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!

The First Look at The Art of Yuki-Onna

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you are all enjoying springtime. I am very happy to see blooming trees and singing birds decorate the neighborhood. I've got the hummingbird feeder up on the balcony and the hummingbirds are visiting frequently. =)

However, if you're missing winter - it just so happens that I've got some winter-themed illustrations to share with you. (Finally!) If you've been following along this blog, you might remember my sneak peek posts about a secretive, collaborative I've been working on. Well now the time has finally come to reveal more about it and to post a full image from my contribution. I present to you the first look at The Art of Yuki Onna.

"Family Stroll" - "And 0-Yuki bore Minokichi ten children, boys and girls, handsome children all of them, and very fair of skin." --- From the Japanese folktale of Yuki Onna.

(The original piece is approximately 8 x 17 inches, completed with micron pens, waterproof coloured inks and gouache on bristol-smooth paper.)

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 book which will be available for purchase in the months to come.

The image above is one of my contributions to the project, which also ended up being the cover image for the book. It was a really fun illustration to complete because I was able to draw inspiration from a culture that's very different from mine, but which has an artistic aesthetic that is very appealing to me.


Also I got to put patterns on almost all the characters, so it was an instant win because of that, if nothing else.

Here are a few close ups:

 

And a work-in-progress image. Unfortunately I don't have many process images, as the painting was too big to scan at home, and I had to "outsource" a scanner which wasn't at all close by.

Was still working out the dreaded feet of some of the characters.

Here are some character "warm ups" however - an important part of the "behind the scenes" work, before I started working on the painting. This step helped me to contemplate the personalities of the characters which would then guide narrative of the illustration.

Alright, that's it for today. Secrets are best revealed little by little, after all.
So, come back next week to see photos of The Art of Yuki Onna book and read about each of the artists involved!

*All images in this post are ©Mariya Olshevska.

Losing Altitude - Northern Spotted Owls

 

Hi there,

Today I'm going to do a quick process post about my latest painting - "Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina)" It was a piece I did for Losing Altitude - an upcoming book about threatened/endangered birds. This collaborative art book will feature over 50 artists and well over 100 pages of beautiful, full-color art of endangered birds from the world over.

Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/LosingAltitude

And now for the process.

1. As usual, I sketched out some thumbnails. to see what layout I wanted to work with.

As you can see from the finished product, the image ended being a combination of all 4 of these.

2. After getting my references together I went on to penciling. I like use the double penciling approach - where I first get the shapes and elements down more loosely with my blue pencil and then go over ad add more details with a graphite pencil.

Close up of the adult owl.

3. Then came my favourite part- the inking, using my black microns.

Adding even more detail during this stage.

After inking the whole image, I erase the pencil marks.

4. For this piece I decided to do a grey-scale values under-layer. It seemed like a logical idea since the owlets were mostly grey.

Almost fully rendered under-layer. I ended up darkening the adult owl some more later.

5. Then I got my coloured, waterproof inks out and finished up the painting, sprinkling some table salt on the background for hazy effect. Oh, and of course - for the final touch I used white gouache to add some shine and detail to the birds' feathers.

Here are some close ups:

 

-Original size: 11 x 17.7"
-Materials: Waterproof coloured inks, microns, white gouache, and salt on 300 series Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper

Prints available at my Society6 shop =)

Cheers for now!