maijiMar 20, 2024

Northern God, Eastern King

Bonus variation illustration, lineart, and full commentary: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4505072

#YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #fanart #fancomic #Touou #dragon #CreativeToots #MastoArt #DigitalArt

maiji: Northern God, Eastern King - now and then

[image set: A series of digital illustrations in an ink-brush style. Hokushin holds out a flame of energy in one hand while casting a glance over his shoulder, his other arm stretched out in a long ribbon encircling the space. Touou in dragon form spirals around him, echoing the movement of Hokushin's arm. 1) Hokushin in his present-day Yu Yu Hakusho Raizen's kingdom robes - a dark coat bordered with a diagonal pattern resembling a lightning bolt, and his head shaved in the manner of a monk. 2) The same composition reversed, with Hokushin in his North Bound commoner's robes with shoulder-length hair tied at the nape of his neck. 3) A collage of the two images facing each other in a mirrored effect - lineart only, then with full shading.]North Bound Hokushin and Touou, now (modern day Yu Yu Hakusho era) and then (circa Kamakura period). Flipping art is always an adventure, a.k.a. the game of “Is it gonna be AUGHHH?” I think this one turned out not too bad, though the initial cognitive dissonance always takes a moment or two. Dragon Touou is not to scale here. He’s a little bigger, but the composition required tighter size differences.Touou’s true form is technically a spoiler, but I already spoiled it years ago (2018!) in Evaluation. That’s what happens when you write prequels and flashbacks all out of order and stuff. But I thought it was super serendipitous that it’s the Year of the Dragon and I am finally at a point in the story where I’ll be writing Touou’s official appearance in joining Hokushin, Raizen and Seizan in North Bound! It will be the next story/focus in the North Bound comics!! …is what I had intended to say, except I already got distracted with two other short stories. Still part of North Bound, still with a Touou focus, so at least I’m consistent there. They’re more like “missing scenes” than short stories, so they should be done relatively faster at least!

Pillowfort
maijiJan 19, 2024

An illustration to cap off a collection of self-indulgent supernatural / historical fancomics that took me ~6 years to write/draw 😤 💪 Learned a lot and had a lot of fun! (In between the screaming and crying that is me trying to make comics in general 😂)

Thoughts: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4225955

#YuYuHakusho #HistoricalFanfiction #fancomics #comics #Semimaru #TomoeGozen #Hokushin #MastoArt #CreativeToots

maiji: a blind biwa player, a lady warrior, and a demon

[Set of 2 images. 1) Digital ink brush style illustration of three figures cascading down a page. On the left is a musician with a long flowing beard playing a biwa/Japanese lute, his eyes closed, with a hazy moon in the sky. To the right is a woman in Kamakura-era armour astride a horse. In the centre foreground is a man in Kamakura-era armor with shoulder-length hair tied back, holding a long sheathed sword in his left hand. He seems to be about to draw it. Superimposed over the illustration is the North Bound logo with the text: "a blind biwa player / a lady warrior / and a demon". 2) Same illustration without the logo and text.]Something I'm excited about with regards to finishing fight / flight is that now I can finally post a new batch of images to Pixiv! Not just fight / flight, but also other illustrations I finished over the period of time and/or forgot to previously post to the North Bound series there. I really wanted to do one last illustration of these three to close it off. I usually wait a day, several days before posting art/comics to other platforms. Partly to spread out the update spam, partly to try to increase visibility, but mostly because 9 times out of 10 if I post things too fast I almost immediately discover some silly mistakes and then I'm crying inside because I'm repeatedly editing, reposting, finding another mistake, repeat etc... and/or I can't edit a post on some platforms and have to delete it all and start over. So I try to pace myself a bit, giving myself a little distance and opportunity to be more aware and mindful. (Sometimes it works. Sometimes I'm like, who cares, no one will notice except me, and move on with my life.)It's always hard to assess your own work objectively. Projects like North Bound are particularly interesting because of the funny elasticity of time that you have with all the different pieces of it. That some ideas are so old and you're finally getting to them after all these months/years or other people are finally seeing them when you've already long moved on to something else. That different things are a varying stages of conception and sketching and refining and finishing, and so on. Webcomic creators are very familiar with the concept of "webcomic time". I think anyone who works in a field where there's a lag between the initial conceptualization of something and the actual publishing/launching it out into the world know what I mean. (Webcomic time maybe even more so because the barriers to entry for webcomics can be wonderfully low and webcomic creators often do SO MUCH in the production so lots of people get to commiserate in this funny space/feeling together.) To be honest I think I feel it with North Bound even more than I ever felt it with Now Recharging. The latter I worked on in a relatively regular fashion to hit specific posting schedules, while North Bound really is whenever I can squeeze in the time and motivation and also problem-solve narrative issues.)Looking back, Mirror Most Dark (completed 2017), I Heard A Cicada Cry (completed 2020), Survive (2021) and fight / flight (2024) form a four story set as "this is North Bound Hokushin's formative time before he meets Raizen". But what I really like is that they feel pretty self-contained - more like "this is an interesting little supernatural historical fiction-y series of stories". (Enough so that I actually woke up one night thinking, "Hey, this set of stories would actually make a pretty robust printed book! The 3 comic stories alone come to 108 pages! I wonder how many pages Mirror Most Dark would come to if I re-laid it out as a printed illustrated story... I'd have to redraw the illustrations in black and white to be able to print it more cost-effectively and match the style of the comic stories..." and then I was like no, you already have enough things to work on, and you don't need another box of books sitting in your closet for the next 10+ years.)Working on these helps me really appreciate the art and craft of storytelling and building out/fleshing out a character, and also pushes me to try so many things I otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to. Mirror Most Dark, the oldest work in this group, still holds up not too badly (though there are a lot of errors and issues, and many things I would change if I were attempting it today...), and some panels and sequences I've been very proud of throughout the stories. When I reread them I do always see little things I'd like to fix, but overall... I made them, I learned from them, they exist, and it was all a very worthwhile experience!

