japangabby

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Akreon - wolf comic

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Apex Talks - Skye Kelly-Barrett

Skye Kelly Barrett is a Art Director and founder of the Roar illustration agency. This agency hires both famous and upcoming artists to help them find work in the industry and make a living. Roar specifically works with contemporary artists and will hire artists who create work of a very particular style to fit their brand.  This means that they will reject people who they do not feel ‘fit’ their style- but this isn’t an indication that your work isn’t good enough, it just means that you’d be better suited to another agency.

The agency is set up in London, which is a very popular area for artists to find work. Skye Kelly-Barrett “came to realise that there was a space in the market for an artist agency that promoted the art and artists within the New Contemporary art field, focusing on alternative & low-brow artists, whilst also creating a safe space for artists to seek advice on their careers.” which I think is really cool and different to what i’d have previously expected an agency to be interested in. Her talk was really informative and interesting, and helped me better understand the Art industry and the other ways you can have a career outside of freelancing or being hired by a company as an employee. I would really like to learn more about agencies in the future at another talk. 

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My Project - Legendary Guardian Beast

My project is concept art and models for an anime style show titled ‘Legendary Guardian Beast’ which was inspired initially by Pokemon. 

The protagonist of the show is a girl named Akiko Itone, a girl who must receive a Yokomo (Good creature) in order for her to explore Japan safely. This alternate reality of Japan is inhabited by a range of monstrous creatures - the Yokomo (protectors) and the Oni (demons), all of which are based on or inspired by Yokai from Japanese Mythology. 

World Context

The Yokomo are a benevolent type of magical creature that has two forms. The first form is known as the Companion form, which is often small and ‘kawaii’ - thus helping to appeal to the younger demographic. This form is the most common for the Yokomo and is their standard appearance.

 Yokomo also have a Monster form which they can transform into when threatened, to help protect themselves and their companion (human) from the threat of the Oni, which are violent and extremely common in Japan. Their monster form is a lot bigger, more dangerous, more realistic and generally more epic (again helping to appeal to a younger, maybe teen demographic as they combine both cool and cute elements). 

The Oni are a violent type of creature which can be based on any type of pre-existing animal or Yokai, such as a Yama-Inu or Sika deer. These creatures are dangerous and composed mainly of smoke. They are very difficult to be redeemed but can be saved and returned back to their regular, passive form, through great effort and skill. 

While the cities are mainly safe, when people turn 18 and become adults, they are allowed to venture anywhere they please- and are given a Yokomo to travel with them. Each person will find that they have a special connection with a particular creature, who will feel the same way - kind of like the wand/wizard thing in Harry Potter.

Plot

The storyline of the show is that Akiko has just turned 18 and wants to explore the islands of Japan. In order to do so, she attends the Yokomo Ceremony along with others who wish to explore. Every Yokomo is drawn to a specific person - except one. Akiko is ‘destined’ to have a more violent creature called Sparkitt, who refuses to go near her and become her companion. When it is brought forward to meet her, it scratches the person holding it, and runs away into the wilderness - this is very uncommon behaviour for such a benevolent species of creature.

Since she can’t just leave without any creature, she is given one by one of the queens holding the ceremony - a cherry blossom Kirin/unicorn called Sukari. While Sakuri is powerful and the two work well together, they aren’t quite ‘right’ for each other - and, despite their best efforts, are the teamwork equivalent of wearing your shoes on the wrong feet. 

Akiko explores all part of Japan with Sukari, but one day she is stuck in a fight and unable to defend herself, even with the Unicorn by her side. In the last moments, Sparkitt rushes in from the wilderness to save her. 

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Project Antagonists - Oni

In my project, the ‘guardian beasts’, which are people’s companions, are used to help protect against from these sinister demon beasts known as Oni. Oni are a type of Japanese Yokai which is commonly known to mean demon, devil, ogre or troll. They are also associated with masks, and the colours red (sometimes their skin), black (sometimes their wild hair) and white (sometimes the masks).

The Oni creatures in my game are primarily black and have a smoke like appearance - reminiscent of the smoke monster Yokai (the Enenra). They would also be able to travel by turning their entire body into a smoky wisp form, making them especially dangerous. The black, in Japanese culture, symbolises evil and is also used to show the dark smoke which their body is composed of. The creatures also have red elements in their design to symbolise danger. 

The white mask on their face could be to cover their ‘hideous appearance’ which is typically the case in Japanese Mythology. However, since white is symbolic of purity and innocence, this could represent how the Oni can be reformed and saved, eventually reverting them back to their original animal form. 

