Akutou: Asking for Advices. Eh?

Hamburgirl

This guy is too cool for words. I seriously pulled all my hair trying to come up with an appropriate title for this post that appropriately suits his awesomeness. And couldn’t find any! (Well, this one was the best I could do, playing on the fact that he shouldn’t have been the one asking for advices, because he’s already TOO COOL!) See how many ‘cool’ words I’ve been using in this super short paragraph? Once you’ve seen his works, I’m sure you’ll sympathise with my speechlessness... And he’s so much fun to talk to. And his website is to-die-for. But enough of me, OK, you ready? Here we go:

Q: Introduce yourself and what you do. 
A: I'm AKUTOU, I'm a French graphic designer. I create pictures on my computer, sometimes because I want to, sometimes because people ask me to. I mostly work with bands / labels, clothing brands or even blogs.

Q: A quick description of your artwork?
A: My works are usually vectors done with Illustrator. They're generally colourful and there is always some kind of humour in them. There are a lot of references or direct homage to games or movies I love. When I make a piece for fun, I pick a subject that is fun to me. It'll make me work on my technique and I'll have a good time doing it.

Q: In your drawings, what theme do you pursue? 
A: Taking a look back at my last artworks, lots of girls in there and video games related stuff. I guess I'm a ‘pervert’ and I play too much video game. I don’t pursue anything though, or if I am, I am not fully aware of what it is. I just want to have a good time and make something that looks ok. 

Bang Bang

Q: Why that particular style of graphic? 
A: I did not really pick it. That's just me and a computer. I could try to do something completely different I guess, but that wouldn’t be me anymore. At least right now, I really feel like doing this stuff. I don’t want to get serious, I don’t want to change the world or become pretentious with my art. I make "fun" or "cool" pictures. If people think they're cool, then I'm satisfied.

Q: What do you like and dislike about your works? 
A: I'm not thinking too much about it. Maybe I should? Something I like about my work is that I'm comfortable enough to experiment things, you know, using different techniques. If you only have one technique, maybe you'll get stuck sometimes or get bored of what you do. But me, I can adapt. I take a look at my options and I do what I feel like doing. About what I dislike, I can’t work when I'm given too many directions. I need some freedom otherwise it kills the fun and the creation is poor. When you make a picture, and you're working for people, you’ve got to please them. And sometimes pleasing them means going the opposite direction of the one you'd normally take.

Q: What is your dream project? 
A: Well, it's simple. As long as I'm working with people I like on a project that speaks to me and that allows me to make something good and have fun in the process, then it's a dream project to me. I have a blast though when I create something that ends up being a real product. By "real" I mean a tee shirt or an EP cover, something that exists physically. It's really rewarding for me to see the virtual pictures I made up on my screen get alive somehow in the real world, almost magical!

Q: Name three artists you would like to be compared to. 
A: I don’t want to be a clone of someone I like. I want to be me. Sure there are plenty of artists out there which amaze me, some I don’t even know their name. I don’t look up to a person in particular, right now I look up to myself and all I see is a very lazy artist who should kick his own ass and produce more and better stuff! I'll punch myself in the face tonight to remind it.

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've been given? 
A: Why don’t you give me some? 

Federal Agent Jack Bauer (Akutou's first graphic I saw - and OMG was I impressed!!!)

Q: Professionally, what's your plan from where you are at the moment?
A: I wish to finish all the things I started, to work on bigger projects, to meet new clients... maybe join a studio at some point. I'm not a person who has a plan. It's ok so far, hopefully there's a lot to do for me in the future and I get to work on new stuff continuously.

Q: What wouldn't you do without? 
A: My friends (online and offline), my computer, my precious mp3 collection, my video games that I play too much, all the pizzas I eat, my iPhone that I haven’t yet bought, people I've never met but who has liked a picture I did when they saw it, my awesome childhood, Japanese pranks, typing cute girls name in Google and lots of other things... but I'll stop there.

See? Coolness overloaded? I told you so. I would highly recommend you to go to his website and spend some quality time exploring it. For God’s sake this guy even has an online radio station! Now I’ll go and sit in a corner and sulk off in quiet jealousy ;)

Fiesta de go! Cover art

Nerdette (Collab with Souloff)

Oh Deer Indeed

H.N.