New Anime Art Prints Now Available

If you've followed my artwork for a while, you'll know I can't resist creating fan art based on some of my favourite (I would argue, the BEST) anime and manga series. Every now and then I like to step away from commissions and commercial work to create something simply because I enjoyed watching or reading the series. After all, it was the exciting world of anime and video games that got me into drawing in the first place.

I've recently added three new anime art prints to the shop, featuring characters from Dr Stone, Fullmetal Alchemist and Hunter x Hunter. Each illustration is drawn from scratch in my own manga-inspired style before being professionally printed as a signed A3 collector's print.

If you're looking for anime wall art that's a little different from mass-produced posters, hopefully I've created something you like.

Dr Stone Art Print – Senku Ishigami

Few anime celebrate intelligence quite like Dr Stone.

Rather than solving every problem with brute force, Senku rebuilds civilisation through science, chemistry and engineering. It's a refreshing concept that makes him one of the most unique protagonists in modern shonen manga. Senku's an interesting character with his selfish ambition and commitment to science making him endearing and honest. And a possible INTJ, like myself?

When illustrating Senku, I wanted to capture his confident grin and slightly chaotic personality while he holds scientific containers that represent his journey to rebuild humanity. I went with a contrasting green and red colour scheme with this one and it really pops!

If you're ready to become a fully fledged member of the Kingdom of Science, this print will make a great addition to your anime art collection.

➡ View the Dr Stone Senku Art Print

Fullmetal Alchemist Art Print – Edward & Alphonse Elric

It's difficult to talk about great anime without mentioning Fullmetal Alchemist.

Before watching the anime (Brotherhood), I had no expectations, other than hearing it was worth a watch. I loved it. Even watched it twice (despite being rare for me to find the time for repeat viewings these days). Edward and Alphonse's journey remains one of the strongest stories ever told in manga, balancing action, humour and genuinely emotional moments. The relationship between the two brothers is what really makes the series memorable.

For this artwork I wanted both characters to dominate the composition while keeping the energy and dramatic atmosphere fans will instantly recognise. I stuck with my smooth airbrush style colouring style to make it consistent with my other artworks.

Whether you're a long-time fan or recently discovered the series, it's one of those shows that deserves a place on the wall.

➡ View the Fullmetal Alchemist Art Print

Hunter x Hunter Art Print – Gon & Killua

What a series! If you've not read the Hunter X Hunter manga or watched the anime series, you have been missing out on a masterclass in shonen story-telling. One of my favourite friendships in anime has to be Gon and Killua.

Although Hunter x Hunter features some incredibly powerful characters, it's the chemistry between these two that carries the series. Their personalities complement each other perfectly, making them one of anime's most memorable duos. 

I wanted to show their personalities through body language with Gon being open and outgoing, while Killua is more guarded and private. I hope the  the illustration reflects their friendship while still capturing the adventurous spirit of the series. 

➡ View the Hunter x Hunter Art Print

Signed Anime Art Prints

Every print is produced from my original artwork, and even I break out my metallic posca pen to individually sign each one before posting.

Features include:

• A3 size (29.7 × 42cm)
• Available in Silk Matt, Gloss or Metallic finishes
• Heavyweight premium paper
• Individually signed by me
• Securely packaged in a postal tube to be sent anywhere in the world
• Combined shipping available on multiple print orders

Unlike many low-resolution copies found online (also known as an Ali Express / Temu special!), these prints are produced directly from the original high-resolution artwork. Also, I've got to say that the metallic versions are stunning. As soon as I show them to customers, there's over a 50% chance they'll upgrade to a metallic version.

Looking for More Anime Wall Art?

These are only a few of the anime illustrations currently available.

You'll also find artwork inspired by series including Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell and many more, alongside my own original manga illustrations.

For examples of how I create each piece, check out my posts "Creating All Might from My Hero Academia" and "Creating Bowsette & Boosette: A Fan Art Project". They show how I go from the initial sketch to vibrant colour-filled art.

Thanks, as always, for supporting my artwork. Every piece of Wall Art, T-shirt or Sticker purchased helps me continue creating new illustrations, books and tutorials alongside my commercial illustration work.

If there's another anime or manga series you'd like to see me illustrate in the future, leave a comment - I'm always looking for inspiration for the next project.

➡ Browse all Anime Art Prints

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Fan art is everywhere...

From bustling stalls at Comic Con to the depths of Instagram feeds - yet it exists in a legal and moral grey zone. Should it be celebrated or is it theft? A way for artists to have fun putting their own spin and an existing character, or the pre-cursor to a corporate headache?

In this post I'll unpack the history, economics, and ethics behind fan art, and ask where that leaves creators who simply want to make a living!

What exactly is fan art?

Fan art is artwork (illustrations, paintings, sculptures or crafts) created by fans that depict characters, settings, or stories from someone else’s intellectual property (IP).

If I drew a picture of Spider-Man, Harry Potter, or Goku, this would of course be considered fan art.