Pillowfort
Show threadmaijiJan 6, 2024

"fight / flight" - At long last! 🙌 Part 5 of 5 is up with alt text/transcript and commentary!

Read it at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4183665
More info on the North Bound series: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

#MastoArt #CreativeToots #comics #fancomic #fanart #YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #TomoeGozen

maiji: fight / flight part 5 of 5 (Yu Yu Hakusho North Bound fancomic)

[images: First two pages of a comic drawn in a digital ink-brush style with greyscale shading.]fight / flight: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (this is it!)Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.A YYH North Bound story. This story takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry (4 parts - all 4 parts are linked in each post) and Survive (one-shot).[READ-MORE][images: Remaining seven pages of comic.][page 32]*A flame on a stand flickers in a room. A pair of hands wring out a piece of cloth. Hokushin, hair loose at his shoulders and upper body and arms bandaged, is sitting up in a simple floor-bed, his armour off to the side. Tomoe Gozen, her back to him, is just to his left working with the cloth over a wooden pail.*[page 33]Hokushin: Lady Tomoe... Thank you, but… I cannot help but feel that your efforts with me are wasted.Tomoe: Was it not you who told me you were commanded to seek out a master to serve long and well? Are you going to fail him now?[page 34]Hokushin: *Tomoe's words sink in, and his expression is devastated. He lowers his head, face in his hands* Ha... ha ha ha... ha ha... *he lowers his hands* Lady Tomoe, I owe you a great deal-Tomoe: You owe me nothing. You have saved the lives of a number of our men, and of Lord Yoshinaka himself, enough times. This is the least I can do. [page 35]Tomoe: You may be a demon, but… *she gets up and walks over to Hokushin, cloth in hand, as he looks up soberly at her* I have seen the words your actions speak. And now you must go.[page 36]*Hokushin says nothing, only continues looking at her*Tomoe: *closes her eyes and turns slightly away from him* I know what you are thinking. I heard what Enma Daioh’s emissary said. I will not leave.Hokushin: It will likely be the path to your death.Tomoe: Ha! You forget, rokurokubi. I am human. Every day I live is the path to my death. And what of you? Would you not have stayed with Semimaru till the end, had he not tricked you into leaving?*Hokushin looks devastated again*Tomoe: *abashed* Ah, I did not mean- [page 37]Tomoe: *reaches/sits down and places both hands over Hokushin's hand* …but you understand my feelings. My place is here with Lord Yoshinaka. Fighting at his side is everything to me.[page 38]Hokushin: And what if he commands you to leave?Tomoe: *looks stricken, then determined* Only if he commands so. And even if he does, I will still fight before I depart his side. *she gets back to her feet* As for you, you must go. So that you can find the master you are destined to meet.*Hokushin nods*[page 39]*A horse paces restlessly. Hokushin, hair tied back again and in full armour, reins it in and turns to Tomoe Gozen who is seeing him off.*Hokushin: Lady Tomoe. If our paths should cross again, may it never be as enemies. *He reaches his hand out to her*Tomoe: *grasps his hand* May that be so.*Hokushin rides off through the tall grass, into the distance**fight / flight end*Happy New Year!! I dddiiiiiddd it!! This is the last (planned/that my conscious brain is aware of lol) flashback of the North Bound prequel!! We now return to main prequel time with Raizen and Hokushin and Seizan. Or we will once I get around to drawing the next story. Every year we inch ever closer to the climax! Inch inch inch.I love the idea of Hokushin and Tomoe Gozen building a relationship from suspicion and survival to a deep, platonic understanding full of mutual respect and support, especially due to their like-minded roles as loyal retainers wholly devoted to the ones they love/serve. I didn’t realize till after I had firmed up the script, but Tomoe’s response to Hokushin that “Fighting at [Yoshinaka’s] side is everything to me” is exactly Hokushin’s answer to Yusuke on why he follows Raizen. It just fit perfectly, and makes so much sense to me as a narrative reference. In this universe and version of events, we can imagine Hokushin’s words to Yusuke are tied to his memory of this conversation… Japanese history/culture buffs will probably notice that the irony(?) of Hokushin and Tomoe’s conversation is that Tomoe would soon find herself in pretty much the situation Hokushin warned her about. According to tradition, Kiso Yoshinaka refused to let Tomoe stay with him. Shortly before he died in his final stand at Awazu, he forced her to leave his side, saying her presence as a woman would only be a burden. Harsh words for such a trusted, valued warrior! Though by some accounts Tomoe was at the time pregnant with their child, which one can extrapolate would have been an influencing factor in Yoshinaka’s actions.If you’re wondering what ultimately happens to Tomoe in this universe, there is a very big hint in the fic We Walked Through the Past, Carrying the Future when Yusuke, Keiko and Hokushin check out the museum. This is not the last you’ll see of Tomoe Gozen!! Assuming I get North Bound far enough...EDIT: Sneak fixes as I realized after the fact I forgot to draw Hokushin's magatama necklace! It has no importance to this story, but is a detail I care a lot about...[/READ-MORE]

Pillowfort
Show threadmaijiNov 25, 2023

"fight / flight" - part 4 of 5 is up with alt text/transcript and commentary!

