Sketch cards are unique pieces of art impressively created on extremely small workspaces. The Marvel comics related subset of these collectibles features a wide variety of styles from a great number of artists, and one of the very best is the phenomenal Lydi Li.
Lydi’s been a longtime favorite artist of mine. There’s something about her work that jumps out and leaves a lasting impression. Her cards are incredibly popular in general and are often prized possessions for those able to get them.
The subtle variety in her art of the same subject over multiple sets is a delight. Differing little touches depending on the theme and mood to be expressed make each masterpiece unique. The bold, saturated coloring on her Mystique from Throwbacks is stunning and perfect for the set.
In contrast her portrayal of the same character for Black Diamond features more muted tones. It’s almost reminiscent of Juri Chinchilla’s work (another absolute favorite of mine). It’s striking in a different way. Both cards are incredible, made even further captivating by their differences.
In general Lydi’s style is a wonderful balance of softness with vibrance. It’s eye catching and immediately recognizable, conveying the essence of the chosen character in a distinct way.
From great depictions of fun secondary characters like Armor to a vivd four card puzzle of powerhouses Scarlet Witch and Rogue every piece I have of hers demands immediate attention. A couple of recently acquired particularly cherished additions to the collection include a gorgeous triple panel of the White Queen Emma Frost and a jaw dropping Thanos framed by his beloved Mistress Death.
There’s a delicate touch to Lydi’s art that makes it evocative, with a sense of atmosphere and emotion simmering just below the surface. Her versatility makes seeing her cards side by side as fascinating as they are beautiful.
I’m extremely lucky to have so many of Lydi’s cards, and greatly appreciate the beauty and depth they add to my collection.
More information about Lydi’s wonderful art can be found on her instagram.
Today I’d like to talk about one of the most unusual and unique trading card related collectibles: the printing plates used to generate the images on the cards.
Printing plates are thin metal sheets used in the printing process of the card they represent. Generally there are four plates for a card corresponding to four basic component colors: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. When distributed plates usually have a sticker affixed to the back with publisher, set, card, and copyright information.
Different colored variants of a card won’t have different plates (changing ink saturation levels produces these versions) but variants with different background patterns, text or logos, etc will. Whether these other versions, or any plates at all, are distributed depends on the manufacturer, set, and distribution method.
Printing plates are extremely unique as a collectible. While many of them are still in great shape, given their nature they are also often imperfect as they may contain smudges, printing lines, blurred images, scratches, or other after effects of the printing process. How much these imperfections affect someone’s desire to collect a particular plate generally depends on the extent and of course personal preferences.
Also certain ink colors may have been practically unused in creating an image and that corresponding plate could be largely blank or an otherwise incomplete image. While rare, this phenomenon is a risk and particularly pops up comic and other art based cards (as opposed to photo based cards, where underlying colors are generally present across the image).
In certain circumstances printing plates may also be distributed with autographs. Actors or athletes depicted, or creators or voice actors of shown characters, sometimes have their autographs on the front of the plates. Usually it’s done via affixing a signed sticker, but direct signatures aren’t unheard of. This is an added layer of collectability and reward for the person who draws the plate.
Peni Paker collection
In addition to printing plates being randomly inserted into packs of their card sets, they are also commonly used as special distribution prizes. Upper Deck often has certain plates set aside to be used as rewards for completing collection goals in their online buying and trading platform ePack.
Sometimes plates used for these purposes are grouped together as sets, occasionally even being collected in connecting booklets. This can be convenient for completionists, as trying to collect all four color plates for a particular card when the plates are separately randomly inserted is a daunting task.
Metal Universe X-men printing plate booklets in custom display cases by Hardball34.
My personal affinity for collecting plates evolved from getting several wonderful booklet collections from the Metal Universe X-men set, as well as drawing some for my favorite characters from Marvel Annual sets and my favorite wrestlers from WWE and AEW sets.
From there I started more proactively chasing/trading for/buying plates and they’ve become a cornerstone of my collections all around. I adore the way the underlying color images look, and there’s just something cool about having a piece of the process.
The lion’s share of my plates are Marvel related from Upper Deck (UD), featuring a dazzling array of comic book characters and MCU actors.
However I also heavily collect joshi wrestling cards, and plates of certain wrestlers from UD’s AEW sets as well as Topps WWE sets form an additional, smaller centerpiece of my collection.
