Admittedly, I go through life as a closet otaku. I fell in love with the art of Japanese animation quite a few years ago. I couldn’t get enough. I’d sit in front of the television watching it whenever I could with a pencil and a sketchbook in hand. It was a pretty big influence over my own personal art style. The hybrid of Western and Asian comic book art that I developed throughout the years is still one of my many go-to styles.

Just this past weekend I went to an anime convention in New Jersey called AnimeNEXT and it was oodles of fun. I walked around as a cat girl the entire weekend without one glance of judgement. But my meager ears and tail paled in comparison to the many beautiful homemade costumes that I had seen throughout the weekend.

Many “outsiders” don’t realize just how many creative types frequent these conventions. I don’t know much about sewing and the like but I imagine that these beautiful flowing dresses are not so easy to stitch together. What I do understand is the art of illustration though. The ultimate display of talent at these events in my opinion is housed within the Artist Alley.

So many amazing artists had tables at this convention. There were so many print designs that just left my jaw on the floor. They do have original art but these artists are skilled in the art of homage. I guess another way of putting it is that they sell “fan art.” And sell it does. Possibly more so than their own original works. Such is the way of convention artwork.

I know that fan art (not to mention anime art itself) is frowned upon in most art circles, but the composition and technical skill of these works are pretty hard to ignore. I’m not going to sit and defend the breaking of copyright law, that’s a whole other story, but… I still can’t get over some of the amazing stuff I saw this weekend. I literally wanted to buy everything. Especially everything Ohmonah made haha… such beautiful digital paintings.

[featured image is from Ohmonah’s DeviantArt Page]