Ryuu+Kiriko

Two things:

1. I've been actively changing things with my original characters recently. I'm taking the characters I've made for various fandoms and remaking them to fit into original stories. Basically taking a template and applying it to something else. That's where Kiriko, in particular, has come from: she's a part of my OC Aya's template. In particular, Kiriko is an orphaned girl in high school, very melancholy and hot-tempered. Her identity as an orphan (and the fact that she's 15 and hasn't been adopted, so she's still living at the orphanage) has made her a target for bullying, which is what brings Ryuu into the picture (name pending). He's the geography teacher and kenpo club sensei at school, and he doesn't allow bullying in any form. Similarly, he doesn't allow fighting either, and he encourages Kiriko to join the kenpo club as a way to vent her frustration and, hopefully, find some peace through the self-discipline involved.

2. You may notice my art is significantly messier than it used to be, and there's a reason for this. Several years back a picture posted by Dakt37 included her thoughts that messy is good, essentially, because it gives the picture more life. Most artists are too concerned with making the picture obey than with letting it live and develop. After some initial scoffing, it occurred to me that this is very true, and more so for me than most others. I'm driven to erase all mistakes and conform to a perfect ideal in my art; ultimately I came to the conclusion that I need to loosen up. It's not easy, but it's showing great results. I'm loving how so many pics show errors, scratches and smudges but still look complete and rough at the same time. It's kinda really lovely.

And that's about all I have to say about this piece. Essentially Kiriko is less than half of her template (Aya); the rest I've repurposed for another original tale altogether. Her design and/or changes for the second story are still up in the air at present, so we'll see where that goes.

Ryuu, Kiriko (c) Moi