Happy New Year! I hope that your holidays were enjoyable! Shortly after Christmas festivities, it came to my attention that I never uploaded my artwork from Kaijune a year or so back. "What's Kaijune?," you may ask. Well...
KAIJUNE = An art challenge that takes place in June, wherein participants create artwork featuring Kaiju, often one piece for each day of the month. -Philip A. Buck
KAIJU = (Japanese: 怪獣, Hepburn: Kaijū, lit. 'Strange Beast') is a Japanese media genre involving giant monsters. The word kaiju can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monsters. The kaiju genre is a subgenre of tokusatsu entertainment. -Wikipedia
DAY 1: Godzilla! (1954 film) I knew at the start that I probably wouldn't be able to do the whole month, by any means, but I figured I'd try my hand at the kaiju drawing challenge. I enjoy these giant monsters & their worlds & wanted to get better at drawing them. They are challenging, but lots of fun! I started with this silhouette of the original Godzilla (or Gojira,) from the first film, (Still holds up today!) as a way of easing into the art challenge. It was all done in Photoshop for this one.
Day 2: A Baltan from Ultraman! Drawn & inked with pencil & pens, colored in photoshop. (Check out the two process pictures.) Ever since I first saw these creepy dudes, I was a fan. Their designs have changed over the years, but they still have that quirky, cool quality!
Day 3: A Guesra from "Ultraman!" These sea monsters also have fun designs that are just enjoyable to watch in action. I had a blast drawing & inking this one. It’s about 8x8 inches & colored digitally in Photoshop.
4: Hedorah! This “smog monster” is a foe of Godzilla. Throughout the campy, psychedelic film they clash in, Hedorah appears in four forms of sludgy terror. The kaiju may appear silly, but she adds a somber, dark tone to the 1971 flick as the embodiment of pollution & destruction! Spooky, silly stuff! Great creature!
6: Gamera! Gamera debuted in the 1965, Japanese film, “Gamera, the Giant Monster.” Originally this fire-breathing, rocketing turtle beast was a troublemaker, but he grew to be a defender of Earth & all children! I got a bit carried away with the drawing.I’m not completely satisfied with the digital coloring, but it’ll do the job.
I hope you enjoyed these illustrations & the original black & white ink drawings. Do you enjoy kaiju & giant monsters too? Which is your favorite? My top four are probably cliche, but they are Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera & King Kong (in no particular order.)
