April 2018: "Tokyo Storefronts"
「東京店構え」

A continuation of the "Tokyo Storefronts" illustrations series portraying fronts of retro-themed shops of Tokyo. Painted in 2016 this popular watercolor paintings series picked up by newspapers and TV shows became a full-fledged art album!

ポーランド出身のイラストレーター、マテウシュ・ウルバノヴィチが、 東京にある古き良き建物をイラストで描く「東京店構え」シリーズ。
2016年にインターネット上で発表されて話題となり、 新聞やテレビなどでも取り上げられた人気イラスト企画が待望の書籍化。

Book details:

Title: 東京店構え マテウシュ・ウルバノヴィチ作品集
Title in English: "Tokyo Storefronts　The Artworks of Mateusz Urbanowicz"
Published on: 2018.04.25
Publisher: MdN Corp. エムディエヌコーポレーション
Language: Japanese 日本語 and English 英語
ISBN-10: 484436734X
ISBN-13: 978-4844367345
Dimensions: 24.7 x 18.2 x 1.1 cm

How to buy this edition >>

Other editions:

Apart from the main edition mentioned above, there are other language versions published in different countries:

French / Japanese edition. more here...

Spanish / Japanese edition. more here...

Chinese / English edition. more here...

Taiwanese / English edition. more here...

Italian / Japanese edition. more here...

This book, in addition to the 10 illustrations from the original “Tokyo Storefronts” watercolor series, contains 40 new stores to explore picked up from various locations all around Tokyo.

Because of this, the book also makes a perfect guide to the nostalgic Tokyo spots!

The whole book is bilingual - it features English and Japanese texts side-by-side.

本書では、すでに公開されているイラスト10点に、 新たに描き下ろし40点を加えた計50作品を収録しています。
このほか、メイキングや俯瞰図、建物にまつわるエピソード等も紹介。
さらに、本書は英語による対訳文がついているため、日本語と英語の両方で解説文を読むことができます。
外国人作家の視点を通して綴られる、ノスタルジックな雰囲気の東京建物ガイドに仕上がっています。

Book reviews:

By Teoh Yi Chie on July 24, 2018 - Parka Blogs.com also as a VIDEO

By Yonghow on June 19, 2018 - halcyonrealms.com

By Artscribbler on January 27, 2019 - artscribbler.com

French version featured on Catsuka shopping - catsuka.com/shopping

In addition to the illustrations of storefronts, the book includes also detailed paintings of some of the shop’s interiors.

If you want to know what tools have been used to paint and draw all the illustrations included in this album, the book also contains an extensive section listing and explaining in details all about them.

In addition to this, the book features also a how-to section presenting the whole creation process behind the shop illustrations step by step.

There are also some additional features in the book. If you want to use it to explore Tokyo, you can take off the cover - it’s back contains the hand-painted map of Tokyo with all the featured shops numbered and listed, for your location-hunting pleasure.

Please be aware that some of the buildings portrayed in this book are now demolished or are used as private homes and no longer open to the public. If you decide to visit the original locations in Tokyo, please do it in a polite manner.

Finally, a lot of care was put into the choice of print technology (including special raster type, paper, and paints) to make all the pictures featured in the book appear as close to the original watercolor paintings as possible. Recreating not only the colors but also delicate watercolor textures and the sharpness of technical pen drawn black lines.