Evan Hayden

@electronvolcano.bsky.social

504 Followers 338 Following

I'm Evan, and I letter manga for a living! 340+ vol so far. 2025 American Manga Awards Lettering winner. (Thank you!) I try to make art & music in my rare free time. I like cats, cars, cameras, & karaoke. linktr.ee/evanhayden

Sam Neill as Dr. William G "Billy" Weir in the 1997 science-fiction horror film "Event Horizon". He is wearing a jumpsuit, and is crouched against the wall in a tight corridor made up entirely of green-tinged circuit boards. He looks a bit exasperated.
Cute dog going HEFF HEFF HEFF
Fireworks over Toledo Ohio
A shirt I made when I was young. Blue shirt. Says “R.I.P” in glittery American flag iron-on letters.
My son’s red Nintendo 3DS XL system sitting on my green & white Formica dining table. On the system is a black Nintendo-branded woven wrist strap with a cloisonné Pokémon 10th anniversary Pikachu charm. I have lots of little accessories like this from over the years and have been finding treasure while gradually cleaning out my garage. This strap was still in the packaging, and who knows, maybe it’s worth some money, but it’s more valuable while in use, protecting that 3DS from being accidentally flung who-knows-where by my very energetic son. Oh, and he loves Pokémon, so that fits too! Can’t believe Pokémon is already 30 years old now!
A 46-yr-old bearded man with green hair l, wearing a “I ❤️ NY” shirt, against a grey painted brick wall. First time I’ve been all-green since age 20. “Blond Ambition” era over and “Hulk Hair” era begins, haha. It’s been every color of the rainbow over the years but it’s been a little while since I did a color this unusual. Not sure yet if it suits me. Got very used to the blonde I had this past couple years, and I think that looked better, but I want to avoid bleaching my hair again for a while, since I’m still a few months post surgery and people lose hair a lot after gastric bypass and I don’t want to hasten that by putting anything too strong on my scalp. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Alarms I’ve set on my phone, staggered, and getting more frantic in their verbiage as time goes on.
A couple Canadian flag pins that belonged to my mom.
A photo of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, with the political signs behind her photoshopped to more or less say "Leopards Eating Faces Party 2026 We'll never come to regret this later. Definitely! Maybe. Oops." ------------ 豹顔食政党 きっと後になって後悔することはないよね？ 後で後悔する ことはないだろう。 絶対に！ たぶん。 おっと。 Please forgive any Japanese errors I made. I speak well enough to communicate with my wife fully in Japanese (which is my most important reason to keep studying), but I suck suck suuuuck at reading & writing it, mainly kanji. The beautiful bane of my existence. I'll leave it up, but if there are any really severe mistakes, please let me know!
Ladytron on stage at St Andrew's Hall in Detroit MI, 2/25/2003
Me, standing outside in the gym parking lot, looking stern. Dark blue sky in the background with the sun just starting to come up. Neon yellow-green Adidas running shoes I got at a screaming bargain at the Adidas outlet store. When I wear these particular shoes with my purple Adidas track jacket, o look like the EVA-01, haha. Anyway, also in the photo, black & white Adidas jogger pants I also got on a screaming bargain at TJ Maxx. Black & blue track jacket (Hurley?) that I bought 20 years ago. Orange tote bag with one of my illustrations on it (hard to see from this angle.) Bleached hair that has thoroughly grown out and is showing brown & grey roots. Stern face. I’m not feeling especially stern or serious, but my face these days has some heavier laugh lines than the days when my face was more filled-out. That’s taken some getting used to, looking frowny in my neutral photos, but it’s ok. I feel good at least! Exercise has been helping me get through this pretty stressful life/world era. I like how ALT text allows me to be super wordy in the way that I usually am on social media. It’s probably not a good habit, but hey. Hello to anyone who is actually reading this!
A full recycling bin, overflowing with empty Rockstar Energy cans. My old "deadline juice". HOLY SHIT I was wired all the time.
A mistape I made as an 8-yr-old boy, called "RAP MUSIC". Featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Biz Markie, Public Enemy, Young M.C. and the not-exactly-hip-hop Technotronic. I seem to have only finished the first side, seeing as there are only six songs listed, and only on side A. The packaging is neon green paper, with photocopied logos and artwork from some of my hip hop cassettes taped on. The tape has yellowed significantly with age. I have also deteriorated with age.
