Baltimore, MD - April 27, 2012 – Otakon 2012 is proud to announce that illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin will be coming to Otakon 2012!

With no formal art training, Tenjin has staked his claim as one of the premier illustrators in Japan, having drafted mechanical art for the Macross, Gundam, and Space Battleship Yamato franchises. This artwork includes model box covers, DVD covers, art books, and mechanical designs for some of the later shows.

Tenjin began drawing Macross' signature fighter, the VF-1 Valkyrie, while he was still in college for a personal fansite. His love extended to doing pinups for the “Macross Chronicle”, a weekly fan publication, which eventually led to doing work for another fan publication, the “Space Battleship Yamato Fact File.” Since then, Tenjin has illustrated the box art for several Gundam Master Grade model kits for Bandai and the cover for the PlayStation 2 game Gradius V.

Tenjin’s earlier works also led to him to become the main visual artist or special effects artist for numerous animé including Macross Zero, Macross Frontier, Hellsing Ultimate, Gundam Evolve, the Saint Seiya movie, and Genesis of Aquarion. This year, Tenjin can be found as the cover artist of the Japanese version of Sony's Starhawk and as the mecha artist of the TV series, DVD/BD packaging covers and promotional artwork for Aquarion EVOL.

Otakon 2012 will be held July 27 – 29 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its nineteenth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Since 1999, Otakon has been held in Baltimore, Maryland; currently, Otakon is one of Baltimore's few large, city-wide events, drawing over 31,000 individual members for three days each year (for a paid attendance of over 85,000 turnstile attendees). Otakon is a membership based convention sponsored by Otakorp, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff – we are run by fans, for fans.

For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see http://www.otakon.com/otakorp/index.asp For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2012, see http://www.otakon.com/