Part 3/3 of my set of Harajuku prints ♥️ All traditional ink+marker pieces
Also used metallic pen for this, which had an interesting effect under the scanner.
When people think of Harajuku fashion, I think it's common to picture kawaii and playful colors+motifs. I want to create looks inspired by some of my favorite gothic Harajuku fits, to show a different side of the fashion scene.
After seeing the whole PV for Dir En Grey's 「The Devil In Me」 I'm not sure what to make of their use of AI in the video. I think the kneejerk is to say "It's AI, so it's shit", but the framing of an unknown person interacting with an AI chatbot to consume John Wayne Gacy content, becoming obsessed, wanting the AI to impersonate Gacy, then asking the computer to generate the inner mind of Gacy is an interesting idea. The AI is not showing us what's in a serial killer's mind, it's showing us what it thinks represents a serial killer's mind based off provided input ("abused by father"? HERE IS A BIG INTRUSIVE MAN'S HEAD).
And then text blips like this:
"The deceased" is vague enough that it could be refer to deceased serial killers like Gacy; we cannot know their inner world (not even when he was alive-- that guy was full of shit). It could also refer to how true crime tends to place focus on the murderer while victims are reduced to names and their final outward moments. Entire lives reduced to characters in a serial killer's story.
I'm relieved to see the entire PV isn't AI, but its use here seems to go beyond just flashy aesthetic and have some kind of narrative purpose. I'm so curious to know the band's thoughts behind the video, but I know we're not going to get that. I suppose I can demand an AI to impersonate Dir En Grey and give me fake answers, too.
Part 1/3 of my set of Harajuku prints ♥️ All traditional ink+marker pieces
I really enjoyed doing traditional art on the stream, I want to figure out a better setup so I can do it more often! That some of y'all were working on your own projects while I work on mine... 😭🖤
This is my latest spirit mural piece, which brings the total up to 7? I think? I've lost count. These pieces are some of the most creatively challenging for me, and this one definitely took a lot of brain power to pull together. I make these to show the deities that exist in the world I'm building.
This is Okee Osis. (Okee is a honorific, you can just call her Osis) Osis is a eldrin (high spirit) of nature. The old story goes that long ago a nomadic people traveled the land as far as they could, heading east. Eventually they found themselves in a desert. They pushed forward, believing that one day they would find vegetation and a place to call home, but eventually the sands ran out and turned to cliffs overlooking the ocean. Too weak to head back the way they came, they were devastated. That is until some of the people paid tribute to Okee Osis and begged for her to save them. Osis, was always skeptical of people, but could not turn away from those is need, so she blessed the sandy landscape with a new types of vegetation the humans had never seen. Fruits, wheat, and vegetables that thrived in the sandy climate. Over the years, the people turned the land from a sandy desert into a thriving community. They vowed to always respect the land and protect their sacred bond with Osis.
Here are some close-up shots of the mural: