On October 2 & 3, 2021, The Leaves, a Christian Science nursing facility in Texas, will have an art auction in conjunction with its annual meeting. Two of my paintings will be available for bidding in this online fundraiser.
Also, last week, I finished adding music links to Art Walk 2. Some new/bonus content is interspersed. If you’re interested, go back and have a listen. Quick links:
After episode 1’s “Turning up with the J-pop,” crafting another title was tricky. This one’s a stretch (“star” + “art”), but it fits this installment of J-pop drawings. Today’s mix also features J-rock artists.
Let’s start with the titular Crazy Rainbow art, inspired by Tackey & Tsubasa’s song of the same name. (“Crazy Rainbow Star” is in the lyrics; hence the “star”/”art” mash.) I drew this in Digital Design my senior year. A close-up of the guy was displayed in a county-wide high school art show.
T&T also featured in relay manga, comics in which my friends & I took turns drawing panels.
Panels not consecutive.
I also made T&T shirts (top panel) for a friend & me. My Tackey shirt elicited a lot of pointed comments. Tsubasa’s shirt has no wordplay; tsubasa means “wing(s).” Other outfits are from performances & MVs (music videos): Yume Monogatari and Crazy Rainbow. (Yume Monogatari means “Dream Story” or “Tale of Dreams.” Genji Monogatari is The Tale of Genji.)
The Tackey shirt became a little tacky pillow.
I’m fairly sure I once sketched Utada Hikaru, who wrote four songs for the Kingdom Hearts video game series, but the sketches likely were recycled years ago. Too bad—could’ve included a girl. The closest any of us (my high school friends & me) got to drawing SMAP was Photoshopping their faces onto a can of SPAM. That was not a comment on their music; they were one of Japan’s most loved groups, and Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana is two shakes from a national treasure. (I’ve heard them sing it better, but the link has an English translation.) Speaking of “shakes,” they have a song called Shake (1996)—sort of an old-school boogie.
On with the show. Here are drawings for friends featuring (or based on) NEWS. The left pose is from the weeeek single’s lyric sheet. (See #1 further down.) weeeek was composed by the hip-hop/pop-rock band GReeeeN—undisclosed dentists by day—and recorded by both it and NEWS. The balloons are stickers.
The gang back then (“old NEWS”):
Koyama Keiichiro
Masuda Takahisa (Massu)
Nishikido Ryo
Tegoshi Yuya
Kato Shigeaki (Shige)
Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi)
Superimposed is a relay manga panel. Originally NEWS had 9 members. The comic’s premise was that the membership would be further cut, renamed NEWS IN BRIEF, & made to perform in underwear (NEWS in briefs). The punchline pointed to Ryo as next to go since he was also in the group Kanjani8. Kanjani + jyaa (“bye,” “see ya”) = an example of putting the “pun” in “punchline.” Perhaps we were prescient: Ryo indeed left to focus on Kanjani8, and the 3 main players in the comic—Koyama, Shige, & Massu—are the remaining members.
The wordplay here comes from Yamapi’s solo Daite Senorita, the theme song (which we joked about often) for Kurosagi (lit. “black swindler”), a drama adaptation of a manga; Yamapi played the main character. Japanese & Korean use “drama” to refer to live-action TV shows regardless of fiction genre (like the drama department at school, referring to theatre generally). Asian dramas can be comedy or slice of life as well as, well, drama.
Some readers might recognize this pastel drawing.
This is Yamapi in another drama, Nobuta wo Produce (“Producing Nobuta”), in which an unlikely pair of high-school boys try to help a shy girl overcome bullying. Yamapi, Kamenashi Kazuya (from the boy band KAT-TUN), and Horikita Maki (an actress, also in Kurosagi) played the main characters. The guys sang the theme song, Seishun Amigo (link: guitar cover with the KamePi vocals added).
A girl appeared after all!
Next, J-rock stars Gackt Camui & Miyavi.
This is from an unfinished comic. Gackt, Miyavi, and a serious musical classmate competed in the video game Guitar Hero.
Gackt is one of those musicians who can probably play any instrument he’s given. Usually I drew him in an outfit similar to that in the Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume(“Dreams you pursued”) MV because the style is more identifiable than visual kei and other weird costumes. Possibly also because that was (is) my favorite Gackt song. The link is a live performance with English subtitles.
