Five years ago, Jed Henry joined forces with Dave Bull to raise funds for Ukiyo-e Heroes, an art company known for highly detailed and intricate woodblock prints featuring characters from video games. They ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, and because of it, they’ve been able to grow, which means they’ve been able to teach the art of carving woodblock prints and help grow the community to keep the craft alive. Now that they’re capable of creating images of even greater complexity, they’re focusing their energies on Ukiyo-e Heroes: Boss Fights.
As Bull explains in the above video, there’s a history in Japanese printmaking of depicting epic battles. It’s all about the action and dynamic movement. Henry poured that kind of aesthetic into the new prints as he pitted video game characters against each other in big, bold fights.The Boss Fight series includes the likes of Cloud Strife and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII duking it out, monsters from Monster Hunter facing off, and an incredible set of Overwatch heroes going all out against each other. A new Kickstarter campaign supports the creation of these prints. Rewards include a coloring book PDF, a bound volume of Ukiyo-e Heroes’ classic prints, a reservation for a print party to Bull’s shop in Tokyo, and giclée or woodblock prints.
Do you create any sort of pop culture-inspired art? If so, I want to see it. Whether you focus on a specific fandom or pull inspiration from multiple stories and mediums, I’d like to highlight what you do. If you’re interested in being featured in a future edition of Fan Art Friday, get in touch with me at alratcliffe@yahoo.com with examples of your work. If you’re not an artist, feel free to email me with recommendations for Fan Art Friday.
Images: Ukiyo-e Heroes
Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. Follow her on Twitter and keep up with her Disney food adventures on Instagram.
See more video game goodness!
- See custom video game tables.
- Relax on an arcade game sofa.
- Look at Legend of Zelda characters as masks.
