The first art book I ever bought and something that has influenced me since I started learning to draw. There are many things I enjoyed about Hiroki's art style and direction in these. The attention to detail on the clothing, the characters were sharply dressed, hair and make-up that added to the character's depth and personality. His unique costume designs were also extremely eye catching and fascinating to re-visit. In the back of these artbooks are his sketches and notes on his design process of these characters, I really liked the behind the scenes look at how his process worked.

Obviously the main influence for me was his pantyhose work. From the glossy shine to the dark undertones really drew me into his work. The teacher and Office Lady pictures were some of my favorite at the time.

I initially got the artbook when I was pretty young at an anime convention. I was deeply entrenched in the fandom at the time and dealer halls were a different place back then. Weapon dealers, Yaoi paddles, doujin booths and no vendor was carding anyone. If you had the cash they would just let it roll. I had no idea who Hiroki was at the time, I was not familiar with his other work, Dear Boys. I just remember seeing this cover and wanting to collect the rest of the series. Teachers, Office Ladies, Police Women, this artbook had it all. It was until I started drawing that I revisited G-Taste and started studying it to understand why I liked it so much. I wanted to emulate the same idea's he had using mainstream characters, creating things like Office Lady Lapis Lazuli, Mitsuri Kanroji as a modern day teacher, Toriel in a bunny girl outfit. I might not be where I want to be right now art-wise, every day I am trying and if I stick with it I might be able to make those ideas a reality.

What is your favorite artbook?