Unlike licensed merchandise, fan art is almost always made without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. It can be purely for personal enjoyment, shared online for free, or sold through online stores or conventions.

A Personal Shift in Perspective

For years, I believed selling fan art was wrong. How could I, or any artist, justify profiting from someone else’s ideas and creative labour?

If you’re creatively inclined and love to draw, why not invent your own characters, design their outfits, and give them unique backstories or personalities? After all, making something that is original, unique, and personal to you is more fun anyway, right?

But over time, my view changed. I began to see that, for many artists trying to earn a living, creating fan art isn’t just a guilty pleasure - it can be a necessity. In a crowded market, drawing what people already love and having instant access to an existing audience of fans can be the difference between a thriving art career and abandoning the craft altogether.

I want to discuss why I’ve arrived at this conclusion, despite my initial feeling that fan art is uninspired, of low artistic value and that selling it is both morally wrong and completely illegal.

A Brief History of “Fan Art” Before Fandom

Long before comic conventions and online fandoms, artists made their living by re-imagining stories that belonged to the culture at large.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most painters worked on church commissions, creating vivid images of biblical scenes and saints. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512) is a towering example: a masterpiece built on narratives that every viewer already knew.

Likewise, thousands of Madonna and Child paintings circulated across Europe—not because the subject was original, but because it resonated deeply with the public and with paying patrons.

In that sense, these works functioned much like today’s fan art. The artists weren’t inventing their own intellectual property; they were visually interpreting a shared mythology for an eager audience.

You could also argue that, in terms of cultural reach, yesterday’s Holy Bible functioned a bit like today’s One Piece tankōbon (manga book). A story everyone knew and shared, even if the initial presentation was spiritual rather than recreational.

As printing spread in the 18th and 19th centuries, illustrators carried the tradition into new realms. Engravings for Grimm’s Fairy Tales or dramatic depictions of Shakespearean plays filled books and newspapers, giving classic folklore a fresh visual life. These creators were celebrated, not scolded, for bringing beloved stories to new audiences.

Before the word “fandom” existed, artists were already thriving by drawing the icons of their era - proof that the impulse to honour and reinterpret popular narratives is centuries old.

Modern Mythologies & the “Death of God”

When the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared in the 19th century that “God is dead,” he wasn’t celebrating atheism so much as observing a cultural shift: traditional religion was losing its central role in giving people meaning and moral direction. In the vacuum that followed, new kinds of myth-making stepped in.

Today, vast pop-culture universes provide many of the same functions that scripture once did. Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, the Marvel universe, Dragon Ball - each offers epic narratives of good and evil, loyalty and sacrifice, personal growth and cosmic stakes. Fans memorize lore the way medieval villagers memorized parables. Quoting Yoda or Gandalf can carry as much symbolic weight in some circles as a Bible verse once did.

Fan art is more than a passing gimmick. It becomes a kind of modern devotional practice. Events like Comic-Con are the pilgrimages; cosplay the ritual garb; and sharing art online is the digital equivalent of creating illuminated manuscripts. By drawing these beloved characters, artists participate in keeping the myths alive and relevant, not unlike Renaissance painters reimagining scenes from the Gospels of their time.

The Legal Landscape

The moment an artist creates an original drawing, painting, or digital piece, it’s automatically protected by copyright. In most countries that protection lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. When a work is produced as a “work for hire” (as is typical in film, animation, or comics owned by a studio), the term is even longer - 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

As an artist, I’m grateful that my work is legally protected and that the fruits of my labour can’t simply be stolen. In fact, this protection just recently allowed me to take legal action and be awarded settlement against a business owner who stole and used my Day-of-the-Dead artwork verbatim.

Large entertainment companies guard their properties fiercely. Disney is the most famous example: it successfully lobbied for the 1998 U.S. Copyright Term Extension Act - often nicknamed the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” - which added 20 more years to the standard term, ensuring that early Mickey cartoons stayed under Disney’s control. I can appreciate Disney wanting to retain the rights to it's original cartoons since Mickey has always been synonymous with Walt Disney and the company.

However, when a large corporation hoards the rights to an IP that has grown to biblical proportions, this isn’t about protecting an original creator anymore. It’s about monopolising the original creation and exploiting its fandom to enrich distant shareholders. That’s something I take issue with.

Fan art exists squarely in a grey zone:

For personal use and sharing online, fan art is generally tolerated. A drawing posted on Instagram, hung in a bedroom, or used as a phone wallpaper rarely attracts legal action.

I wouldn’t put it past some unscrupulous corporation to one day try to monetise a child’s Pikachu fridge drawing, but thankfully, for now at least, policing this kind of use is virtually impossible.

Personally, I don’t mind if anyone creates fan art of my original creations, or even takes photos of my work, prints low-resolution versions, and displays them at home. And this is despite the fact that I make my living selling art prints- albeit high-resolution, signed editions on quality card stock.

At the end of the day, I’ve realised that not everyone can afford art. And with pretty pictures now virtually free thanks to AI tools, the true value of my work lies in the exclusivity of owning a signed edition and in supporting me (a real, individual human being!) as an artist to continue creating.

