Yasushi Nirazawa - Hellboy Movie - 2002 - Abe Sapien - Concept Illustration

Gorgeous original concept color Illustration of Abe Sapien for the original Hellboy movie, by the great late Japanese illustrator Yasushi Nirazawa (1963-2016). This piece was published on page 53 of the „Hellboy - The Art of the Movie“ book (2004).

I love the little story that Guillermo del Toro told in the lead-up to his first Bleakhouse auction :
"Nirasawa-San and Terada-San took me drinking and bingeing on Sushi one fateful night in Tokyo. We went to a small, tiny restaurant owned, I believe, by Nirasawa-San's father. That night Nira-San gave me a few copies of his toy 'Jar of Pus', and we talked about them both concepting for Hellboy for a few days. Nira-San called dibs on Abe, immediately. Pieces done by short-term collaborators, like Terada-San, Jose Fors, or Nirasawa-San inspired us all. In my opinion, Nirasawa-San is one of the very, very greatest fantasy sculptors and designers in Modern Japanese culture.”
From the collection of Guillermo del Toro.