My Work :: Part 8: AngstyBishy Inuyasha

Yay for AB Inuyasha being up, and for me sticking somewhat to my schedule!

He turned out really, really well and was very fast to do; either I am geting better at this or Inuyasha was just uncharacteristically easy. Not that the AB's are super hard to do, since they just seem to flow in the sketching process. But that I have been dissatisfied with the little details of the previous AB's, and Inuyasha is not giving me that kind of grief this time around. I'm not going to overanalyze why; I'm just happy that it is so.

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I am having DeviantArt stresses. They gave me a free week of the deluxe account, which I was super happy about, but it's giving me some problems. DA was super slow yesterday; what should have taken me 10 min tops—submitting a couple of icons and sketches, and quickly scanning new deviations—took me over an hour to do. >( Very not happy. But I don't know if it was a server problem or the account. And today I thought it would be fun to make AB Inuyasha an available print, as long as my free acccount is giving me this option anyway, but I messed up submitting it and think it is only available as a coaster or something. I may need to read in the FAQ's about submitting prints, because I found the process to be confusing.

Oh well. Here is what I wrote to go along with my poster print:

"Poster of AngstyBishy Inuyasha. AngstyBishy is a satirical look at the super-serious, super-hot, super-disturbed men and women of manga and anime fame. It is a way to poke fun of and celebrate my fave bishies simultaneously. Used pencil for preliminary sketch and Illustrator CS to finish. Inuyasha as an AngstyBishy was completed May 18, 2006."

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I also added a post to my DA comments section about acceptable AB requests. I did this because a friend of mine posed an interesting request. She is not a big anime/manga fan—she likes some of them, like Escaflowne, but is otherwise not as engrossed as say, Elicia and I. But I guess she likes my AB guys, and she is a huge X-Men fan, so she asked if I would be willing to draw Wolverine as an AB. My first reaction was to say no, since he is not in an anime or manga, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

Think about it: Wolverine may be an American comic/cartoon character, but he contains all the essential elements of a true AB. The eye-catching costumes! The wild good looks! The mysterious, horrific past! The pining for Jean Grey! The angry outbursts and sarcastic comments! In short: he is perfect. So segregating Wolverine from AB status simply on the basis of his medium seemed wrong. Besides, I'm no anime/manga snob; I love them to be sure, but I also love well-done American cartoons, comics, etc.

So I decided to open up the field to characters from all mediums: anime, manga, cartoons, comics, video games, etc. I commented on this at my DA account, and I wrote up the guidelines for an AB request. I liked my requirements so much that I am going to include my post here as well:

"Another update on the requests:

A friend of mine requested I do Wolverine from X-Men as an AB; I had to think about this, as he is not an anime char, but I decided Wolverine does fit the bill as an AB (I will expound on why in my art blog), so look for him within the next few weeks.

Because of this, I'm now opening up the AB requests to all comic and/or game characters that can meet the guidelines of an ideal AB. Guidelines are as follows:

:: Are characters in an anime/manga/comic/cartoon/video game/etc. No live action AB's (at least not yet) will be accepted.
:: Are smokin' hot or at least remotely attractive in some way.
:: Typical attitudes and emotions consist of being dismissive, pensive, surly, withdrawn, unfriendly, inwardly dark, proud, irrational, and/or distant most of the time. Random fits of anger, wistful pining, and/or sobbing (i.e. anything angsty) are also acceptable.
:: Have a tragic past that helps to justify and/or endear them to fangirls everywhere.
:: Have wicked, mad skills that make them somewhat useful to the rest of the story's characters and make up for their hissy fits and emotional uselessness.
:: Undergo significant character development transforming them from their initial angsty state into an actual human being. This is not necessary but is highly encouraged. Development can come from friendship, love, worldly experience, knowledge, and/or other typical forms of character development.
:: Have a unique look, from clothing and/or hair choices that also contributes to their overall appeal (and will make them more fun for me to draw.)
:: Any other obvious traits of an angsty bishie that I can't think of at the moment.

If your character can meet most of those requirements, then they will be a worthy candidate and will be AB'd ASAP."

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That's all I can think of to talk about for now. Look for Wolverine soon, hopefully next week. My friend wants me to do him in his newer blue suit, not the yellow spandex, so I will oblige, but might draw up a "classic" Wolverine anyway if I have time. I am also planning on doing Touya from "Hikaru no Go" soon, since I love him, and Elicia has requested Wolfram from "Kyo Kara Mao" so look for him coming soon as well. He was a lot further down on my to-do list, but since she is so insistant I will indulge her. =)