ART CHALLENGE 4!

The blood wouldn't wash off. The steaming water swirling around her turned red and angry. No matter how she tried, the blood stayed.

…Tomoe sank to her knees in the steam. Jin hadn't fought. Hadn't begged. He had looked her full in the face as she raised the sword and struck his head from his shoulders.

"For Edo." she breathed as she gazed at Jin's lifeless body. He had smiled at her. A smile she had known since childhood. That confident, crooked smile he always gave her before he did something extraordinary. The same smile he had given her beneath the cherry blossoms the night he had told her he loved her. The smile that would engulf all of her memory of him. Fingers trembling, she gripped the sword tighter.

No.

She would hate him. She would hate his memory, she would not let him hold this over her. He had led the rebellion, she had begged him not to, but his foolish pride would not let him do otherwise. Yes, she had no choice. An arrogant fool he had been and now he was dead. Her father was no tyrant. She was not some ignorant child, naive and awkward. What blame could she possibly hold? She had every right, and after all he was just a man…no, a boy really. Any man would die to have her…to be with her. But Jin did die. Died with a smile that said "You have killed the only true happiness you will ever know."

She was the Samurai Princess of Edo and she was alone…




and i tossed in the unsteamed version so you can note the multiple layers of color i utilized to build the skin tones. man it was grueling.

so art challenge 4. ball in my court, i selected at random "the lone samurai princess of edo" for our topic. rick's is done of course. mine is a two-parter. i have this inked drawing of tomoe with a blade in hand standing above jin's headless body. unfortunately, i've been under one deadline or another, sick or gone and haven't gotten around to scanning it. so today, while sitting at home i banged out a quick digital sketch of tomoe alone in the bath house to keep it loose and fresh.

photoshop of course. just continuing to refine and practice my techinque. and speaking of technique, go check out kung fu panda. it's an absolute joy. from the opening credits to the end of the closing credits, everything is meticulously designed for your viewing pleasure. dreamworks has truly brought their game on this one. i've seen wall•e but pixar is going to have to pull something else fairly amazing out of it's ass to top the martial arts antics of a panda.