This weekend has been full of illustrations. I’ve been trying a new style with really limited color sets, just trying to keep it to a few colors and their tints and shades. First I started with kitsune at an Inari shrine.
This one was so tricky, because making the kitsune faces not look too cartoony was difficult. This originally started as a lighting study on the shrine part, with simulating chalk pastels. If I finish that one, I’ll post it. I’m pretty proud of it, because I’ve never had actual classical training in traditional arts with lighting and the like, so I’ve had to teach myself what I can.
Regardless, this is the illustration version of it, and I really like how it came out, especially since it was just an experiment and quick sketch to start with.
The other one I literally just finished 15 minutes ago. This is for the next holiday coming up here in Japan called tsukimi (月見) which means moon viewing.
The holiday is the first full moon in September, and is when the rice begins to be harvested. The story behind the rabbits and the mochi (pounded rice balls) is because of the moon.
In most western countries, we say that we see the face of a man on the moon when we look at the dark spots. In Japan, they see rabbits making moch, where you pound rice into a paste and roll it into a ball.
To make mochi, you pound it with a wooden mallet or stick until it becomes a starchy paste, and then roll it into little balls that are delicious in soup as dumplings, or it’s wrapped around things like fruit or ice cream. It’s also really common to put it in a toaster oven to heat it up and kind of melt it before eating.
So, because of the image of a rabbit making mochi, which is made from rice which is harvested at this time of year, that’s why rabbits and mochi are associated with tsukimi!
We’ve been lucky in the past to go shrines and see musical performances for tsukimi, and it’s treated as a nice chance to get out and enjoy the end of summer weather at night, under s big, harvest moon. I’m not sure what we’ll do for it this year, but if it’s interesting, I’ll try to post about it.
If you like the designs, they’re both up on my RedBubble page, and I have to say, I’m proud of how well these make notebooks and stickers!