This Oni is inspired by the Yama-Inu - the mountain dog Yokai which can be seen as either benevolent or malicious - in this case the latter. 

This Oni is inspired by the deer species commonly found in Japan - the Sika deer. Like many typical Oni, these two designs both have the two horns on the mask. 

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Pokemon Inspired by Yokai

(source)

A lot of pokemon are inspired by animals that appear throughout the world - but some are actually based on the Japanese mythical creatures - Yokai. Many of these creatures share similarities with their mythological counterparts - which is also something I have tried to achieve in my own project - the Sukari is inspired by the Kirin, and the Sparkitt is inspired by both Kitsune and Bakeneko/nekomata. 

Ho-Oh

Ho-oh is based on the East Asian mythological bird named Fenghuang - which is also called ‘Hō-ō ’ or ‘Ho-ou’. This bird is often called the Chinese Phoenix. 

Gastly

This is a specific fireball yōkai , similar to a will o’ wisp, which takes the form of a man’s head surrounded by flames and floats around in the sky at night.

Exeggutor

The yokai that this pokemon is inspired by is Jinmenju - a tree with human faces as the ‘fruit’. When ripe, the fruit will laugh and fall to the ground. The seeds of this fruit would also have faces, which could be what exeggcute represents if not eggs. 

Sneasel and Weavile

This pokemon and its evolution are based on the Yokai Kamaitachi- which lives in the mountains (as the pokemon do) and hunts in threes to attack travellers with their sharp claws. They are based on weasels as well.

Mawile

Mawile is inspired by the Yokai Futakuchi Onna - which is a seemingly ordinary woman who has a second mouth on the back of her head. Mawile from the front would look reasonably normal (much more like a woman). They use their hand like hair to pull food into their mouths behind them. 

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Sparkitt Poster

Since every creature in this project has two forms - a cute little ‘companion form’ and a more dangerous looking ‘Monster form’ - I wanted to show these both simultaneously in the form of a poster that could be used to advertise the show. 

I decided to use a lineless art style for this poster to give it more of a stylised look - posters are often very unique and interesting (such as Dan Mumford's work) which is why I wanted to do something a little different from the rest of the artwork. The lineless style also gives it an aesthetic, elegant and almost minimalist feel. I knew that I wanted to show both forms of the main character - but my original idea was a lot more complex- I was going to have a detailed art piece showing small Sparkitt on the streets with a reflection in the water on the pavement showing the larger form. I would still like to do this but I didn’t really have enough time to achieve this properly so I just decided instead to go for this, and I really like how it’s turned out. 

I started by drawing a line across the canvas and then mirroring it - then sketching out both forms by rotating the canvas 180 degrees. This piece contains a lot of individual layers based on where I wanted the shading to be. The body, for example, is split up into head/body/tail to allow me to easily give the chin and tails some gradient shading. 

The background is different in each side of the painting to represent the two sides of the character - the companion form is seen in front of a pink/purple sky which is very aesthetic and peaceful like a sunset/sunrise. This is to show its gentle nature in this state. The monster form however is shown in a dark pink/red gradient to show the darker and more monstrous powers it possesses. 

Overall I really like how this turned out as it looks cool whichever orientation it is - and depicts the characters in the way that I wanted to make them look. If I have time I would like to do another poster like this for Sukari and even some of the other guardian beasts. 

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Protagonist Poster

This poster would be used as part of the promotional material for the show- depicting the main character’s bust as well as the show title in both English and Japanese- as this is a common convention of anime titles. It was painted on Procreate using a rendering brush.

I began by sketching out her out using the basic shapes, then refining her on another layer. 

Now the basic sketch lines had been slightly refined, I made a new layer and began to add all the base tones to the character, including the gradients in the clothes/hair and the skin. 

Once I’d done this, I locked the line sketch layer and recoloured it to a red/pink - with the exception of the eyes which I left black. I then set the blending mode to ‘multiply’ so they the colour was visible across the whole artwork. Finally, I added a multiply and overlay layer and added some basic shading and highlights. Once i’d done this, I merged all of the character layers together and began to paint it. 

I really like the overall style of this poster as it looks very peaceful and friendly - thus appealing to the younger/teen target audience. I think her eyes are a little but it does fit with the anime style I was going for. 

