Inio Asano is probably best known for her highly acclaimed manga ‘Solanin’, which was turned into a feature film starring actress Aoi Miyazaki in 2010. Asano’s work ranges from realism to psycho-horror, and is very character driven. Of course we are all about illustration here on The Lounge, but I guess I can’t write about Asano without mentioning she is transgender, as it is such an interesting fact about the artist herself. You can visit her page on Anime News Network to find out a little more.

I can’t get over the amazing lighting and mark-making by Dice Tsutsumi. Born in Tokyo, he moved to New York in 1993. He has had a remarkable career so far, particularly in the animation industry. At Blue Sky Studios, he worked as a visual development and colour key artist for ‘Ice Age’, ‘Robots’ and ‘Horton Hears a Who’. He later moved on to Pixar as an art director, giving him the chance to work on ‘Toy Story 3’. Dice has also had a children’s book published, titled ‘I can Hear’. Last but not least, I will mention his work on ‘Sketchtravel’ and ‘Totoro Forest Project’, two excellent projects that Dice has helped organise. To see more from this creative dynamo, visit his fantastic blog.

Tokyo based illustrator Licaco used to work as a manga artist, but with such a unique style Licaco has been sought after by clothing brands, magazines and the like. Clinets include Vogue, Cointreau, Channel Five and The Ritz-Carlton. There is a lot more excellent work to be found on the Licaco website, so head on over!

Goro was born in Japan and grew up in Germany. He studied digital production at the German Film School where he learnt a lot about the 2D and 3D film making process, from start to finish. After freelancing as a character animator and visual development in Germany, he moved to Redwood City where he currently works for PDI/Dreamworks.

Goro is a highly skilled craftsman, equally adept in traditional techniques as he is in 3D and digital painting. I particularly like the Iron Giant inspired robots doing very human things. From browsing through his website, you’ll see just how incredibly productive he is! Pop over and have a look…

Supreme character and costume design from this week’s Manga Monday artist, Tatsuhiko Kanaoka. Garnering attention to himself from his very polished fan-art work, he quickly caught the interest of SNK. Hiring him in 1998 he went on to work as a designer and producer on SNK Playmore’s King of fighters franchise, but as of 2008/2009 Kanaoka left SNK. His character illustrations can be rather ostentatious, with exaggerated body shapes both for males and females, and often vibrantly coloured with cuts and gradients. Though his website is not live these days the tumblr community have done a great job of cataloguing much of his work.

Artist and writer Naoki Urasawa is something of a national treasure in Japan. Creator of acclaimed work Pluto, Monster, and 20th Century Boys. The latter winning multiple awards including an Eisner Award in 2011, and spawning a trilogy of live-action films. His illustration style is expressive with detailed and textured backgrounds. His characters are full of expression and personality. If you want to get into Urasawa’s work I highly recommend picking up 20th Century Boys.

Tadaomi Shibuya is a Japanese illustrator with an incredible geometric style. What I find amazing about this style is that it can be deployed to portraits just as well as more abstract subjects. Shibuya says he is influenced heavily by hip hop and artificial factory products.

Clients include Nike, Givenchy, Diesel and New Scientist.

Visit Shibuya’s MySpace page.