture book. I find it really fun having the story carry the reader through Venice. He doesn't write a lot so much of it is left to the imagination and to reminders of personal experience there.

He puts himself in the pictures:

    This surprised me. I am not sure why. I always think of a drawing being seen through the eyes of the artist. To see him walking around in his own story was an interesting element.

His use of color:

   The colors in this book are not the ones I would have chosen to represent Venice. They are almost as surprising to me as the artist's presence in his drawings. They do a pretty good job of imitating the colors of Venice once I think about them yet they almost exactly mirror the palette of my Japanese Gensai watercolors. Perhaps that is the reason I think anime even though his drawings are so far from it.
 

The comic book style layout:

   I really like the changing sizes of the little boxes. Definitely something I want to try out.

His changing page formats:

    I also like that not every page is comprised of little boxes.
  

 

How he incorporates 'old photographs' into the story:

   The final thing that I found immediately charming is how he recreates old photographs in order to tell his story. It adds depth to his style and is quite a clever way to carry the storyline through the book.

 

 

    Although this book was a little pricier than I would have usually spent on a similar product I feel that it was worth it. I waited a while to get it and since I hadn't read through it in the bookshop, had all of the pleasure of discovering these little details and reading the story at home. I would recommend it to any urban sketcher or anyone who loves a good travel sketch.

   Have you seen any urban sketching books? What do you think of them? Would you buy one if you aren't an artist? Let me know in the comments.


Just a reminder, there are still 6 sticker packets left. 90 mini stickers for 10 euros. Let me know if you want one and I will send it out.

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