AEW’s Riho, Hikaru Shia, Nyla Rose, and William Regal and WWE’s Asuka and Iyo Sky.Riho plate displayed with AEW 1/1s in a custom frame by Dion Divens.
Chasing plate “rainbows” (a complete color collection of plates for a given card) is a case by case basis for me. For certain images, characters, and wrestlers I collect everything of theirs I can find. In other cases a particular color plate for a particular card jumps out at me and I’m happy just to have that.
Occasionally a plate I’d otherwise want to keep just doesn’t look great to me in that color and/or with its particular imperfections. And of course as with any card related collectible rarity, availability, popularity with other collectors, and luck all greatly influence what actually ends up in the collection.
These little pieces of metal have become some of my favorite collectibles. I love monochrome art in the first place, and the fact that these are essentially art and photos broken down into that format appeals to me greatly. I’m sure I’ll be expanding their numbers for a long time to come.
I hope everyone’s enjoyed the look at my collection of these unusual inserts. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.
Five and a half years ago I saw a phenomenal close-up magic show called Six Impossible Things by the incredible Joshua Jay. So the announcement of his new show that adapted that kind of magic for a larger audience was extremely intriguing.
The idea behind Look Closer is rather daring. Using technological advances to present parlor/close up magic in a larger space opens up effects often meant to be quickly observed at limited angles to closer scrutiny. Jay further pushes the theme by revisiting his opening tricks again later in the show from different conceptual angles.
Six Impossible Things was an intimate affair. Performed in series of small rooms in front of a group of just twenty people, a real sense of wonder evolved as the show progressed. While the new show stands entirely on its own and is completely accessible, it was also fascinating to see how Jay echoed some of the ideas and tricks presented there in this new hybrid format. In some ways Look Closer’s structure formed an even stronger payoff to that sense of wonder, which is amazing given I was watching everything from further away in an audience several times larger.
The most interesting thing about Look Closer is that it’s a journey as much as it is a magic show. There’s a narrative structure to everything with breathable moments where Jay presents personal stories illustrating what the mysteries of magic mean to him. It adds an incredible depth to the evening, which is as much a masterclass in storytelling as it is in magic.
The tricks and stories Jay presents also fold back on each other as things progress, and a heavy customization aspect ties everything directly to the particular audience watching. Things that happen early in the show come roaring back at the end in mystifying fashion. The concept is unique and captivating, and the execution top notch.
I was at the final NYC performance, but the show will continue on in Chicago in April. I encourage anyone who has an opportunity to attend this wonderful experience to do so. “I was at the final NYC performance, but the show will continue on in Chicago in April. I encourage anyone who has an opportunity to attend this wonderful experience to do so.
I’ve written a lot about art I collect of several of my favorite professional wrestlers from a variety of artists. A couple years ago, in Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 3, I briefly talked about an unusual case: one of those wrestlers is a wonderful artist herself. Yappy has done a number of pieces of her coworkers (as well as self portraits) and today I’ll be spotlighting more of her work.
Yappy has been wrestling for a women’s wrestling company in Japan named Ice Ribbon for nearly five years. She has a naturally upbeat and energetic personality that translates into engaging ring charisma and fun matches. She’s a huge part of Ice Ribbon’s interactions with foreign fans, from explanatory videos to spearheading their international store, and has appropriately nicknamed herself Ice Ribbon’s Bridge to the World. Her soon to return Weekly Ribbon Unravel YouTube show highlights general happenings in Ice Ribbon in English for a foreign audience.
Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto.
Yappy’s larger pieces are wonderfully dynamic, with a strong sense of style and motion to them that beautifully captures the personality of her subjects. The above rendition of Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto is also carefully accentuated by metallic highlights that really bring it to life.
Yappy has also done pieces of (now former) regular guest participants such as former ICE Cross Infinity Champion Saori Anou and former multi-time International Tag Ribbon Champion Maika Ozaki.
I adore playing card style art, and Yappy’s Queen of Foxes illustration of Anou is so creatively done. The regal pose is perfect for the concept, and it’s finished with the same type of great shimmering metallic highlights as the Tsukka piece.
Maika’s piece is adorable and colorful, showing the cute side of one of joshi wrestling’s strongest powerhouses.