When it comes to selling fan art commercially, this is often technically considered an infringement on copyright. An example of merch containing someone else’s characters is typically considered illegal unless the artist has a license or the work clearly qualifies as fair use. For example, a transformative parody or commentary artwork can be argued to not break copyright.

Exactly at what point art is considered “transformative” for example is vague and subjective.

There have been a few headline-making clashes:

Lucasfilm v. Ainsworth (2011): A British prop maker selling replica Stormtrooper helmets faced a long legal battle. UK courts ultimately ruled in his favour because the helmets were classified as industrial design rather than art. A rare outcome and not a general precedent for fan artists.

Blizzard, the studio behind World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and other popular games, is famously protective of its intellectual property. Over the years, it has sent countless cease-and-desist letters to individuals and small businesses selling unlicensed merchandise - everything from T-shirts and posters to figurines featuring its characters.

Japanese doujinshi (fan-made manga) markets use a contrasting approach. Manga publishers often allow small-run fan comics to be sold at events like Comiket (a doujinshi convention), viewing them as free publicity and a way to nurture future professionals. An approach I whole heartedly agree with.

The most interesting case features the pop-artist Andy Warhol:

In the 1960s and beyond, his work frequently involved taking existing images - photographs, advertisements, or celebrity portraits, and transforming them into art. Famous examples include his Marilyn Diptych (1962) and his series of Campbell’s Soup Cans.

While some photographers and original image creators sued Warhol for copyright infringement, courts often sided with him.

The key reasoning: Warhol’s work was transformative. He wasn’t merely copying the original photographs; he reinterpreted them, changed context, and created something new with a distinct artistic expression. This distinction - between straight reproduction and transformative creation is central to the legal concept of fair use.

To reiterate: Warhol literally copied a trademarked soup can and sold the painting / prints for profit. He also took a photographer’s image, adapted it ever-so-slightly, and the courts still considered it legal. In the world of fine art, it seems you can repurpose copyrighted content with only minimal transformation. 

These precedents are often cited in debates about fan art: if an artist can transform a character or image meaningfully, they may have some legal protection, but it’s risky, and commercial sales can still attract lawsuits.

Perhaps the video game equivalent of Warhol's example might be taking a World of Warcraft screenshot, printing it onto a huge canvas after adding a filter, and suddenly you have a “transformative” work of art. But, common sense tells me the legal system would side with Blizzard here.

Curiously, even if I pushed this example further, creating an existing Warcraft character with a completely unique style, pose, and colour palette - therefore transforming the original concept far more than Warhol ever did, and then sold it on a mouse mat on Amazon, I’d still likely be liable for copyright infringement. In other words, the same creative act is treated very differently depending on the medium and market.

Warhol’s victories highlight the tension at the heart of fan art law: copyright exists to protect creators, but transformative reinterpretation is sometimes recognized as legitimate artistic expression, even when it borrows heavily from existing material.

Economics and morality of IP Control

Franchises like Star Wars, Dragon Ball, and Pokémon aren’t just meaningful and beloved fictional worlds - they’re multi-billion-dollar machines. Corporations guard these properties fiercely because the financial stakes are enormous.

• Disney earned about $4.9 billion in 2024 from “Consumer Products & Licensing” alone.
• Bandai Namco pulls in over ¥120 billion (≈$800 million) each year from Dragon Ball merchandise.
• The Pokémon Company’s lifetime revenue has surpassed $90 billion from games and merchandise combined.

With numbers like these, it’s easy to see why corporations defend their IP empires so aggressively. Yet it raises a harder question: why should an independent artist selling a handful of prints be shut out of even a microscopic share of this enormous cultural and economic pie?

Many fandoms today hold as much meaning for their communities as ancient myths or religious stories once did. But unlike those shared cultural stories, modern pop-culture fictions are locked inside corporate portfolios. A multinational conglomerate, often run by executives far removed from the art itself, now decide who may create or profit from these worlds, not for cultural stewardship, but simply to maximise revenue.

Historically, artists painted saints, deities, and epic heroes without needing a license. Now, when our spiritual and narrative touchstones are company assets, creative expression and a means for artists to generate income is constrained. Telling artists to “just sell original work” ignores a market dominated by well-funded franchises that command attention, nostalgia, and marketing budgets individual creators can’t match.

Artists bring imagination, skill, and cultural value that exceed cold corporate interests. Yet when meaning-rich universes are treated purely as assets, the very people capable of birthing the next great mythology are left with fewer ways to sustain themselves.

The Case for Fan Art

Fan art is becoming a vital part of today’s creative ecosystem.

It’s a gateway for emerging artists - Reimagining well-known characters attracts attention and helps new artists build audiences that later discover their original work.

It’s part of community building - Fan art reinforces shared enthusiasm and keeps franchises vibrant long after official releases fade. For this reason, some companies recognise the fandom surrounding their IP and actively promote it. In the case of fans then selling the occasional fan art print, they might even avoid interfering in order to appear as though they aren’t some bullying tyrant, going after the little guy and causing backlash within the fandom community.