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Quick Project - Origami

Origami

Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. In modern usage, the word "origami" is used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Modern origami practitioners generally discourage the use of cuts, glue, or markings on the paper. Origami folders often use the Japanese word kirigami to refer to designs which use cuts.

The small number of basic origami folds can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The best-known origami model is the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be of different colors, prints, or patterns. Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo period (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with. The principles of origami are also used in stents, packaging and other engineering applications.

The crane is one of the most common Origami shapes. The smallest crane ever folded was using a 0.1 x 0.1mm square, completed by Naito Akira, which is an extremely impressive feat. The largest crane ever folded was by the Peace Piece project in Japan and has a wingspan of 81.94m, with the original paper used measuring 100x100m, which is also incredible. 

The origami project I chose to make was a dragon, based on the extremely helpful tutorial below. 

I really like how it turned out, thanks to the video, and it is also similar to the kind of dragon/yokai like creature that could appear in my project as a guardian or Oni. 

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Model Armature & Clay Tips

These are some of the videos which I briefly looked at before starting the Sparkitt Sculpture - I wanted to see whether or not to use polymer clay, and hwo to make an armature for a figure. 

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Raiju

Raiju is a Yokai from japanese mythology whose name translates to ‘Thunder animal’ or ‘Thunder Beast’ 

“Its body is composed of lightning and with the form of a white and blue wolf (or even a wolf wrapped in lightning) being the most common, although it can be represented with other forms such as tanukis, kitsune, weasels or cats. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning, such as ball lightning). Its cry sounds like thunder.

Raiju is the companion of the Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. While the beast is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms it becomes agitated, and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings (trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju's claws).

Another of Raiju's peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts the Raijin to shoot lightning arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather, but other legends say that Raiju will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.”

The legendary pokemon Raikou is also inspired by this creature, and shares a lot of its traits. 

I chose to research this particular Yokai as it shares the lightning/electricity trait and similar species with the Sparkitt guardian from my own show. 

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Show Name Origins

These are the notes that I took when coming up with the name for the creatures, characters and show. The notes below summarise the content in the images.

I started by looking at a bunch of words in Japanese that were relevant to the creatures, including Monster, companion, friend, beast, legendary and guardian.

I eventually settled for the title ‘Legendary Guardian Beast’ as I really liked how all the words in Japanese looked, and thought it would be an epic title that would easily appeal to a younger/teen audience. 

I already had the Japanese translation for each word, so I put them all together to get ‘Shugo Densetsu Kemono’ however, upon putting this back into google translate it didn’t quite work. These three words translated to ‘Equipment’ which must have been a mistake, but I knew I should change them just in case. 

I instead put ‘Legendary Guardian Beast’ into the translator and got ‘Densetsu No Shugo-Ju’. I put this phrase into another translator, which thankfully translated it to ‘The Legendary Guardian Beast’ - which is written like this:

伝説の守護獣

Just to check that the translation was correct, I divided up the characters and looked at them individually (or in pairs if they didn’t make any sense by themselves)

伝説 means ‘Legend’. Combined with  の  , this statement reads:

伝説の ‘The Legend’ 

守護 These next two characters mean ‘the Guardian’, and the final character reads:

獣 ‘The Beast’

The next thing I wanted to decide was the name of the creatures themselves - like Pokemon or Temtem. I used the same process and translated words which I thought were reminiscent of the creatures. In the end I chose ‘Yoi’ meaning good and ‘Kemono’ meaning ‘creature’, since they are protectors. I combined both of these words into ‘Yokomo’ which is what the guardian creatures are known as. 

The protagonist’s name is Akiko, meaning bright, or crystal. 

[japangabby]

Bakeneko & Nekomata

Bakaneko and Nekomata are two types of cat based Yokai in Japanese Mythology.

The reason that cats are seen as yōkai in Japanese mythology is attributed to many of their characteristics: for example, the irises of their eyes change shape depending on the time of day, their fur can seem to cause sparks when they are petted (due to static electricity), they sometimes lick blood, they can walk without making a sound, their wild nature that remains despite the gentleness they can show, they are difficult to control (unlike dogs), their sharp claws and teeth, nocturnal habits, and their speed and agility.

NOT FINISHED

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Anime Figures - How are they made?

(Source)(Source)

Anime Figurines are commonly made out of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which is a type of very sturdy plastic. It is a cheap material that is very sturdy and not ductile (easy to bend or break). 

Once the character has been chosen to make a figure from, the production team must decide on the expressions, pose and accessories which the character will have. This aspect must also be looked at from the customer’s point of view to show what the use experience will be like of the figure. 

