yukariyakumo - Tumblr blog

[yukariyakumo]

Okay @ketchupballs​!!!! This was a lot of fun and I’m sorry it took a while, but it’s done!!!

This thing was a huuuge nostalgia trip. Like, I think IN and TeruMoko was what got me into the fandom in the first place. And then a while (a really long while) back I drafted some Touhou tarot cards for funsies, and so I dug up those and just…this.

The lovers card looks really straightforward, and tends to be interpreted in the really straightforward manner of “lovers=love!! duh,” with everything else getting sidelined. While it is true, I feel like that falls under the broader umbrella of “devotion,” not just to people, but to causes and ideals. But with the card’s design, everything tends to get smothered under the imagery of romantic love. Even way back when I did the concept art, I wanted to downplay that a bit so I could further emphasize its other meaning: duality. The Lovers is strongly associated with Gemini, and thus pairs. It represents the ambiguity of choices, and the harmony of coexistence. Since this is a Touhou reinterpretation of the tarot, I also felt like it would be more true to the aesthetic if I were to inject some eastern themes. The idea of interconnectedness, how everything in the natural world has its role and niche that form one of countless cogs in some circuitous cosmic Rube-Goldberg machine of the dao (which is then exported and assimilated into Shinto, among others) falls in line nicely with the theme. More specifically, how conflict is in fact part of the natural order, and can be harmonious when in balance. When syncretized with The Lovers’ theme of duality, it demonstrates that things are not so simply identical, and that differences are inevitable but not necessarily chaotic. So, Kaguya and Mokou were a natural choice for this card because of their contrasting imagery (sun and moon, black and white, princess and pauper (hobo lifestyle trumps noble birth), and so on) and the apparent conflict that they both happily accept as the basis of their relationship.

The original design had them facing in opposite directions towards a moon (for Mokou) and a sun (for Kaguya), still in the badly drawn bamboo grove with only 6 stalks, and still connected at the hands. I scrapped it because “having both a sun and a moon is just silly!! let’s mash them together nonsensically but symbolically instead!!” seemed like a good idea at the time. That’s when this composition came to me, and I really like how much closer it mimics the traditional Rider Waite with the sun-moon-thing in place of the angel and the clouds surrounding, and how Kaguya and Mokou’s hair subtly (or okay not really that subtly) resembles a yin yang symbol to add to the theme of “harmonic opposites,” and the heart-shaped outline that it forms. The clouds are there for the whole Gemini=air thing, and the bamboo is both thematic and representative of the longevity of the bond. Generic flowers and the tiny buds are there to clarify the fact that longevity doesn’t equal stagnation as new growth can occur, and that devotion is just as beautiful in the present as it was in the past. I still feel like the imagery is kind of lacking since I’m heavily relying on the character choice to convey the message of the card, and without stopping and thinking the intricacies mentioned above get buried under the romantic imagery just as badly as the original, if not moreso. Some dancing flames in the air and on the leaves with a few ashes on the ground where flowers are blooming might work, but it’s already really crowded and I was sick of the background at that point. Ah, when I said that this was fun, I meant everything but the background. Backgrounds make me want to cry for three years.

Ahhh, this got away from me, but I hope you like it as much as I liked working on it!!!

[yukariyakumo]

“Lately, you smell like cigarettes.” “That’s what she says, but I don’t really care.”

Fujiwara no Mokou and Houraisan Kaguya from Touhou Project a.k.a the Immortal Couple

[yukariyakumo]

thank you

[yukariyakumo]

TOUHOU

did it in 3 days

[yukariyakumo]

[yukariyakumo]

Very ancient western Touhou meme.

[yukariyakumo]

mima-sama u-u

[yukariyakumo]

moodboard

[yukariyakumo]

36: The Evil Spirit, Mima!

[yukariyakumo]

Here are some remakes of various sprites in Touhou 1-3. Trying to remake them in the style of sprites in Touhou 4 and 5, more so 5. ^^

[yukariyakumo]

she’s so valid

[yukariyakumo]

hell

[yukariyakumo]

The Missing Revenger

Artist: もこきよ

※Permission to post this was given by the artist. Please contact the artist for further use of the artwork. If you liked this fanart, you can view the artist’s other works via the provided link.

[yukariyakumo]

Mima by Heikokuru1224

※Permission to post this was given by the artist. Please contact the artist for further use of the artwork. If you liked this fanart, you can view the artist’s other works via the provided link.

[yukariyakumo]

Some more Touhou sketches with slight comical style.

[yukariyakumo]

Magus

[yukariyakumo]

Gensokyo Festival Day 10: PC-98