The staff of Anime Expo revealed on the convention’s website on Thursday that the 2023 event will host manga creator and illustrator Acky Bright as a guest of honor.

Illustrator Acky Bright is a self-taught manga artist. He founded the design studio Brightworks in 2002. He was one among six artists chosen by Museum of Modern Art curator Paola Antonelli to demonstrate Japanese art to travelers to Japan. The Narita and Haneda Airports installed his manga-style video starting from February 2021. Bright has designed merchandise for Hasbro‘s Transformers franchise. He has collaborated with BMW of Germany on a manga titled Heroes of Rivalry featuring e-sports teams Cloud 9, FNATIC, FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports, T1, and OG Esports.

This year’s Anime Expo will return to Los Angeles on July 1-4. The event will also host Final Fantasy Illustrator Yoshitaka Amano as a guest of honor.

The convention recently discontinued its Premier Fan Badge system.

Source: Anime Expo‘s website