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fan art (Page 5)

A whimsical Ghibli-like world captured in beautiful GIFs you can stare at all day

We talk about Hayao Miyazaki all the time here on RocketNews24, but that’s because the worlds that he created in his films are timeless and fascinating masterpieces. It’s easy to say that his work has inspired thousands of creative individuals around the world who look to him when making their own pieces of art.

That’s what artist SPARROW, who posts her work on Tumblr, seems to do and her animated GIFs are a real treat for anyone looking to lose themselves in Ghibli or Ghibli-like worlds. Join us after the jump for a beautiful tour of her magical GIFs and more!

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Last year, some anime fans with extremely specific tastes hit upon the idea of taking a picture of their favorite character, whether male or female, and subtly sliding a positive pregnancy test into the image. Not everyone is attracted to the healthy radiance of approaching motherhood, though, so now there’s a new burgeoning trend for those who want to dance on the razor-thin line between otaku creativeness and creepiness: using photo editing software to slip a chained collar around an anime character’s neck.

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Fan art of new Digimon cast in old style sparks debate on what qualifies as “f***ing disgusting”

With Digimon Adventure tri. representing the first new animation for the franchise since 15 years ago, fans whose passions for the series has continued burning bright for the last decade and a half were no doubt excited by the announcement of the new movie series. But being passionate doesn’t always mesh with being easy-going, and some fans who aren’t enjoying the new art style have taken it upon themselves to redo tri.’s as-yet released visuals in the manner of the original Digimon Adventure. Along the way, they’re also giving more relaxed animation fans an eye-opening lesson in how razor-thin the difference between acceptable and “f***ing disgusting” can be in the eyes of some long-term Digimon fanatics.

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Test your Ghibli knowledge: Can you identify the films by these minimalist fan-made posters?

Last month we saw one artist’s interpretation of Studio Ghibli films as super-detailed movie posters. This month though we’re feeling a bit more minimalist, so we want to showcase the work of artist Jackman Chiu. His simple yet impactful poster designs of the Ghibli movies are eye-catching, mysterious, and best of all make for a really good game of Guess That Ghibli Film!

So put on your Ghibli fanboy/fangirl hats and get ready to tally some points and see how many minimalist movie posters you can match with the correct title!

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Artist helps “entrepreneurial” Pokemon with clever business logos and concepts

Have you ever wondered what comes next for Pokémon after they’ve evolved to their final stage? Some of them, according to one graphic designer, have ventured away from their Poké-world and entered the small business world.

Pictogram, a graphic design company headed by Sebastiaan de With, created business logos for a variety of Pokémon. Each Pokémon’s “company” is also somehow related to its abilities and comes with a back story. Aside from the amusing concept, the logos themselves are top-notch, so along with us and check them out!.

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With winter break over, students in Japan are looking at a straight shot with no major breaks until the end of the school year in spring. For teens in their third and final year of high school, that means it’s almost time to take the big step of going off to college or finding a job, both of which mean probably having to cut back on silly hijinks.

That’s why when one Japanese 12th grader found an empty classroom, she couldn’t resist the temptation to let loose with youthful exuberance, especially since she knew it might be one of her last chances to do so. She didn’t take advantage of the lack of adult supervision to vandalize the school, though, but decided to beautify it with some awesome Frozen chalkboard art instead.

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Poseable North American Mega Man figure lets you admire the character’s belly in three dimensions

Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, it wasn’t unusual for Japanese video games to be released internationally with box art different from that which was used at home. Many overseas publishers worried that the original versions were too cutesy, concluding that the covers needed an extra dose of testosterone in order to appeal to machismo-seeking non-Japanese gamers.

The logic itself is sort of shaky, but what made things worse was how most of the new box art bore little resemblance to the in-game designs, plus rarely looked appealing even when judged solely on its own non-existent merits. While much of this lazily produced art has been fittingly forgotten, there are some things you just can’t unsee. Like discovering a dead pigeon inside your bag of fast food takeout, the North American cover of the very first Mega Man has been burned into the memories of older gamers, and the pudgy sci-fi hero has now made the jump into three-dimensional space with his own figure.