It creates a point of cultural conversation. Transformative pieces - gender-swaps, mash-ups, stylistic reinterpretations and so on all add fresh meaning and can stand as original art in their own right.

Many professional creators quietly welcome it. Game publishers have been known to buy fan art prints of their game at conventions and manga ka (the original artists) post fan art tributes to their creation to social media. This is great. It helps provide artists the opportunity to monetise their talents. sustain a living and finally cash-in on the thousands of hours practicing their craft. The problem with individual artists selling fan art often occurs once a company becomes large, and super invested enough in their guarding their acquired property at all costs.

Fan art, in other words, is less a legal nuisance than a living dialogue between fans and the worlds they love.

The Case Against Fan Art

At the end of the day, commodification of a creative idea or work now exists. The ability to sell one’s idea or creation to a larger company can benefit the original artist and founder. And even be the difference between them making a living or not.

Selling prints or merchandise of another company’s characters without a license is, by definition, a copyright violation. Without any legal protections, it would be difficult for anybody to create anything new, for fear of it being ripped off the next day.

Sometimes fan art can overshadow the artists who are focused on their originals. If online marketplaces are overflowing with fan art, this makes it harder for the artists with fully original creations to stand out or earn a living. Surely, they deserve customers without needing to piggy-back off existing fandoms?

Brand dilution and offensive uses - Rights holders fear their characters could be associated with low-quality work, explicit content, or messages that damage the brand.

From a company’s perspective, tight control protects both revenue and reputation. Even if they quietly tolerate small-scale fan art sales, they reserve the legal right to act when a fan creation crosses the line.

Where This Leaves Artists

For working artists, the fan art landscape is equal parts opportunity and legal hazard. Here are some practical, non-legal tips to navigate it:

Go “inspired by” or parodic: Create pieces clearly transformative: unique style, new composition, or commentary. Parody and satire can qualify as fair use in some regions.

Keep it small and local: Limited-run prints at conventions or direct commissions are less likely to draw legal fire than mass-produced online merch.

Blend with public domain: Mash-ups with classic myths, folklore, or works whose copyrights have expired (Shakespeare, Greek myths) to add originality while sidestepping claims.

Use fan art as a funnel: Draw beloved characters to attract attention, but always showcase and promote your own original IP alongside them.

Final Thoughts

Fan art is both homage and potential infringement.

It keeps beloved mythologies alive, yet it also shows how extended copyright terms can stifle creativity.

Artists walk a tightrope: without fan art, fewer creators might never build an audience or sustain a living; without copyright, corporations fear lost revenue.

Personally, I value copyright for safeguarding inventors and original creators from outright theft. But it’s hard to care about corporate profits or the wealthy investors who over-commodify and monopolise fandoms. I understand a company protecting its assets from direct competitors. Yet when big corporations crack down on individual fan artists - people offering fresh, imaginative takes on beloved characters - it rarely feels just. After all, without artists there would be no fan-favourite properties to protect, so why target the very creative class that built them?

The vast majority of aspiring professional artists are not wealthy, nor are they in it for the financial reward. Greed or power is not the incentive. Rather, they want the opportunity to engage in their passions, to bring creative and aesthetic value into the world. Some want to create fan art for the love of it, others as a means to survive by utilising their unique set of skills. Perhaps I'm just speaking for myself here? But either way, we shouldn't be so quick to criticise and condemn those who create an original take on existing characters, or attempt to earn a living.

Transformative work isn't morally wrong and not even illegal in the correct context.

It’s crucial to distinguish between transformative fan art and outright image theft. That is to say, new creations built from the ground up with a unique vision, talent and skill; compared to stealing (or direct copying) and selling someone else’s art /image.

Transformative work enriches culture, builds upon and clearly differentiates itself from the source; piracy does not.

Unfortunately, online copyright infringement bots and licensing agents scouring the internet for offenders rarely care about that difference.

Much like the courts which eventually ruled that Warhol’s paintings and prints were transformative artworks in their own right, thoughtful fan art deserves the same recognition. As long as it’s clearly distinct, not traced, and not a direct reproduction.

Still, selling fan art always carries legal risk.

The most common outcome is simply a takedown notice, but there’s always a chance of being sued for damages and legal costs, which can become a stressful and expensive ordeal.

Perhaps legal enforcement should be somewhat nuanced and rank in severity depending on the crime:

1. Blatant piracy and theft,
2. Direct reproductions,
3. Cheaply produced AI generated content,
4. Slightly modified works (like adding filters),
5. And only then, transformative art if you insist on going after the independent, starving artists and fans!

Strangely, I've noticed fan art often gets flagged for infringement before direct theft. The uniqueness of the fan art stands out. Where as Bootleg sellers routinely peddle what, at first glance, appears to be non-modified, licensed art, and copyright agents often assume (wrongly) that a licence exists. Or the seller simply lies about having one. In reality, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to legitimately purchase a range of licences, and it’s absurd to think a small Etsy shop selling low-resolution, poor-quality T-shirts for example has paid for them.

