Ganbare Japan!!!

One year ago, Japan was struck with a series of natural disasters, but in the wake of these terrible events, a powerful spirit of perseverance and support had emerged. This artwork is my small tribute to that great inspirational spirit.


GANBARE!!! by *ninjatron on deviantART

I wanted to draw something that focused on the unbreakable will and positive outlook that has been exhibited in the months since the disasters. Two of the anime world's most popular and positive characters, Goku and Astro Boy, give the thumbs up to show that inspirational, never give up, can-do attitude.

Please continue to support Japan!

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Manga Artists Make Tezuka Tributes

This week marked the 23rd anniversary of Osamu Tezuka's passing. He died on February 9th, 1989. While it's much better to celebrate the life of someone rather than mark the occasion of their death, I mentioned on Twitter that the best way to pay homage to Tezuka's legacy on that day would be to draw something.I was happy to see my message spread around a bit, and a number of people did do a Tezuka inspired drawing.

It looks like I wasn't the only one with that idea, as several Japanese manga artists have also created new illustrations of famous Tezuka characters

 Here is one I really like by Keiichi Tanaka, creator of a story called "Doctor Chichibuyama".

You can find more at Anime News Network.

I drew some cool anime-esque robots for another project that I'm working on, but you'll have to wait a bit before you get to see those!

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Astro TV Boy

Breaking News: Astro Boy removes own head, replaces with TV. Can now watch TV at all times, even when eyes closed.

Actually, it's a customized toy sculpture by Eric Wirjanata. More pictures can be found on tomopop.com

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Black Jack by Ayami Kojima

Hey there. It's been a long time. I haven't had much time to post as I was super busy with a big annual project for TFcon, the Canadian Transformers convention. 8 pages of full color comic book art. You can check that out here if you're interested.

I'll be doing my best to make up for the lost time here and post some of the cool news that has come out recently when I get a chance. Until then, here is a cool image I stumbled upon. It's artwork of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack illustrated by Ayami Kojima, who is well known for her work with the video game series Castlevania (Akumajo Dracula in Japan) for Konami.

Source: mrmarkrobson.com

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Tezuka Museum's Moe Re-imaginings

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka will soon host an exhibition featuring re-imagined Tezuka character illustrations by many famous artists in the modern moe style. The roster of contributing artists numbers at about 20, including Noizi Ito (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Shakugan no Shana), Narumi Kakinouchi (Vampire Princess Miyu, Ryoko's Case File) and Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross, Gundam 0080, Gunbuster).

There are about 90 different art pieces and dolls set for display at the exhibition. Here are some examples featuring Princess Knight.

Read more at Anime News Network or in Japanese at the Daily Yomiuri Online.

This seems to be along the same lines as the Tezuka Moe Gallery I first reported about last year, only that one was held in Akihabara. So now more people will get another chance to see what the current generation of artists can do with Tezuka's classic characters.

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Prime Rose Art

Prime Rose by *wRuzicka on deviantART

Now here's something you don't see everyday. Fan art of Osamu Tezuka's character Prime Rose. It was illustrated by William Ruzicka, a great artist who is currently working on Transformers Prime, which is a totally awesome show. Check out some more of his artwork here.

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The Big Guns

The Big Guns by *kizer180 on deviantART

Very cool artwork by kizer180 on deviantART featuring several famous robot, cyborg, and high tech characters, including Astro Boy. Do you know them all?

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Astro Painting by Bryan Lee O’Malley

This incredible painting featuring Astro Boy and his sister Uran was made by Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley and is for the “Water Works” art show at Giant Robot in Los Angeles. It's based on this frame from the 60's Astro Boy anime.

100% of the proceeds from the show will go to UNICEF for Japan aid efforts. You can find out more here.

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Snow-Shunsaku

This amusing image is part of the current seasonal background on TezukaOsamu.net. Here we have Uran, Atom, and Jump with a Ban Shunsaku made out of snow. If you look closely, you'll see Ban's trademark fez is actually a bucket.

I know they're robots and all but it's got to be way to cold for shorts and skirts, kids.

