John Beckwith's Fanart Archive

It's interesting that John Beckwith's art appears here on the LSCM, 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...

Stat Sheet
GI Joe-style #1
GI Joe-style #2
GI Joe-style #3
GI Joe-style #4
GI Joe-style #5
GI Joe-style #6
GI Joe-style #7
GI Joe-style #8
GI Joe-style #9
GI Joe-style #10
GI Joe-style #11
GI Joe-style #12
GI Joe-style #13

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 pictures on left are set in that world, and will give you some idea of his creativity level.

Hiryu's upgrade
Planewalking #1
Planewalking #2
Planewalking #3
Planewalking #4
Planewalking #5
Planewalking #6
Planewalking #7
Planewalking #8
Planewalking #9
Planewalking #10
Planewalking #11
Planewalking #12
Planewalking #13
Planewalking #14

Here are some assorted images with no particularly unifying theme to them (circa 2002-2005).

JHB's Favorite Image
Female Strider
A Damn Cool Bad Guy
Unfinished Drawing
Scene #1
Scene #2
Scene #3
Scene #4
The One I Searched For
B&W Super Deformed
NES Hiryu Sliding
NES Hiryu Standing
Stuff from the NES Game
SD Hiryu Sliding
Rough Sketch #1
Rough Sketch #2
Strider Blue
Alt. Strider Blue
Patrol Walker
Strider Logo
Strider Logo Sketch

John is an artist's artist. He draws, it seems, almost as often as he breathes. I can't keep up with how much Strider art he puts out there. This is only a fraction of what he's done.

The Amazon Level
Beluga F
Hiryu On A Dock
Hiryu Crashing Down Through Glass
Hien vs. Hiryu
Hiryu vs. Hydra
Knights
Neo Hong Kong, #1
Neo Hong Kong, #2
Zain Terminal
Hiryu's NES Skills
Bouncing Spider-Bot
Katherine Evans' sketch
Hiryu Running Towards You
Hiryu Seen Running, From Above
Hiryu, Seen Sliding From a Bird's-eye POV
A Homemade Strider Poster, circa 1991
Older Pic of 2 Striders, Leaping
Older Hiryu Finds A Skeleton
Older Hiryu Parachuting
Kazakh
Bishonen Mirror
Strider Crossing
Hiryu Dashing
DaVinci-style Hiryu/Meio
Cypher Practice
Hold Still!
Rocket
Cloak and Dagger
Hiryu CP Marker

Interested in checking out more of John Beckwith's work? Stop by his DeviantArt page.