sketch dump XII: The Last Romantic

retro friday warm up! Asmodeo from Gomorra <3 

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viernes retro como warm up! Asmo de Gomorra. Aquellos que me siguen desde entonces tienen todo mi amor. Y el de él! Forever love! 

(the twin sister had to follow)

sketch dump XI: the sensualist

Give me cold and windy days, for they make me run after the sun's touch and bask under it like a cat. Give me beautiful colours and shapes, and places that lift my spirit and embrace me like a prayer. Give me the tension of those that dare, standing right between heaven and hell. Give me fluffy coats and lace and soft fabrics, and warm arms that are gentle. Give me a challenge and a resting place, and a million little instants that are just magical and right. 

Don't fuck with my spirit.

(Yesterday I had an interesting chat with my therapist about the things that give me pleasure)

Thank youuu!

Ubume made it into the exhibition! That's her happy expression ^.^
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Ubume entró a la muestra de Dibujados :) Ambas estamos felices al respecto!!

Si quieren ir a vernos (tanto ella como yo estaremos presentes), la muestra se hace en Maipú 306, C.A.B.A. , del 23 al 25 de marzo.

Rambling: Shopping spree

Today I went to look for a present for one of my friends. It was her birthday this week, so a gift was needed! She makes things in stained glass and is very artsy (she is also a make up artist and makes stages for theatre plays. She beats the hell out of me at multi-tasking o.o) , so one would think to go the art stuff way, considering, well, I also make artsy things, we can so bond over that!.

Can we?

The problem is our aesthetic sense is totally different. TOTALLY. As in opposing forces that hate each other guts sort of different and no way in hell we are going to like something the other likes. Bigger chances of us burning it at the shout of "Heresy!!!"

No art stuff, nonono.

So I went to the bookshop and got her a short stories collection (with one of my bookmarks ^^y hohoho, ninja-bookmark!). You can't mess up with short stories. She's bound to at least like one of them, and I am forcing her to read and making people read is good for their sake. Gain-gain situation. Aren't I the nicest person evah?

Of course, as I was there already, I also made myself a present and got a new astro-book for le collection. It was the cover. How could I refuse that cover? I must share!!

Lo and behold:

Naked old guy showing his manly attributes. And there is also a lion and a guy on his head. 

I don't know the author, but the content seemed ok and I think will come in handy when friends want an overview of their astro-stuff, in a "here, check this out as an introduction and let me be" way.

I also got this thingie (is a salt shaker), because it was flashy and I like how the two colours work together. Green and purple, mmh, sassy:

Expect some illustrations in these colours. Look at them. They scream "use me! use me!". Yes, they do. I know you can hear them.

Behind the scenes: Ubume

see, she's totally creepier in b & w

So,  I was checking some comments on dA on japanese folklore on the Ubume thread, and thought it would be a good opportunity to explain the process behind my work.

Yes, this will be almost technical, if my way of working were technical at all :P

 I am not an expert on Japanese folklore, nor pretend to be one. Ubume is an adaptation, and breaks many of the "classical" aspects of her. 

I mean, I do pride myself on mah knowledge of ritualism and Greek mythology. Pretty confident on many more. Feel my rawrness at mah myths-mad-skillz and my forever love and respect due to them being an endless fountain of inspiration. 

But when it comes to India, Japan, Pre-Columbian civilizations -yeah, shame on me-, and the Arab world, my knowledge is kind of lacking despite my true love towards all things religious and mystical  :/

So how do we get to Ubume, you might ask? We get there through the most direct and dramatic way! A hunch! Yes! FEEL THE KOSUMO

(also, my love for myths, legends and ancient religions is indiscriminate. Polyamorous lovelove, enhanced due to all cultures producing extremely aesthetic manifestations of their beliefs. Style everywhere, I tell you)

See, the topic was monsters. And of course I didn't want to draw any of the traditional monsters, because I like the roads not taken and all, so vampires and Frankenstein and werewolves were out of the picture. All the creatures that are considered monsters just because they look different from the norm were also out of my list. Adieu, adieu, heraldry *waves goodbye* .

Monsters, to me, are something that hurts, something that's been twisted or is immoral. In me-land, a true monster is a person who is totally capable of great damage to others, someone who places no value in human life at all. Like politicians and governments and most owners of pharmaceutical companies and people who use their skills to develop new illnesses and new weaponry :) That's the top of my "oh my fuck, a monster!" list. 

The real world, and society and mankind are full of bigger monsters than any creature collective imagination was able to conjure.

Unfortunately, for the mystically inclined me, that sort of monster is totally boring to draw. I mean, just turn on the tv. You can see them there. Or google them. Watch the newwws and vomit at the monstrous prevailing injustice!