Conversely, I rarely drew Miyavi in the same outfit twice. In the comic, it changed in every panel—a reflection of his can’t-sit-still behavior, which he has outgrown. I don’t think he’s outgrown dyeing his hair every color of the (crazy) rainbow, like in this performance of Kekkonshiki no Uta, a well-wishing wedding song to the girl who married someone else. (At least nowadays his hair is mostly one color at once.) Besides many musical genres—rock, metal, blues, pop, &c.—he’s known for his guitar-slapping style. (Here’s a snippet to see those fast fingers more closely.)
Another sketch with the two rockers. The composition came from a NEWS photo.
Dear patrons who have my book Cartage: A Graphic Short Story,can you find the Camui cameo? If you find Gackt, post in the comments.
I would feel remiss if I talked about J-rock without mentioning BUMP OF CHICKEN. I did a quick sketch—which doesn’t fit the “blast from the past” focus of the Art Walk, but now there’s a visual. (This is an art blog, after all.)
Masu Hideo (L), drums; Fujiwara Motoo, lead vocals & rhythm guitar; Masukawa Hiroaki, guitar; Naoi Yoshifumi, bass guitar. “Motoo” ends in a long “oh” sound, (not “oo” like “two”); there are multiple ways it could be written in English (“oo,” “oh,” “ō”).
BUMP OF CHICKEN is an indie/alternative rock band from Chiba (east of Tokyo) & has an identifiable sound & lyrical style. Many of their songs have been used for anime & video games. Actually, all the artists I’ve mentioned in the Art Walk episodes have had songs used (or themselves have starred) in anime, drama, video games, commercials, etc. Japan’s media industries are more integrated than the US’ in that way. Example: BUMP wrote/sang for this promo video for candy company Lotte’s 70th anniversary. Anime studio Bones animated it. Many English-speaking fans assumed this was a trailer for a new anime, not an ad!
Bonus jukebox selections:
BUMP OF CHICKEN: ray. You can see what they look like (& judge the likeness of my sketch). =)
Because there was an Arashi cameo in the title art—and because you made it to the end of a longer Art Walk than last time—here is We can make it!, a cover of Swedish singer Agnes Carlsson’s Love is All Around.
Episode 3 will feature something completely different.
Back in November, in the midst of sorting oodles of doodles, I suggested an artistic walk down memory lane. 4 months & 4 million sketches later (exaggeration), it’s here. Welcome to the Art Walk. Expect to see elementary school art, punny stuff, and J-pop art(ists).
Notes: Long post ahead. Some images still mysteriously stretch. Clicking opens them at their proper dimensions.
Long-time readers & friends might have expected me to say Japanese comics or video games, not Japanese music (though I have much of those, too). Selections from the J-pop collection, circa my last 2 years of high school, are included because
During this time, I started regularly using real people & photos as models.
I significantly improved at drawing realistically. One doesn’t go from this (top image) to that (bottom) overnight.
3. Of all the revisited drawings, they excited me the most. After multiple curatorial culls, there were still too many to share in one post, & half were of Arashi. (Lol.) Solution? Two posts, starting with an Arashi exclusive/homage.Oh Yeah!
Pronunciation note: please say “AH-rah-shi,” not “ah-RAH-shi.” Perfect. (Now, America, let’s work on karaoke.)
Some fun facts:
“Arashi” (嵐) means “storm.” Members: Aiba Masaki, Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ohno Satoshi, & Sakurai Sho. (Family names are first.)
They sang at the enthronement celebration of Japan’s new emperor in 2019. (Ray of water, 3rd movement, by acclaimed composer Kanno Yoko. In the linked video, she is conducting.)
Per the IFPI, their 20th anniversary compilation was 2019’s top-selling album globally, outselling Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, & 방탄소년단 / BTS, the current princes of K-pop (Korean pop).
Their songs have been used to promote the Olympics (on Japanese TV), including Kaze no Mukou e (“Beyond the wind”) for 2008, Power of the Paradise for 2016, and Kaito(“Kite,” composed by Yonezu Kenshi, another popular musician) for 2020. If the Olympics proceed this summer, I hope it is somehow included. The world should hear it; it’s beautiful.
Did any of you see Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, the companion film to Flags of Our Fathers? Nino played Saigo.
Do any of you like Bruno Mars? He wrote Arashi’s first all-English release, Whenever You Call (2020).
Let’s begin. 始めましょう! Hajimemashou!
For more alliteration, add “from an adolescent artist’s archives.”
