Kenshin in Motion

[telophase]

Just finished Rurouni Kenshin volume 23* and had the urge to draw Kenshin. I usually draw him in repose, and I wnated to put more motion and action in. After many many fits and starts, I think I finally got something that's not half bad.

Rough sketch - I wanted to post it before I managed to ruin its rough charm by over-refining it, the way I do. It's destined to hopefully be a marker piece.











* You spoil me for 24-28, I borrow yhlee's spork and SPORK YOUR EYEBALLS OUT.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

That's lovely--it conveys motion in a rush.

And hey, just in case, have a pre-emptive spork!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And for the spork as well - the cat refuses to let me borrow hers.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

Oooooh Battousai!Kenshin FTW. That is shiney. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

XD Thanks! I've never drawn him as Battousai - strangely none of the normal-Kenshi poses I tried worked out; it didn't fall into place until he had one scar and the hand guard thingyboppers on.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

It's rough, but it's got a great sense of motion. I'm liking this piece very much.

The fact that it's BattousiKenshin is like gravy.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D THanks!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

This is really gorgeous!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Now I have to try to keep that motion and dynamic sense as I refine it...

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Very dynamic. The rough style even works for it as a deliberate thing, I think. Overall it kind of reminds me of Blade of the Immortal (which I've only read vol 1 and 2 so far, from the library and cannot refer back). Nice job.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D Thanks! (Any time I'm compared to BotI, I get squee-y. XD)

[kintail.livejournal.com]

And I should clarify, I think I meant to say "deliberate stylistic thing" and was trying to say that if you wanted to call this finished now, I would think it is very cool as it is, but that doesn't mean I'm also not looking forward to what you plan to with it next.

[chaoticvein.livejournal.com]

I love it. You definitely, definitely got the motion down.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D I'm refining the perspective a wee bit, fliffing the hair a bit more, and getting rid of that weird scribble where his right shoulder is, mostly.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D Thank you!

[flusterdance.livejournal.com]

The Kenshin style has those killer-dagger chins that drive me nuts. Yours is a little more rounded off, and although that makes it look better (and less "ow my eye") it takes away the look of authenticity.
Unless that's not what you were aiming for ^^;

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The anime has the sharp chins. The manga is rounded, and that's what I'm looking at.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Grrrrkilly-stabby!Kenshin! Love it! *squees happily from somewhere well out of blade-range* There's not enough kickass Kenshin pics out there for my satisfaction, and the fact this is Battousai!Kenshin just to makes it better.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D Hee!

He just didn't want to be all emo!Kenshin, and he didn't want to be older!Kenshin either.

[oyceter]

(the fork is there as a substitute-spork, just in case, not a commentary on Kenshin!)

I like it a lot! I especially like the swirly sleeves and the way his arms and the katana and scabbard make all these criss-crossy lines, it feels a lot more dynamic.

It's totally weird, but something in his face reminds me of CLAMP work. I think maybe it's the eyebrows? No clue.

Also, in vol. 28, Kenshin is revealed to be... a giant robot chicken!

Ok, not really.

But you never know!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Also, in vol. 28, Kenshin is revealed to be... a giant robot chicken!

OMG I KNEW IT!!

:D Thanks! Yeah, I think you're right - the eyebrows are CLAMPy.

[dusk.livejournal.com]

Oooh! It's lovely. It makes him look very in motion. :D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! XD

[greenapple2004.livejournal.com]

Eee! Swords and ponytails and swirly! I like!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Heehee! XD Thanks!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

That's nice, it's really dynamic.

PS. I am going to send you the new pages soon-- I am late getting in revisions on the other thing (GW), sorry.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And no prob - I really needed to be able to take a day or two off Obligated Things and mess about on my own, so it all works out. XD

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

I think the roughness gives it a very woodcut/block print feel that I like, and emphasizes nthe sense of motion.

[homasse.livejournal.com]

Oooh, wow, I like the sense of the pose being captured while he was in the middle of motion; it feels like he's going to move at any second. I am so impressed. :D

[m00nface.livejournal.com]

Wow. I look at that sketch and feel like a twelve-year-old boy: "That's so cool!" It's really different to your other sketches that I've seen, and I love the mixture of thick and thin lines on the grainy, it all works so well together. I'm with homasse - I'm totally impressed.

[sparkylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! Dangerous! There's no feeling of tension, if that makes sense... just interrupted momentum.

[rabican.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the movement! The texture! The ... purple. (What? I like purple.)

Ah, 23 has just come out in the States? Mwahahahahaha.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Hopefully it'll stay that way as I refine it and do whatever I end up doing - marker or digital or whatnot. (I did save a copy of the picture as it stands above. XD)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks. I forget that I haven't posted many of my roughs here - I do this following a technique that ursulav uses, which is to start in scribbling and to never erase - instead, use the eyedropper to pick up white and work back into it where there's too much of the color, and vice versa. That produces that woodcut-like effect and keeps a lot of the dynamic sense going.

I just have to worry about killing a lot of the motion as I refine - one day I will be able to produce a refined version that's almost as good as the rought sketch, I swear! (I did save a copy of the pic just as it is above, natch. XD)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D Thank you!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D I do rough sketches like this in color, because for some reason it never works out in black. And it usually takes a few fits and starts to find the proper color for the pic - sometimes it just doesn't want to be green or blue or whatever and I can't throw down any useful lines until I find the color it wants to be.

And, sadly, sometimes it wants to be pink.

Actually, 28 has just come out over here - I'm behind. :D I'd bought up to 5 or 6, hit a money problem and slowed down manga-buying for a while, and after a few months the sheer amount of $$ it was going to cost to get all the back volumes was too daunting, especialy since I'd seen the anime and thus knew the general Kyoto arc already. And it hit me a couple of weeks ago that since I *did* know the Kyoto arc, and since what I really wanted to know was how it all ended ... I could just start buying after the end of Kyoto and go back and fill in the other ones later. XD And thanks to a sale at Borders where if you buy 3 Viz titles you get 1 free, I now own 18-28 and have read halfway through 24. XD So I'll be finishing the series sometime this week.

[rabican.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me.

And ah, all right. Will you post letting us know what you think once you're done? I'm curious.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D I'll try to remember to do so - I've already got one question/quibble raised in my mind, but I'll have to wait until I've read the rest of the books before thinking too much on it, since there's 4.5 books left for the mangaka to do something with it. :D

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Nifty.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D

[rabican.livejournal.com]

*jumps up and down impatiently* ;)