Crane & Sun (Patreon)

You may notice, this piece is a little different from my usual style, because this was an exercise in challenging myself and trying out some new styles and processes! For the most part, I find myself starting a piece with an idea and a loose concept of how it will look. For this, I started with actual source material: The "Crane & Sun" bright card from the Japanese card game Hanafuda (translates to "flower cards").

The idea of riffing classical artwork or designs is something I always loved seeing in the furry community (check out ArtDecade's if you haven't seen them already!), and I settled on this crane for a number of reasons! First and foremost, the whole game of Hanafuda is so, so, so aesthetically pleasing. There are 12 suits in the game, each one corresponding to a month and a flower, each one beautifully designed. In this case, the crane is in the January suit, which features pines. It's one of the five "bright" cards, which make up some of the highest scoring hands in the game!

Beyond that, there is some deeper imagery that is more rooted in Japanese culture. The pine tree, able to live up to a century and never shedding its leaves, is a symbol for long life, while the red-crowned crane embodies happiness due to their jovial mating dance. And this is just one card out of 48!

All this being said, I wanted my take on this card to also embody the sensuality and homoeroticism that is so often found in furry-centric art. I love the idea of finding some middle-ground between eroticism and aesthetics, and I'm hoping this is a good start!

And last but not least, I was happy enough with this to actually start the process of printing them on shirts! At the moment I'm having a batch of 60 made to sell at my next two conventions (MWFF 2017 & FC 2018), and then online afterward! Once they come in I'll take a few pictures and submit them here! <3