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Street Artist Draws a 30-Foot-Wide Tokyo Panorama

Can you find the secret 'Akira' reference in Decktwo's massive new illustration?
Click to enlarge. Exclusive images, courtesy the artist

A sprawling metropolis blossoms on a 30' stretch of white paper as French illustrator and street artist Thomas Dartigues, a.k.a. Decktwo, freehands the intricately detailed, semi-mythical panorama of Tokyo he calls Expanding Drawing. "Tokyo is the main theme of the piece, even though it’s drawn like a fantasy world with huge monuments that everyone recognises," Decktwo's manager, Nathalie Lapicorey, explains to The Creators Project. With a massive Tokyo Tower just across the bay from a larger-than-life Tokyo Ferris Wheel and a giant Tokyo Skytree, Dartigues takes some liberties with the city's skyline, but to great effect.

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To capture the city's iconic skyscrapers, bridges, and landmarks, he traveled to Tokyo from France in person. Some of the coolest parts of the drawing, however, are hidden in tiny authorial additions. "There are nine meters of paper, all filled in with lots of details that you can only see when you’re close to the artwork," Lapicorey says. "For example, a Kaneda motorbike on the bridge as a tribute to [Akira creator Katsuhiro] Otomo, people wandering in the city, the Tokyo Tower fully detailed, and funny neon signs in Shibuya."

Dartigues is used to drawing on walls—as was the case in his previous Global City illustration—but Expanding Drawing was a particular challenge, largely because he had to pull it off in four days (and one all-nighter). Watch the documentation of Expanding Drawing above to see Dartigues in action, and click here for a high-resolution look at the final image.

See more of Decktwo's work on his website.

If you also have an awesome project to share, email us: editor@thecreatorsproject.com.

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