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Otakon to Host Mecha Illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin
posted on by Egan Loo
The organizers of Otakon announced on Friday that they will host mecha illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin during the July 27-29 convention in Baltimore. Tenjin's photorealistic yet evocative drawings have adorned the boxes of Macross, Gundam, and Space Battleship Yamato works for over a decade, and he has provided his talents to anime productions from Macross Frontier to Hellsing Ultimate.
Despite having no format art training, Tenjin began garnering fans in college when he posted his Macross fan artwork on his personal website. That attracted the attention of the Macross creators, including the designer of the Valkyries, Shōji Kawamori. One thing led to another, and Tenjin began illustrating model kit boxes for not just Macross, but also Gundam, VOTOMS, Patlabor, and other mecha classics. He also illustrated games such as Gradius V and became the main artist for new art in Macross Chronicle and Space Battleship Yamato Fact File, the definitive resources for those two science-fiction series.
Eventually, he began working directly in anime as a visual and special effects artist, particulary for works from Kawamori's studio Satelight. His credits include Macross Zero, Macross Frontier, Hellsing Ultimate, Gundam Evolve, the Saint Seiya movie, and Genesis of Aquarion.
Image © 1982 Big West
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