Read it at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4005898
More info on the North Bound series: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

Content warning for people with blood on their faces.

#MastoArt #CreativeToots #comics #fancomic #fanart #YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #Otake #TomoeGozen #supernatural #JapaneseMythology #tennyo

maiji: fight / flight part 4 (Yu Yu Hakusho North Bound fancomic)

[images: First two pages of a comic drawn in a digital ink-brush style with greyscale shading.]fight / flight: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (to come!)Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.A YYH North Bound story. This story takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry (4 parts - all 4 parts are linked in each post) and Survive (one-shot).Content warning: People with blood on their faces.[READ-MORE][images: Remaining four pages of comic.][page 26]*Otake and Tomoe Gozen are still facing off with their respective weapons at the ready when a flash of light appears in the air just over Otake*Tomoe: ??Otake: ![page 27]*A beautiful woman descends. She is bathed in moonlight, her long hair tied up with gilded ornaments, a beauty mark on her lower face near her lips, and with a halo of robes fluttering behind her.*?: Otake, stand down.[page 28]*The woman notices Otake's bloodied state and responds with comedic expressions of disgust*?: Eeuuugh!! Yuck!!! Gross!!!Otake: *looking annoyed* Go away.?: Didn’t you hear me?? I said stand down!!Otake: I don’t have time for your games, tennyo.Tennyo: Games? This is a command from the great Enma Daioh Himself.Otake: …Enma Daioh has canceled my quest?(Footnote: Tennyo = "sky maiden", heavenly beings in Buddhist mythology)[page 29]*The tennyo folds her arms self-importantly while Otake continues to look irritated. Tomoe Gozen observes their exchange alertly*Tennyo: Not specifically. He’s calling everyone back. It’s important.And not that you asked me, but I think you should quit wasting your time on this silly pet project of yours.Otake: *walking away from her* You’re right. I didn’t ask you.Tomoe: ...Tennyo: Well, the great Enma Daioh hardly needs to rely on a dirty toy mirror to achieve his goals. Anyways, even if you don’t care about promotions, Yoshinaka’s days are numbered. It’s going to be a bloodbath even worse than the mess you made of that body.*Tomoe is silent but clearly alarmed by this mention of Yoshinaka's name and the scenario the tennyo is suggesting.*Tennyo: Don’t get yourself caught up in petty human affairs.[page 31]Otake: Hmph.*He sheathes his sword, then walks towards the tennyo as she tosses a cloth over him. They both disappear, leaving Tomoe staring up at the empty sky over the forest.*[page 32]*Tomoe continues looking up at the sky for several moments, then turns to Hokushin behind her* Tomoe: What did you do to get emissaries from the Underworld after——you——!!*She breaks off as she realizes Hokushin appears to be lying fully unconscious on the ground. The view changes to the moon high above the forest and mountains*Tomoe: Come on…!! A demon like you can hardly die that easily...!!Obviously, Hokushin’s not dead. He’s just in need of a very very long nap. “Tennyo” (Sky, or Celestial, or Heavenly Maiden) is a new character I needed to create for some important reasons. One is to be a pain in her coworker Otake’s side, and the second (maybe more important reason) is to do some of the plot work I need done that Otake won’t be able to do. Tennyo is not her name; it’s just a descriptor. Otake referring to her as “tennyo” is like when Tomoe calls Hokushin “rokurokubi” - similar to saying, “look, woman,” or “hey, kid,” or “listen, squirt”, etc. She will have a name, to be revealed in time!Tennyo are based on apsaras of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, and are sometimes described as the Buddhist version of angels. They are obviously not the same by far but is mostly sufficient as a general comparison. There’s actually a tennyo in the first Yu Yu Hakusho movie, Kotennyo, who had a relationship with Koenma. The movies are not main series canon and the first one was more silly than anything.In North Bound, tennyo are the predecessors to Reikai’s ferry girls like Botan, Ayame, Hinageshi - just a different appearance/presentation for the time period they are in. I have planned some stuff around this oooh ahh. Here, instead of floating on oars, the tennyo’s robe allows her to fly (per the hagoromo tradition). Hence, the cloth she uses to teleport Otake back to the Spirit World is an Easter egg - a reference to the cloth that Shishiwakamaru uses to teleport Kuwabara around during the Dark Tournament, hahaha. That cloth in Japanese is not-so coincidentally 死出の羽衣  or Shide no Hagoromo (roughly, "feathered cloak/robe of death"), so very obviously connected to the tennin (sky/celestial/heavily people) tradition. (My headcanon is that's all Suzuki's doing - as the leader and source of all of Team Uraotogi's tools, that he's the one "designed" the team, coming up with the names including all their items and special moves. He clearly seems to have a thing for thematic drama.)The tennyo’s comment on Otake messing up “that body” is also a reference to the fact that Spirit World folks are not beings with physical bodies. Had Hokushin managed to “kill” Otake in this battle, he wouldn’t be dead; only his physical vessel would be destroyed. We see this in the actual series, where Botan uses a temporary physical body to interact with people in the Human World. The most obvious instance of this is during the fight against Sensui, when she jettisons the vessel to return to the Spirit World to deliver an urgent message, shocking Yanagisawa. Whoohoo, only one more part to go to finish fight/flight!! And then… we can move back to the core time period of North Bound with Raizen…!![/READ-MORE]

Pillowfort
Show threadmaijiSep 5, 2023

"fight / flight" - part 3 of ?? is up with alt text/transcript and commentary!