One of my favorite illustrations Yappy’s done is Ice Ribbon’s Totoro Satsuki with their mascot Ribbonne in a tribute to the wrestler’s namesake, Studio Ghibli’s animated classic My Neighbor Totoro.
Totoro Satsuki and Ribbonne.
One of the coolest things about Yappy’s art is her willingness to experiment and the resulting variety of styles she can work in. Her joyous black and white illustration of Saran feels quite different from her colored work, but is just as engaging.
Another great example of this is her playful, comic strip style depictions of her interactions with former Ice Ribbon wrestler Nao Ishikawa.
Yappy and Nao Ishikawa.Tequila Saya illustration by Yappy for Charles Short’s second Ice Ribbon book.
Yappy did a series of illustrations for Charles Short’s second book about Ice Ribbon, titled Wonderland. These portrayals show off her range, as the chibi influenced versions still capture the essence of the wrestlers’ likenesses and charisma.
Tsukina UminoKaho Matsushita
The last batch of art I’ll spotlight here is Yappy’s art nouveau pieces. Three pieces in total (more on that to come), they are extremely striking and pop with color to make an immediate impression.
Yappy incorporated wonderful detail into these. Ice Ribbon’s Mugendai (“infinite potential”) Girl Kaho Matsushita’s has an infinity motif, and Tsukina Umino’s other job as a murder mystery game GM heavily inspired the theme for her piece.
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More information about both Yappy’s art and her wrestling can be found on her social media.
There’s one more wonderful art nouveau piece to discuss, left to last because there’s unfortunately some sad news that now goes along with it. In early February 2024 Actwres girl’Z reported a 21 year old wrestler named Asahi had unexpectedly passed away. Asahi started her career in Ice Ribbon and was a dear coworker and friend to Yappy. She was also a personal favorite of mine, being a joy to watch in the ring and an inspiring presence in general. Yappy’s incredible rendition of the Sunrise of Hope that originally started her art nouveau series is cherished momento of someone gone far too soon.
It’s always exciting for me to discover new artists whose work jumps out and appeals to my personal artistic preferences. Today I’d like to highlight the striking art of Miki Okazaki.
Ghost Spider and Gwen Stacy sketch cards from Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse set, and a recently pulled Rokurokubi sketch card from Iconic Creations’ Yokai Parade set. All by Miki Okazaki.
The first time I saw any of Miki’s art was on sketch cards for Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse card set. It made an immediate impression and had an air of whimsy, and when I followed her on Instagram and found out she was open for commission at the time I jumped at the chance to add more of her work to my collection.
Among the various subjects I collect art of, two of the biggest are joshi pro-wrestlers and Marvel’s Mystique mid-transformation. In my first batch of commissions from Miki I was able to add wonderful pieces to both collections.
For the incredible Mystique as Silk sketch cover she did for me I specified only the subject. The composition and other specifics were left up to Miki, and she knocked it out of the park with a great dynamic pose and overall awesome general feel.
Miki’s Mystique/Silk cover on display with Silk sketch cards by Effix, Fred Ian, Marcia Dye, and Ash Gonzales in a custom light up frame by Dion Divens.
It’s a great example of her general style with coloring that really pops and a bunch of cool small details, like the exact way things are split between Mystique and Silk around the face and hair, that enhance the overall effect.
I am a huge fan of Japanese women’s professional wrestling, and have an extensive collection of personal sketch cards (PSCs) I’ve commissioned of many of my favorites, including quite a number from Juri H. Chinchilla (whose art I’ve discussed extensively in Beautiful Dreams, Beautiful Dreams 2,Beautiful Dreams 3, and Beautiful Dreams 4).
I was thrilled that Miki was open to doing some of these for me, and my first requests were a combination of wrestlers I’d planned on having done for quite a while in Ice Ribbon’s Kyuri & Maika Ozaki, AEW’s Hikaru Shida, and Marvelous’ Mio Momono & Maria, a perennial favorite in WWE’s Asuka, and even a brilliant up and coming rookie in Gatoh Move’s Miya Yotsuba.
She did an outstanding job with the unfamiliar subjects, and this became just the first of several batches of joshi PSCs I would get from her over the course of 2023. The joshi cards really illustrate Miki’s ability to apply her personal style to her art while still really capturing the essence of the subject.
