Loose Lips Sink Ships

I realized I never put up the whole image of my Kappa or my other Japanese Sea Monster pieces! Here's my Kappa complete with children swimming nearby unaware to the danger that lurks below.

Here's another one of my favorite sea monsters: the Umibozu. Not to be confused with an umiboshi (a delicious Japanese pickled plum)

Very little is known of this illusive, enormous sea monster. They are said to dwell in the oceans off the coast of Japan and will capsize the boats of those who dare to speak to it. It's name, meaning sea monk, is probably due to its bald, shiny head. Some people believe they are the angry spirits of dead monks, and sometimes they will appear to shipwreck victims or fisherman. One account claims they will ask for a barrel and then use it to sink the ship. The only way to insure survival is to give them a bottomless barrel. Another account claims they posses powerful tentacles and can shoot fireballs out of their eyes! Few people have seen the Umibozu and lived to tell the tale... so if you do see one look the other way and pretend you don't notice it!

Crap a Kappa!

What lurks in rivers, likes to eat pickles and is extremely difficult for me to scan? A Kappa!

I am in a fierce battle with our scanner... I've been powering through these monster drawings. Cranking out a new one each week! But now I'm having some technical difficulties with the scanner....uggghhh... more later!

Bamboo Cat

I know a lot of artists don't enjoy keeping a sketchbook. But for me it's the easiest way to jot down my thoughts and have a visual record of my process. If I'm stuck I'll look through old sketchbooks and pick up an idea. Here is a quick sketch I did back in September of a cat with bamboo coming out its mouth and ears. Also a ticket from the William Kentridge show I saw in Kyoto, they are showing some of his work at the MOMA right now. If you appreciate charcoal drawings or animation you should check it out!

The idea for this visual was based off of a cat that lived near my apaato. (It gave me the creeps!). The second root of inspiration (hee hee) was bamboo, I feel in love with its tentacle like roots. I can definitely imagine them attacking someone. For some reason my brain mushed these two things together and so I started sketching this character.

I did some sketches of real cats and also of the cat in different positions and shaped slightly differently.

I had an extra copper plate for the printmaking class and wanted to create a print of the cat. Here's a more finished sketch of how I planned to print it. Things got busy and I ran out of time. Last month I started looking through my sketchbook and decided to work on Bamboo Cat some more.

After the sketch I did a final sketch on a nice piece of paper and scanned it. Then I printed out a few copies of it on crappy printer paper and did some color studies. I've found this is a great way to work things out before starting on the final. It seems time consuming, but actually the color studies are quick and loose. By the time I start the final I'm feeling pretty confident because I've already worked out the value and color relationships. I also love being able to change a color or add an extra pattern on the color study while I'm working on the final. Here I messed around with adding stripes to the stripes of the tiger and the outlining him in brown.

Here's the final! I was pretty happy with how it turned out so I think I'm going to approach the other Japanese monster drawings in a similar way.

Well that's it for now! As of this week I'm also starting on a website... finally! Yay!