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Five years ago, 26-year-old designer Mike Wrobel decided that he'd had enough. After spending his entire life in Nantes, a medium-sized city in western France, where he studied literature, philosophy, and graphic arts, he had grown sick and tired of what he calls the "very French attitude of complaining about pretty much everything." So one day, he up and moved to Tokyo.
Fast-forward to 2013, and Wrobel, now 31, is still living and working in Japan, independently operating his own design company Moshi Studios with clients that range from magazine art departments to brands to independent websites. He also runs a personal blog where he posts his very popular illustrations that reimagine the characters of Game of Thrones in fashions from the '80s and '90s. Now, he's shared his latest work with WIRED, a Muppets-themed look at AMC's meth drama Breaking Bad. (We knew Cookie Monster had an addiction; we just never guessed it was this bad.)
His first era-shifted Game of Thrones images debuted in May, 16 days before the infamous Red Wedding episode. "What if swords, bows, spears and armors had been replaced with some NES guns, bats and tracksuits?" Wrobel wrote in a post introducing his first two works: a grunge Jon Snow and Vanilla-Ice-thug Joffrey Baratheon. And because the internet, that's all it took.
"[The first post] was reblogged massively," he says. To date, it's got about 5,222 notes on Tumblr; he says his account now boasts about 13,000 followers. "I was really surprised to find my pictures two days later on people's Facebooks, on art blogs, etc. I got a lot of sweet messages from people asking me to do this or that character. I was initially planning to just do 5 or 6, but all this support motivated me to do more characters."
In the few months since the Game of Thrones series debuted, Wrobel says his popularity has surged across the board, including social media followers, graphic design clientele, and online customers. In fact, he says his Society6 page, where he sells merchandise like smartphone cases and T-shirts, has recently gotten profitable enough to give him some elbow room. "[Now] I don't have to take every work opportunity to pay the rent," Wrobel said.
>'No matter what or who else I design, it's always Jon Snow. Damn Jon Snow!'
Mike Wrobel
In the past, he's been a fan of multi-character single illos, like the one he did for The X-Files. With Game of Thrones, however, he says the stakes were a little more specialized. "It was important to focus on each character separately and catch their personality," he said.
"Portraying them individually allowed me to create different atmospheres: each character has his/her own ambiance, according to their personality. It wouldn't have been possible to push the thing this far if I had put them all into one illustration." Of the 20 characters he's drawn, he's had most success with one of his first choices: "The most popular artwork is the Jon Snow illustration. No matter what or who else I design, it's always Jon Snow. Damn Jon Snow!"
Now, Wrobel is turning his attention to another critically acclaimed show, which is returning to television this weekend: Breaking Bad. "The strength of a show like Breaking Bad is the fact that it's easily and quickly [recognized]. It has everything it needs to become a cult [classic] and a part of pop culture history: a unique atmosphere, some very charismatic characters, memorable dialogues, insane situations, questionable morals ... Walter White has become an iconic character. I am so inspired [by the show], and just wanted to contribute, like many other fans, to make this show live beyond its airing time."
A self-professed, life-long superfan of American shows like The X-Files, Twin Peaks, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Saved By the Bell (are his preferred color schemes starting to make sense?), his personal and professional designs are rich, complex, and intensely involved, partly due to the 12-20 hours he spends on each illustration–often til 3 or 4 in the morning, with 2 a.m. ramen and sushi breaks in between. His fandom is palpable in his art, and fans can always recognize one of their own.
"I am the kind of guy who will check the filmography of every single member of the cast before watching a movie. Sounds a bit maniac, right?" he told WIRED in an email sent at 5 a.m. Tokyo time.
As for what's next? "I made myself a huge list of movies and TV shows that I'd like to draw. But recently I have From Dusk Till Dawn stuck in my head, and I am planning on doing something about True Blood."