The next batch included Yappy & Banny from Ice Ribbon, Momo Watanabe from Stardom, Emi Sakura and Best Bros (Mei Suruga & Balliyan Akki) from Gatoh Move, and TJPW’s announcer Sayuri Namba. These are all excellent and the coloring and highlighting really stand out in this group. The backgrounds are masterfully vibrant in a complementary way that doesn’t overwhelm the wonderful depictions of the wrestlers.
Finally around the end of the year I had cards done of TJPW’s Free Wi-Fi (Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta), and Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo), another up and coming Gatoh Move rookie Nonoka Seto, WWE’s reigning Women’s Champion Iyo Sky (formerly Io Shirai), Stardom’s Yuna Mizumori (formerly of Gatoh Move), and freelancer Momoka Hanazono.
The detail on these is particularly fantastic, and it’s was really cool to see how Miki’s style evolved over such a short period. I know I’m repeating myself to the point of sounding like a broken record, but once again the coloring is impeccable and perfectly spotlights the subjects.
The Nonoka Seto card is particularly special from a few reasons, from the awesome way Miki captured her pointed finger pose in shadow even though the arm is out of frame to the fact that it’s a companion piece to the card Miki did for me of her sister, fellow Gatoh Move wrestler Miya Yotsuba.
I greatly appreciate all the art Miki has created for me and I hope to continue collecting her work in the future.
More information about Miki’s wonderful art can be found on her socialmedia pages.
It’s been almost two years (wow 2020 threw off my sense of time) since my last spotlight on the work of my favorite artist, and I’d like to share and talk about more of her incredible work and some of the inspirations behind the pieces. See Beautiful Dreams, Beautiful Dreams 2, and Beautiful Dream 3 for more about Juri H. Chinchilla’s art, including past pieces I’ll be mentioning in this write up.
Jenny Rose and Sareee PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.Tequila Saya PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Juri’s Personal Sketch Cards (PSCs) have been a great opportunity to request particular subjects and design elements. One of the more unique requests I’ve made was a card featuring one of my favorite professional wrestlers, and I adored it so much that I’ve followed up with several more since. Juri’s done an AMAZING job depicting these previously unfamiliar to her subjects and these are in many ways the pride of my entire art collection. See Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 3for more about the above works featuring Jenny Rose & Sareee and retired Ice Ribbon wrestler Tequila Saya.
Gatoh Move 6-PSC puzzle by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Gatoh Move is one of my favorite wrestling companies, and it’s so wonderful to see the roster represented in absolutely stunning form on the above six card PSC puzzle by Juri. The top row of cards feature Sayaka Obihiro & Mitsuru Konno, Emi Sakura & Riho, and Chie Koishikawa & Tokiko Kirihara. The bottom row has Yuna Mizumori & Mei Suruga, Sayuri & Sayaka, and Lulu Pencil & Rin Rin.
The timing on these cards ended up being suitable in many ways. They were completed shortly after Sakura’s 25th Anniversary in wrestling and shortly before a personal favorite of mine, and the wrestler I’ve requested Juri draw the most, Mitsuru Konno retired.
Riho is Gatoh Move’s former ace, and shortly after she left to go freelance the company the core roster doubled in size with the debut of six rookies (Chie, Tokiko, Sayuri, Sayaka, Lulu, & Rin Rin). I love the encapsulation of the company’s past, present, and future around that time on this batch of cards and Juri knocked this out of the park. As usual I only specified the subjects and an occasional small detail like particular gear. The layout, poses, and incredible way these all fit together into a larger scene is all Juri and I couldn’t possibly be happier with how it all came together.
Lilith by Juri H. Chinchilla.Lilith & Morrigan PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.Morrigan by Juri H. Chinchilla.
One of the first PSCs I got from Juri was an incredible depiction of the Darkstalkers “sisters” Morrigan and Lilith, two of my favorite fighting game characters to play. In the last Beautiful Dreams feature I showed a larger, equally amazingly done drawing of the former. Later on Juri revisited and completed a wonderful Lilith companion piece I am very happy to add to my collection.
Juri’s range in styles and subjects is highlighted in striking renditions of video game, comic, and movie characters such as Nakoruru from Samurai Showdown, X-men’s Psylocke & Emma Frost, and DC’s Enchantress.
