For my last assignment of Charles Hu’s “Figure for Entertainment Design” liveclass at New Masters Academy, I referenced the first TKRB musical. Partly because the costumes are elaborate, dramatic, and great for shape design. But also because these characters were part of the darkest years of my life and they live in my heart forever.
Iwatooshi and Mikazuki stood out as the best candidates for this exercise. In the musical, Iwatooshi has very strong & directional silhouettes; I had to stop myself from drawing him so much because he was such a great reference. In contrast, I liked drawing Mikazuki because his poses were very graceful and flowed really well; there were a lot of s-curves to explore in his design.
Unfortunately I struggled to choose references for Kashuu and Imanotsurugi. They are some of my faves, but their silhouettes were less readable in this particular musical.