Otomo Shohei is a well known illustrator, the son of the famous manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the popular manga ‘Akira’. He was born in Tokyo in 1980, and graduated from Tama Art University with a

degree in art, specialising in oil painting.

"Back when I was in university, I was just messing around, scribbling stuff on my notebook during my oil painting class. I wasn't very good with colours to begin with. I just had more fun drawing with ballpoint - I felt

more unrestricted, or free to express myself.”

He creates illustrations of the fuse between old cultural Japanese art

such as Geishas and important figures with modern elements highlighting the style of anime

and ‘furyo’ (delinquent) features such as the stereotypical

portrayal of punk and youth of today, creating an unique sense

of approach to art.

His influences comes from the balance between Western

contemporary culture and classic Japanese traditionalism.

His series of work is produced by the use of a ballpoint pen - which characterizes his artworks in a noir/ black and white style with the signature touch of a red

accent to portray the motif of the Japanese flag. He works strictly in black,

white and red tones.

The ballpoint pen allows precision of the careful detail in his artwork displaying in a realistic, 3-dimensional form to bring

the intricate illustration to life.

ELEMENTS OF PUNK CONNOTATIONS SUCH AS SPIKES AND TATTOOS WITH YOUTHFUL DELINQUENT/ REBELLIOUS POSES

CLASHES IN CONTRAST WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TRADITIONAL, CULTURAL FIGURES.