| Accomplices: John Beckwith's Archive |
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It's really interesting that John Beckwith's art should happen to appear here, mainly because he's indirectly responsible for my large fanart collection. Back in 1997, when there were very few websites on the net and even fewer Strider sites, someone posted a drawing of Hiryu, Kain, and Sheena on Neostrider's old site. I liked it. A lot. I saved it onto my hard disk, but it didn't stay there long because my box crashed soon after.
Cut to 2002. I'd amassed a large quantity of Strider fanart in searching for the few pieces I'd lost back in '97. I'd started this site, too; it was only about two months old when John Beckwith contacted me. He said he had a large archive of fanart he wanted to donate to my site. Naturally, I said I'd be happy to host it, thinking it was going to be mostly the random sketchings of a twelve-year old. Little did I know how simply enormous his archive would turn out to be. At just over fifty images, his archive trounced Burning Hiryu's by a margin of thirteen. Additionally, all of John's art was drawn on actual paper, colored with markers and pencils, and finally scanned in. This in itself was a refreshing change of pace, as most fanarts are heavily retouched in Photoshop. To top it off, his archive contained the image I had searched so long and hard for. It was every bit as good as I remembered; if I could silkscreen that sucker onto a t-shirt, I would. Anyway, this is everything he sent me, only somewhat more organized. Enjoy!
John Beckwith's style is a bit unconventional, as far as Strider fanart goes. He draws in a vaguely "G.I. Joe" or "Marvel Comics" style, which fits well with the post-NES game world that his storylines are set in... |
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...he came up with a wonderfully original setting for his characters. Mixing the post-NES technological world with a bit of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons fantasy, he came up with an arc he named Planewalking. The following pictures are set in that world, and will give you some idea of his creativity level. |
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These are assorted images with no particularly unifying theme to them. |
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...and these are yet more assorted images, but more recent (circa 2003-2005 unless otherwise noted). |
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