Even if we don’t consider fan art transformative, perhaps a solution for selling it would be to offer artists an affordable, streamlined licensing model or profit-sharing system. An agreement that allows independent talented creators to contribute to the franchises and fictional worlds they love without fear of takedowns, while rights holders still receive their share.

It would make more sense for a company to gain a modest cut -say 10 % of each sale, than to pay out money hiring agents to issue takedown requests, where ultimately no one benefits.

Lastly- the take home question to consider:

I hope this gives a little more nuance to the issues surrounding fan art.

If you’re wondering, “should I create a business to sell fan art?”, the answer is no.

Firstly, you should always respect the law locally, or international. Secondly, despite arguments made for fan art potentially sitting in a legal grey area, dealing with any potential legal proceedings is not worth the hassle. You might be morally justified and even legally justified in some courts, but often the companies pursuing action against artists are mega corporations that have unlimited legal budgets. You do not. You or your lawyer will likely be unable to compete with theirs.

However, personally I believe certain fictional fandoms have become a huge part of modern culture. For some, they carry a depth of meaning and significance which has, to some extent, outgrown the idea of them simply being an entertainment commodity to capitalise on and profit from.

Therefore, is it right the a for a multi-trillion-dollar fortune 500 company to buy up everyone’s favourite IPs, monopolise them and exploit devoted fans to increase profits?

And in turn, should the artist class be constantly put on the chopping block for creating art that may or may not be considered ‘transformative’?

Another Housekeeping post

Can I tell you a secret? There's artwork in my portfolio from 20 years ago. Characters I'd drawn in 2004!

My gallery deserved another tidy. I still like a lot of my older artwork, despite the fact that it might not quite represent my current capabilities. So, should I remove older artworks to make room for something new? Or re-work older images in an attempt to level them up a notch? I began making a few minor improvements to an older character art. An hour later, I realised it would probably be better to simply redraw it from scratch. And in that case, I might as well just start something entirely new instead!

Originally, I'd considered removing a dozen images from the site, but in the end, I just reworked the Orange Masked Girl below, adding extra splatter effects to make it a little more interesting. It's more full-on Chicano graffiti style now. This was originally one of six masked girls I created 10 years ago, in 2016. Time flies.

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Frieren

I also uploaded a new artwork I'd created of Frieren. 

Frieren is an immortal elf from the anime / manga series "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" A Dungeons and Dragons style JRPG tale. She travels through various lands, accompanied by her companions, in search of bettering her magical abilities, such as casting spells that turn the ground into a field of flowers. Through her encounters with others and the challenges she faces, Frieren's character explores themes of resilience, companionship, and the passage of time. Her journey serves as a reflection on the nature of immortality and the complexities of existence.

Frieren Step by Step

Here's a stage-by-stage process of how she came together. Sketch - > Cleaned, Ink lines - > Flat Tones and Shadow - Rendering and Background. 

The final stage was to adjust colours and swap out the background for something a little more harmonious.

Lastly, a couple of close up shots...

The Frieren anime series shot up to the number 1 spot in the all-time best ever anime charts. It was good. Good enough for me to rate it a solid 7 out of 10, and to create fan art too. Although it's not quite able to compete with other anime I'd seen recently such as Dr Stone, Made in Abyss and Heavenly Delusion. I'm now feeling the need to create something less pretty and a little more bad-ass! Do you have any favourite characters from anime, games or films? An idea which might look cool? If you have any suggestions, let me know :)

Life of an artist in 2024

It's been a while since I regularly sat down with the intention to create new artwork. Strange, considering the fact that I present myself as a professional artist. Although being a modern day commercial artist means not only creating art, but also doing all the jobs surrounding the sale of the art. This includes: initial market research to help decide what might be popular with customers; promoting art via social media and other channels; creating sales pages online for each product; attending shows and events to connect with customers back in the real world; or packing, posting, and resolving issues with online orders.

Basically the business of selling art takes up so much time that creating art becomes secondary. This doesn't seem right. People don't become artists because they like selling and performing admin jobs. Most artists create art because they have ideas they want to express or to share their own aesthetic sense with the world.

Who values the artist?

The trouble is, the world doesn't properly acknowledge and reward creative types. When a best selling book is written, the publisher earns more than the author. When a chart-topping song is released, the record label takes the lion share. When art is sold in a gallery, typically the gallery takes a 50% commission, yet the artist pays for the materials used to make the piece. When a collaboration between talented writers, musicians, and artists creates a box-office smash movie, it's the producers and studios that cash in. Am I wrong in thinking people with money make money by exploiting others' creativity? Do movie studio shareholders care where the money comes from? Or about the comparatively starving artists paid an insignificant sum to generate them a huge pay day? Does anyone care?

It's true that there are creatives who made big bucks. Michael Jackson, Pablo Picasso, and Agatha Christie are listed as all-time best sellers in their respective fields. Each generating hundreds of millions of dollars. And many creatives alive today are comfortably living off of their artistic endeavours. Although I'm not sure people realise that for every success story, there are thousands who tried and failed through no fault of their own. I've personally met hundreds of them.

