Edel Farben was released December 2008 and is a gorgeous collection of color illustrations by You Shiina (椎名 優) from the circle Tenkyudho. I have a couple of art books by this artist, and I have to say, this self-publication is my favorite book from her.

This collection is 46 pages in length (not including covers) and is entirely in color. Most of the illustrations are full page, with the largest occupying two pages and the smallest covering half a page. The book is paperback, and B5 in size, but the print quality is amazing.

And so are the illustrations. Most of the pieces are free works, drawn originally for this book or for You Shiina's home page. Because of this, there's a lot of variety in the character designs, and the look of the girls (and guys) featured in Edel Farben. Anyone know what "edel farben" might mean anyway?

You Shiina's guys have a very androgynous look to them. It's like, their faces are interchangeable with the girls. Unless it's supposed to be an older guy, then he looks like Hoenheim from Fullmetal Alchemist (see top right) :D

My favorite thing about these illustrations is the clothing. You Shiina goes all out on clothing design, with a similar level of detail to Kaori Minakami (水上カオリ) and Kaya Kuramoto (椋本夏夜) especially when it comes to beautiful Gothic Lolita fashions. The backgrounds are also great, and she really finds ways to integrate them with the character image.

You Shiina's works appear on light novel covers, and magazine monthlies, but I can't think of something everyone would know her work from. Maybe Tales of Commons? Any other ideas? I only discovered her work myself when I bought her first art book based solely on the cover art ^^; Sometimes impulsive decisions are good ones!

Since this doujinshi came out during Comiket 75, you're most likely to find it used on places like Yahoo Auctions JP and Mandarake. I've said it before but, I didn't start collecting doujinshi until last year, so though some of these do get hard to find, they're never impossible.