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While I was growing up, my family never got that involved in the discussion over whether the idolization of Disney princesses is a healthy thing or not. With three boys and no girls in the family, most of my parents’ time was instead channeled towards more immediate topics like telling their sons not to aim for the face during their regular battles in the backyard with their stockpiled arsenal of plastic battleaxes and broadswords.

As an adult, I can sort of understand both sides of the debate. On one hand, a little fantasizing seems harmless, and in and of itself, there’s nothing inherently wrong with little girls being drawn to such trappings of the princess lifestyle as a luxurious home and elegant clothes. On the other hand, criticisms about overemphasizing the value of comfort and beauty have some validity too, as if left unchecked those desires can turn into sloth and vanity.

As a matter of fact, one talented artist thinks Disney’s leading ladies make excellent stand-ins for all of the seven deadly sins.

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  • Jan 3, 2015

What would Youkai Watch look like drawn by famous manga artists? Well, it would look like this!

Many of you will undoubtedly have heard about the social phenomenon that is Youkai Watch. Indeed, the game, manga and anime series has been so immensely popular that some may even say that it has taken over Pokémon’s role as Japan’s favorite character franchise. Naturally, with that kind of popularity comes an abundance of fan art, so Japanese social trend and information compilation site Naver Matome has put together an article introducing selected works found on Twitter that stand out for a specific reason — for giving us an idea of what Youkai Watch may look like in the hands of some famous manga artists!

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The true meaning of December 25: The birth of Levi from Attack on Titan

With all of the secular Christmas decoration displays at shopping centers, and Japan’s focus on finding a date at this time of year, it’s all too easy to forget the real reason for the holiday on December 25. Really, the central figure in our minds shouldn’t be Santa, nor the cute girl or hot guy you just went on a Christmas Eve date with.

Christmas is a day when we should all stop for a moment to remember that the holiday is an observation of the birth of an amazing individual. Someone who, at times when our souls are tested, has always been there to show us the way, through his combination of wisdom, courage, and ability to effortlessly slice a 30-meter giant to death.

In other words, happy birthday, Attack on Titan’s Levi!

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See? Not all My Little Pony fan art is erotic fan fic! Anime-loving MLP fans pony-fy anime stars

Artistic talent, creativity and pop culture geekery seem to overlap way more than to call it all a coincidence. Super fandom in one or another or more pop culture franchises seems to inspire a lot of creative energy.

This would all seem to fly in the face of everyone’s disappointed parents who insist we stop wasting our lives and talents on video games and go out and get a job. No, no, go out and get a real job instead of just bloggertweeting about Japanese anime and cats and OKAY MOM I HEARD YOU THE FIRST HUNDRED TIMES!

Anyway, the point of this meandering lede is that some My Little Pony fans (possibly the much-talked about Bronies and possibly their female counterparts… My Little Pony fans?) have been doing a pretty swell job of turning their favorite anime characters into MLP characters and we thought we’d share some:

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Naruto fans turn message maker system’s interface lemons into ninja lemonade with awesome artwork

Manga artist Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja saga Naruto finally came to a close last month. But after 15 years of being on the receiving end of the awesome artwork and heartfelt words of the Naruto cast, fans now have a chance to send some of their own with a nifty message-writing tool on the franchise’s official website.

Unfortunately, it isn’t very user-friendly. But just like how Naruto’s titular blond ninja never gives up in the face of adversity, so too have fans found a way to work around the clunky interface and come up with some powerfully cool creations.

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More than 100 artists recreate Final Fantasy VII in epic fan video

Nearly 20 years after the release of Final Fantasy VII, the iconic Japanese RPG is still regarded as one of the best video games ever made. And although fans may have been disappointed by the recent announcement that the game won’t be given a facelift for its PS4 debut, Final Fantasy VII lovers can wallow in their grief by an amazing video compiled from 200 original works of arts from more than 100 artists. The artwork recreates key scenes from the video game, taking viewers on a very nostalgic walk back to the many days spent on their PlayStations with Cloud and his friends.

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Nausicaä re-imagined as an action movie! Check out this awesome fan art!

