shadowsphere21:Artbook Rei…you can find her in my NSFW artbook-in-progress A Chaotic Garden,
shadowsphere21:Artbook Rei…you can find her in my NSFW artbook-in-progress A Chaotic Garden, which will be released sometime late this year or early next year. Tonight You will die in my armsAnd I will scatter you among the starsWhere you will lay in ecstasyEach breath is my name upon your lipsI was very inspired by Edo period Japan, in particular the Rinpa school of art (which I have always loved) both in the background and the calligraphy, and the geisha/oiran traditional makeup style. The kimono idea came from an old fanfiction I read eons ago where Jadeite gifted Rei a kimono during a period of captivity in the Dark Kingdom. Since the artbook follows a similar vein, I thought it would be interesting to put her in an original design that reflected the Chaos element, and symbolized Rei’s predicament within the Chaos realm. Rei’s obi is undone, and has it’s own symbolism that adds to the story of the kimono (although it’s hard to see). Her makeup is inspired the Kyoto-based photo studio Esperanto Kokoro Kyoto Okazaki, which specializes in traditional geisha and oiran costuming and makeup. I gave Rei the more elaborate oiran makeup design (given the NSFW themes of the artbook), which make her face really glow :D. The gold calligraphy reads right-to-left the original poem written above.A better view of the kimono…The process for the kimono design was a laborious one, with extensive research as to the symbolism of each floral and cosmic motif as well as the design of the kimono itself. Most kimono are organized to tell a picture story, and I’m trying to tell one with mine as it’s a chaos aspect in the art book. The ushiro-migoro (the main robe) is symbolic of the Chaos realm, with Rei being represented by the black spider lilies (Asiatic Hybrid), and the gold Phoenix, which is entangled by the Chinese dragon (my symbol for Shitennou of the East Jadeite, whom I personally associate with the Buddhist Shitennō Jikokuten, after much exhaustive research and anime/manga symbolism detangling to confirm this XD). Both the ushiro-migoro and the miyatsukuchi (the sleeves) have red spider lilies, which are associated with death, however in some contexts they can also have an erotic connotation. The fireflies that light up the entire kimono not only symbolize Rei (the fire element), but also death, which, along with the red spider lilies, is the underlying threat in this chaotic garden (I would like to extend a special thanks to @bowldeepfannish and @teamvanessacloud for helping me with the kimono motif symbolism!). In this story the Dragon (Jadeite) and the Phoenix (Mars) are entwined together and one will either take the other out of the darkness, or one will drag the other into the darkness. Done in both Clip Studio Pro and Photoshop 2022. -- source link