Once this is done, they must ensure, among other things, that the figure will achieve the correct look - considering it is a 3D sculpt of a 2D character. 

The next people who handle the sculpt are the prototypers. They will create rough drafts of how the character and pose will look, either using traditional methods of sculpting, or 3D modelling in a CAD software. Apparently, although 3D is great, is is more suited to sculpts that will be absolutely symmetrical, as it doesn’t work well with dynamic poses or gestures well, nor demonstrating flowing fabrics as well as traditional can. The following image is a draft sculpt by  Hiroom!

The next stage after the prototyping is another interview. “Good Smile calls this meeting a direction review - to make sure the direction of the figure's on the right course, there are a number of points they need to check, like:

For figures of humans or animals: does the figure look anatomically correct? Does the bone structure look natural?

For fabrics and leather: does the texture and sculpt look realistic?

Can this figure be mass-produced? (if a figure involves too many small, intricate details or parts, it can become very difficult to scale production)

For Nendoroids: does the overall image match the form and cuteness of the Nendoroid series?

For scale figures: does the figure look correctly balanced (aesthetically and physically)? Do the hair and clothes match the movement of the figure?

If these points are all confirmed, then the figure's all ready for the next round of approvals.”

They are then mass produced- based on either a 3D print or traditional sculpt. Silicone molds are created from the base model and then the figures are cast in PVC. The manufacturers must figure out how to effectively blend seams, hide marks and holes from the casting process so that the figure looks as good as possible. It can then be painted by hand. 

I decided to research this process as it’s relevant to Japan and is an industry that i’m really interested in. I also initially intended to make a character sculpt for Akiko Itone out of super sculpey, so I wanted to see how it’s officially made in industry to see if I could get any tips and compare the two processes. 

[japangabby]

Kirin - or Qilin

The Qilin or kirin in Japanese, is a mythical hooved chimerical creature known in Chinese and other East Asian cultures, said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin is a specific type of the lin mythological family of one-horned beasts.

The qilin may be described or depicted in a variety of ways.

Qilin generally have Chinese dragon-like features. Most notably their heads, eyes with thick eyelashes, manes that always flow upward and beards. The body is fully or partially scaled and often shaped like an ox, deer, or horse. They are always shown with cloven hooves. In modern times, the depictions of qilin have often fused with the Western concept of unicorns.

The Chinese dragon has antlers, so it is most common to see qilin with antlers. Dragons in China are also most commonly depicted as golden, therefore the most common depictions of qilin are also golden, but are not limited to just gold, and can be any color of the rainbow, multicolored, and various colors of fur or hide.

The qilin are depicted throughout a wide range of Chinese art also with parts of their bodies on fire, but not always. Sometimes they have feathery features or decorations, fluffy curly tufts of hair like Ming Dynasty horse art on various parts of the legs from fetlocks to upper legs, or even with decorative fish-like fins as decorative embellishments, or carp fish whiskers, or even carp fish-like dragon scales.

Qilin are often depicted as somewhat bejeweled, or as brilliant as jewels themselves, like Chinese dragons. They are often associated in colors with the elements, precious metals, stars, and gem stones. But, qilin can also be earthy and modest browns or earth-tones. It is said their auspicious voice sounds like the tinkling of bells, chimes, and the wind.

Qilin are thought to be a symbol of luck, good omens, protection, prosperity, success, and longevity by the Chinese. Qilin are also a symbol of fertility, and often depicted in decorations as bringing a baby to a family.

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Okami

(source)

Ôkami is the Japanese name for the creature commonly called the Japanese wolf (Canus lupus hodophylax), which became extinct in 1905, though there have been many sightings since, mostly concentrating around the Kii Peninsula. Because of its small size and stature, there is some dispute as to whether it was an actual wolf, the term "wolf-dog" being given as a possible alternate. In fact, the term yama inu (山犬, "mountain dog") is a common Japanese term for the wolf.

In folklore, the wolf was associated with the mountains (山, yama) and was thought to be both benevolent and malevolent. An anonymous Japanese said that "[no animal] is as frightening as [the wolf] is." (Knight, 136) It is quick and agile, and Yanagita Kunio, the father of Japanese folklore studies, said that "the wolf can hide even where there is only a single reed". In Edo period Japan, the word yama-inu became slang for a rabid dog.

