Art of Akira DragonCon Schedule!
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Hi all,
Here's the schedule for Dragon*Con 2011:
Exhibit:
Main Display in Artists Alley
Booth:
BT22 in Artist’s Alley
Panels:
Fri 1:00PM, Hanover F Room: The Art of Akira - Show & Tell
Sat 5:30PM, Courtland Room: Western Invasion of Anime!
Sat 7:00PM, Hanover CDE Room: Akira Screening +
Commentary + Film & Art Comparison
Please check the DragonCon pocket guide for updates and changes!
Don't Come To Dallas ComicCon This Weekend!
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Isn't it awful? That's certainly not the most beautiful background and best piece I have of the throne, and the lighting is just terrible.
You shouldn't let that influence you. Or, any of the other cels and backgrounds I'll be exhibiting, or any of the talks I'll be giving, or pick up one of the two very limited edition Art of Akira prints that will only be available this weekend in Dallas by
Tariq Hassan and
Tom Feister (images to be revealed this weekend, once the exhibit launches)!
And you most certainly should not say hi! DON'T DO IT! (Especially you,
Shawn Kupfer, since you just moved to Dallas! There's no reason for you to actually hang out!)
What It Was Like To Be An Anime Fan In The 80's
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This article over at Fanboy.com is fantastic -- it's a writeup about what it was like to be an anime fan back in the 80's, long before the culture was widespread or even really present in the west.
Check it out, and be transported to a time before TokyoPop and the like were on every bookshelf in every bookstore in the nation.
Akira selected as New York Times' Critics Choice this week
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A.O. Scott discusses Akira on the New York Times' Critics Choice page this week. It's impossible to ignore that this is likely due to the recent catastrophe in Japan. However, any focus and attention Akira gets is good attention. Enjoy!
A Rather Compelling Argument For Keeping The "Japan" in The Live-Action Akira
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While I doubt very highly anyone reading this blog (or any real fan of Akira, the anime and/or the manga) would ever disagree,
Racebending has a really good argument against the caucasian-ness of the actor choices for Tetsuo and Kaneda in the upcoming live-action Akira film. Roger Ebert tweeted about it this morning, and I felt compelled to share.
Akira Live-Action Film Apparently Casting All White Boys
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As has been mentioned to me no fewer than 100 times now, the rumor is that the leads (Tetsuo and Kaneda) in the upcoming live-action Akira are
being fished out to a bunch of white brunette actors.
I do wonder if they're going to keep with the "Neo-Manhattan" nonsense that was rumored for a while. And I also wonder what Otomo-san thinks about this. Still, it's not above Kodansha to Americanize Akira for a broader appeal. Not many people know this, but I learned from Jerry Beck himself (co-founder of Streamline) that Kodansha actually casted the original dub for the film release of Akira when it came to America.
Anyway, I really, really hope Justin Timberlake is Tetsuo, just so I can see him turn into a pile of goo.
New Cel + A Piece in Japanator
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Some cool new updates for the exhibit today: I scanned in a new piece from the exhibit, from the scene where Tetsuo's arm begins morphing out of control and drops from his cape (click for hi-res view):
Second,
Japanator interviewed me about the exhibit! It's a really wonderful bit of exposure for the exhibit, as Japanator is a highly-respected Japanese culture blog, and I've been a fan for years. It was an honor to speak with them and to be mentioned by them. Go check it out!
New Cel Scans - Sewer, Bunny Tripping, and Original Aluminum Press Plate!
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Because the
Facebook Fans of Art of Akira came through and recruited 30 new members in a day, I owe them 30 new scans of cels and backgrounds! But I'm going to go one further - I'm going to upload at least one new scan a day for the next 3 months! That's 90 new scans.
To start, here's a few new additions to my collection. First, the monster bunny that Kiyoko becomes to fight Tetsuo, tripping over the blanket with toys and junk strewn all over the floor (full key setup + douga):
Next, the rebels (including Kaneda and Kay) sneaking through the sewers during the infiltration of the government building (full key setup):
And lastly, one of my absolute favorite pieces: an original aluminum press plate used in the printing of the original Akira series! It's from volume 5, pages 140 and 149! Look in your Dark Horse collections (or original japanese collections) to see them! The Dark Horse collections are page-for-page recreations of the original Japanese collections, so you'll find it there. If you have the Marvel / Epic editions, look in issue 26, pages 22 and 33 (there's no page numbers -- count from the first illustrated page
You can see these and all the other pieces at the
Flickr stream for Art of Akira!
New Year, New Art of Akira Stuff!
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It's 2011, and I've been working with various conventions and museums to lay out our 2011 schedule. We're very excited -- there's a tentative 12 exhibits / shows this year, starting from Canada, through the US and into Paris and possibly Japan!
There's also quite a lot going on behind the scenes with the site. I'm revamping some of the portfolio and finally getting solid work done on the step-by-step frame scans for the animation detail / layering app. It'll be probably a few months before it's ready to go, but it's in progress!
Finally, Akira fan Jason Erickson sent this over, and I think it's pretty awesome since I love both ThinkGeek and Akira:
Private Art of Akira Exhibit for You / Your Company
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I don't offer this often (actually, I've never offered it for a price) but for the 2010 holiday season, I am offering, among other things,
a private Art of Akira exhibit/showing to you or your company/friends. Check it out!
