I came across Kaori Wakamatsu's art book in the library a couple of weeks ago, and simply fell in love with her illustrations. 

I really like her bold use of lines and colours. Some of her images are very simple, but so powerful and imaginative. Others have lovely details to them, but still maintaining the strong and simple style. 
Another notable feature of her art for me is the way she does the hair! Curly hair is something I always find difficult, but she does it so effectively.  

Not manga artists this time, but some deviants! 

I've always loved pencil drawing. (Although often I wonder if it isn't just that I've been too scared to try anything more permanent that I feel more comfortable working with pencil. Probably it stems from my fear of commitment.) I love the flexibility it gives you, the variations in shade and tone that can be achieved, and I do rather like monochrome art, I don't think colour is always necessary. 
But while I've always enjoyed sketching in pencil for myself, I never really thought of it as a serious form of art. I know that's silly, because I have seen some simply incredible drawings done in pencil. Maybe I just thought that I could never produce some serious pencil art.
I joined deviantart a while back (I might set up one specifically for this blog at some point...) and discovered some wonderful artists working in the medium of pencil. In the one above, I love the subtlety of some of her lines (I always tend to go for bold lines, and I forget that less can be more) and the delicate shading.  

Doria-Plume also does some lovely work in regular and coloured pencil. I think that it was when I saw her coloured piece above that I first thought of coloured pencil as a legitimate form of colouring, not just something you do when you're 5. Before that I always felt like I would have to learn to use paints or ink in order to be able to colour, and I experimented with markers to no avail. Although I would still like to learn to paint, I realised that coloured pencils are actually a medium well suited for me - while I like bold lines I like subtle shading, and I tend to work gradually. 

JDarnell is another pencil artist I admire. Her drawings are full of beautiful patterns and textures. She also does use those bold lines which I favour, but much more skillfully. I particularly love the delicate way she depicts the facial features. 

Library Wars is a manga series, which I believe is based upon a novel, set in a future of serious censorship, where libraries have established a military faction to fight for the preservation and accessibility of restricted books. 
I enjoy this series, I like the premise, and its a very entertaining read with hilarious characters. I also really like Yumi Kiiro's style of manga. Its more realistic than some other mangas, but very beautiful and well done. I like her attention to detail, particularly with hair, and her use of shading. 

So far I have only read Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles and X/1999, but I am in love with Clamp's art style. Gorgeous flowing lines, intricate backgrounds and compositions, unique and instantly recognisable character style. I only wish I could one day produce something so beautiful...

Doubling is a theme which crops up again and again. I always find works dealing with this subject interesting.  

I have heard that there is quite a lot of diversity in the style of Clamps different works, so I want to read more of their manga series to compare them. I have also read that the clamp artists are largely self taught, which gives me hope for the future!