Earth Spider Triptych

WHEW! This one took me forever, and it was at times a very rocky, frustrating process, but I'm really happy with the result. In this scene, two palace guards are so absorbed in their game of Go that they fail to notice the Earth Spider looming behind them, summoning a crowd of demons.

This will be the last piece in my Japanese folklore series, and the last thing I do for senior thesis. Weird! I'm looking forward to making new work as a non-student. Graduation, here I come.

[A slightly larger version of this image is up on my website]

Goro Wrestles A Kappa

I've been jokingly referring to this one as "Popeye vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle", which really isn't far off - Goro was one of Japan's main tough-guys, and it just so happens that eating a bowl of rice pumps him up, not unlike Popeye's spinach.

In this story, Goro meets a Kappa, a water-sprite that has all sorts of funny little attributes, especially a little convex bowl on the top of his head, filled with water - which, if spilled, causes the Kappa to lose his super-strength) and they end up in a wrestling match. Most Kappas can apparently easily best a human, but with Goro being the strongest dude in the land, they end up in a stalemate.

This is when Goro says "Hey, I'm hungry - can I go get some grub and we'll resume this when I get back?" (He said these words exactly. Exactly.) Goro finds a house, is given a bowl of rice, chomps down, buffs up, and easily bests the Kappa. Huzzah!

The Demon King's Last Stand

Hi Bloggyworld - so, yeah, it's obvious at this point MSCED isn't exactly going to work out right now. I thought it could work but then senior year happened. Whoops!

Anyways, onto bigger and better things - here's my latest piece in my senior thesis samurai showdown series - "The Demon King's Last Stand" - in this myth, a famed warrior named Raiko and his band of 5 men try to attack the king of the Oni in his sleep, but as soon as Raiko's sword strikes his neck, the head flies up into the air, spews smoke and fire from his nostrils, for one final attack. Raiko strikes the head in the air, and that, as they say was that. They take this big ugly head as a trophy and it's a happy day for everyone (except the Demon King)

HIDESATO VS GIANT CENTIPEDE - (with improved colors)

I decided this piece needed some further adjustments - something just wasn't quite right with the last version.

Much thanks to Dan and Nick for busting my chops about it.

HIDESATO VS GIANT CENTIPEDE

This is my first piece for senior thesis this semester - I'm drawing a series of Japanese warrior myths, complete with giant monsters, goblins, possibly ghosts, etc. Basically, the weird and the strange doing battle with great warriors with awesome topknots. Lots of topknots.

I hope you guys like it - feedback would be appreciated!