We love awesome art here at RocketNews24, especially when it features characters that are close to our hearts being re-imagined in different and striking ways. Recently, we brought you some pretty sweet fan art depicting a scene from Princess Mononoke. Now we’d like to continue the Ghibli theme by sharing this piece that re-imagines Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as an action movie! There’s Nausicaä in her Ghibli form above, but the fan art itself can be viewed after the jump!

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  • Dec 2, 2014

Chinese artist wows us with rendition of awesomely evil looking Dragon Ball villains!

As one of the most popular manga and anime series ever created, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has undoubtedly inspired fan art of every style and form conceivable from across the world. Indeed, the Internet is full of countless images of such works by both professional and amateur artists alike. But every so often we come across pieces of work that are so impressive that they grab our attention with their quality and originality, as in the case of these drawings of famous villains from the series. Join us for a look at the familiar evil characters of Dragon Ball reinvented into exquisite yet chilling illustrations — we think you’ll be impressed too with the vivid, colorful details that seem to bring the images to life!

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The 9 types of basketball players in Slam Dunk – which type are you?

Playing sports brings out a different side of us. This is especially so in sports that require cooperation within a team in order to go up against an opposing rival. It’s easy to put on a front at normal times when you’re composed and in your comfort zone, but it’s a battlefield out on the courts. That’s probably why some people say that you can tell a person’s personality by the way he/she plays on a team.

Here’s a personality analysis derived from the play styles of the characters from a certain popular basketball manga and anime series. Which type of athlete are you? Read on to find out!

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Very few Japanese homes have installed carpeting. Older houses and apartments often have tatami reed mats, and in newer places you’ll usually find tile, wood, or rubberized flooring.

That’s not to say people in Japan can’t appreciate a nice bit of soft fuzziness between their toes, though. Even without permanent carpeting, many people will toss a carpeted mat on the floor to make their living or bedroom extra comfy, especially during the colder part of the year.

Of course, cold weather also means spending more time indoors, with extra time on your hands, and sometimes that patch of carpeting becomes a canvas for some seriously cool fan art.

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30 hours of pumpkin carving! The making of my anime fan art jack-o’-lantern【Photos & video】

Every year for Halloween I carve a pumpkin for myself and for the trick-or-treaters to enjoy, usually based on a popular Hollywood movie with costume potential. To commemorate my post at RocketNews24, however, for this year’s jack-o’-lantern I chose my first ever anime theme! I went with one of my favorites from this fall’s line-up, Gugure! Kokkuri-san (繰繰れ！コックリさん), available on Crunchyroll.

Both heartwarming and twisted (for the non-anime-initiated), the series is an outrageously wacky, slice-of-life comedy adapted from a four-panel comic strip by Midori Endō. The large cast is led by Kokkuri-san and the young girl Kohina; the former is a motherly, lonely fox spirit (originally from J­apanese folklore) with both human and animal forms, and the latter is a hardcore bocchi (loner) with a cup noodle addiction who claims to be an emotionless doll.

Read on to learn a little more about the show and the design process, as well as to get a nicer view of the lit-up pumpkin. There’s also a time lapse video that condenses 30 hours of carving into just over 11 minutes!

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Space retro to steam punk: Sailor Moon girls get awesome makeovers

They might appear cute and doe-eyed in the original Japanese animated series, but we all know Sailor Moon girls are bad-ass. From a girl who throws flames to a chick with the power to annihilate an entire planet or star system, this is definitely a group you don’t want to mess with.

Fans are now taking the warrior characters out of the Japanese school yard and re-designing them with costumes, expressions and rendered environments that portray them as alternative, post-feminist, pop culture heroes. Take a look at the team as you’ve never seen them before – bruised after a battle or hanging out in cyber worlds, these are girls who fight, love and never run away.

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  • Jul 26, 2014

Watch this totally unique Sailor Moon fan video — created with illustrations by over 250 artists!

Now, I firmly believe that art in all forms makes the world a richer place. And since there are as many styles of art as there are artists, you can imagine how interesting it would be if a whole bunch of artists got together to create a single animated video using illustrations in each of their unique styles —  which is exactly what happened when over 250 artists provided artwork to reanimate an entire episode of Sailor Moon. The result? A full-length parody episode titled Moon Animate Make-Up that visually looks so hilarious, we just had to share it with you! Read More

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