Kintaro and Spotted Gar


Hi!
I really wanted to draw a Spotted Gar in a ukiyo-e style!!!
Isn’t it amazing that this fish has remained unchanged for 400 million years?
It’s practically a dinosaur’s grandpa.

By the way, Kaido-maru refers to Kintarō, meaning it’s the childhood name of Sakata Kintoki.
I struggled with this part quite a bit—given today’s chaotic times, I wondered if Kintarō’s signature outfit would be acceptable from a compliance perspective. If I were to turn it into merchandise, would someone flag it?

Anti-Amazon Knockoff Measures
Starting this time, I’ve begun experimenting with embedding unauthorized-use warning text directly into the artwork to counteract bootleg products on Amazon.
For any actual merchandise I create in the future, I’ll replace this section with different text.
Read more

Brave and Energetic


I finally drew an original piece after a long time.
I created it for Twitter’s Children’s Day tag, so I actually released it about a month ago…
I had planned to make a making-of video before posting it on Blog, but my schedule got a bit disrupted when it overlapped with work deadlines, so here we are now.
Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d include some commentary as well.

Brave and Energetic (勇壮活発 | Yūsō Kappatsu)
Meaning: Courageous and lively.
Doesn’t the Boys’ Festival make you want to swing decorative swords around? I certainly did.
I remember getting all excited wearing a kabuto (samurai helmet), then lining up my SD Musha Gundam plastic models for a commemorative photo.


Making-of Timelapse

Oh. My. Goodness. It was absolutely brutal. :(;゙゚’ω゚’):
PR
I had the great honor of illustrating Leviathan from FFXV in an Ukiyo-e style for the MtG × FF collaboration
Summon: Leviathan Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ Borderless Art
I had the great honor of illustrating Leviathan from FFXV in an Ukiyo-e style for the MtG × FF collaboration!
It will be released on June 13th.
© SQUARE ENIX © Wizards of the Coast