Based on the alternate reading of the title of my previous piece Tsukiboshi.
Kishitsubo = "Coast Jar" (though in this case, it is more like "Shore Pot")

Who is this man, and is he pushing the octopus into the water, or is he defiantly holding out a hand against an angry octopus who is trying to invade the land? Also what is an octopus doing near fresh water? These are all good questions.



Anyhow, "kishi" can also be written as "騎士" - "knight", so that is why I put a knight in this picture. His armor is kind of samurai inspired, though his visor and sword are more like something you would find on a European knight. And he is wearing a cape/scarf, like a hero or something.

As for why there is an octopus in a pot, that is because there is such a thing called an octopus pot (takotsubo) that fishermen use to trap octopuses. I don't know how it works or what it looks like, but just that they exist, so don't use this picture as a reference for anything important; I won't be responsible for deaths or injuries related to misinformation on octopus pots.

I believe the last vector art I submitted was Mori no Otoshimono about 14 months ago. Anyhow, I wanted to give this another go and wanted to see if I could pull it off without any gradients too. Now that it's done I'm quite pleased with it, though I don't think I've gained as much by not using gradients as I would have by using them.

The vector art experience has been interesting. The lack of line art forces you to be careful with your colors and shading, and in the end this can only help with when you go back to coloring with line art, right? Anyhow, that was fun stuff, and I will probably use this technique again in the near future.

Man, making this was so much faster than drawing with tiny breaky brush strokes.

Made in Flash

EDIT: Oh, and the thing the octopus is saying is (in this case) an interjection expressing anger or chagrin. Also he is saying it in Norio Wakamoto's voice.

EDIT2: Changed pot's colors to look more like takoyaki, because I need to confuse you more. Also changed my お to look less like a す' because I need to confuse you less.

EDIT3: I do mean "octopuses"