Art Feature - 4/30/12

Ole ole by ~rikkutsukino on deviantART

I stumbled upon this piece a couple of days ago and finally decided I just HAD to share it. This is a cosplay of one of the anime-only characters from Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), Alois Trancy. The cosplayer did a wonderful job capturing his personality and the outfit and wig are flawless! I also quite like the background and the way the picture was taken reminds me of a candid shot (which I also enjoy).

She also has a blogger with more of her wonderful cosplay: http://rikkutsukino.blogspot.com/

Anime

So, recently I've been getting into a lot of old animes that most people are into by now but since I only started in my junior year of high school unlike most who start getting into it in elementary/junior high school I think I'm allowed to be a little slower than most. ;) Anyway, the most recent ones I've gotten into are D.Gray-Man and Nabari no Ou but my favorite that I've gotten into in the past couple of months is Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler. All of the listed animes are rather dark (ok...really dark) but they're all very well done in terms of art style and storyline.

Both D.Gray-Man and Kuroshitsuji are about demons though they each follow very different plotlines (in one the main character is an exorcist, in the other the main character makes a contract with a demon). Kuroshitsuji starts out with basic slapstick comedy then delves into the action and I was nearly immediately drawn into it while D.Gray-Man took me most of the episode to get into although the action started much sooner. The time periods and settings are about the same both being set in early-to-mid 19th century England.

Nabari no Ou is very different from D.Gray-Man and Kuroshitsuji, it is about modern-day ninjas. It is less dark than the other two and starts out with a flashback though the action doesn't really start until the very end. I'll admit that it took me most of the first episode to really get into it, the main reason I stuck with it was because the voice actress who voices the main character also voices the main character for Kuroshitsuji (and does brilliantly) and the main character is absolutely adorable. This anime is set in modern-day Japan.

Out of these animes I've only managed to finish one so far but I'm working on it. :) Either way I definitely recommend them (as well as several others) to everyone. And if you say you don't like anime, you've probably just not found one that you like yet. Anime is a genre like any other, there are many different art styles, story lines, relate-able characters, etcetera and there's something for just about everyone. Pick a story-type and search through animes, you'll be surprised at what you find.

Art Feature - 4/17/12

As an artist I enjoy not only creating but viewing great art. Occasionally I'll stumble upon a picture that just completely blows me away and I'm just like "gosh I HAVE to share this!" And so, today, I will feature this:


Other Mother by ~ToxicTenshi on deviantART

Those of you who have seen the movie Coraline will probably recognize this character--the delightfully creepy "other mother". When I first saw this I was just shocked--I could hardly believe that it's an actual person in a costume. The lighting is positively wonderful and the makeup is incredible. Kudos to the photographer, cosplayer, and the makeup artist*.

*Note: I am unsure if the cosplayer/photographer and makeup artist are the same person or not, a lot of times I see one person doing more than one job on these sorts of pictures.