The Art of Yuki-Onna - The Master Post

Hello!

Today I've decided to a final post about my work for The Art of Yuki-Onna collaborative visual development book I've been writing about. Hope I haven't tired you out with it! There are previously un-posted illustrations below, so stay a while. =)

**Edit: It seems that for some reason Blogger decided to turn the white backgrounds on most of my images grey.... For proper colours, please see this post's "twin" on my Behace page----> here

This collection of images represents a portion of the work I created for a visual development book called "The Art of Yuki Onna". It is a sampling of character, environment, and pattern design I contributed to the project.

Book Brief:
"The Art of Yuki Onna is a collaborative, yet independent, artistic exploration of a Japanese folktale about a mysterious snow spirit - Yuki Onna. Various interpretations of the story from each participating artist have been curated into a humble, limited edition book.

"Concealment"

The snow spirit Yuki-Onna glides through the winter forest in contemplation and solitude, hardly detectable by mortal eyes.

*For close ups from this image, please visit through the "Concealment" project folder.

"Duality Discovered"

This is a scene in which the duality of the protagonist is revealed through a reflective moment of her husband Minokichi.

Yuki-Onna (above) and O-Yuki (below)

With our protagonist having two contrasting identities - an winter enchantress and a mortal mother -  it was a great opportunity to design (at least) two distinct looks for her. As the daughter of a winter god her clothing and hair are more elaborately ornamented, while as a human wife her styling is simpler.

Inari the Fox Woman

In one of our adapted versions of the folktale, Inari is Yuki’s guardian who is akin to an older sister that needed to take on a parental role. To allude to her fox-form and to contrast with Yuki’s aesthetic – I gave her sharper features and less traditional garment and hair. Her more traditionally masculine attire articles, combined with feminine pattern motifs, symbolize her playing the roles of both mother and father to Yuki.

Inari's fox form, rendered in a naturalistic style.

Potential accessories for the characters.

Some of the motifs I created to be used as clothing patterns and as decorative design elements throughout the book.

"Family Stroll"

This image depicts a scene from the folk-tale which speaks of the flourishing family of O-Yuki and her husband Minokichi. My favourite part was giving the baby white hair, as a symbol of the winter magic that is secretly passed down from O-Yuki to the children. This baby might even be fully blessed with Yuki’s immortal legacy.

*For close ups from this image please visit the "Family Stroll" project folder.

Environment - Maps Triptych

Inspired by traditional Japanese woodblock triptych landscapes, I created a triptych of my own. What resulted was narrative map triptych (for those with keen eyes) which captures three scenes from the story that take place in proximity to the human settlements -  the wood cutters’ discovery of the hut, Minokichi and 0-Yuki’s first walk together, and 0-Yuki’s ‘misty’ farewell.

"Epilogue"

In the original text, the story ambiguously ends with O-Yuki/Yuki-Onna turning into mist and disappearing through a chimney. My personal belief was that she did not perish, but became a part of the wind, so that she could still look after her family. Perhaps one day she will re-materialize.

The first printing of our book.

Thank you for looking!

Previous Yuki-Onna Posts:

Sneak Peeks at Snowy Scenes 

Sneak Peeks at White and Black Vignettes  

Pattern Sneak Peeks 

Sneak Peeks at Patterned Persons 

The First Look at The Art of Yuki-Onna 

The Art of Yuki-Onna - Meet the Artists

Have a fantastic week!

Sneak Peeks at Patterned Persons

Hello fellow visitors!

Sorry I didn't post anything last week, BUT today I am happy to announce that I've officially wrapped up my share of the work for that secretive,collaborative project I've been mentioning. The results of all the effort will be slowly revealed shortly - with some full images making their appearances in March.

In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks of the characters' design processes and more finalized versions:

A mix of pencil sketches, inked drawings, and finished pieces - all cropped closely for this collage.

Prior to starting on my paintings, I created portraits of all the characters from the story. This step helped me to better contemplate each of their personalities, which were then easier to translate into their "in-scene" presences. And yes, they all wear patterned attire (in the end), because I couldn't resist, and more importantly it's part of the traditional Japanese clothing aesthetic.  

Most of these portraits are quite small (4 x 5.25") and I'm considering putting up some originals for sale. I'll return to this thought later and keep you updated. :)

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. - if you don't already, please follow my art on my Facebook page for more frequent updates: Mariya Olshevska Illustration.

Character Sketches

Ahoy there!

Posting some sketches tonight! These are for a children book illustration project, the first part of which is character concepts for a story.

Here are some of my favorites:

Wishing everyone a creative and happy week ahead! :)

Little Ida's Flowers

It's my 100th post. Yay!=)

The following illustrations are part of my first Children's Book Illustration class. The topic was fairy-tales and I chose to depict (mostly) character portraits of the flowers found in Hans Christian Andersen's story - "Little Ida's Flowers". I really loved that story when I was little.

[Ida]: “Can children go to these balls?”
“Yes,” said the student, “little daisies and lilies of the valley.”

"The two most beautiful roses seat themselves on the throne, and are called the king and queen."

"Hyacinths and crocuses which [are called] young ladies."

"I saw a long yellow lily [...] She was a court lady.”

"Large poppies and peonies had pea-shells for instruments, and blew into them till they were quite red in the face."

Materials:
`Bristol Smooth Paper
`Prismacolor pens
`Micron pens
`Koh-i-Noor waterproof colour inks

Size:
9x12 inches

Prints available on my RedBubble
Happy Sunday!

Hedgehog Tales

Happy December, first of all!


For the last little while I've been working on some digital illustrations=)
You might remember these little hedgehogs from my older posts
-- http://mariyaolshevskaexpressions.blogspot.com/2011/05/hedgehog-cactus.html
-- http://mariyaolshevskaexpressions.blogspot.com/2011/05/hedgehog-pine-cone.html

Anyhow, for my final Digital Illustration class project I decided to turn them into digital pieces and add some more hedgehogs into the series to create a mini story.

I think the story can be read in any order, but this one is the one I had in mind when I created the works. The gist of is that in the future world of extinction two little hedgehogs go on journeys to see if there are any others of their kind. Along the way they encounter a variety of other objects and animals....

See for yourselves:

Hedgehog + Pine cone

Hedgehog + Cactus

Hedgehog + Sea Urhcin

Hedgehog + Porcupine

Hedgehog + Hedgehog

And in case you're wondering about process, here's how it all went down.

1. Made a sketch:

2. Inked the sketch using the "pen" tool in Adobe Illustrator:

3. Painted the general colours using the" live paint bucket" tool in Illustrator:

4. Placed the image into Photoshop, where I added subtle gradients to each section, painted the background, and started to add a little texture to the grass with some grass brushes:

5. Applied various natural textures to the hedgehog, pine cone, grass, and overall image. I also adjusted the levels of the picture and ta-da!

*I also like this more papery version of the two hedgehogs together:

Credits:

Wrinkled Paper Sheet --- "Paper Sheet 002" by reflected-stock
Grass Brushes -- "The Ultimate Grass Brush Set" by charfade
Grass -- "Grass Stock" by Rai-Stock
Marble -- "Marble Texture" by hitorokiwa
and other paper texture --> "Parchment Paper"