*ehem*

As I was saying, first row of "monster definition in the land of self" was not for grabs. Sooooooo we end up in row two, looking for the twisted ones in mythology, which is always so nice and loving to my dearest self, because there we have the REGREETTTTSSSS and SORROWWWW and VENGEANCE  and STROOOONG EMOTIOOOONS *.* *thunders and lightnings* Monsters with a reason! RAWR!

(Here I also start to find the topic sexy o.o)

Greek and Norse were unconsciously out, because 1. I did Brauronian last year 2. I did the Mimir last year. Known playground.

I wanted Japanese monsters. The bakemono and yokai and the lingering spirits! There's quite a list of ghosts in Japanese folklore, looooots to play with <3

Even when I typed all those previous paragraphs, this process took seconds, and somehow I stubbornly knew that "monster will translate to someone from the monogatari scrolls, yahr! " 

So we (me) searched for Ubume, whose name called out to me, and used the magickal mystery tool called "google" to learn more about her

here is ubume, the classical way, yet always creepy.

Things we learnt: 

1. That Ubume is kind of a relative of La Llorona and that sort of myths. A spirit of sorrow, mostly, who turns vengeful -even when Miss Ubume in particular doesn't seem to be thaaaaat vengeful- after the loss of her children. (As a side note, it is very unsettling the amount of female spirits that have to do with child loss among the creatures in the monogatari scrolls, either because the children were stillborn, died from sickness, from hunger or due to the wars. Having such a big amount of spirits on that subject usually means that it was pretty normal for children to die that way. *That* disturbs me)

I also read a version in which thanks to the Ubume people find a crying baby inside the tomb of a dead lady o.o (but that version doesn't worrrrrk, nonono *shakes fingers*)

2. She appears like a crying/begging/whimpering female, wearing red from her waist down (I kneeew that would translate in red hips and legs, yes, yes, that would look nice and pretty and fuckety fucked)

3. She asks travellers to hold her crying baby, which starts to weight more and more till the traveller is forced to drop it/traveller drowns. Lo and behold, baby was a stone/bundle of leaves! 

(at this moment, I knew I was on the right track, because OH MY FUCK THIS HAPPENS IN SAINT SEIYA AND IF IT HAPPENS IN SAINT SEIYA THE MYSTICAL FORCES APPROVE *level up* )

But the stone wasn't creepy enough :(

4. It was a stone or it was Jizo! YAY! A bodhisattva statue! Now we are talking ;)

Jizo being cute, awww

Jizo army!

Creepy Jizo. We approve. We totally approve and whoever came with the climbing babies was brilliant. BRILLIANT *respects*

There ends the investigation part *detective derruka mode off* and starts the adapting. I wanted her to have the baby/Jizo inside because I find the organic side of the human body interesting, same with her open kimono/tunic/thingie, to add both a hint of vulnerability, taboo and sexuality. I also wanted to keep her face mask-like, so we went sort of Noh-like, with painted eyebrows and an exaggerated expression. In my personal interpretation, the despair in her face is more a luring device than a reality (but feel free to read in it whatever you please!)

 The colours are just the usual "trial and error, testing everything till satisfied". Getting Jizo not to get lost in them and remain somewhat of a focal point was pretty challenging, though. 

After that, it was done. Gosh, that was long o.o Hope you weren't bored to death!

Conclusion: follow your instincts, they will lead you the right way ^.^  (or at least will lead you somewhere XD )

Pimp-Lady

Hi, my pretty ponies!

Today we pimp! yes! *poses* But we pimp in spanish because its about thingies going on in Buenos Aires or written in said language, so there will be little linguistic massacring, woe and despair :(

Como algunos ya sabrán, Asphodel está posteando algunas escenas de su novela "Anuraidh" (para la que hice la tapa, ho hoho) en su blog. Si tienen ganas de leer un rato, no duden en visitarla.

Si ven ciertas similitudes entre los nombres de sus personajes y los nombres de ciertas personas, es pura casualidad. Si si.

Casualité!

En otro tema, aunque no menos lleno de casualidades, durante el 23, 24 y 25 de marzo voy a estar dando vueltas por Dibujados con mah lovely gutter-minded team. Si no pudieron pasar por el Jardín Japonés, esta es su chance de conseguir artsy goodies! - y aparentemente emborracharse, por cosas que se escuchan por ahí, estos dibujantes! :o

Los espero!

-d

Ubume

When I started drawing this, I thought it was going to freak me out more :( .

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Cuando empecé a dibujar a Ubume pensé que el resultado final me iba a perturbar un poco más, pero quedó, muy a su manera (considerando que tiene una estatua de Jizo adentro y todo eso), linda en lugar de fucked up.

Aye, el camino de los espíritus vengativos está lleno de tropezones.

Para variar, todos los retoques de color los hice después de mandarla, así que la finished version está acá XD