This illustration is based on an anime called Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi. The male character in the image is a feminine looking, but very powerful demon named Sesshomaru, an antagonist who turns from evil to semi-good and is constantly fighting his half-demon brother Inuyasha, the protagonist, while both try to defeat the main antagonist and villain, Naraku. The female character, Rin, is a human girl whom Sesshomaru resurrected and allows her to travel with him even though he despises humans.

In the actual series, Rin is a girl of about 12 years of age and wears a cream and orange kimono with green tones, which I tried to carry through to her older counterpart. I certainly learned quite a bit about kimonos while choosing colors and style, which can depend on age, occasion and status. In Japan, teenagers enter adulthood at the age of 20 and celebrate by having a Coming of Age ceremony or Seijin shiki. The equivalent being a Quinceañera in Mexico for a 15 year old girl, Sweet 16 in the US or a Bar and Bat Mitzvah in Judaism.

What made this piece exciting was that I wasn't sure how it would exactly turn out since I didn't work from a finished line art piece, but rather a pretty rough sketch, which I scanned. From there I worked digitally on the line art for the guy, then after some coloring I made line art for the girl. Once I colored both characters and was pretty happy with both, I focused on the background, doing the sky first and finally the mountains. So much fun! ^_^

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. For my first big digital drawing I would say it's not too shabby ;) Oh and it's pretty big. It measures 32 x 33 inches, making it the biggest thing I've ever done (illustration wise)! It took me three weeks to complete.

I'm currently working on a piece of my own. It's inspired by a little bit of my culture, my likes and some nature, which I'm so out of touch with...i'm still thinking of a name for it.

Alla cerimonia di passaggio alla maggiore età tutte le ragazze indossano il kimono. Furisode, per la precisione, che significa maniche svolazzanti.

Il passaggio ai 20 anni significa che si è adulti, si possono fumare le sigarette, si possono bere alcolici. Per questo motivo molti ragazzi lo fanno spudoratamente, con gesti ancora incerti ma spavaldi. Il grande raduno del 14 gennaio unisce tutti quelli che arrivano ai venti entro l'anno, io sono stato invitato a quello di Yokohama. La caratteristica tipica di questa città portuale è che i giovani aspiranti malavitosi, gli yanki, scatenano delle risse tra di loro o coinvolgendo la polizia. Che spesso si fa malmenare, senza arresti o denunzie. Tanto si diventa grandi solo una volta nella vita.