I discovered Perna Studios‘ high quality card sets through Juri’s art, and her work for them continues to be incredibly perfect for the subject matter. Her hauntingly beautiful black and white ghost from the Hallow-Ink set and fantastically playful Alice in Wonderland Artist Proof (AP) from Classic Fairy Tales 2.
Iconic Creations (which I hope to write about in more detail soon) has been releasing incredible card sets based around literature and legends. Juri’s sketch cards for the sets have been wonderfully evocative of the subject matter, particularly the stunning Snow Queen and swordswoman APs I got from the Christmas Literature and Way of the Sword sets.
Iconic’s sets feature a variety of way to showcase the stunning art they include, including special cards like wood sketch cards and other inventive variants. The prize centerpieces of their sets are the oversized wooden “box toppers.” I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to get Juri’s box topper AP from the Christmas set, and pull her box topper sketch card from Treasure Hunters. Both my requested Ghosts of Christmas AP and Juri’s mermaid are absolutely breathtaking.
Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.Jumonji Sisters (Sendai Sachiko & Dash Chisako) PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
I mentioned another favorite company of mine, Ice Ribbon, above in relation to Tequila Saya. Their ace is featured on one of the newest PSCs I’ve gotten from Juri. It’s part of a duo of cards I’ve had planned for a while. During my first trip to Japan I saw a match between two phenomenal teams that remains one of my favorites of all time, and Juri’s renditions of the two pairs are simply incredible.
SEAdLINNNG’s Arisa Nakajima & Ice Ribbon’s Tsukasa Fujimoto, known as Best Friends, are two top tier singles competitors who are even more fearsome as a team. I adore Juri’s illustration of the pair with Ice Ribbon’s International Tag Ribbon Championship Belt.
The Jumonji Sisters, consisting of the since retired Sendai Sachiko & her sister Dash Chisako, were the epitome of poetry in motion. It was a privilege to get to see them in action live a couple of times before Sachiko retired, and the casual confidence and closeness Juri captured in their card is absolutely perfect.
Dash still wrestles for Sendai Girls and is simply incredible. She was previously featured in a solo PSC by Juri mid flight of her jaw dropping Hormone Splash (top rope frog splash).
Hikari Noa PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.Yuka Sakazaki PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Tokyo Joshi Pro is an incredibly fun promotion filled with a wide variety of characters and styles. I’m a huge fan of Hikari Noa, and Juri captured both her idol and wrestler aspects showing off the wonderfully cute side of the deathmatch loving Up Up Girl.
Yuka Sakazaki is arguably the best high flyer in all of wrestling, and always a joy to watch. I love the sense of motion Juri achieved in her beautifully detailed depiction of TJPW’s Magical Girl.
Hana Kimura PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
The last card I’ll talk about here card is special, as well as sad. Hana Kimura was an incredible young wrestler who tragically passed away last year due to suicide amid a myriad of online harassment and other factors. Hana was one of my favorite performers in her home promotion and had striking charisma. She was always fun to watch in the ring and always seemed to go out of her way to be friendly to fans and make sure everyone was having a good time
Juri wonderfully captured Hana in a gorgeous card that is a great remembrance to someone dearly missed.
More information about Juri’s art can be found on her artist page. I hope to continue to follow and collect her wonderous creations for a long time to come. 🙂
Here I’d like to share a couple more of Juri H Chinchilla’s pieces, then spotlight a new artist to these articles who’s a bit of an awesomely unusual case.
As I’vementionedoften, I’ve been a fan of Juri’s amazing art for several years, and her work never ceases to amaze me.
Her Personal Sketch Cards have been a great opportunity to request particular subjects and design elements, and she’s done an amazing job with depictions of subjects both priorly familiar and not.
Sareee is a truly incredible wrestler who has recently signed with WWE and was set to come stateside in February (before the pandemic necessitated her remaining in Japan for now). She’s a nine year veteran who trained and wrestled with Ring of Honor’s Jenny Rose (a ten year veteran herself) under the Diana promotion in Japan early on in both of their careers. Last December Jenny traveled back to Japan to appear on Sareee’s Special Night, an excellent show produced by Sareee herself.
Juri’s rendition of the pair of best friends is stunning, highlighted by a wonderful metallic background that makes the image of subjects themselves really pop.
