KarakasArt

24/03/2024

Did not share yet my last drawings here.
As you can see, I am still in love with kodama spirits from Ghibli. This time, I had to add some magical mushrooms 🍄.

I hope you like it as much I do.

30/07/2023

Skeleton manekineko 💀

How do you like it?

22/01/2023

As some of you know, I am also a dancer and sometimes I have to create my own costumes and accessories.

My last solo project was dedicated to Japanese culture and more precisely to the legend of Kitsune 🦊

So I could not resist the urge to paint my own kitsune mask!

Swip until the last pictures to see the result on stage!

The mask is made of paper mache and acrylic paint.

10/07/2022

Last addition to the witchy collection: The Cheshire from the underworld 💀🐾

19/06/2022

26/05/2022

Which one is your favorite?
Let me know in the comments! 👇👇

29/03/2022

My heart is a dusty, yet colourful place.
🌸🌻🌼🏵️

This is my last piece inspired by anatomy and floral illustrations. 👇👇

Techniques used: fine liners, pencils and sharpies.

I hope you like it!

27/02/2022

Ōgama are demon toads 🐸 in Japanese folklore. ⛩️

Their long tongues are agile and sticky, and they can catch and drag just about anything into their mouths to eat. Their breath appears rainbow colored when they exhale. They sometimes carry spears which they use to assault humans. Like many animal yōkai, ōgama have the ability to change their forms and disguise themselves as humans.

This one 👇👇 is dressed up with the traditional samurai attire. For the helmet, I took inspiration from two famous designs.

Handrawn with pencils and sharpies.

Soon I will draw a third one ;)
Stay tuned!

17/01/2022

In Japanese culture, the koi carp is a highly respected and very symbolic fish 🐟 that is closely tied to the country’s national identity. 🇯🇵

The koi carp is thought to be a symbol of luck, prosperity, and good fortune. The name “koi” itself is Japanese and simply means “carp” in Japanese.

👉 Black koi symbolize love and overcoming adversity while blue koi are used as a traditional symbol of masculinity and virility. Red koi are used to indicate energy.

👉 Some of the most highly prized and most valuable koi specimens in the world are koi that have a pure white body, with a lone red spot on the head called a Tancho; these koi are regarded as symbolic of the Japanese flag, and are considered to be an incredibly good omen and a highly patriotic symbol.

This is a sketch of two Koi carps I did two years ago. 👇👇
My plan is to paint this project on a larger piece of paper, using acryclic, sharpies, pencils and water colors. Let's cross fingers I will have time for it! 🤗

11/12/2021

In East Asian cultures, frogs and toads 🐸are often worshipped as symbols of fortune and luck. In Japan ⛩️, the frog is usually seen as a symbol of good fortune associated with magical powers. Because the Japanese word for frog is "kaeru", which is pronounced in the same way as "return",

👉 When a Japanese toad (Bufo japonicus) reaches one thousand years of age, it transforms into an ōgama. Ōgama behave for the most part like they did when they were ordinary toads. They live deep in the mountains, usually by rivers. They hunt bugs, birds, and snakes by breathing their rainbow-colored breathe on them, and then snatching them up with their powerful, stretchy tongues.

Their long tongues are agile and sticky, and they can catch and drag just about anything into their mouths to eat. Their breath appears rainbow colored when they exhale. They sometimes carry spears which they use to assault humans. Like many animal yōkai, ōgama have the ability to change their forms and disguise themselves as humans. ✨

05/12/2021

The ginkgo is a very old tree of the Ginkgoales species🌳. A million years ago, this variety of trees began to die out, leaving behind only a handful of shoots in northern Asia. Today, the ginkgo is the only specimen left of its kind! It is believed to have first appeared in Japan around 1,000 years ago and is now an integral part of the Japanese landscape.

👉 Due to the vaguely 'T' shape of its leaves, the ginkgo has been the symbol of the Japanese capital since 1989! It can be found on the Tokyo Metro logo, and many Tokyo parks are populated with them, such as Meiji-Jingu Gaien, whose paths lined with ginkgos attract many photographers each fall.

👉 In Japanese decorative art, the ginkgo's distinctive fan-shaped leaf has carried symbolism along with its singular beauty: the ginkgo has been a symbol of longevity (the tree can live for a thousand years) and of a more profound endurance (four ginkgos survived the blast at Hiroshima and are still growing today).

I particularly love Ginkgo leaves for their elegance and range of colors from green💚, to orange 🧡 and yellow💛.

I am currently training Japanese floral illustrations for an art project, so I'll be posting more drawings with flowers and leaves soon. Hope you like it! 🤗