Read it at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3692920
More info on the North Bound series: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

Content warning for violence, blood, people fighting with swords. I cannot believe I finally got to the part I did test drawings for two years ago...!

#MastoArt #CreativeToots #comics #fancomic #fanart #YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #Otake #BodyHorror #yokai #supernatural

maiji: fight / flight part 3 (Yu Yu Hakusho North Bound fancomic)

[images: First three pages of a comic drawn in a digital ink-brush style with greyscale shading.]fight / flight: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 of ?? parts Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.A YYH North Bound story. This story takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry (4 parts - all 4 parts are linked in each post) and Survive (one-shot).Content warning: Violence, blood, people fighting with swords.[READ-MORE][images: Remaining seven pages of comic.][page 16]*Hokushin slowly stands up, facing Otake, looking as if he’s in a daze. Then the look in his eyes changes.*[page 17]*Hokushin’s arms both extend rapidly, one arm whipping out to grab his sword. Otake realizes that Hokushin's aiming for Otake's fallen sword with his opposite arm and quickly pounces for it before Hokushin’s other arm can reach it. Closeup of Hokushin’s feet as he dashes towards Otake.*[page 18]*Hokushin screaming and charging at Otake as the latter blocks the attack*[page 19]*Hokushin continuing to scream and cry while slashing viciously at Otake, who is now struggling to parry the blows.*Hokushin: How could you?! How could you?? Of all the humans!! Out of all the humans in this godforsaken world!![page 20]*Flashbacks of Semimaru: playing his biwa; smiling and pointing out a frog on a lilypad; hand reaching out to touch Hokushin’s face before they parted; walking off into the crowd at Ausaka Barrier.*Hokushin: (Semimaru…) …how could you…[page 21]*Otake, who is taking a beating, loses control of his sword and it flies into the air spinning. In desperation he grabs his energy bracer again for one more power up, and shoots out another energy attack that slams Hokushin from the side, snapping his head/neck with great force.*[page 22]*Hokushin is slammed face first to the ground. Otake has retrieved his sword and stands, panting. Hokushin has a flashback of him Semimaru walking through blossoms falling from the trees*Hokushin: (Live happily... Those few days were the happiest I had ever known. I have no desire for any more.)*He closes his eyes.*Otaku, raising his sword in a final attack: Ha!![page 23]*A new figure with long flowing hair and a white ribbon wrapped around the forehead blocks Otake’s sword with a naginata.*[page 24]*Powerful spirit energy emanates from the new warrior like a flame.*Otake: (Tomoe Gozen…!! Her spirit energy is as strong as the reports say…![page 25]*Otake and Tomoe Gozen have an unblinking staredown - but Otake, with blood running down his face, is clearly not in the best of shape and is perturbed. He lowers his weapon.*Otake: …Have you any idea what you’re dealing with?Tomoe, adjusting her naginata stance: I care not. Any who seek to harm my lord and his men stand in the way of my blade.Tomoe Gozen to Hokushin’s rescue yaaaaah!!! Yeaaaahhh I did it!! This is the scene I did test panel drawings for ~2 years ago (2021)! That sure makes the ~half a year it took to get this out since Part 2 feel a little shorter, haha. Part 3 was actually supposed to be the "short" part, but somehow it ended up being 10 pages and thus more pages than each of the previous 2 parts (8 and 7 pages, respectively). This is because action is hard to panel. I am very proud of myself for screaming and crying getting all the way through this; still a lot to improve on but I learned a lot and it is definitely not something I could have drawn back when I first started working on North Bound in 2017 (?! time flies). Semimaru pointing at the frog in the pond is supposed to be a cute moment from their travels for Hokushin to remember, and is a reference to Basho’s famous haiku. Except that's just a reference for us because this story takes place in the late Heian/early Kamakura period and Basho won't be born for another several hundred years (he lived during the Edo period) so it’s totally anachronistic. But so are rokurokubi anyways.Please do not worry about Hokushin's neck on page 21, remember he's a rokurokubi so his neck can stretch further. Still hurts though. (And even with a boost from an artifact, Otake's blow was nowhere near as powerful as Yusuke's, since that one made Hokushin's neck twist several times.)Japanese history buffs, kindly ignore the fact that due to Semimaru being dated to early Heian era and Kiso Yoshinaka and Tomoe Gozen living during the Genpei Wars it is very likely that at this point, even if Otake didn’t kill Semimaru, he would be dead regardless because normal human lifespans and all. But it’s ultimately the principle of the matter that he didn’t get to live out a peaceful life and was instead massacred by Otake. And who am I to not take advantage of creative license for the convenience of storytelling to compress time and whatever history anyways? And we don’t really know a lot of details about Semimaru anyways, and anyways this is a fanwork being done in spare time. Anyways anyways, thank you for your patience and understanding.I am working on another behind the scenes post to show the progress from thumbs to page sketches, will link here when it’s up![/READ-MORE]

