Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

This is a little project that I had my friends do for me for my birthday last Saturday. I asked them to do a sketch of their interpretation of Usagi in anyway they wanted to.

I have several entries with more coming in soon. I will post one every day. The first one will be today and I will post the next one on Monday.

Hope you guys like them as much as I do.

This is the first one which was done by Academy Award winner Doug Chiang. Doug has been an art director and Production designer since "Back to the Future 2" and has worked on many blockbuster movies. He was the Design director on the Star Wars films as well as the 2nd and third Matrix movies. He has since created his own company and has been the Production Designer on films such as Polar Express, War of the Worlds, Monster House and is currently the Production Designer for Beowulf. He's worked closely with directors George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis and is sought after in the movie industry. Besides being a great designer he is also one of my best friends. His personal project is Robota which you can check out here:

http://www.dchiang.com/

Once you're there, click on Robota to check out the artwork and trailers which we did in house.

This Usagi piece was a quick sketch done with pen and marker. Hope you guys like it.

Very cool drawing....

I have to say that is definitely a new look for Usagi!

You do seem to have some interesting and talented friends.

Abayo.....

Interesting take on him. Usagi is such an iconic character, it makes it interesting to see variations. Can't wait to see more.

I have several entries with more coming in soon. I will post one every day. The first one will be today and I will post the next one on Monday.

Wow, one per day... i often asked an Usagi to my friends illustrators but i spend a lot of time to wait... are all your friends working in movie design ?
when i saw this one i thought it would be neat to see an Alien version of Usagi (because of the ears of this Usagi)

i will check this thead regularly to see new contributions ^^

This 2nd drawing is done by Dermot Power who has been a concept and costume/character designer on films such as the Star Wars trilogy, Harry Potter 2, 3 & 4, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Before working in the movie industry Dermot was a comic book artist on Judge Dread, Slaine and Batman.

Here's his quick sketch of Usagi. This was done using Painter. You can check out his website here.

www.dermotpower.com

Another cool interpretation of Usagi Yojimbo!

I wish I had talented friends who would give me such cool birthday gifts.

Abayo.....

Here's the 3rd entry done by Bill Mather. Bill has been a matte painter in the movie industry since the 80's and has won an Emmy Award for his work on "Dawn's Early Light". Bill's passion is actually figure drawing and has published his work in a couple of books.

I love the lines and energy that this piece brings. It's even more impressive since Bill usually just draws realistic women.

His piece was done with photoshop. Here's a link to his site.
http://www.matherart.com/

I am running out of ways to say how fantastic your birthday presents are and how much talent your friends are displaying in their drawings. You are definitely going to give Colin some competition for the title of the owner of the coolest "Really Cool Usagi Yojimbo Fan Art Collection"

I love the expression on Usagi's face, how it shows such single-minded determination.....

I also like your new avatar!

Those last one is very amazing !

wow i really like it !!!! i could put this fanart in the 2007 UYD France Calendar. You could make a calendar with all your friend contribution...

the little rabbit is funny, and when we go on Bill Mather's blog http://www.drawn2beauty.blogspot.com/
we can see that he draws rabbit not only in this usagi fanart !

I like it, definitely.

Here's a pretty funny one from one of my best friends Ed Natividad. Ed is one of the most prolific people I know and does everything from concept design, costumes and storyboards. He's been involved with too many blockbuster films than I can count. He just recently got off of "Transformers" and is now on a live action movie of... well come to think of it I'm not sure if it's public knowledge yet so I won't be able to mention it. Sorry. I'll give you a hint that it's an anime that is going to be live action.

Anyway, here's his piece which I think is pretty funny. This would be Usagi if he was human and a New Yorker. This was a pencil drawing which was taken in to photoshop and colored.

Definitely differant

It needs time getting used to it but for some reason this piece just cracks me up.

The last one kind of reminds me of a Jack Davis caricature.

This whimsical take on Usagi was assembled by Aaron Becker, a concept artist at Iceblink Studios. Aaron has worked on Polar Express, War of the Worlds, Monster House and is currently on Beowulf. His personal art site can be found at http://www.storybreathing.com".

This is not what I expected when I asked for a sketch but it is Aaron's funny interpretation.