New Japanese Style Design

Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai was distinguished for the variety of his styles, his extraordinary technical excellence, and his observant delineation of contemporary life. His landscapes reveal a startling imagination and a dramatic sense of composition. One of his most famous pieces of his woodcut work is the "Behind the Great Wave at Kanagawa". You can see the original piece at this image:

Since Hokusai’s work dates to the 19th century his images don’t carry a copyright. Hokusai’s work has inspired many artist in many styles including animation. It is said that the waves in Disney’s Pinocchio’s wale sequence have been inspired from this same piece or artwork! In this case I have used his basic layout and replaced the foam with little skulls. I created 3 different skull brushes in photoshop and I used them in a scattering mode. I used the original piece as an under layer to follow as close as possible the foam formations. I also tried to keep close to the original colors and tones but I also added a grain to make the image look old. The skulls as well as the pirate ship in the back were an inspiration from the 2007 summer movie “Pirates of the Caribbean-At word’s end”. When I exit the theater I felt the two pieces could work well together.

Click on the picture to see the design in various products.