[Image 1: Greyscale ink-and-brush-style illustration of a man with a cut across one cheek. His left

[Image 1: Greyscale ink-and-brush-style illustration of a man with a cut across one cheek. His left arm is raised with the back of his hand pressed against his forehead, and he is holding a pair of shuriken. Image 2: a 3x2 grid of work-in-progress screenshots of the illustration, from rough sketch to final drawing.]I recently wrapped up a couple of major multi-year creative projects (one of them being the Genjimonogatari series, the other coming later this month). Unsurprisingly I’ve been feeling creatively lethargic. Kind of like a creative hibernation time? Brain is still bursting with ideas, but I’m just giving myself the chance - permission, or whatever you want to call it - to not have to do anything with it. Just rest, let things percolate, pick up a little bit here, a little bit there, and dabble as I feel like, and not let it bother me too much that my volume of output is so different. Things always come and go, in waves or cycles or however you might feel or picture it.Here’s a Kazemaru from Yu Yu Hakusho. Kazemaru, I have not forgotten thee!! Every time I draw/talk about/write about something with him I feel compelled to say that, haha. Above are wips of the key stages! Left to right, top to bottom are:Base scribble pose that I felt would work well enough (it’s always a little tricky trying to pose him to obscure the Buddhist manji on his forehead, for sensitivity reasons)A cleaner drawing on top of the sketch to refine it allDigital ink drawing with extreme pressure sensitivity.Base shadingLighter shadingBlobby white fireball-energy fun on top. I switched a lot between three layers for the shading and the white blobbing.His lower lashes and nose are very fun to draw. I do like the face in the second wip image - not that the “final” one is bad per se, but each version has different nuances with the way the lines came out.Over the years Kazemaru has slowly snuck up to become one of my favourite antagonists from the series (as he’s not really a villain… and he’s basically trying to get a better, more respectable job, after all!). The main reason is not just that his backstory is rather intriguing and his character has a lot of potential for fun opportunities, but also that of course he never ever appears again and nobody really talks about him. This is how I latch onto things and amuse myself with time, distance and fanwork! I’m in the home stretch of wrapping up this Kazemaru fanfic I started writing like a year ago that is a continuation of the short comic What Goes Around. Actually, the fic is next to finished, but I have a cover and stuff I want to go with it which is really what’s delaying things. Getting very very close, fingers crossed! -- source link

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