Pillowfort
Show threadmaijiJan 2, 2023

"fight / flight" - part 2 of ?? is now up with alt text/transcript and commentary 🙌

Read it at: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3115579
More info on the North Bound series: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

#MastoArt #CreativeToots #comics #fancomic #fanart #YuYuHakusho #hokushin #Otake #BodyHorror #Yokai #supernatural

maiji: fight / flight part 2 (Yu Yu Hakusho North Bound fancomic)

[images: First two pages of part 2 - a comic drawn in a digital ink-brush style with greyscale shading.]fight / flight: Part 1 | Part 2 | of ?? partsAlt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.A YYH North Bound story. This story takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry (4 parts - all 4 parts are linked in each post) and Survive (one-shot).[READ-MORE][images: Remaining five pages of comic.][page 9] *Hokushin and Otake clash swords. After a while of dueling, they split apart, both panting.*Otake: How pointlessto fight like a common human.*He clasps his sword wrist with his opposite hand. Hokushin cautiously takes note of the movement. The area around the gauntlet/bracer Otake is clasping glows*[page 10] *Otake releases his grip on his wrist*Hokushin: (Some kind of Spirit World artifact?)*unexpectedly, a sudden blast of organically shaped energy spikes slice through Hokushin*[page 11] *Hokushin coughs up blood and is slammed and pinned against a tree by the spikes*Hokushin: Ugh...Otake: *charging and slicing at Hokushin's neck* Your head is mine!!*Otake’s blade comes bearing down on Hokushin’s neck. At the last second, Hokushin's entire head stretches into a long ribbon and whips out of the way*[page 12] Otake: ?!*Hokushin's head/neck whips towards Otake and around his torso and arms*[page 13] *Otake’s hands are bound tightly, causing him to drop his sword. Wrapped up in Hokushin's neck, he's tossed through the air and his head is rammed against a tree. Meanwhile, Hokushin pulls the spikes out and slides down to the ground, trails of blood against the tree trunk*[page 14] *Otake continues to get his head slammed against trees. He struggles and manages to grip his bracer again. It glows. It sends a shocking sensation through Hokushin's neck, and Hokushin unwraps and withdraws. Sweating and bedraggled, he covers his neck with both hands gingerly, then lowers his arms, revealing a series of burn marks around his neck. Otake, blood running down both sides of his face and one eye bruised, braces one hand against his knee and slowly gets up.*Hokushin: !!Otake: …A male rokurokubi. That must’ve been why the old man was so intent on not revealing your whereabouts. Not that it did him - or you - any good.[page 15] Hokushin: *with a shocked expression* Old man?Otake: *eyes him* The blind biwa player of Ausaka Barrier.Hokushin: …What happened to him?Otake: He earned a one-way trip to Enma Daioh.*As Otake speaks, Hokushin stares at him in shocked silence. A flashback of a smiling bearded man holding out a flower plays in his mind.*Otake: He wasn’t long for this world anyways. That is the fate of humans as overseen by my master.Cliffhanger! How should the next part start? I haven’t decided yet but right now my top candidate is Hokushin screaming his head off. (But not literally his head off.) But I’m also debating whether or not this is too stereotypical or if something else will work better for his character. Some thoughts!  My sis said “You’re really trying to make people hate Otake.” I was like, he’s already revealed to be a bad guy in canon! Everyone knows he’s a bad guy!! That’s why he made it into North Bound in the first place, because he was a perfect fit for this role I needed. My sis also asked, “Is Hokushin going to get to kick butt?” And I was like, hmm. Yes? I guess? But he needs to get knocked around a bit first, because it is the shounen manga way. Also remember Otake can’t die here.  In my mind, at this point in history Hokushin and Otake are pretty evenly matched powerwise, except Otake has the element of surprise. A.k.a. random Spirit World gadgets, the precursor to all the stuff Yusuke gets in his Spirit Detective kit. This one is a bracer that something something. I’m just making stuff up to be able to progress the fight in the ways I need it to; I hope it seems to make sense. Otake was tracking Hokushin and knew he was dealing with a demon, but not the details. This is mainly because it’s super fun to draw a fight for Hokushin when the opponent has no idea what his special skillset is. Alternatively, in my mind Otake prescribes to the horses not zebras school of thought (“when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras”), so it didn’t occur to him/he didn’t think it was anywhere near likely that Hokushin would be a rokurokubi. Male rokurokubi are extremely rare in both traditional youkai mythology and in North Bound. I explain this in this post, and A House That Holds Long Limbs also uses this same idea.  The blind biwa player of Ausaka Barrier is, of course, the legendary Semimaru, who appears in I Heard A Cicada Cry. I talk more about his historical/cultural impact in the notes throughout that story. The memory of him holding a flower is from when he gives Hokushin a flower during their travels. In the Hokushin VS Yusuke fight in the manga, Hokushin says that in S class at full strength, he would’ve been able to throttle Yusuke after wrapping him up with his neck - we can imagine like a boa constrictor. Limited to D class, the most he could do was stretch his neck continuously and confuse/ freak the heck out of Yusuke. Here, ~700+ years ago, Hokushin would be closer to D class. I imagine he can still constrict things, but it depends on the size and strength of the target. He’s also not at full strength at this point, so that’s why he’s trying to give Otake a flying concussion. Also he’s trying to pull those spiky energy arrow shard things out of himself/the tree and multitasking is hard. In First Meeting’s Hokushin VS Raizen encounter, Hokushin has gotten a bit stronger and is trying to constrict Raizen, but that doesn’t work for obvious reasons because it’s like an ant (a very long ant, I guess) trying to constrict god.. Feel free to question my judgement on anything. Choreographing logical fight scenes is really hard, haha. [/READ-MORE]I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but right now it looks like fight / flight will likely net out at 4-6 parts (I’m thinking 5 most likely...?). I really feel like I leveled up in a tiny fashion while working on this, and it was a lot of fun after I got through the actual thumbnails and panel compositions. A sequence like this is something I would never have been able to compose years ago when I first started working on North Bound. I’ll make a separate post about the technical comicking aspects, along with the thumbnails and the sketches for each page!

