Well, it's been a while, and I can't honestly say I've been working hard on deviations.

I can, however, lie.

I've been working hard on deviations, everybody! But due to numerous excuses (which I have conveniently forgotten) they have all been lost or baked into various goods. Anyhow, here is piece featuring a character I created while vacationing in Taiwan: an oni (which, by the way, are not of Taiwan).

Oni, if you didn't know, are creatures in Japanese folklore most likened to and translated as ogres. Traditionally they're ridiculously strong and impossible to kill. I call this oni Matoya for no particular reason. She stands about 8 feet tall and weighs about 600 pounds, being made of denser stuff than people. She wields a heavy metal hammer and is also the elder of her mountain tribe. On occassion she would descend the mountain and visit human settlements for a night of drinking.

The pathetic little man next to her I call Mencil, standing at 4 and a half feet and weighing 98 pounds. He was a member of the local militia until he was removed for "acts of wanton lethargy," after which resigns himself to bumming with his sister's family. Then [insert crucial plot point here] and he shoots Matoya in the forehead with an assault rifle. This action puts him on her bad side, and he is subsequently enslaved and forced to help her find out what happened to her tribe while she was sealed. Mencil's theme is "Hold onto pants for dear life."

On character design, I took a number of liberties with Matoya's appearance as an oni. The spots above her eyebrows, the dark skin on her forearms, fingers, and toes, her long pointy ears, and her clothing - not traditional. I don't even know if there are such things as female oni (though I'm aware of oni-baba). While it would have made more sense for her skin to be red and her hair to be something else, I didn't want to make her too dark and lose some of the contrast, so instead I gave her white skin and red hair. The result was kind of Kabuki-ish in my opinion. But I think I should have thought twice on the dark patches. She looks like a giant panda-rat or something. I drew Mencil intending to make him an opposite of Matoya in strength and confidence. The result? Some sort of meek, wussy guy with no standing in society and a pathetic back story. Anyhow, in essence he's my response to the stereotypical male protagonist who tries to protect everyone with his own strength. Mencil hides behind women and children.

Oh yeah! The title Onigokko refers to the Japanese equivalent of the game of tag. I just chose this just 'cause of the "oni" in it. Sorry, I'm very tired - I've been playing much too much flyff lately. Maybe I'll produce something wittier later this week.

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