An image made with the Burger King text generator, featuring a quote from George Orwell's "1984": "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever." and a delicious burger
A few sheets of paper where I wrote the name “Joe Yabuki” (the main character of Ashita no Joe) in stylized script, using a Japanese sumo brush and ink. Also pictured are my various shodō / calligraphy accessories I bought in Japan. A variety of brushes. Two types of ink (bottled India ink and a sumi stick.) A couple of suzuri (ink wells), one plastic and one stone/ceramic (inside the box.) I use these tools once in a while if I want to get a brush script effect on some manga lettering. This will be for a sign in Ashita No Joe 6. I’ve also used this technique a lot in Tank Chair, for Yuuri’s “spectral ninjutsu” techniques.
a "please keep off the grass" sign at Paisley Park, with the Paisley Park logo.
L to R: me, Felix, Miwa, in September 2024, outside of Paisley Park. (Prince's home and recording studio, now a museum.) We are standing in front of a variety of plants, and a big purple Prince "Love Symbol".
A screenshot of the CNN homepage from April 14th, 2026. A black & white x-ray (MRI?) photo of the cross-section of some human thighs. The headline reads "Ultraprocessed foods are turning human thighs into well-marbled steaks". Above the pic is a call-to-action blurb that says "CHECK THESE OUT".
My wife cutting some chocolate roll cake while our son watches intently. (Clearance bakery section at Meijer since we are penny pinchers!) She is wearing a bright red cardigan and the walls are a warm reddish tone. The table has a white & aqua geometric diamond pattern.
Two manga books. volumes 2 & 3 of “Mujina: Into the Deep”, by Inio Asano.
Two manga books. “Downfall” and volume 1 of “Mujina: Into the Deep”, both by Inio Asano.
A screenshot of the news show Breaking Points. Reporter Ryan Grim and others went to Cuba to report on the effects of the blockade on Cuba. The video is titled and thumbnailed about the Russian oil tanker getting through the blockade, but the main story is about a young boy with cystic fibrosis who desperately needs medicine that his family can't access due to the Cuba's status and the blockade the US has put upon it. Here is that young boy being cared for in the hospital, with the subtitle of his mom saying "we're all human beings". I'm tired of my country being more and more evil all the time. There are so many of us Americans who don't want this, and we don't want our tax dollars to fund evil like this, or war in Iran, or genocide in Gaza. Trump and his entire movement has to go, and they need to be brought up on war crimes and crimes against humanity. INTERNATIONAL LAW HAS TO MEAN SOMETHING.
Poster promo art for the new Ghost in the Shell anime by Science Saru, featuring the major sitting on top of a tachikoma. (A cyborg lady with blue hair, wearing a grey tactical suit, and a dark visor propped up above her eyes. The tachikoma is a red crab-like mech, with some cute eyes/lenses (pink, yellow, red, and green.) This new Ghost in the Shell anime looks like it's going to capture the feeling of the original manga, which I loved as a teenager. Pure nostalgia, pump it into my veins!
"Someone stile my PS4 Dreams. Can't have shit in Detroit." A spin on the can't-have-shit-in-Detroit meme (which was originally about Cincinnati, actually, but I grew up sort of near Detroit, so I'll keep that version.)
A photo of yours-truly, leaning against my car, smiling. I’m wearing my bright red Puma track jacket, which matches my bright red 2007 Mazda 3 hatchback. Nineteen years since I bought it and it still makes me smile when I drive it. I love a car with good handling, and that’s long been one of Mazda’s strengths.
A classic and very accurate to my feelings da share z0ne post (couldn't find it on Bluesky so I grabbed the Twitter post image) that sums up how I feel about WebP, WebM, Heic, etc... new formats. Here's the original ALT text from this post, by DASHAREZONE ADMIN: "I DONT KNOW WHAT THE FUCK A WEBP IS JUST GIVE ME A JPG MOTHER FUCKER - FUCK WEBP AND WEBM - DASHARE.ZONE ADMIN AND DA PIC IS A SKELTEON ANEGEL IN A CHURCH SCREAMEN BECAUSE A COMPUTER HAS DISRESPECTED THERE HOLY SOUL - DASHARE.ZONE ADMIN"
A blackboard I decorated with various Pokemon characters, colorful stars, and school supplies, at the now-closed (due to population decline) Shikimi Jr High in Nagasaki Japan, in 2014, when I was working as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) via the JET Program. This class was a special-needs class with one student, Yūma, who was a Pokemon fan, so I drew as many Pokemon as I knew at the time (not many) as a greeting for him. There is Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and my favorite Pokemon, Caterpie.