Also pictured is Juri’s representation of the recently retiredTequila Saya from Ice Ribbon, showing off Saya’s great entrance gear including a gun shaped tequila bottle and bandolier of shot glasses against a colorful background befitting the Gran Maestro de Tequila.
More information about Juri’s art can be found on her artist page.
The next artist doesn’t just make art about wrestling on paper: as a wrestler herself she makes a different type of art in the ring as well.
Yappy wrestles for a women’s wrestling company in Japan named Ice Ribbon and is a little over a year into her career. She has a naturally likable presence that makes her easy to cheer for, is energetic and exciting in her matches, and is always pushing to improve and learn in these early stages of her wrestling journey. She’s heavily involved in Ice Ribbon’s interactions with foreign fans and has done a lot to reach out to and help them with things like English updates and event information and overseas purchase of Ice Ribbon merchandise.
After her debut Yappy’s personal fan art also started to gain a wider audience, and it really started to turn heads with her incredible piece depicting Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto.
Tsukasa Fujimoto by Yappy (print also signed by Tsukka).
Yappy’s full illustrations are gorgeous. They feature vibrant colors, fantastic little touches and details, and often a real, dynamic sense of motion. They also capture the personalities of the subjects in a really great way.
Tequila Saya by Yappy (print also signed by Saya).
Yappy also did a striking Tequila Saya and an energetic depiction of Ice Ribbon’s resident bratty prodigy (and I mean that in the best way possible), Tsukushi. Amid well deserved rising fan interest in her creations, these three pieces were the initial offerings via Ice Ribbon’s online shop as both the originals and limited edition prints.
Her second batch (of course again all of Ice Ribbon wrestlers) featured reigning Ice Cross Infinity Champion Maya Yukihi, Maya’s frequent Azure Revolution tag partner (and former champion herself) Risa Sera, and two of Ice Ribbon’s rookie rising stars in Suzu Suzuki and Asahi, with more likely to come. Looking forward to it. Again the way the individual wrestlers’ personalities, gimmicks, and styles are incorporated into the themes of Yappy’s art is exceptional.
Satsuki Totoro sketch by Yappy.
Another really wonderful thing about Yappy’s art is the different styles she experiments with. She’s done some smaller pieces as thank you’s for the live signing streams including things like fun quick sketches and really cute chibi style headshots. Her work always puts a smile on my face and I hope she continues to create for a long time to come.
A variety of Ice Ribbon wrestlers and staff drawn by Yappy (picture from Yappy’s Twitter).
More information about both Yappy’s art and her wrestling can be found on Twitter.
Nao Ishikawa by Yappy.
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Thanks again to both of these artists for their impressive creations.
I adore magic and related disciplines. In recent years I’ve been lucky enough to see some great variations, ranging from Penn & Teller’s playful look behind part of the curtain to Joshua Jay’s intimate masterpiece  Six Impossible Things.
Somewhere in between and off to the side in content and presentation is another excellent experience I had the good fortune to attend, Derren Brown’s Secret.
I’ve heard a lot about Derren Brown and his particular type of magic, but this was my first time seeing him perform outside of a couple random clips over the years.
In fact brown doesn’t primarily call himself a magician at all, acknowledging his art is a combination of that and related and intertwined disciplines like illusion, misdirection, and showmanship. The term “mentalist” has been used at times. Brown’s act is largely psychological in nature, giving the appearance of things like mind reading, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, cold reading, etc.
He uses a variety of approaches and skills  to generate and maintain interest, engagement, and amazement. One of the many things that sets his performances apart is the subtle and interesting use of a particularly technique that elevates the audience’s investment in the proceedings. I won’t specify to avoid spoilers (beyond that being a general policy for me when it comes to magic Brown reasonably asked details of the show no be shared), but it’s a masterstroke of showmanship and mastery of his craft.
Secret fully involves the audience in every aspect of the show and feels extremely interactive. Brown’s also chosen wonderful themes to explore, and the show is expertly built use them to enhance the impact of the magic and illusions at the same time. Secret is extremely engaging from start all the way through to a wondrous, satisfying finale.
Secret is on Broadway through Jan 4, 2020, and I highly recommend checking it out if at all possible.
