Wanyudo

So a friend of mine is doing this thing where she's sending a sketchbook to all her friends to add a painting or drawing to and when it's complete she's going to give it to an art gallery or something. I was a little wary of handling something that had been handled by a bunch of people (for the record, my friend had the idea pre-COVID) so I opted to make something that could be glued into the book by her or whoever has it now.

So when I was brain storming ideas for what to do, I got to thinking "as long as I'm making something that will be cut out and glued into the book, why don't I experiment by making something with layers of different mediums that I can cut out and glue together?" I picked Wanyudo for the job because he seemed easiest to break into at least three separate layers- head, wheel, and fire.

I have two Patreon posts about the process if making this wanyudo that you can see for as little as one dollar. The first post is shows how I did the original drawings in Procreate before carbon copying them onto physical media. The second post is the whole process of putting it together from carbon copies to inks to paints to more inks to more paint and more inks and then more paints and more inks and also paper cut outs.

And finally, here's the description of the Wanyudo.

Wanyudo

A flaming cart wheel with the grimacing head of a man at its center that was said to roll itself from downtown Kyoto at dusk and up into the mountains by dawn. The Wanyudo is extremely dangerous. Anyone who crosses its path will be torn to pieces and even looking at it risks having your soul torn out of your body or being struck with a sudden deadly fever. If the Wanyudo passes by your home the best thing you can do is hide with your eyes shut tight and stay away from any windows.

Oddly enough, the most famous story of the Wanyudo is about a person who looked at it and survived. But it’s also a story that proves that it’s capable of far worse than simply killing you on the spot.

There once was a woman who was curious enough to sneak a peek at the Wanyudo as he rolled by. When she saw him he looked just as he had been described but she noticed a pair of tiny legs dangling from his mouth. Then the Wanyudo suddenly locked eyes with her and said, “You shouldn’t be looking at me! You should be looking at your child!” The woman the turned to her sleeping child behind her and was horrified to find that his legs had been torn off.

EDIT: Making this thing made me think I should experiment more with traditional media. Photographing and scanning it reminded me of one of the reasons I'm glad I don't have to work with traditional media. Here's an alternate photo. The colors might not have been this saturated in real life but it might actually look better.