I bought this on Yahoo Japan but I wasn't sure if it was real or not. I took a gamble and if it's not it's pretty nice! It's a pan sketch and it has all of the same markings of the real deal such as the holes, the sketch is all done in pencil and it's marked as A3 but in a spot lower then you'd normally find it.
Also, I took some pics of the side art. There's some reference art on the right hand side along with some notes written but I can't read them. Here are some pics, I was hoping someone could spot if this was the real deal or a fake. I don't want to post it up as real if it's not.
It'd be easier to tell if you had a screenshot of the auction from the very top description down to the lower auction description.
If you posted it maybe you could black out the URL, the winning amount and seller names, etc. Of course if you bought it cheap that might be telling you something right there.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
The sketch looks brighter than the Howl sketches I have seen (more color)
Holes, and A-something marking don't mean it's real, since some people are good at making fakes...
maybe when you scan it, and we get a larger pic, we could tell...maybe...
Some say that life is like a box of chocolates, I say life is like a box of cake.
Do you still have some close ups posted from his or her gallery you want him or her to put those back up ?
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
At first glance from what little I know it seems real. At least the seller has sold some prod artwork before. The description format differs somewhat from the norm though and I don't know much Japanese. I also know nothing about artwork from the movie so it's difficult for me to say much about it.
The lines are definitely pencil lines and not laser printed lines right?
It's pencil, which is what made me think it was real but at the same time the sketch and notes threw me off. There's a small sketch of Howls face with some writing over in the corner that could be artist notes but I can't really read Japanese yet.
if it's fake, then it seems like an awkward angle to replicate. i saw original howl gengas at ghibli and the pencil coloration is accurate... my two cents.