It’s been a year and change since my last spotlight on the work of my favorite artist, and I’d like to share and talk about more of her incredible work and some of the inspirations behind the pieces. See Beautiful Dreams and Beautiful Dreams 2 for more about Juri H. Chinchilla’s art, including past pieces I’ll be mentioning in this write up.
Aoi Kizuki PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Asuka PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Dash Chisako PSC by Juri Chinchilla.
Juri’s Personal Sketch Cards (PSCs) have been a great opportunity to request particular subjects and design elements. One of the more unique requests I’ve made was a card featuring one of my favorite professional wrestlers, and I adored it so much that I’ve followed up with several more since. Juri’s done an AMAZING job depicting these previously unfamiliar to her subjects and these are in many ways the pride of my entire art collection. See Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 2Â for more about the above works featuring WWE’s reigning Smackdown Women’s Champion Asuka, Sendai Girls’ phenomenal high flyer Dash Chisako, and the recently retired Happy Maker Aoi Kizuki.
Misaki Ohata PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Another favorite of mine also retired in 2018, and Juri’s strikingly posed Misaki Ohata with a wonderful background of venue lights is a great keepsake.
Reika Saiki PSC by Juri Chinchilla.
Tokyo Joshi Pro’s Reika Saiki is known as the “Muscle Idol,” and all aspects of her strength and charisma as a wrestler, idol, and body builder are gloriously highlighted in Juri’s drawing.
Mitsuru Konno PSC by Juri Chinchilla.
The last wrestler in this batch was also the first of all. Juri’s first rendition of Mitsuru Konno from Gatoh Move for me featured a great action pose capturing and combining Mitsuru’s strength, determination, grace, and beauty in a remarkable rendition. Equally wonderful is Juri’s quite different recent depiction, featuring Mitsuru in her newer wrestling outfit with a palpable sense of celebration and excitement captured.
With the exception of Dash doing her trademark frog splash, I didn’t specify poses and the layouts, details, and way Juri captured each subject are just wonderful. I couldn’t be happier with how these all turned out.
Juri’s work have are as diverse in creation method as they can be in subject matter. I’ve added a pair of wonderful paintings of hers to my collection, including a striking abstract and an atmospheric, haunting image of night in Rainy Gotham.
Another unique piece is Aquatica, which shows off Juri’s wonderful use of color in a gorgeous image of an original character.
As always Juri’s work for Perna Studios‘ high quality card sets is pitch perfect for the subject matter. I was lucky enough to get some Artist Proofs (APs) from her for their most recent sets. For Witchcraft, I requested a female grim reaper from several artists, and I adore the delicate yet powerful feel Juri brought to her version. In the past I got a witch from Juri with some amazing ravens, so loved the idea of getting Celtic goddess Morrigan for her Classic Mythology III metal AP. Rounding out this group is a graceful moonlight scene featuring my favorite Greek goddess, Artemis, with just a touch of lurking menace as she hunts.
A very different Morrigan was part of one of the Personal Sketch Cards I got previously from Juri, an incredible depiction of the Darkstalkers character with her “sister” Lilith. Morrigan’s an old favorite and one of my most played fighting game characters ever, so I was thrilled to add this larger, equally amazingly done drawing of her to my collection.
Continuing the video game theme are three new PSCs from some of my favorite game series. Makoto from Persona 5 joins my previous PSC of Elizabeth from the third game in that series, with a bold red background complimenting the deep blues of the other card. The wonderful balance of a sense of motion while still posing is a wonderful touch not only in the two Persona cards, but also accentuates Juri’s drawings of Fire Emblem’s Tharja, and Valkyria Chronicles 4’s Riley, as well as the Bombshells version of DC’s Raven and Clare from the manga/anime Claymore. Finally for this time around is a beautiful depiction of two of Juri’s original characters. The cards are all excellent and unique works showcasing Juri’s attention to detail and mastery of color in their own different ways
More information about Juri’s art can be found on her artist page. I hope to continue to follow and collect her wonderous creations for a long time to come. 🙂
In Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art I talked about the the wrestling centric work of Rob Schamberger. Here, in addition to featuring more from Rob, I’d also like to spotlight another artist who specializes in wrestling related creations as well as an artist readers of this blog will be well familiar with who has entered the realm of drawing professional wrestlers as the result of commission requests from me. 😉
A mix of originals and prints of Rob Schamberger’s striking work.
