Another one with the samurai lovebirds (M)

[doggo]

And here's another one. A bit of an experiment, but I wouldn't call it a sketch anymore... - I ended up working with diluted ink, a little bit of watercolour and... a bamboo pen. WTF? I've been trying to think up a style that would be less work than actual watercolour, and would suit the theme - I might actually try this again, I think it looks like something in between black-and-white samurai movie and a woodblock print. Kinda. To me at least. Well enough technical ramble

So here they are again... We've got the samurai (I like to think that he's in trouble with shinsengumi and thus bit on the run... as it's cool ) trying to gracefully fight a nasty cold... accompanied by his love-struck girl-faced loverboy... and maple leaves and all the kitsch.

[Vetinari]

Ooooooh first post first post *does the first post dance*

Yay...... more samurai lovebirds. How prolific you are at the moment Shiny Bug!

And all of it so wonderful.

Shortly, when the Johnny Depp party is over we may have to have a Samurai Party.

Oh yes!

It's not even afternoon and already this is about my fourth threadjack. Somebody stop me! (that last comment said in a Jim Carrey voice BTW!)

[VoOs]

Awwww, poor baby looks so miserable. Good thing he has his loverboy to take care of him <3

[doggo]

Vetinari - A Samurai Party?! YAY! WARM THE SAKE! And get us some geezer to play biwa and sing about the fall of proud Heike family...

VoOs - Shhh! You'll hurt his pride!

[TheGreenFaerie]

Ohh, Shiny! Your pics keep getting better and better! I like this new style you've tried. It looks really cool with the muted colors, and the stark black outlines. I'm a big fan of that style anyways heehee! Lovely.

[doggo]

Ohh, Shiny! Your pics keep getting better and better! I like this new style you've tried. It looks really cool with the muted colors, and the stark black outlines. I'm a big fan of that style anyways heehee! Lovely.

Thanks very much!

And on the sidenote - damn, that thought honestly never even crossed my mind but when you put it that way.... awkward! I ended up with muted colors as the layer has to be really thin (even when using as transparent paint you can get) to not to eat out all the contrasts made with ink... I'm actually thinking about painting next time the red and blue in first and the ink on top of it to get stronger colors... I don't know why but the contrast levels don't add up with layers of ink and paint the same way as with just paint... I thought in future I could do some backgrounds easily with bamboo-pen only by mimicking the woodblock-print style and it wouldn't look strange if I had the outlines done with gray to start with (plus without them the ink-painting with a bit color looks like a cheap french postcard ) but seriously... I didn't think about that!

And on another sidenote - ::stares at your sig:: your style would be quite ideal to convert into woodblock print! I wonder if that was your idea from start or is is just a coincidence...

[TheGreenFaerie]

Ohh, Shiny! Your pics keep getting better and better! I like this new style you've tried. It looks really cool with the muted colors, and the stark black outlines. I'm a big fan of that style anyways heehee! Lovely.

Thanks very much!

And on the sidenote - damn, that thought honestly never even crossed my mind but when you put it that way.... awkward! I ended up with muted colors as the layer has to be really thin (even when using as transparent paint you can get) to not to eat out all the contrasts made with ink... I'm actually thinking about painting next time the red and blue in first and the ink on top of it to get stronger colors... I don't know why but the contrast levels don't add up with layers of ink and paint the same way as with just paint... I thought in future I could do some backgrounds easily with bamboo-pen only by mimicking the woodblock-print style and it wouldn't look strange if I had the outlines done with gray to start with (plus without them the ink-painting with a bit color looks like a cheap french postcard ) but seriously... I didn't think about that!

And on another sidenote - ::stares at your sig:: your style would be quite ideal to convert into woodblock print! I wonder if that was your idea from start or is is just a coincidence...

Aha! I gotcha! Just kidding. Hehe, actually, i had no idea that the bamboo pens had that effect when you mixed paint with them! ...Interesting. I know art teachers and the like frown on putting outlines on your work, but BAH! It's a style in its own to me. I like woodblock prints, but I'd never really thought about mimicing them in the style that I post on the forum I used to want to be an animator, and have studied cartoons ALOT, which is mostly where my style originated from. But I also am a comic book and illustration fan, and the outlines with the muted colors is used alot by artists like James Jean who does the beautiful covers for the Fables comics. Yummy.

[Geist]

I....

I mean....

Uh....

HEHEHEHEHEEE!!!

*floats away giggling STUPIDLY over hot boys!* JFLSDKFJSD!!!

~Aku, speechlessly dumb!

[March Hare]

It looks so Japanese-traditional-dignified-neat.... I really love the use of colour and the shading and....

Oh, sod it I mean, I do mean all those things! But, this is so delightfully WRONG... it reminds me of that story of Akutenshi's that still roams the backrooms of our Stories section, 'After the Rain'. It could be an illustration for that, it really could.

GOOOOOOOOORGEOUS!!!

[doggo]

Aku, Thanks! I mean, I just had to.... I mean... sneezy gay samurais...... can't help it...... happy you like them too......

Maru-chan, Thanks you're kind And yes, you mean the one with Hijikata? That's the first story I remember reading from here... and by that time i was having a MAJOR gay samurai phase and boy did my pants brain explode. I should have painted Hijikata's face to the older man NO! MY BRUSH WILL NEVER DO WRONGY THINGS TO HIJIKATA! Have some respect for historical figures, k? My brush would NEVER paint his handsome shinsengumi leader face breaking into a desperate pre-sneeze expression. I have a good photograph or two of him on my computer somewhere... OH NO. I would NEVER EVER EVEN IMAGINE dipping the tip of my brush in red to give his nose a slight red tint. NEVER. NEVER! :breathes into a paperbag:

See what's happening to me? First what VoOs did and now these mental images...

[Icarus Rex]

I'm seriously awestruck by this.

It's so beautiful, from a stylistic point of view and... well... the other one. xD (But don't tell them I said so. )

I have to be a massive art nerd as always and ask: did you use more than one color of ink in addition to watercolor, or just black (brown?) ink with watercolors?

[doggo]

I'm seriously awestruck by this.

It's so beautiful, from a stylistic point of view and... well... the other one. xD (But don't tell them I said so. )

I have to be a massive art nerd as always and ask: did you use more than one color of ink in addition to watercolor, or just black (brown?) ink with watercolors?

Thanks! I had black sumi ink (calligraphy ink?) diluted with water. I like it because it stays quite neutral brownish gray and doesn't... divide (? how do you say that in english?) into yellowish/blueish mess like some other inks I've tried to paint with. If you're interested, I scanned this before putting the watercolour and dark edges for pure curiosity. Like this.