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Tezuka Russian Nesting Dolls

Take a look at these customized Russian nesting dolls, hand painted with Osamu Tezuka characters by artist "hooverdam".

 

Originally posted on D. Merril's Let's Anime blog, where you can see more pictures of each layer. I agree, they are the coolest thing ever.

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An Astro Christmas.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I was asked by Astro mega-fan Lisa to share this with everyone for Christmas, and I am happy to oblige. It's an illustration by Japanese artist named でんのく (Dennoku?), but an English translation and accompanying poem have also been added. A small version can be seen by clicking the image on the right. You can see it full size here, and it's a large file.

You can check out the artist's website here and see more Christmas cheer on the Astroboy-Online forums.

Happy Holidays!

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Astro Bramble

Customized Astro Boy "Bramble-bot" made by designer Ultraman. See more pictures here.

Bramble-bots are toys designed by artist Ashley Wood, who painted some covers for the Astro Boy movie comic book adaptation from IDW.

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Life Size Astro Boy Sculpture

This life size sculpture of Astro Boy is from the Mori Art Museum.

Looks a bit... analog, don't you think?

Photos by Mew Mew Maru.

Thanks to Felix Ip for posting this on his blog.

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Stark Industries x Astro Boy

Check out this cool artwork that has hit the Internet in a big way. Created by M7781 on deviantART, this piece brings together Iron Man and Astro Boy to explore what would have happened if Astro was built by Stark Industries.


stark industries x astroboy by *m7781 on deviantART

See more from this artist at his website.

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Fire Safety with Tezuka

Check out this poster by Osamu Tezuka from 1979 featuring Astro Boy and Uran in an illustration depicting fire safety around children.

Check out Pink Tentacle for more of these fire safety illustrations with Tezuka characters. Some of them are actually pretty funny.

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Mega Man and Astro Boy

This is NOT real game. This is cool fanart by Red J.


Megaman and Astro boy by *Red-J on deviantART

But what if it was real? I think it would be pretty cool!

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Halloween Wallace

I am somewhat disturbed by this artwork, but it's too funny not to share. From Scott Pilgrim comic book creator Bryan Lee O'Mally comes this drawing of Wallace in his Halloween costume. We are asked to guess who he's dressed up as.


Halloween Wallace by *radiomaru on deviantART


If you've read the comics then you'll know that, somehow, this costume does actually suit him.

The amazing movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World comes out on DVD and Blu Ray in North America on November 9th. If you missed it in theaters you have to check it out when it reaches home, because it's totally incredible and one of the best films of the year. There is even an Astro Boy reference, so you can't go wrong there.

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Crazy Astro Fashion Art

I'm not really sure what to classify this under, but this is some incredibly unique Astro Boy inspired imagery and pattern design from the "Astroboy by ohya" collection. It seems to be officially licensed by Tezuka Productions for some kind of exhibition a few years ago.

Here a few samples.

Many more images are available here. There is some weird stuff, but still kind of cool. I have no idea how much of this, if any, was available for sale. If anyone has more information about this particular event, please respond by posting a comment.

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Tezuka Moe Gallery

I can't believe I'm typing this (actually this is Japan we're talking about so nothing is truly unbelievable) but there's an event happening right now that combines the famous works of Osamu Tezuka with the modern day cute fad of "moe". The "Osamu Moet Moso" exhibition is being held at the Tokyo Anime Center in Akihabara. It opened on September 18 and runs until October 11.

Upon viewing the images above, my guttural reaction would be "Is nothing sacred?", but upon reading more, there is some reason to suggest that the concept of moe can directly trace its roots to Tezuka's influence on manga culture. It's an interesting topic at any rate, though there's something kind of creepy to me about that Astro artwork. The Princess Knight one is HAWT though.

See more pictures and information at Otaku2 and AnimeKon.

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Scott Seeto - Art of Astro Boy - Vehicles

Here's some more concept artwork from the Astro Boy movie, this batch coming from artist Scott Seeto. This post will focus on the futuristic vehicle designs, some of which may not have made it into the film. Some of his sketches were done on Post-It notes.

Scott clearly did a lot of work for Astro and you can see more on his blog. I'll post further entires here later. Thanks again to Felix Ip!

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