Why am I mentioning this? Because I hate injustice. Why become an artist and spend years devoting one's life to a creative pursuit, perhaps sacrificing luxuries or even basic needs? It would make far more financial sense to pursue a job requiring far less skill and time investment. Of course, if you're creatively inclined, money isn't the goal. But if artists weren't undervalued and could at least pay the bills, that would be great. And in my case, I'd love to be able to afford paying a team to run the admin side of my creative enterprise, allowing me time to do the job I signed up for. Perhaps I'll get there eventually?

I don't want to sound bitter. Instead, I hope to raise awareness about the plight of the many skilled artist friends I have who bring beautiful creations into the world yet aren't adequately compensated. Also, I'm a realist who thinks it's useful to make a counterpoint to the typical go-getter 'you can do it' advice other successful artists will espouse. Sure, that's what people want to hear. It's optimistic and inspiring, but naive. Making a living from one's artistic endeavours is tough, and for some, it will be an impossibility. Let's not pretend otherwise. 

With that said, I am an artist, so I need to create things. I have 🙂

Three things I've been working on:

For the most part, I've been thinking about anime fan art. I'll be attending a few upcoming comic conventions and wanted to offer up some relevant character art. I thought it would be cool to show a few progress shots, going from the mid-way point to the final, finished article.

Here's Senku from 'Dr Stone'. It's one of the greatest shonen manga / anime series ever made. Also it was originally drawn by artist Boichi, who's got perhaps the most bad-ass style in all of manga. My typical workflow starts with sketch, which I then ink to replace the sketchy drawing with smooth, neat outlines. These are filled with flat colours. Then I indicate where the shading will go with a darker tone, which gives it an animation cel look. I could leave it there but I always want to add smooth rendering to really make things pop!

Here's Gon and Killua from 'Hunter x Hunter'. As with Dr Stone, Hunter Hunter is top-tier shonen anime/manga. And I'm not the only fan- did you know the original author of Hunter x Hunter Yoshihiro Togashi gained over a million followers on X the day he opened an account! Often the term "fan art" is simply used to refer to art created by other artists of existing characters. The "fan" part isn't always true of some artists, but I truly am a huge HxH fan, so was happy to pay tribute to such a masterfully created story.

Nami from probably the most popular anime series to date, One piece. After having watched 1100 episodes (yes, a crazy amount), I thought it was about time I created another One Piece artwork after Zoro. I tried to incorporate Eiichiro Oda's style, and at the mid way point I was concerned with it. Maybe it just needed more purple (my favourite colour)? 😁 I continued refining the shading regardless and am now happy with it.

When I was a kid I loved air brush art. Maybe it was something to do with being an 80s baby? All the book covers and video game covers I loved back in the day had that smooth blended 80s airbrush look. When I found out you could recreate it using Photoshop back in the late 90s, it became my go-to art style of choice. Even when I experiment with different line styles, or face styles, I think the smooth, gradients and blends at the rendering stage help tie my digital portfolio together.

What is Berserk?

Berserk, crafted by the late Kentaro Miura, is a masterpiece manga that plunges readers into a nightmarish medieval-inspired world. At its heart is Guts, the "Black Swordsman," a lone mercenary marked by trauma and tragedy. Miura's storytelling delves into the complexities of human emotion, portraying guts as a deeply scarred individual navigating a brutal and fantastical realm filled with supernatural horrors and human malice.

Guts’ journey, from his mercenary days in the Band of the Hawk to the traumatic Eclipse event, unfolds against the backdrop of a world teetering on the edge of despair. Miura weaves a narrative that transcends typical fantasy boundaries, exploring themes of destiny, friendship, and the pursuit of identity. Guts’ relationships with characters like Griffith and Casca add layers of nuance to the story, revealing the fragility of human connections amidst overwhelming adversity.

Berserk's world is a character in itself—a grotesque and captivating backdrop mirroring the psychological and physical struggles of its inhabitants. From towering apostles to the ethereal realm of the God Hand.

Berserk's success lies not only in its evocative art but also in Miura's ability to elevate manga storytelling. The series is a visceral journey through the darkest aspects of the human soul, challenging readers to confront the brutality of existence and the indomitable will to persist in the face of insurmountable odds.

It's more than a manga; it is a literary and artistic masterpiece. A legacy which endures through Guts’ epic saga.

Ben Krefta is on a journey to becoming an artist worthy of creating a Berserk fan art tribute

Berserk left a lasting impact on Ben, inspiring his creative journey and leading him to eventually create this artwork. His artistic growth mirrors Guts' relentless spirit, a character known for his resilience in the face of tough challenges.

Decades ago, when Ben first got into the dark world of Berserk, he was hooked on Kentaro Miura's storytelling. But back then, Ben admits he wasn't skilled enough to capture the depth of Guts' character. In fact he could barely draw at all! Despite many frustrations, his determination to continually improve, led to years of practice and honing his skills. Deciding to document his progress, Ben created these progress images and time-lapse video below showcasing the stages of shading and rendering. This wasn't just about the final artwork; it was a nod to the countless hours spent perfecting his craft, a visual journey paralleling Guts' struggles in the pages of Berserk.

