Jacob Covey of Fantagraphics emailed me several months ago and invited me to be a contributor to the forthcoming “Beasts 2” book.
Originally I was planning on illustrating a Satyr, but unfortunately another illustrator beat me to it, so I chose to illustrate the Japanese ghost “Yuki-Onna.”
Here is how Wikipedia describes Yuki-Onna:
“Yuki-onna appears as a tall, beautiful woman with long hair on snowy nights. Her skin is inhumanly pale or even transparent, causing her to blend into the snowy landscape (as she is most famously described in Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She sometimes wears a white kimono,[2] but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face, hair, and pubic region standing out against the snow.[3] Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a notable feature for many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if she is threatened.[4]”
I had a lot of fun with this project, there was no back and forth of sketches, I got the chance to just do the thing my way right off the bat.
I wanted the piece to relate visually as well to an old Japanese woodblock print. Three notable characteristics that I utilized were limited colors, minimalist background, and the contorted facial expression of the Yuki-Onna’s victim on the bottom left.
Here are some images I photographed from books of Japanese Woodblock Prints that were inspirational to the illustration:
Incidentally, there is an open competition for the remaining few spots in the Monsters book, you can read about it here. Good luck if you decide to take part.
Thanks for reading!
f.
15 Comments
Add Yours →Nice job Frank, personally I feel that’s one of the better things I’ve seen you do.
nice work as always. If you haven’t already,check out the film “Kwaidan” on DVD. It’s a collection of Japanese ghost stories and one of them is Yuki Onna.
This has to be one of my all time favorites ever!
nice work.dig the wind spirit thing
Great stuff! Your blog is great, really informative, and full of great art. I have recently found out about you, and I have been checking in on your blog frequently. Keep up the great work! Take care.
Very nice composition. I like the way you arranged everything within the borders of the illustration with a minimum of cropping–it gives it the feel of a Japanese woodblock. The monochrome palette is nicely suited to the image, though an accent of red would really make it pop, like on the guys face, and the handle of the sword, just a hint of it–not your usual red-brown, but balls out saturated red. Just as an experiment maybe.
Frank this is awesome! I love the composition! There’s a nice triangle between the figures and great diagonals with her hands and the 2 swords. Love it!
zowee! this piece is GORGEOUS frank.
Frank….these are gorgeous man. I cannot stop looking at that horse drawing below. The perspective on it is just incredible. And the foreshortening on the latest image is just sick man. What I really enjoy in all of these is the flatness of the colors that allows the lines of your drawing to maintain a strong visual balance. I always have the tendency, when coloring, to add too many shapes for shading…eventually covering up the the quality of the lines. You always make it work. Keep it up man.!!!!
-Tin
Is your “hamburgers for one” story going to be in the new meathaus sos? I’m going to be very disappointed if it’s not.
When’s your art book coming out???
^ ^
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments. First, I apologize for not having updated for the last few weeks, I’m totally slammed with work for now, but I promise the next post will be pretty cool.
Connor, a lot of people have told me that and I am inclined to agree.
Jason, I will put it in my netflix queu
Dustin, George, Thomas: thanks!
Jed, you make an interesting suggestion, I’ll think about it.
M, I’m going to have to live with your disappointment in me for the time being. I didn’t finish hamburgers in time for the meathaus deadline, however it IS finished and I’m looking at a couple of anthologies before the year is done.
Tin, thank you, I grew up around horse crap.
J. Fiorino, I didn’t realize the traingles when I sketched this up, but it is pretty cool now that you mention it.
Ilana, thanks!
Joshua, the first printing has sold out and the 2nd printing is set to arrive in April.
Wonderful piece frank , one of my faves.
I was so looking forward to it!
Please let us know when/where it will be published…
Such an awesome piece! I knew as soon as I saw the illo who she was! Definitely rent Kwaidan- you’ll totally love it. Her story was my favorite of the bunch.