Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Stan Sakai (Usagiguy) wrote:January 6th, 2009

It's been a full month since I last posted but I've been busy catching up on deadlines, went on a couple of trips (one with artist Alex Nino), and celebrated Christmas and New Year.

I did a couple of color pieces last week. This one is for the UY Book 23: Bridge of Tears hardcover signature plate.



For a step-by-step look at this drawing, look under the cut.

Rather than the usual battle pose, I wanted to draw just the opposite--Usagi as a weary warrior. I usually do these color pieces on 5-ply strathmore bristol 500 series, but I found a piece of 2-ply illustration board and used that. The figure was drawn in pencil, then inked with a Koh-i-noor Art Pen using Badger Black Opaque ink. The original art is about 8x11". Click on the images for a better look at them.



The figure was masked, then the background was roughly painted with watercolor using a flat, sable-haired #10 brush. My palette usually tends to run to the cooler colors--gray blue and gray greens--but I wanted this one to run warmer. I mixed yellow with a touch of purple.



Here's the drawing with the mask peeled off.



I toned the kimono and hakama using a blend of turquoise and Prussian blue.



Usagi is finished with turquoise mixed with red and orange--a darker tone for the hakama and very diluted for the white areas. A blend of turquoise and yellow was used for his sword hilt.



Orange, yellow, and white cel vinyl was used to indicate the grass. White was also used for highlights.

BuckRogers wrote:Wow. Super insight into the process, and not only putting an image on a plate but also the thoughts and emotions of the creator and what he is trying to convey.

Thanks for collecting these and sharing them.

Steve Hubbell wrote:

BuckRogers wrote:Wow. Super insight into the process, and not only putting an image on a plate but also the thoughts and emotions of the creator and what he is trying to convey.

Thanks for collecting these and sharing them.

This was not on an actual dinner plate , it was the illustration for the signature page or "tip-in plate" in the s/n hc edition of the Usagi Yojimbo Book 23.

jabba359 wrote:But now that someone brought it up, I could use some Usagi dishes.