The episode title comes from the chorus of Arashi’s 2019 single, Turning Up. I’m elated they finally made a music video that includes a weather forecast.
Sometimes I used music videos for references. Here’s an example, the “Ni no umbrella.” (MV: Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono, “Something more important than words”).
For Christmas & birthdays, I often gave my friends drawings of their favorite singers & characters. Here’s a birthday card, straight out of the Happiness music video. Happiness was released during my senior year of high school (and skyrocketed onto the favorite song list). It’s been regular in concert repertoire ever since.
Back: Sho (L), Aiba, Jun. Front: Ohno, Nino. Pronunciation tips: “Ai” in “Aiba” is like “I”/”aye.” “Jun” is similar to “June.” The “Oh” in “Ohno” is a long “o” sound.
Even though I messed up when I inked (Jun’s hand & Sho’s face), this is one of my favorite things I’ve drawn for someone. Having fun drawing it, my friend’s delighted response, & wordplay made a good mix.
Ohno / Oh, no. (Obvious, overused, yet never old.)
It’s Sho / show time!
SubArashi~! Subarashii (“soo-bah-rah-shee”) means “wonderful.” SubArashi can describe an awesome song or performance or, facetiously, Arashi on a sandwich or in a yellow submarine.
Good times fo’ Sho! (For sure.) Like when my friends & I went to my little brother’s middle school play & and all giggled when he came onstage with Matsumoto Jun hair.
Here’s another birthday drawing. I think the pencil draft looks more accurate than the final, but for similar reasons to the Happiness card, it’s another favorite thing I’ve drawn for someone else.
This stylized Ohno accompanied another gift.
One more. This draft is from an independent oil painting class my senior year. I used an image of Nino, Aiba, & Jun for the poses & tried to change their faces so they wouldn’t look like them (though “not Aiba” particularly still resembles Aiba).
I liked the drawing, but I was not satisfied with the painting. Consequently, I was shocked to learn the school administrators had chosen it for an award! There were 2 senior art awards: one merit award & one legacy award that meant the school bought 1 graduating student’s artwork. (I won both.) Bench Buddies / “not Arashi” / whatever I titled it was the legacy selection. At the awards assembly, the head of school announced that it was selected because it expressed camaraderie and simple joy. At least the reason was decent.
Thus a little bit of J-pop is preserved at Principia.
That’s the end. Thanks for coming this far. I hope you had some fun; I did. I will try to make the next Art Walk episode shorter. じゃあまたね. Jaa, mata ne. (See you later.)
November already? Time seems to pass in ways that defy human perception.
I haven’t had much opportunity to draw or paint lately, but over the last few weeks, my art space has been another kind of project zone. Project #1: the annual or semi-annual organization overhaul, which always takes the better part of a week. During this, I emptied an art supply caddy–one of many that friends & family bestowed on me as a wee bairn, filled with bright colored pencils, paints, and pastels, and the obligatory small metal pencil sharpener. Rather than chuck the caddy, I thought I’d convert it into artwork storage (project #2). All it would take was adding 4 panels to prevent papers from sliding.
“All it would take” — ha. Na bi gòrach. (Scottish Gaelic for “Don’t be silly/stupid.”) Of course it took more than that. DIYers, let’s get ready to roll.
1) Remove black plastic art supply holders/lining. (Please excuse any funny-looking images; recently some blog images have started to appear stretched while others do not. Not sure why WordPress is displaying them differently.)
2) Remove or smooth as much of the hard glue that held liners in place. This involved a razor blade, flying glue chips, sandpaper, and safety goggles.
3) Cut fabric rectangles to line the box.
4) Glue fabric to interior of box.
5) Cut used mat board for panels.
6) Glue panels to box — the trickiest part (getting them to stick and to keep them from falling down).
Books, old awards, wood, and old mat board were all called into service to keep the panels from falling while the glue dried.
All done? Nope. I had to reglue the rightmost panel so that papers wouldn’t fall to the center when the caddy closed. Then it was done. Whoo hoo!
Here’s how it closes. Isn’t expanding storage great?
Presently it is only storing air because I am in the midst of project #3: sorting & digitizing hundreds of drawings from middle school, high school & college (plus some more recent things). This weekend alone, I’ve recycled 2 piles of dog-eared, battered, & other sketches I don’t feel inspired to keep. Apparently an artist’s work is never done, even when not making art.
Maybe the next post will be an artistic yearbook/blast from the past. ‘Til then, thanks as always for reading.