Pillowfort
maijiDec 31, 2022

Yay I did it! 💪 "fight / flight" - part 1 of ?? is up with alt text/transcript and commentary!

Read it at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3110236
More info on the North Bound series: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

#MastoArt #CreativeToots #comics #fancomic #fanart #YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #Otake

maiji: fight / flight (Yu Yu Hakusho North Bound fancomic - part 1)

[images: First three pages of a comic drawn in a digital ink-brush style with greyscaleshading.]A YYH North Bound story. This story takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry (4 parts - all 4 parts are linked in each post) and Survive (one-shot). This is "fight / flight" part 1 of ???? parts. Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.[READ-MORE][images: Remaining five pages of comic.][page 1]*Text reads: "fight / flight - a North Bound story by maiji." Opening panel depicts a moonlit site in a forest. Hokushin is grooming a horse. He detects a new presence. The horse grows nervous.*Hokushin: (It’s not one of the new recruits.)?: Don’t waste time pretending. I know what you are. [page 2]*Otake, as he appears at the end of I Heard A Cicada Cry, leans against a tree, arms folded.*Otake: You’ve killed many humans. Devoured many more.*Hokushin turns his head, but says nothing. The horse nervously skitters off.*Otake: Not going to defend yourself? ‘“I did only as my master bid! I must eat humans to survive!” [page 3]Hokushin: You’re not human either. Why do you care?Otake: Very perceptive. What gave me away?Hokushin: Nothing. Thank you for confirming.*Otake twitches*[page 4]Otake: Unlike you, I serve a greater power. A power commanding life and death itself, that watches over this sinful, lost human world. A power a pitiful demon like yourself has the rare opportunity to serve,*he holds something up to show Hokushin, causing Hokushin's eyes to widen in shock*if you answer my questions about this Mirror.Hokushin: How did you convince the monks to unseal the Mirror?Otake: Convince? So many are casualties of war these days.Hokushin: …What do you want to know?Otake: Certain conditions must be fulfilled in order to access its powers. I must know what they are so that I can inform my master. [page 5]Hokushin: And if I tell you, you’ll spare my life or something like that?Otake: It will be considered.Hokushin: Fair enough. I will tell you all I know.*The two of them stare at each other in silence*Otake: I am waiting.Hokushin: *smiling and shrugging* Alas, I have no idea what the conditions are. Why don’t you ask the Mirror yourself?*Multiple veins pulse on Otake’s forehead*[page 6]Otake: *draws his sword as he speaks; Hokushin’s face reflected in the blade* No matter. The power I serve sees no future for vermin that terrify and corrupt the vulnerable creatures of this realm. Your head will be good enough to show my master.[page 7]Otake: *raises his sword over his head* I am Otake and I serve Enma Daioh![page 8]*The perspective flips to Hokushin also rapidly drawing his sword*Otake: Now stand your ground and fight for your life, demon!!And now we shall enjoy a nice indeterminate break until I figure out how to choreograph the rest of this fight!! Action sequences will be the death of me. At least there’s no suspense in the end result, since we know they both must survive this encounter in order to be able to appear in Yu Yu Hakusho!! Otake has finally caught up with Hokushin, after picking up the Mirror of Darkness from the temple that Hokushin left it in at the end of Mirror Most Dark. I estimate here they’re both around 100 years in age, and neither of them are anything close to the powerhouses they’ll be by the modern era. I’ve been plotting fight / flight for a long time because I wanted an opportunity to draw a cool fight sequence for Hokushin. (He has one with Raizen in the first North Bound comic I ever drew, First Meeting, but it wasn't much of a fight. Also, it's been a few years; hopefully I have developed my skills somewhat, so now is the time to try again!) It turned into “well why don’t I have him fight Otake” after I managed to work Otake into the story, then I had to actually make proper narrative connections and give it consequences for the trajectory of North Bound. I kept intimidating myself while trying to work on it, periodically doing some script work and test drawings to try to psych myself up. You might recall the drawing tests I posted a while back here. I mentioned in that post that at one point I debated making this a visual novel (possibly interactive fiction) format, but also felt that was a copout to my shounen manga roots. The title is actually a tide-over from when I was considering that. Aside from the actual still-to-come fight sequence, I struggled with resolving some pretty big considerations like, uh, where this encounter actually takes place?? And how to end it without one of them dying?? But in early October 2022 I went for a walk and then took a shower and an inkling transformed into a fleshed-out solution. Go walks and showers and subconsciousness magic!!! Then I continued to struggle on and off for months being too scared to deal with the action. Finally over the holidays I figured I might as well just flesh out the first part to light a fire under my own butt and inch along to the next part! This took about three days to thumbnail, sketch, draw and clean up on the computer, but there was a lot of time... months, years of behind-the-scenes work to make these three days possible...I have some photos of the thumbnails and wip saves of the page sketches, so I’ll make a separate post with those. But one last thing I wanted to note is that I am really really proud of the speed lines on the last page with Hokushin! They’re far from perfect but I think they’re my best radiating speed lines to date! I manually eyeballed and drew them all individually because that’s all I know how to do, hahaha. The vertical/horizontal ones are easier since I know to hit Shift to force them to stay straight, lol.[/READ-MORE]

