HADOUKEN!
Anyone who’s mastered Street Fighter beyond just button mashing knows of the nostalgic joy that hearing “Hadouuuken!” can bring. And Javier Ramos (@Vlend) has created a design that both celebrates this classic arcade game, and also serves as a pretty good motto for life, too. We talked to Javier about his design, who he’d want to see fight in a Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat crossover (and who would win), and about his Artist Shop. Check out the interview below!
First, tell us a little about yourself! What do you do? Where are you from? Favorite video game of all time?
Hi everyone! My name is Javier Ramos and I’m from Barcelona. I work as a illustrator and motion grapher in a graphic design studio, but I love to draw in my free time.
I have a lot of favorite video games, but if I have to choose one, I choose Borderlands 2 because it is super funny and crazy. And my favorite old school classic video game is Earthworm Jim.
What kind of art do you do for a living?
I work in a studio doing commercial illustrations and videos. I work with After Effects and Photoshop all the day. And when I get home, I like to draw my personal crazy pictures. And of course I play video games later.
What inspires you?
I think today Pinterest is great for finding concepts and inspiration. And I have my father’s comics collection that is full of crazy ideas. Artstation is super good to discover amazing movies and video games concept art.
Tell me about this design!
It does not have a very original origin. I was thinking what could I do for the ‘Be Bold’ contest but I was blocked, so I went to play Street Fighter and the magic happened haha. My first idea was “Insert Coin to Continue Living” or something like that, but I wanted to do a design with two words. I wanted to do something like the “Stay Focus” design. I was not very sure about “Continue Fighting” and then my girlfriend appeared and she said to me “Draw it now!”
What’s your favorite character to play as in Street Fighter?
I am a great fan of Street Fighter. My favorite character is Blanka, because he is a electric green monster that loves animals and nature. He sometimes is a troll but he is a good guy.
In a battle between the characters of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, who would win and which two characters would you like to see fight?
I’m glad you asked me that question. The winner in that battle would be Street Fighter, because Blanka is from Street Fighter.
I would like to see a fight between Blanka and Shang Tsung because Shang Tsung is a bad guy. He wants destroy the world. And Blanka needs to do exercise.
You have an Artist Shop with us too! How would you define the collection of designs you’ve put together in your Shop?
I think this collection of designs is for people who like horror movies, science fiction, and want to wear it in places like music concerts, horror film festivals, or just to meet with friends. This collection is for people who like dark humor.
I love the horror elements of some of your designs in there! Are you a fan of horror?
Yes, I am a super fan of horror movies. My favorite horror movies are The Return of The Living Dead, Evil Dead 2, Drag Me to Hell and In The Mouth of Madness. But I love the horror movies when they are really funny. I think a sense of humor is the best thing in the world.
I love horror comics too. I love all the comics and the classic style of the horror master Berni Wrighston.
What’s your design and art philosophy? How do you get inspired when you have artists block?
My art philosophy is to learn something new drawing each image. I like explore other styles, try brushes, combine techniques, etc. And when I don’t know what to draw, I search at web pages like Ibuprofanum, OMG Posters, ffffound, etc to get some inspiration. And I always search in my personal folder of Threadless images. Your image gallery is pure gold.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Thanks a lot for reading about me and watch a lot of funny horror movies :)
