by Toussaint Egan

There are two types of successful visual practitioners, in my humble opinion: your favorite artists, and your favorite artist’s favorite artist. Ash Thorp exists firmly within the latter category. Based out of San Diego, California, the 43 year old creative director and multihyphenate has amassed a prolific career across the intersection of visual art, user interface design, motion graphics, production design, and concept art. If you're not someone heavily steeped in the world of online art communities (e.g. me), it's entirely likely you've never even heard his name before, but make no mistake, you have experienced his work at some point in the past two decades.

X-Men: First Class. Prometheus. Ender’s Game. Ghost in the Shell (Yes, that one. I know, I know; just bear with me here). Captain Marvel. Foundation. This is just a sampling of some of the feature films and television series Thorp has lent his considerable talents to in the past. He’s also steadily begun to branch out into interactive entertainment, having worked as a concept artist on Bungie’s 2026 sci-fi FPS Marathon under art director Joseph Cross, whom he previously worked alongside on the aforementioned live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of Thorp’s work, particularly his aptitude for futuristic user interface design and motion graphic animation. Arguably the most notable example of his motion graphic work is the title sequence he directed for the 2015 FITC (“Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.”) design summit held in Tokyo. It's a brilliant, dizzyingly-detailed sequence which combines Thorp’s proclivity for arresting typography and bright, eye-catching colors which morph back and forth before culminating in a brilliant and beautiful crescendo.

It’s sincerely difficult for me to encapsulate all of the cool shit Thorp has made and been involved with over the course of his career. He directed Project 2501 and Awaken Akira, two animated tribute shorts dedicated to Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film and Katsuhiro Otomo’s landmark 1988 anime respectively, the former of which resulted in him being tapped to work on 2017’s Ghost in the Shell. He designed the Batmobile for 2022’s The Batman, and has since branched out into real-life automotive design through his design studio Make Haste. As if that weren't enough, he’s also directed several original concept shorts based on his one original properties and ideas, each arguably just as distinctive and memorable as his commercial work, if not more so.

Rest assured, if something cool is happening in contemporary film and television with regard to science fiction, Ash Thorp isn't far behind. He is, quite frankly, a 'one of one' artist; the sum of many influences, and yet his work is unmistakably all his own.

/out of frame

🦇 Toussaint: I’ve started reading Naoki Urasawa’s Billy Bat. The best way that I can sum up the premise is: Imagine a centuries spanning conspiracy thriller about a Mickey Mouse-like cartoon character who turns out to be a malevolent trickster God that’s bedeviled humanity for millennia through some of history’s most notorious and influential figures. I’m really digging it so far!

🎞️ Kambole: Meanwhile MY whole existence has been Annecy prep. Can’t really talk about what any of it yet, but I’m looking forward to going again. In the meantime, my non-work viewing has been Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, which I had put off watching in stubborn protest because of how often people say the 03 one is the inferior show (it’s not). Lastly – as I write this, I'm downloading the final content update of Destiny 2, a flawed but wonderful video game which I hold close to my heart.

🎮 Rollin: My whole entire existence has basically been Summer Game Fest the past several weeks. I'm looking forward to doing... literally anything else next week, even if there have been some cool reveals.