On the other hand, the wolf has a benevolent side as well. At night when travelers are lost in the mountains, the wolf at times will escort them to the doors of their homes. In such capacity, these wolves are known as okuri-ôkami (送り狼, "sending wolf"). In some stories of okuri-ôkami, the wolf is never seen, but its presence is known by the constant chirping of a sparrow at the traveler's side. (Knight, 136). However, the wolf was also said to turn on some travelers as soon as its home was reached, and also that the wolf could judge between the good or bad and would maul the latter if it came upon them in the mountains.

The wolf has largely been seen by peasants as a benevolent animal, and there are many village rites that involve or respond to the wolf. In contrast to the wolf's historical persecution in the West as an evil animal, in Japan if one kills a wolf for whatever reason, that man and his family had reason to fear divine retribution. Also, in certain villages it was a custom to make an offering of sekihan (red rice, used mainly in festivals and rites) whenever a wolf cub was born; and wolves were sometimes known to make return offerings of meat when a village woman gave birth. Wolves also were said to leave certain kills as a gift for the village, though if the villagers did not leave it a portion of the meat as a return gift, the wolf would grow angry. The reason the wolf was so highly regarded is that it was a protector of the rice field against boars, deer, and hares. (Knight, 139-40)

In this capacity as a rice field protector, it is associated with the fox (狐, "kitsune"). In fact, the wolf was thought to be the divine messenger of the mountain deity (山の神, yama no kami), just as the fox was the messenger of the rice field deity (田の神, ta no kami). Farmers all over Japan have traditionally thought that in the winter, after the harvest, the rice field deity acends to the mountain and becomes the mountain deity (Hirayama, 60) giving rise to the idea that the fox and wolf are seasonal permutations of each other (Knight, 13).

The contradicting, equally benign and perilous natures of the wolf are characteristic of some animals in Japanese folklore. The wolf is a guardian when it is properly attended to and cared for, but can develop a grudge toward mankind if slighted or mistreated. Thus, as a moral judge, the wolf's actions mirror humanity's own. As John Knight says, "Japanese wolf lore tells not of good or bad wolves but of good or bad people." (143)

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Cat-meff

https://www.deviantart.com/cat-meff

https://jpallus.tumblr.com/

Cat-Meff is a concept artist who creates stunning atmospheric pieces of work, as well as a well known Pokemon fusion series. They have also created many  ‘fakemon’ designs - which is the name commonly given to ‘fan-made’ pokemon.

They have been a really big inspiration to me for a long time due to their stunning semi-realistic art style and ability to fuse pokemon and combine the design elements in such a way that makes them unique individual, yet still reminiscent of the original characters.

Their art style for these particular works is lineless, and has soft looking shading to help define the shapes in replacement of the outlines. This soft shading also helps to give the characters a three dimensional look. I really like how the shading contains multiple hues of colour as it adds to the realism - and shows how the different light sources affect the colour of the character. 

These are the fake pokemon that Cat-Meff has designed, which all closely resemble the original pokemon style, but with a elements that show the artist’s individual style.I really like how all of these look and these designs are definitely the kind of thing i’d like to create in my own project.

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Zestydoesthings

https://www.zestydoesthings.com/about

Zestydoesthings - aka Toby Allen - is a U.K freelance illustrator who has been a huge inspiration to me during this project. He enjoys creating character concept art - especially cute, colourful creatures that, in his words, are inspired by many things including fairytales, mythology, anime, manga and pokemon

The main reason I have decided to research him is thanks to his series of adorable character designs inspired by Pokemon, which he names ‘Zestyfriends’. 

The individuality and uniqueness of each design really appeals to me, as well as the range of different colour palettes that each creature contains. I really admire how his designs are mostly not based on one specific animal - which is something I struggle with (as many of my designs seem to strongly resemble a particular animal - usually a dog or horse), and instead take inspiration from so many other aspects, including nature elements such as water, clouds etc, a range of more unusual animals and in some cases objects. 

His use of colour is very impressive to me as all of the different zestyfriends’ designs are aesthetically pleasing, and not one colour looks out of place. He is definitely using complimentary colours and other colour theory knowledge to properly execute these designs, and it definitely adds to their uniqueness. This is something that i’d like to display more frequently in my one work - and perhaps learning a little more about colour combinations might be a good place to start.

I also really like these reboots of the original pokemon starters - again showing the harmonious colour usage and cute but epic designs that Allen is famous for.I also really like how each design shows particularly motifs which are present throughout - such as the blue fire or cherry blossom petals.