I can’t remember the last time I drew something just because I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, churning out neat stuff for $$$ is nice, but I can’t remember the last time I drew neat shit for no reason other than “I wanna draw this”. I read Haruki Murakami’s After Dark on Monday, and after I finished it, I said, “I WANNA DRAW THIS.”
This is the scene where Tetsuya, a chicken salad-loving jazz trombonist, recognizes Mari, a sullen 19 year-old who is trying to stay awake all night inside a Tokyo Denny’s:
This is the same drawing, after inking but before watercolor:
I really want to draw more of the characters and scenes from After Dark, but I’ve got more prepaid neat shit to churn for the next few months…
14 Comments
Holleee shit, you weren’t kidding about the amount of time on the background! This is inspiring.
Holy smokes Hellen - that looks so good. I love it.
Ooh, more! More!
I just finished reading Wind Up Bird Chronicle after a vacation in Japan where I in fact had breakfast in a Tokyo Denny’s.
Like your work ALOT! Question: have you read any other of Haruki Murakami’s books? I read ‘Kafka on the Shore’ a couple of years ago but did not find the ending that interesting, my main question is do you recommend any of his other works? Thanks.
hahah Ranjit, did you see any forlorn teens having chance meetings while you were eating there?!
LoneCub, I’ve read a bunch of Murakami’s stuff, and he’s a mixed bag. I really REALLY adore some of his books (The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, After Dark) and I like some ok (A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance) and I really dislike others (Kafka on the Shore, Hardboiled Wonderland, South of the Border West of the Sun, I barely even remember Sputnik Sweetheart) and there are still a zillion more of his books I haven’t read. They’ve all got common themes of surreality, alienation, the realm beyond the physical world, and despite having these similarities, it seems like everyone reacts VERY differently to each of his books. So basically, you’re gonna have to read ‘em all to pick out the ones you’ll like. The good thing is, his books are really really easy and fast to read (I read After Dark in less than four hours, at the book store) so you can plow through them and chuck the ones you don’t like.
oh also, I often hear that his best shit’s in his short stories, none of which I have ever read. So maybe that’s a good place to start?
Wowwwwww!
This is absolutely amazing. You can really tell you were inspired, this picture is shootin’ off coolness all up dis bitch!!! I really like the background a lot, those dogs are so cute. :3 I kind of want to read this book now, the synopsis from that article sounded pretty neat.
Hi, I just recently discovered your blog, and your artwork is amazing, I like it a lot. Great linework! I dunno if you get asked this a lot(probably), but what kind of pens do you use for your inks? Looks like brushpen? I’m really curious, love the dried textured look of the lines.
Incredible. I’ll have to read it now. Marukami’s definitely hit or miss, that’s for sure.
Hi ms.hellen. I like the art inspired by murakami, one of my favorite authors, I can’t believe you didn’t like hardboiled wonderland. one man’s trash…i guess. I just bought your first jin and jam comix tonight at comic relief in berkeley, its lovely. It was like a jewel glowing among a sea of coal. I hope to see more of your work to buy when I have more monies.
P.S. If someone were to want to color in your comic what kind of color pen or pencil could they use, I have this insaticible urge to use color crayons, don’t ask me why
Thanks, Esther. I use a Pocket Pentel brushpen (the king of brushpens) on Arches cold-press watercolor paper (cold-press is the medium tooth; hot press is the flattest paper with no tooth, and rough is the roughest). The tooth really helps make that dry-brush look, despite using a fully saturated brush tip.
ugochi, thanks for the nice comment bout Jin & Jam. I’m working on the second one now! I usually watercolor, but everyone has their own preferred color medium, you just gotta try them all. Use crayons, I bet that would look cool
I love murakami. you made Tetsuya way hotter than I imagined him. I just framed two prints I got from you at APE, now my room is about 30% cooler.
You’re getting scary good at drawing and painting, Hellen! Jeez o pete…
Beautiful and freakin’ fantastic.
Both in Black and White and in Color.
Also cool how left some things to be lined by color instead of the ink - love it!
I get those moments of “wannadrawthisnow” too and I like them, but that just doesn’t happen often enough here either. Crap, someone should just pour money in my pocket for drawing the stuff that rolls into ma head.
Post a Comment