Pillowfort
Show threadmaijiDec 30, 2022

I'm clearing off some files from my phone/folders, so I put together a little post with a bunch of wip photos from working on the fancomic "semarikuru". It includes a point-form breakdown of my process and all of the art supplies used in making it: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3108584

#wip #comics #YuYuHakusho #Hokushin #fancomic #fanart #ink #ArtSupplies #FountainPenInk #MakingArt #sketchbook #sketches

maiji: semarikuru - wip photos and art supplies used

[image: photo of sketchbook showing a pencil sketch of the first page of the Yu Yu Hakusho fancomic "semarikuru (loom)". It shows Hokushin seated in meditation with sketched silhouettes of other monks behind him.]I'm close to finishing the next North Bound story - or at least, part 1 of the next North Bound story! I took a few wips for fun, and am also clearing some old wip photos, so here are a bunch of images from when I was working on the previous story, semarikuru. You can read the finished comic here! These are a few of the pages where I took pictures of different stages of completion, so you can see the process. For all the pages, the sequence was as follows: Roughly thumbnail page composition on a separate sheet of paper. Sketch more detailed drawing in sketchbook. Go over light sketch with darker, more detailed pencil lines. Ink all speech bubble text and frames for present-day scenes in permanent grey ink. Ink all flashback/dream sequence scenes with non-waterproof brown-lavender ink (J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil). Use waterbrush to wet the non waterproof ink and create shading. For darker tones, I would dip the waterbrush directly into the ink too. (Not into the bottle - I pick the ink up from the underside of the cap to minimize risk of contamination.) Ink modern day sequences with permanent grey ink. (I decided this afterwards, which is why I didn't do it at the same time as the inking of the frames) Use waterbrush to apply non waterbrush green-blue-grey ink for shading modern day scenes. Once non waterproof inks have dried, erase the pencil lines around the text to make them easier to read. Other pencil lines were left as-is.  Photos are below the cut to minimize exploding people's feeds!Page 2 (three images)[READ-MORE][image set: Three photos of page 2 in various states of progress. The page shows a closeup of Hokushin’s face, with eyes closed. The scene shifts to a landscape of a countryside with trees and pampas grass. It appears to be a memory, or perhaps a dream. An unknown speaker asks: "Do you think I’m a fool?" 1) Page sketched out in pencil; 2) page partially inked, with the landscape roughed out; 3) Entire page inked and painted with water.][/READ-MORE]Page 3 (four images)[READ-MORE][image set: Four photos of page 3 in various states of progress. The page shows a younger Hokushin from the Kamakura era looking up to see Raizen, in a more human disguise, grinning at him. Hokushin’s expression becomes annoyed. He replies: "Whyever would you ask me that, my lord? Is it because we find ourselves unceremoniously departing yet another village as a result of your numerous indiscretions?" Raizen, still smiling: "Oh, I wasn’t talking about that. (ha ha ha)" Hokushin: "If you’re asking if you’re stupid about something in particular, you’ll need to be more specific.:1) Page sketched out in pencil with text inked in grey; 2) Page with darkened and refined pencils; 3) Page partially inked; 4) Entire page inked and painted with water.][/READ-MORE]Page 6 (three images)[READ-MORE][image set: Three photos of page 6 in various states of progress. The page shows past Hokushin closes his eyes. The scene fades into the petals from the flowering trees back to the present day. Present-day Hokushin opens his eyes and turns his head slightly.1) Page sketched out in pencil; 2) Page with frames of present day Hokushin opening his eyes inked; 3) Most of the page inked and painted with water.][/READ-MORE]For anyone curious, the art supplies used in this case are: Sketchbook: Life Noble Note Plain A5  Pencils: Pencils lol (Staedtler Wopex 2 HB and some other random, much softer/blacker pencil) Fountain pens: Lamy Safari EF and Pilot Falcon SF Inks: Noodler's Lexington Grey (was in the Lamy), J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil (was in the Pilot), Ink Institute Cat at Dusk (painted directly onto the paper) Eraser: Tombow Mono Waterbrush: random very cheap waterbrush, I don't remember where I got it I think that's everything!

