He’s back, yes!
21 is the second artbook by Zeen Chin (Instagram | ArtStation), a Malaysian illustrator and concept artist who works in the entertainment industry on video games and animation.
The first artbook Re-child was one of my favourite artbooks from 2017. It was a long wait for this new artbook but I’m glad it’s finally here.
This is a large hardcover with 154-pages. The binding is good and the paper used is thick good quality low gloss paper. All the artworks are reproduced huge and wonderfully. The book’s priced at SGD 59 on Basheer Graphic Books and 59 € on Liber Distri.
The title 21 comes from an urban legend that says that 21 grams are lost when a person dies, and 21 grams represents the soul.
The theme of this book is heavy on puppetry with the story focused on this lady (on the cover) and her puppet. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful, almost haunting, and very satisfying to look at thanks to the huge print.
What makes the art stand out is there’s this storytelling aspect behind all the scenes. Each scene would make you wonder about the story behind. We have the two characters navigating through this imaginary spiritual world and you can’t help but try to fill in the story in your mind. The paintings are very detailed and if you look close you can almost always find interesting details.
There are also several pages of comics included for the story of the puppet, and many sketches of the puppet master and the puppet having fun when they are not so serious in the paintings.
This is a beautiful artbook that I can recommend easily. And this would be one of my favourite artbooks from 2024.
This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.
