While I’ve made other artwork about Japanese ghost stories, it’s a subject that wouldn’t be complete without theYuki Onna. Literally a “Snow Woman”, the Yuki Onna is the very personification of winter. A timeless femme fatale, the Yuki Onna has been re-interpreted into countless contemporary anime and manga.

She is characterized by an otherworldly beauty and serenity, but will nevertheless ruthlessly kill the unsuspecting. The Yuki Onna is sometimes described as the vengeful spirit of a woman who froze to death and now leads men astray in snowstorms. Other times she is described as more actively evil; a vampiric succubus who drains men’s life-force with a kiss or sex. And yet despite this she has a softer side, and her heart is occasionally warmed into sparing one of her victims.

If you’re interested in Japanese ghost stories, or just Japanese culture in general, I recommend reading Lafcadio Hearn. His books are literary classics and historically significant for their account of Meiji era Japan. And since many of his works, including Kwaidan, are available free for download from Amazon there’s no excuses not to read them.

But let’s get back to the artwork. For this work I wanted to try a simple composition using a close-up.
Here’s my reference image:

Redrawn roughly:

The rough composition:

Redrawn neatly:

Slight changes made to her expression:

Because of the foreshortening it’s useful to draw in the rough shadows to see if the image looks right or not:

Editing the rough linework:

The finished linework:

Again I check my work using rough shading:

The shading is redrawn neatly:

If you’re interested in having this process explained in more technical detail just check out my Tutorials, in particular my post on Linework.

Edwin Ushiro‘s works are the result of a unique mixed media approach. His works fuse digital and traditional techniques, combining paint, ink, iron transfers, and other materials to create works that have a distinctive luminosity.  Each image tells a story based on Ushiro’s childhood memories of his native Hawaii, as well as the islands’ own folktales and ghost stories. The result is a gorgeous mixture of realism with dreamlike nostalgia in sublime sun-drenched landscapes.

New artwork in my portfolio and my print shop.

“This work plays with the contrast between naked and clothed, which is also the line between human and animal.
In some ways it is the same distinction that gets made between an artistic nude and a pornographic image,
to separate the human and the sexual object. The cat mask is subtle reference to Japanese slang, with ‘neko’ being the term for the femme in a lesbian relationship.”

This work took about two months to complete working on and off.

Here’s a look at the of making this work:  Linework,  Coloring, Shading and Highlights and Extra Details and Final Atmospheric Shading.

Any comments are welcome.

Edit: This work has been completed.
Follow each step in the  making of this work:  Linework,  Coloring, Shading and Highlights and Extra Details and Final Atmospheric Shading.

So close and yet so far… If you’ve followed my work in progress using Adobe Illustrator, you’ve already seen me complete the linework, coloring, shading and details for this image. But while it sounds like a completed artwork, the reality is lacking.

The problem with the work above is that the shadows and highlights they don’t integrate into the rest of the image. The result is that there’s no difference between the lighting on a shiny piece of metal or on soft fabric, and no difference between hair and human skin.

It’s completely flat.

So how do we go about fixing this? In this case I worked from the lowest layers up: working from the background towards the foreground. By layering gradients with different opacity setting over each other, you can create depth in the same way that color washes add depth to a canvas.

Theses kind of atmospheric light effects are a really subjective thing so there’s not really a right or a wrong way to go about this. You just have to play with the image until you’re satisfied with it.

So let’s get started. While coloring I sometimes use temporary colors as filler, resulting in a leather seat that’s a fabulous shade of lavender, as well as a turquoise desk. The first thing I need to do is get rid of it.

In the background that meant using gradients for the Venetian mirror as well as the mirrored desk and the metal legs. For the walls and floor I got rid of that hideous pinkish red and added a bit of depth by casting the background into shadow.

To add some colour to the walls, I used a gradient to get those sunset colours: orange, red and purple.

Now it’s time to add some lighting. A radial gradient was used to cast a shadows over everything while keeping the area around the lamp lighter than the rest of the background. The dark color help to link the walls and furniture as objects that all share the same space. At the same time it helps to emphasize the divide between background and foreground.

Now that the background shading is dark enough the highlights can really pop. On the shiny surfaces I used gradients for the highlights. Radial gradients were used for the lamp and the ceramic balls of the lamp base While linear gradients on the desk and mirror help to create the illusion of light spreading away from the lamp.

Since I’m satisfied with the background I can now get started with the figures. To begin with I change the colour of each object’s shadows to match the local color. What this means is instead of having a light blue shadows against the figure’s skin (which gives a sickly looking complexion) I use a pinkish brownish hue that matches her skin tone. I repeat this process with other objects, changing each one individually to either add or remove emphasis to the shading.

After the shadows I can repeat the same process with the highlights: changing the highlight color to match the local color. On the hair the highlights are done with gradients to make it look shiny. Although I also experimented with gradients on the black dress to create the illusion of satin, in the end I decided that it would accentuate the dress too much, and take away attention from the rest of the image.

I’ve also added some other small details to the image like blushing cheeks, lipstick and nipples, while light gradients on the skin to act as subtle highlights.

We’re almost done. All that’s left to finish the image off is a bit of tweaking. An orange color burn over everything helps to mesh it all together, although I do keep a few blue highlights in the hair and the obi.
Voila. Check out the finished image in my portfolio.

The work of Tomoko Kashiki both creepy and beautifully dreamlike. Strange stylized figures appear in empty landscapes that look like they’re inspired by Japanese myths and ghost stories. Enjoy.

I’ve already hopped onto the microblogging trend with my new Tumblr account, and after the great response I’ve decided to add Pinterest to the mix. It’ll be a lot of the same type of images: art, design and Japan, as well as anything cute or eye-catching. Please check it out!

My Social dropdown menu at the top of the screen is full of links, so there’s a ton of different ways to connect to me online now.  I’d also love to connect to you too, so if you’re on Pinterest (or Tumblr or deviantART) just share your details in the comments below and I’ll make sure to follow you back. Happy microblogging ♥

The work of Sashie Masakatsu presents surreal images of spherical cities, which float planet-like over an urban wasteland. Architectural details make these spheres recognizably Japanese, a metaphor for Tokyo itself, the largest metropolitan area in the world. But Tokyo also represents the ideal of a utopian metropolis, a failed dream replaced by social isolation and environmental degradation.

Edit: This work has been completed.
Follow each step in the  making of this work:  Linework,  Coloring, Shading and Highlights and Extra Details and Final Atmospheric Shading.

Just a quick post today. After I finished the shading and highlights I wanted to add some extra detail to the fabric of the kimono. Since these details won’t be drawn in black, they can be done after the rest of the linework is finished. For the design I chose a peacock feather motif with a geometric design on the obi to balance it out. Incidentally Kimono Nagoya is my favorite online resource for kimono inspiration.

Here I’m trying some out some variations of the design:

The rough linework of the design over the color image:

The finished design drawn out neatly. The peacock feathers are supposed to look like they’re sewn out of gold thread:

And that’s it.  look forward to the next post which will focus on light effects to finish up the artwork.

Yamamoto Nori‘s illustration combines anime-style characters with traditional Japanese motifs. Swirling clouds of cherry blossoms, and girls in kimono with long dark hair mix alongside school uniforms in surreal and dream-like works. Enjoy.

Cotton candy boas, silk stockings, and pink satin bows are hallmarks of Olivia De Berardinis’ deliciously sweet pinups. Sheer fabrics play against naked skin in a visual striptease. It’s pure cheesecake: beautiful girl in the girliest of lingerie. Enjoy.

Check out my previous post on Olivia’s artworks of Bettie Page.