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...is the last animal in the Chinese Zodiac! Yay! I thought I would never finish. Only 12 prints, but somehow, it took a lot of discipline (currently, discipline seems in short supply in ye olde noggin).


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Unlike the lovely, serene woodblock print 'Monkey Reaching for Moon' by SHOSAN [KOSON] (c.1910 -- 34x18cm) posted below, to me monkeyness implies a little more action and mischief. I looked at a large amount of Chinese and Japanese art and went through the entire collection of National Geographic magazines my father fobbed off on gave me, looking ( Read more... )

I like how the horse linocut turned out:

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Next up in the Chinese zodiac was a real challenge for two reasons: 1) connotations and 2) dimensionality ( Read more... )

A bad pun, for reynardin.

Here is "Long: The Dragon", 5th in the Chinese Zodiac, in progress:


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Sometimes authors speak about their characters developing lives of their own. I think I know what they mean.

Some of us are 'Tiger Standing Still'. Meet 'Tiger Sneaking Up Behind You to Eat You for Dinner':


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In an instance of weird timing, in honour of Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat, I bring you the animal the Rat used to hitch a ride and jump the queue. The second animal in the Chinese Zodiac is the Ox. The character niu, branded on this ox, can mean ox, cow or bull. The ox is of course, a symbol of virility, but it is also, like the Western zodiac ( Read more... )

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