A beautiful rendering of the Trojan Horse that allowed the Greek army to lay siege to Troy. Posted here for, I dunno, no reason... ಠ_ಠ
A screenshot of my PC with a fully cleaned-up and separated alphabet set. Now I can use this to make some ragged-looking sound effects!
A bunch of letters I drew with a 0.7 tip Sharpie S-Gel pen. I just scanned them in and will be making alphabets out of them (in hollow and filled-in solid black versions) to use for future sound effects. I really need to learn how to make a font one of these days…
Our cat Lizzy, resting on a big cushion next to my desk. (Within easy petting distance while I work.)
A bunch of dark red cars all having a parking lot get-together. (Not really, just a coincidence.) My Toyota was hanging out too.
The YouTube thumbnail for "199X". It shows a freeze frame of the green animated iridescent effect that replaces the black areas of the image here.
A photo of the final packaging of "Psychic Battle". This is the front cover.
A video showing the iridescent effect on the cover of "Psychic Battle". I move the camera around under my desk light and you can see rainbows flickering about on the cover art. The song "Blood Oath" plays in the background.
A raw scan of the land-lettering I did for Psychic Battle and its song titles, written in Sharpie on graph paper. There are numerous mistakes that I fixed on the PC.
A side-by-side pic of a photo I took of the fake "199X Famicom game cartridge I made back in 2014, and the new wireframe / polygonal recreation I made in 2026.
A close-up of a black crystal arm, bent up, with gems levitating over the hand, for the song "Novo"
The updated full-color version of "Amethyst", with a different background, and set in a diamond-shaped frame with a yellow background behind that.
My art work "Amethyst" from 2013. A crystalline lady (loosely based off a reference photo I took of my friend, model Raven LeFaye). She has purple amethyst crystal hair. There is a sun in the background, set against an artificial sky.
The cover of my new album "Psychic Battle". I'm holding it (a CD, in its package) in front of a brown & white asanoha pattern curtain. The packaging features an illustration I made of a crystalline lady, made up of black hand-drawn polygons, staring with blank eyes, looking nervous. There is a geometric pattern behind her. She and the pattern are printed on shiny rainbow iridescent sticker paper, which is set down upon a bright yellow background.
The classic Onion headline "Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point" Photo is of a balding guy giving you a not-very-nice look. Bokeh background.
Saginaw Civic Center, in Saginaw Michigan. Older photo. I think it looks different now.
A year in review of all the manga I worked on in 2025. Lettering and/or design on: Alita Mars Chronicle, Ashita no Joe, Land of the Lustrous, Making Magic, Panorama Island (new softcover edition), Re:Anima, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Tank Chair, Ultra Heaven. Miscellaneous production work on: Attack on Titan Definitive Hardcover edition, Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse, Spacewalking With You
A video where I'm moving the camera around my art piece "Summer Girls". You can see the colors change, based on angle and lighting.
pencils in progress of the black-haired girl
My art work called "Summer Girls". An illustration of two stylish women, standing next to each other. In the front is a woman with long wavy red hair, big round glasses, triangle earrings, a sleeveless shirt full of black and white high-contrast patterns, and a sleeve tattoo on her arm, featuring an oni, an eyeball, and snakes. Her friend is just behind her, holding the red-haired girl's arm. She has long black hair, cut into a "hime cut" (two-level bangs), and she's wearing a shirt that has a floral classical Japanese pattern, with square flecks of holographic color. She's wearing gold and blue jewelry and has a little blue star sticker on her cheek. Because of all the holographic / iridescent, metallic, and glittery materials I used, the images changes under different light, and from different angles. (It was very hard to photograph!) The red-haired woman's hair changes to bright green from some angles, and the black-haired woman's hair shines with rainbow highlights that move depending on how the light shines on it. Her jewelry shines in the light, both in gold, and in the red and green gems on her rings. Both women have eyes that shine and sparkle under direct light (purple for the black-haired girl and blue for the red-haired girls.) The red-haired woman's shirt is made up of a bunch of different chopped-up origami sheets, ending up in a dazzle camouflage pattern. Made December 17th-18th 2025. Media: marker, colored pencil, pen, highlighter, pencil, acrylic paint, collage, special paper (washi, origami, holographic, iridescent, glitter) Size:18in X 18in
My brand new Mac Mini M4 Pro, sitting on its docking station, on my desk. It’s a sleek aluminum block chock-full of electronic guts. It’s sitting between my Arturia Minifuse 2 audio interface, and a small collection of some of my very favorite die-cast cars.