WWE’s Asuka (formerly Kana) is a longtime favorite of mine, and was the subject of first wrestling related commission request I ever made (top left above). She has remained central to collection (and will come up again later), particularly in terms of Rob’s wonderful mixed media creations which generally start with a framework from a photo of the subject and grow from there via Rob’s creativity, expert techniques, and incredible use of color. I’ve also added an original painting (as well as signed print) of current NXT Women’s Champion and Stardom alumni Kairi Sane (formerly Kairi Hojo) that nicely capture the unique presence and charisma of the Pirate Princess.
More information about Rob’s art can be found on his website.
Mitsuru Konno PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Asuka PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Aoi Kizuki PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
As I mentioned in Beautiful Dreams and Beautiful Dreams 2, I’ve been a fan of Juri H Chinchilla’s amazing art for several years and have been fortunate enough to develop a nice collection of her work.
One of the more unique requests I made among a plethora of video game and anime characters was a card featuring one of my favorite professional wrestlers, Mitsuru Konno from Gatoh Move. I thought Juri’s style would be perfect for this and it came out far beyond my high expectations. I specified only the subject here, and I adore the incredible way Juri captured and combined Mitsuru’s strength, determination, grace, and beauty in her remarkable hand drawn rendition. From there I got even more excited about having her draw more wrestlers. Asuka of course was on the list, and Juri wonderfully depicted her striking presence and style.
Aoi Kizuki is a personal favorite of mine who recently retired, so Juri’s fantastic rendition of her will be a treasured momento of a wrestler who will be greatly missed. The little details, like the patterns and textures on both Aoi’s and Asuka’s outfits and the highlighting use of metallics really make these incredible works come to life.
Dash Chisako PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Sendai Girl’s Dash Chisako is my favorite high flyer in all of wrestling, and I’m amazed and ecstatic with how perfectly Juri captured Dash mid flight performing her trademark frog splash. Having Dash performing one of her flying moves is the most specific I got with any of my wrestler requests for Juri, and she absolutely knocked it out of the park. The likeness, colors, sense of motion, etc are all pitch perfect.
More information about Juri’s art can be found on her artist page.
Mika Iida, Maho Kurone, and Aoi Kizuki by Shining Wizard Designs.
Asuka by Shining Wizard Designs.
Boss to Mammy (Mio Momono and Yumi Ohka) by Shining Wizard Designs.
Misaki Ohata by Shining Wizard Designs.
Dash Chisako by Shining Wizard Designs.
Team DATE (Nori, Karen, Hana, and Nao) by Shining Wizard Designs.
Shining Wizard Designs is another artist who specializes in depictions of wrestlers, in this case wonderfully stark, hyper realistic black and white ink drawings he regularly shares on social media. I adore the striking assortment of pieces of his I’ve gotten, and have been lucky enough to get a few of them signed by the wrestlers. In addition to excellent versions of the previously mentioned Asuka and Dash, SWD drew the reigning Wave Pro Tag Team Champions Bossy to Mammy (Marvelous’ rising star Mio Momono and Wave veteran Yumi Ohka) as well as Ice Ribbon’s MMA trained rookies Team DATE (Hana, Nao, Nori, and Karen) for me.
Aoi isn’t the only wrestler I follow retiring this year, so in tribute I commissioned a combination piece featuring Aoi, Wave’s Mika Iida, and Tokyo Joshi Pro’s Maho Kurone, as well as a stand alone piece of Wave’s Misaki Ohata (who will retire in December) doing one of her gorgeous flying cross bodies. Of course later even more retirements were announced, which gives subjects for the future I suppose. 😉 I will miss all of these wrestlers greatly but wish them the best.
Gatoh Move (Mitsuru Konno, Sayaka Obihiro, Emi Sakura, and Riho) by Shining Wizard Designs.
Finally, I had a piece done featuring some of the core members of Gatoh Move, a small, wonderful company run by the incredible Emi Sakura. In addition to Emi and Mitsuru (from Juri’s work above), Gatoh’s ace Riho and lynchpin Sayaka Obihiro are also pictured. I’m extremely happy with SWD’s work and greatly appreciate the opportunity to get these done.
More information about Shining Wizard Designs art can be found on Twitter.
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Thanks again to all three of these artists for their impressive creations.
Derailments of Thought 