Stan Sakai wrote:
October 17 at 11:47am
UY Book 29: Two Hundred Jizo is scheduled for late June, but solicitations are already due. Here is a step-by-step of the cover image. Ink, watercolor, cel vinyl (for the rain) and a touch of color pencil on 4-ply 500 series Strathmore Bristol cold press. The image area is 7.25x11.25 inches.
The comic came out in October, 2011 and, though the 141st Dark Horse issue of UY, was the 200th issue overall, so the title "Two Hundred Jizo". The story is about a craftsman who has a vision to create 200 images.
The rough pencils drawn with 2-H lead.
The title will be placed in the top quarter of the art, above the line.
No, I did not count to see if there are actually 200 Jizo images
Chong Wey Ming wrote:
Hey, you miss one Jizo image! Haa
The craftsman had finished the last Jizo at the very end of the story, after this scene takes place.
Mary Schneider wrote:
Wasn't there one like this once before? Where he fights the bandits and there were the little statues? I need to go back and look again, I remember reading but don't remember which book or the actual story. Love these... what a beautiful idea for remembering those we love. It reminds me of the memorials during the Dia de los Muertos. No one should be forgotten.
Mary--these Jizo images were prominent in three stories--Village of Fear (Usagi battles a were-tiger), Jizo (there was one statue put up by a grieving mother), and 200 Jizo (which will be reprinted in this volume).
Pencils tightened up with a mechanical pencil with HB lead.
The foreground is inked with a Rotring ArtPen and Badger Black Opaque ink (old formula).
The foreground, characters and borders are masked with a tracing paper frisket and the background is colored with watercolor paints.
The mask over the middle ground is removed and characters painted.
The foreground mask is removed.
The foreground is painted. I wanted this cover to be seen as planes--foreground, middle ground, and background--with the spotlight on the middle ground.
The rain was done with cel vinyl, an opaque medium.
The jizo in the foreground was inked with a Koh-i-noor Art Pen and Badger Black Opaque ink (old formula) The ink was reformulated a few years ago, and is nowhere as good. The Art Pen was discontinued awhile back, and has been replaced with a technical pen with the same name.
The jizo in the background were outlined with watercolor or reinforced with a very fine technical pen--.000 size.
Those statues are images of Jizo, a bodhisattva that eases suffering and helps those trapped in Hell. He is also the guardian of children and travelers, and his images can be seen all over Japan. I will have more detailed story notes in the book.
Finished work with the border mask removed.
