Japanese Mythology - Blog Posts

I made a pixel animation!

So today I made a pixel animation of a fox transforming into an Asian dragon!

The software I used was Adobe Photoshop and it took around 2 hours to make, during making this gif I learned that Photoshop was more than a photo editing software and how to make gifs bigger. I also used a Wacom tablet to draw the frames! I found it difficult at first as I never knew how to animate on photoshop as I’m more comfortable with a different program, but I got used to it quickly!

My inspiration behind it was Japanese mythology, especially the kitsune and it’s transformation powers! I have always been fascinated by Japan and its wonderful culture, so this was a perfect opportunity to let me show that through the wonderful medium of animation!

I have been animating for a while now and I’m always open to try new forms of it so being able to add another form of it under my belt was special. To me this is another step to becoming an animator for a big company or even starting my own!

I really enjoyed sketching out how this animation was going to look, sketching has always been my favorite part of animation and drawing in general because it’s the stage where mistakes don’t really matter and you can just go crazy with the start of your work! I also learned how to use the HSV adjustment tool to get the perfect shade of orange when the color wheel wasn’t good enough as well as how to make the lines come out smoother by tinkering with the brush settings.

However I found the coloring to be a real chore as every time I used the fill tool, pixels would flood outside of the lines and make the final product look really messy and sloppy, so I spent a fair amount of time cleaning that up just so the final product would look cleaner and smoother.

If I had a chance to revisit and redo this animation, I would probably make it longer and smoother, so someday I might remake this animation and it might not even be in a pixel format!

The tale of the Kuchisake-onna

The tale of the Kuchisake-onna dates back to the 17th to 19th century in Japan and is described as a woman mutilated, with her mouth split from ear to ear. The tale has various origins, claiming that she either was the adulterous wife or mistress of a great samurai that he became so outraged at hearing his wife was unfaithful that he slashed his wife’s mouth from ear to ear as punishment. Other tales claimed that she was once a great beauty and a jealous woman cut her; or that she had a dental procedure gone wrong. Either way, she died of the blood loss, and she came back as a malevolent spirit who appears to you and asks, ‘Am I pretty?’ Or, ‘Am I beautiful.’

She appears on a usually foggy night to a stranger, according to Kuchisake-Onna | Creepypasta Wiki | Fandom, haunting different places, wearing a mask that hides her face. She will stop a person and ask you directly, ‘‘Do you think I’m beautiful?’’ The person will usually answer, ‘‘Yes,’’ causing her to lower the mask to show off the hideous bloodied scars and ask, ‘‘What about now?’’ If you say no, scissors will appear in her hand, and she will slash you to death. If you still say yes, she will give you the same markings that show on her face, leaving you with the same fate. ‘‘There are several ways to prevent this terrible fate. One, to confuse Kuchisake-Onna by saying: "You are average." Two, present her with hard amber candy, which she'll take much delight in and let you go. Three, say ‘Pomade’ six times, and she will flee. Four, ask her if you are beautiful, which will confuse her hopefully long enough to escape. But be wary. She is said to be incredibly fast and will be unlikely to stop.‘‘

So if you see a strange woman on the street wearing a mask to stop you and ask the words, ‘Am I pretty/Do you think I’m beautiful?’’ I suggest that you adopt an NYC attitude (I can say this, I am from New York) and drop some candies before walking or sprinting away!

Oh almighty goddess Amaterasu, of all that is good!

Some time ago I started playing the Okami remaster, I totally fell in love with it!

I had to draw our godly doggo, although with few untrue elements, I just didn't care and was lazy lmao.

Because sometimes you just wanna draw an Oni teen in modern clothes.png (~2020 when digital art was new for me)