3 - ryu-jin dragon king

vision/concept, influences, work in progress pictures

Written Sept 13th, 2023, covering art from May 2nd 2021 - Jun 4th, 2021

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･✧･ﾟ

watercolor and gouache painting of a white dragon, long and snakelike with 4 fingers on each hand

The dragon king is more fittingly called a kami or dragon god. The legend traveled across many cultures across south and east asia, "he represents both the perils and bounty of the sea." More on the ryujin's lore here.

CONCEPT:

I knew that I wanted to do a more elegant, Haku-style dragon than the kind of fishmen-like scholars that i'd seen from some imagery.

I know I read the Poppy War Trilogy by RF Kuang in the year or so before I started this painting, so I am sure that her depiction of Nezha was influencing me as well. I just wanted to do an iconically east asian dragon!! They say that a Chinese dragon has 5 toes, a Korean dragon 4, and a Japanese dragon 3. In honor of borders being a construct, and mixedness, my dragon has a dif number of toes on their front and back claws.

INFLUENCES:

UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI, 1853

image of dragon figures in robes walking upright

I don't know where this is from

image of a scholar king with flowing scarves in chinese style

illustration of the chinese sea goddess Mazu (artist unknown), which I based the hat upon.

PROCESS PHOTOS

pencil sketches of amabie, a creature with a kind of fishy bird head and three fish tails on their bottom halff

initial research doodles. ryuoo on the top, amabie on the bottom.

pencil sketch of a winding snaking dragon with a chinese scholar hat

my final sketch. with general pose and features.

picture of my Ryuji painting halfway through the process

Midway painting shot. I was also testing how to do white/bone coloring, which I planned to be another dominant theme in the painting series.

final painting, cut out with an xacto knife. One of my favorite illustrations from the whole series! I think the bone-colored shading made this really beautiful ghostly glowy feeling that scanned into digital really well.

Key Memories?

I was simultaneously working on painting the first 4 yokai while developing concepts for a historical archive project about the Japanese American fight for Redress. This project, Reckoning, led by Katherine Nagasawa, had me thinking and concepting about the River of Time. It wasn't directly related to this project, but working on them at the same time had me really thinking about the importance of stories we pass on within diasporic community, how the telling of those stories connect us to past and the future, and what this says about us as the storytellers.

sketchbook page labeled 'River of Time' with sketches of icons with small figures and watery/wavey shapes

Pic from May 2nd 2021

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･✧･ﾟ