Pillowfort
maijiDec 18, 2022

I finished the #YuYuHakusho North Bound #fancomic story I posted a wip of a few days ago. It's 7 pages of pencil, #FountainPenInk and water in my sketchbook. You can read "semarikuru (loom)" in full with alt text/transcript and commentary at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3084965

I've been working little by little on this project over the years; it's great fun and opportunity for low-pressure practice and experimentation! More info: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/951181

#Hokushin #Raizen #comics #MastoArt #ink #fanart

maiji: semarikuru - loom (YYH North Bound fancomic)

[images: First three pages of a comic drawn in ink.]A YYH North Bound story. semarikuru  ("loom") is a 7-page comic. Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.[READ-MORE][images: Remaining four pages of comic drawn in ink.][page 1] *Hokushin is meditating in seiza/formal seated position with other monks. Text below him reads “semarikuru (loom) - a North Bound story by Maiji”*[page 2] *Closeup of Hokushin’s face, with eyes closed. The scene shifts to a memory, or perhaps a dream.*?: Do you think I’m a fool?[page 3] *A younger Hokushin from the Kamakura era looks up to see Raizen, in a more human disguise, grinning at him. Hokushin’s expression becomes annoyed.*Hokushin: Whyever would you ask me that, my lord? Is it because we find ourselves unceremoniously departing yet another village as a result of your numerous indiscretions?Raizen: Oh, I wasn’t talking about that. (ha ha ha)Hokushin: If you’re asking if you’re stupid about something in particular, you’ll need to be more specific.[page 4] Raizen: My friends all thought I’d gone mad.*Raizen’s words overlay a flashback of the kudakusushi.* After just one night with her.  And I never even told her my idea.That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?*Hokushin turns his head away from Raizen*Hokushin: If I didn’t believe in your vision, I wouldn’t be here.[page 5] *He continues walking ahead of Raizen, pushing aside a drooping flowering tree branch.* And you had one night. There are those who have done far more for far less. Some are content to have merely spent time at the other’s side, with no promise of anything.Raizen: I guess that’s true.[page 6] *Past Hokushin closes his eyes. Scene fades into the petals from the flowering trees back to the present day. Present-day Hokushin opens his eyes and turns his head slightly.*[page 7] *Hokushin looks out towards the tower where Raizen’s chamber is. The rumbling of Raizen’s stomach fills the air, growing louder. Text reads: “semarikuru (loom) - end”*My goal here was to try to create a dreamlike mood, moving from reflection/rumination to something brighter than reality that feels inevitable. The knowledge of something looming and casting an invisible shadow over your daily existence, slowly closing that distance in time and space, with nothing you can do about it. As I mentioned years ago (in the author’s notes of Part 2 of the story Familiar, it’s not clear whether or not Hokushin knew the true cause of Raizen’s abstinence - his life-changing meeting and relationship with the remarkable kudakusushi and subsequent decision to stop eating humans. When Hokushin explains their circumstances to Yusuke, he avoids the details of why Raizen doesn’t eat humans anymore, saying simply that he doesn’t know/understand the king’s reasons. In hindsight, this seems odd considering what a huge deal it is for the fate of their entire kingdom, and knowing Hokushin is Raizen’s right hand. It can be interpreted in a vague, deferring and deflecting way. When I first started North Bound, I wasn’t sure - hadn’t decided - whether or not Hokushin knew. By the time I got to Familiar, I suspected he might. With semarikuru, I decided he does. He just doesn’t see it as his place to be the one to tell Yusuke Raizen’s story, certainly not while Raizen is still alive.It’s been a while since I did rough messy comics in my sketchbook, so that was fun! The idea for semarikuru came relatively early on in the development of North Bound, but I only started sketching the first few pages this year. Then they sat around for months until this past weekend, when I discovered Yahiro no Kage (sung by Horiuchi Kenyuu, Hokushin’s voice actor, see this post), which gave me the MOTIVATION AND POWER I needed to finish this!! Thank you surrogate Hokushin character image song!!! I’m trying to use up more of my J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil ink (the warm, lavender-pink-brown-grey used throughout the flashback/dream sequence). The dialogue and present-day frames are in a permanent grey ink with Ink Institute’s Cat at Dusk for shading. Cat at Dusk is a very interesting ink; when it’s first laid down, it looks almost greenish grey, then starts to warm up. It too has lavendar-pinky tones to it, but leaning much cooler, and when layered on itself in washes, its edges tend to turn a light aqua. It reminds me of a lighter Diamine Earl Grey.I was at the end of my sketchbook (started in December 2020!!) so this also ended up turning into an exercise of “can I tighten this script and paneling and transitions to squeeze it into seven pages without messing up the feeling of the pacing too much??” I kept swapping between half-hearted thumbnails and sketching panels right on the page, and turning the page and counting what was left and going oh nooo must compress further… But I managed.Onto the next North Bound story! And a new sketchbook![/READ-MORE] 

Pillowfort
maijiDec 15, 2022

Some recent work-in-progress Hokushins from the next North Bound fancomic that I am trying to power through... and a bonus #Hokushin that I doodled on a random sheet of scrap paper that turned out way better than I was expecting for a quick doodle and now I don’t want to recycle this paper.

#MastoArt #doodles #sketches #wip #WIPWednesday #fanart #YuYuHakusho #ink #comics