AKIRA, cut no. 955, poster
Artist: Hiroshi Ohno
Edition: 500 copies
Print type: lithograph (offset print)
Paper: Magno Volume 200 g/m²
Format: 50 × 70 cm
Poster of AKIRA background artwork for the AKIRA animation feature film (1988). The background art was painted by Hiroshi Ohno under the supervision of art director Toshiharu Mizutani and feature director Katsuhiro Otomo. Our poster is an official AKIRA merchandise product, licenced from Kodansha, approved by the AKIRA production committee and Katsuhiro Otomo.
The poster is available in two options.
Choose between the plain poster shipped in a tube, or the poster mounted on a 3mm aluminum composite sheet including our custom made picture hook, delivered flat and ready to hang on your wall.
Posters ship within one week. Posters mounted on a panel are custom made and take 2 to 3 weeks to deliver.
The last three images show the poster mounted on a panel. See our blog post for more information on this product option. We also created a guide on how to set up our custom made picture hooks.
In its monolithic appearance, this building, the high security research centre of the army, is unique in the fictional city of Neo Tokyo. The blunt structural simplicity, sheer mass, scale and power are symbolic of the prevailing order. Its size in relation to the surrounding architecture and the flared plinth convey the impression of immovability and inviolability.
The pyramid-like pod at the bottom of the high-rise resembles the headquarters of Tyrell Corporation, the android manufacturer's headquarters in Blade Runner (1982). The large number of windows suggests that the building appears to be much bigger than current high-rise structures.
For the art department the most difficult part of this production was to depict the vastness and complexity of the cityscape. In order to achieve a sense of depth in the cityscape the illustrators would begin with 3 mm windows in the foreground, the buildings in the middle ground would have 1/2 mm windows, and the windows of the buildings in the background could be represented only by a dot or a line.
The original artwork consists of two layers, called a “book”. Hiroshi Ohno painted both layers with poster color on paper. The top element was then cut out and mounted on a cel (transparent foil). The independent movement of both layers in front of the animation camera allows to create a parallax effect which simulates a sense of depth in the picture.
Approach to the structure had been realised by three crossfaded production backgrounds, this cut being the middle one.
Stefan Riekeles explains the background artwork for this sequence.
