Art Update No. 159 (Patreon)

Gunwild: Concepts for the recent "spooktober" pinup.

Psu: Oh yeah! Uh we should totally be drawing more random costumes. We have a couple in store but we should have some new ones. I know that this is technically a little more "dressed" than the other pinups have been but I just thought it was cool to do. I wanted to stay true-er to the Vampire Hunter D idea than anything else.

Gunwild: Yes, Yoshitaka Amano was on your mind for some reason. Why was that...?

Psu: It's possible it was because I was sorting some of my old art books and I have more than a couple Amano stuff. But it was just sorta hearkening back to some of the drawings I used to copy as a kid. And then I copied more as an adult. It's one of those things I tried a lot overtime! So while I wouldn't claim I'm perfect at emulating parts of his style, I definitely enjoy it from time to time. It was pure coincidence that I'd end up seeing Amano at New York Comic-Con. He was a special guest, there to help promote a new anime he was a character designer on. He clearly likes to talk about his life story and give some interesting details. I found him still remarkably humble, in that he talked more about his influences and things that inspired him while kinda being amazed how lucky he'd been in his career.

Psu: I think one of the most surprising anecdotes was hearing he was a big fan of American comics, especially Neal Adams. And if you know Neal Adams work, and his solid heavy looking characters, it's a whole different world than Amano's. It's always nice to hear when artists inspire each other, and it's even cooler when those inspirations aren't always clear.

Gunwild: How should the fine people reading this experience more Yoshitaka Amano things, in your opinion?

Psu: Probably the best is just to look at his art books and like... either you like em or just pretend to like em to satisfy your friends that really like Final Fantasy games before the PlayStation era. You can find his work as the character designer of Gatchaman and of course to bring it back full circle, he designed Vampire Hunter D which inspired this month's pinup. Oh, I should probably mention the other anecdote he had at the show. He mentioned that the writer for Vampire Hunter D originally imagined D as a gruff Charles Bronson looking guy. Which... if D looked like Charles bronson then Vampire Hunter Maddie would have looked... a bit different.

Gunwild: I can't really imagine what that would look like other than Maddy holding a huge gun and squinting at somebody who's got about five seconds to live. So basically it sounds awesome.

Psu: Next year's pinup.

Gunwild: Guess you'll have to wait, Theirabominable Snowman!

Psu: Ack, that would be a really good gag to leave on but I should totally collect more suggestions for costumes. I'll be okay drawing them BEYOND October if we get ideas we really like. I mean, we're nothing if not open to the comments of our fans.

Gunwild: Yes, do our work for us, best and most supportive readers!

Edit: this post now free for everybody!