[caption id="attachment_7089" align="aligncenter" width="714"] Initial Line Art[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_7088" align="aligncenter" width="714"] Planning Colours[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_7090" align="aligncenter" width="714"] Main Shading and Rendering Complete[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_7091" align="aligncenter" width="714"] A few final notes before completion[/caption]

The Video

The time-lapse video below reveals the evolution from an initial sketch fully rendered finished art. Ben uses Photoshop with his trusty Wacom graphics tablet to add colour, depth and texture to Guts' worn appearance. Each shading layer is a deliberate choice, using his signature comic book airbrush style to add contrast and vibrance into the artwork. The video captures the gradual refinement of details and subtle nuances breathing life into the two-dimensional drawing. It's not just a showcase of technique; it's a visual narrative echoing the arduous journey of artist and character.

Ben hopes that sharing the creative process, the struggles, and triumphs of Ben's artistic journey will inspire others, in the same way Guts and Berserk did to him. The final stages of rendering mark a personal triumph. The last brushstroke isn't just about completing an artwork; it's overcoming self-doubt and creative hurdles.

I'm doing another tidy-up of my gallery

It's never an easy task deciding which artworks stay and which ones leave the gallery. There's usually at least one thing I still like about every image I've created.

When I was younger, I guess it's fair to say I had a small degree of aptitude when it came to art creation, but I've never been a naturally gifted genius. Creating each piece meant relying on a lot of grit, determination and trial and error over time to get artwork to a level where I was happy with the result. And therefore, removing any image from the gallery, effectively letting it die, always feels like a difficult job.

But with each passing year, my art gets a tiny bit better. I can see minor inconsistencies or errors with early work which bug me. And I ask myself, why am I presenting this as a representation of my capabilities?

Bye Bye Witch

Firstly- I created this anime witch art in September 2003 - 20 years ago! I'm amazed it stood the test of time, while many other artworks of that era had since been removed from my galleries. The face could use some tweaking and the background needs some work. There's a few other bits I'd alter to bring it up a notch. Having said that, I still like 85% of it. I'm going to keep it available for sale as a print, at least for now.

Goodbye to Cigar Girl

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Cigar Girl - a Chicano / tattoo themed character I made up in 2009. 14 years ago. At the time I wanted to become a tattoo artist. As an exercise, I'd check portfolios from local tattoo shops and try to re-create their tattoos while attempting to improve them [see photo]. In the end, I went to the shop this tattoo came from, showed them my portfolio and and asked for an apprenticeship. They liked my work, but didn't give me an apprenticeship. I ended up teaching myself to tattoo. A job I held part-time for around 12 years.

See ya Skull and Snake

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Skull and Snake – Again, this was a case of taking someone else’s art and attempting to improve it. The amazing thing about this one was the fact the original was created and drawn by an A-Level Art teacher [see egg-snake image]. Over the decades I’ve also attempted to land a job an an Art Tutor in a school or Lecturer at an art university. Other than a few short spells of 1-1 teaching and a one-off 2 hour Uni lecture whilst freelancing, I never managed to land a full or even part-time position. To be honest, I never understood how egg-snake man made it and I couldn't? For now I will have to impart my teachings through my How to Draw Manga book. This Skull and Snake artwork will, for the time being, stay available to buy as a print.

Goodbye to: Neon Pink Streak Portrait and Sci-Fi Sunset

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Neon Steak Portrait  - It was an experiment, using some digital textured media brushes. Normally my work is all smooth and airbrushed, so wanted to try out creating something more raw, textured and graffiti-like. It was quick to produce compared to typical art I make. It's a bit sketchy and think it shows. It was fun trying out a different style. Buy the A3 Print here.

Sci-Fi Sunset - Similarly, using textured brushes, I wanted to create something a little more painterly than my usual smooth, rendered blends. I like the colour scheme, so perhaps I can use the orange and purple again some day in a different, new and more polished artwork? Buy the A3 Print here.

Hello to: Geisha, War Memorial, Junko, DnD Girl, Zoro and Guts

I'm replacing the above artwork with 4 new pieces created within the last 12 months. I'd like to, at some point, present a closer look at each of these with their own blog post. For now, they've been uploaded into the gallery as stand-alone images. That now makes 45 portfolio pieces. Let me know what you think of these.

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I'd recently finished binge-watching the first 4 seasons of super-hero anime 'My Hero Academia'. Despite initial reservations after the first episode, I ended up getting into it and really enjoying it. My goal was to create some All Might fan art in a similar style to the Tattooed Goku I'd created a few years back. Here's some work in progress images to show the process:

Who is All Might?