David Carradine as “Bill” in Kill Bill. He’s leaning against a beautiful De Tomaso Mangusta. He’s got rugged good looks, long greyish-blonde hair, and is wearing an outfit with a Western feeling to it.
Yours-truly, in my garage, wearing a vintage jacket. My bleached hair has grown out a lot (and is overdue for a bleach touch-up or a different color, and a cut.) it’s taken on a very fluffy texture recently, reminiscent of the Bee-Gees.
A 17 inch tall figure I got way back when Kill Bill originally came out. It’s a very detailed likeness of Uma Thurman as “The Bride”. There’s a switch on her back that can be flipped on to make her say lines from the movie. I put a little Nissan 300ZX Hot Wheels car next to the figure for scale. Sofie Fatale drives a Z32 body style 300ZX in the movie. Hers was a different, darker color, but this police Z car is the only die-cast Z32 I have.
The sign outside my movie theater, for Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.
The cover spread artwork for volume 7 of Manabu Yashiro's manga "Tank Chair". The main character, Nagi, is in the foreground, sitting in his high-tech battle wheelchair, and holding a sword with blood dropping off of it. His mask is half-off. In the background is a grid with all the different characters of Tank Chair. The original Japanese logo is at top.
My copy of Ashita No Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow vol 4. It comes out December 23rd 2025! It’s a real important turning point in the story. (A chunky hardcover with lots of red tones on the cover, and a close-up of a determined Joe Yabuki, holding up his boxing gloves. The book is set upon one of my Japanese asanoha pattern cushions. A white dotted angular pattern set against a dark blue.)
A photo I took of the TV of the Jpop band Perfume performing at the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦) show, ringing in the new year 2016. L to R: A-Chan, Nocchi, Kashiyuka
A seasonal menu blackboard at the restaurant First Watch. It says “Tangerine Dream” in colorful chalk handwriting. This is apparently the name of a menu item, but it’s also the name of an influential band that’s been around since the late 60s, making intriguing atmospheric synthesizer soundscapes.
A big master list / visual database of sorts of a ton of English alphabet letters that I wrote in marker, extracted from the various hand-drawn exclamations that I made for the first four Ashita no Joe volumes. Hopefully by having a huge selection of letters gathered together like this (though I still make new ones too) it'll save me a lot of time going forward. It's already made that aspect of my work on volume 5 go a bit faster so far. It's a similar approach to what I've been doing with my sound effects this past few years. I have thousands of FX saved and ready to go with a few tweaks to fit into whatever I work on, and am always adding new ones too. I switched over to pretty much only doing my FX by hand this past year, and plan to do that going forward. Just feels more fun to me that way, and I feel like I can stand behind my work more if I do it like that. Anyway, First half of Ashita no Joe is in the rearview mirror now (over 1000 hrs of work on it this past year!) Four volumes done, and four remain. I'm working on volume 5 now. Despite me having surgery and taking some time off to recover, then going out of town for a few days for a funeral, my workload didn't really slow down. Wish me luck this next couple months as I scramble to catch up!
A blu ray of “The Straight Story” by David Lynch, given to me by my friend Aidan.
Some Criterion Collection blu rays I just bought during Amazon’s 50% sale. “High and Low” by Akira Kurosawa, “The Seventh Seal” by Ingmar Bergman, “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders, “Moonage Daydream” David Bowie biopic by Brett Morgan, and “Lost Highway” by David Lynch.
The alphabet that I made for the Guicheng Academy (a mysterious school of combat) in the manga Tank Chair. The round holes making up the interiors of the letters are a little similiar to how the Bugonia logo does it, but that logo has a lot more unique and expressive outer shapes (I don't know the exact terminology I'm looking for, despite being a, uhhhh LETTERER!)