Friday, December 4, 2009

BMW have commissioned a series of artwork that’s been created with the help of some photographs taken by Rene Neuman, which have then been worked upon by illustrator Frank Gräfe.

‘Japanese illustration is usually seen as either calligraphy or manga. Calligraphy is very formal, whereas manga is quite child-like and naïve. We decided to use a darker style – a fusion between ancient Japanese illustration and the more recent manga technique,’

‘We wanted to avoid the typical manga style, as it wasn’t aggressive enough to portray the personality of the S1000RR. Instead, we transformed the campaign into a darker comic world, with more speed and action, with the addition of traditional Japanese elements,’ adds Gräfe. ‘To create the initial visuals, I adopted traditional methods, such as normal black ink and paper. However, to convey the futuristic feel, I used computer imaging to create a collage of my drawings,’ he says.

Via: Motorcycle Journal.com

2 comments:

greg said...

I don't think the iconography is lost on anyone here, right? also, KICK-ASS!

Anonymous said...

Am I missing something with the heavy Japanese imagery...isn't BMW a German brand?

Oh, I get it - since they decided to rip off Suzuki and Yamaha to make the bike they might as well assimilate the cultural imagery.