All Might (Toshinori Yagi as he is known in Japan), in the anime and manga series "My Hero Academia," is a symbol of peace and the greatest Pro Hero in the world. His real name is Toshinori Yagi. Possessing immense strength and the ability to transfer his One For All Quirk, a power passed down through generations, All Might has dedicated his life to protecting society from villains. In his hero form, he is an iconic, muscular figure with a distinctive smile that inspires hope. All Might's incredible strength comes with a limitation – a grievous injury that has weakened him over time, making his time as the Symbol of Peace finite.

Beyond his physical prowess, All Might's charismatic and selfless nature has won him the admiration of both heroes and civilians alike. He becomes a mentor to Izuku Midoriya, the protagonist of the series, and plays a crucial role in shaping the young hero's journey. All Might's presence is a beacon of hope and a reminder that, even in a world filled with challenges and villains, true heroes can rise above to bring peace and justice.

Digital Sketching

I started with a digital sketch using reference from bodybuilder Jay Cutler who reminded me of All Might. This was then refined and tidied up, adding his "I am here" catchphrase to the banner- a line he must have used a million times in the My Hero Academia anime!
Time: 7 Hours to draw

Adding Colour

The first image on the left is probably around 60% through the colouring process. It was getting a bit dark, so brightened it up and added colourful background splatters to finish. I'm very happy with how it it turned out- makes a nice little tribute piece to the series 🙂
Time: 10.5 Hours to colour – 17.5 hours total.

Own The Art Print

As the icon of virtue, hope and strength, All Might can remind us to do good, help others and be strong. Would you'd like the symbol of justice to hang on your walls? And would rather display art which looks a little prettier than a copy-and-paste screen capture from the My Hero Academia anime? I've turned it into an A3 print, available to buy on my store.

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Buy The T-Shirt

I'd thought about creating and offering shirts featuring this and other designs in my store for some time. There was enough interest to make it happen, so have also now added All Might:

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Thanks for supporting my artistic endeavours, and if you're a Hero Academia fan, let me know. See you next time :)

I wanted to create a couple of new fan art pieces for fun. This year I decided to take a crack at Bowsette and Boosette (aka Booette)- a couple of spin-off meme creations from Nintendo’s Mario game series. The goal was to go full-on kawaii manga style with these two- huge eyes and small mouths.

Digital Sketching

I started with a digital sketch. Using multiple colours helps prevent getting confused by too many messy lines all over the place. After Bowsette was finished, I used her as a template for creating Boosette.
Time: 16 Hours

Neat Outlines

Then came time to clean up the artwork by digitally inking it. I kept the line work pretty thin for this project and not using thicker, heavier lines for the outside or varying line weighs like I might do in previous images.
Time: 11.5 Hours

Flat tones

The next stage is laying down the flat tones. The process of sketch, ink, flats and then rendering the flats is a technique and workflow I’ve been using in digital artwork since the late 90s. It’s a process that works out great for being able to isolate certain colours and parts of an image, keeping the artwork looking tidy and smooth, while retaining the line art, rather than painting over it.
Time: 1.6 Hours

Colours and Shading

Then it’s time to choose colours and a light source. This time light is coming from the centre/ top left. I start with a two-tone ‘anime cel’ style to figure out how much shadow the put down. I could leave it at this cel stage by sticking with the flat tones, but I’m often too tempted to start rendering and adding smooth gradations to the tones. As much as I love the typical anime aesthetic, I prefer creating a more 3D, airbrushed and rendered artwork.

Finished Artworks

Lots of rendering time later and both are finished. They make a good pair- by having opposing colour schemes- one with red/orange and the other with purple and blue. The artwork is tight and polished, making it suitable for large scale printing with the original image dimensions each being close to 14,000 pixels high!
Total time: 56 Hours – 28 hours each.

What’s next? I love experimenting in different styles, so I’ll probably take a break from the Kawaii manga look for a while and try something else. But this project showed me if I ever want to create more artwork in this style, I know I can nail it successfully 😊

Death Note fan art pencil sketch. It's a work in progress. I still need to ink and then colour. Might tweak a few bits also.

What is Death Note?

"Death Note" is a gripping tale of power, morality, and the consequences of playing god. The story revolves around a high school student named Light Yagami who stumbles upon a mysterious notebook, the "Death Note," dropped by the Shinigami (death god) Ryuk. This ominous book grants its wielder the ability to kill anyone whose name is written within its pages, as long as the writer has their face in mind.

Driven by a desire to rid the world of criminals and create a utopia under his rule, Light embarks on a dark and twisted path, adopting the alias "Kira" and becoming a vigilante deity feared by both law enforcement and criminals alike. However, his actions attract the attention of the enigmatic detective known only as L, sparking a deadly game of cat and mouse between two brilliant minds.

As the stakes escalate and the body count rises, Light's moral compass becomes increasingly skewed, blurring the line between justice and tyranny. "Death Note" explores themes of power, justice, and the nature of good and evil, challenging viewers to question the limits of righteousness in the face of absolute power. With its intricate plot twists and morally complex characters, "Death Note" remains a timeless masterpiece of psychological thriller anime, captivating audiences with its suspenseful narrative and thought-provoking themes.