The CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO is a Must-Have for Longtime Fans
CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO is the English-language edition of CLAMP’s recent exhibition art book, released by Yen Press as a 144-page oversized paperback. It gathers more than 200 color illustrations from over 30 years of the group’s work and serves as the first volume in a two-book set alongside COLOR SHIRO.
The material comes directly from the CLAMP Exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo: color originals from the show’s “COLOR” area were scanned and arranged into the paired art books KURO and SHIRO. KURO focuses on works from the first exhibition period and preserves the A4, gallery-style presentation in book form, so the English edition reads like a portable slice of the exhibition rather than a random best-of.
The range is another big hook. The KURO collection includes elaborate full-color illustrations from RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and other titles that span CLAMP’s entire commercial history. If you’re someone who’s followed them across different series and eras, the book reads like a visual timeline spanning early mythic fantasy, ’90s gothic apocalyptic work, softer, pastel-heavy shoujo spreads, then the sleeker, more minimal 2000s look.
On the character side, KURO shows off exactly what makes CLAMP’s work so recognizable: long, elegant bodies, intricate outfits, and eyes that carry a lot of emotion. The layouts embrace a high-detail approach with dense line work and ornate compositions, yet the designs stay readable even when the costumes are covered in patterns and accessories. On A4 pages, the small choices stop fading into the background; hands, jewelry, hair ornaments, and fabric textures are big enough to study, so you can see how the line work, color, and tiny design decisions carry just as much personality as the faces. Color is where KURO really earns the “official artbook” label. The exhibition edition is specifically described as collecting over 200 color originals from the show, and it fully delivers with intricate full-color pieces and vivid illustrations as the selling point.
If you already own older CLAMP artbooks, KURO still fills a specific niche: it’s the English, widely distributed version of the recent exhibition materials, organized as the first half of a matched pair. If you’re newer to CLAMP and want one book that captures their signature character detailing, recognizable line work, and saturated, full-color renderings across multiple series, this is about as clean a starting point as you can get—and it’s designed to sit on your shelf as the “black” volume beside SHIRO when you’re ready to go all in.
