I am an anime lover for 25 years now. I developed my passion in drawing at the age of 9 and developed my art style later on out of love for anime. I've been watching a lot of series and I got familiar with some Japanese traditions and culture because of it. One of which is the shrine maiden in Shinto culture.
I noticed that they always wear a white top called kosode, a predecessor to the kimono we know and a red pleated trouser. The reason behind the white top is because white symbolizes purity in Shinto. The traditional shrine maiden undergoes intensive training for 3-7 years before her initiation rites to become an official shaman. She can then perform shamanism. She can communicate with spirits or medium possessed by spirits. She can also communicate the divine will of the gods that appear in dreams. Lastly, she performs ceremonial dances and chanting.
Unlike the traditional shrine maidens that focus on shamanism, the modern ones assist in shrine functions, perform ceremonial dances, offer fortune telling, and sell souvenirs. This is what I see in anime which inspired me to make my own version of a shrine maiden.
After two months of drawing hiatus, I was able to finally overcome artist block and I'm thankful that muscle memory is real which helped me maintain the quality of my work. I'm making a comeback with this first ever NFT I am minting here in Hive and I'm sharing the drawing process for this one.
SKETCHING
Sketching will always be the first stage of every drawing. This is where I work on the proportions, proper placements and the concepts of each component I included in the art. Here's the initial concept I had in mind. Her pose really suits the two objects she's holding, ready to perform sacred rituals.
LINEART
Next step is the lineart. This is where I lower the opacity of the sketch into 20% then I create another layer on top of it for the lineart so I can clearly see the brush. I follow the sketch I did as I do the clean lines this time. I made a last minute change with the patterns of the paper talisman she is holding because I came up with a better idea after trying to look for better references. This is actually a difficult part because most paper talismans have complicated patterns or some calligraphy I don't understand. Now I'm satisfied with the final lineart.
BASE COLORS
I noticed that shrine maidens have dark colored hair. Perhaps hair dye or any unnatural color is not allowed even in modern days. This is the reason behind the choice I made for the hair color. I decided to choose hazel brown for her eyes to bring contrast to her dark colored hair. Based on Japanese culture, I followed the official outfit colors of a real life shrine maiden so it's a white kosode and a red pleated trouser. I modified the top based on what I see in anime to make it look modern.
For the shrine color and design, I got the idea from the Japanese themed garden my mom had been. I saw her photo so I got the details there. I got the idea of the roof from the cooking game I play where I once reached the Japanese restaurant level. I saw a shrine with two roofs there, though their color is black. I tried black on my drawing and it didn't go well because it's close to the maiden's hair color. I need a color that doesn't overpower the color of her hair so here's the final color combinations of my work.
SHADING
Let's get to the exciting part of coloring where everything will look lively all because of the volume that shading can bring. What I love with shading is that it can even give volume to 2D drawings. I do cel shading since my art style is similar to Japanese anime then I do a bit of blending on some parts where a soft texture will look more suitable. Basically, I use a darker shade that is quite close to the base colors then I use a second color which will be the darkest shade then I use the Blender Tool to blend and soften the texture if needed. My favorite part is shading the hair. After all the shading, I do the finishing touch with its highlights. This makes the hair look glossy. I do the same with the eyes. I make them look soft and glossy using the Gaussian Blur effect in the software I'm using. I also use that effect to make things glow like the paper talisman the maiden is holding.
LAYERS
I organize my layers according to each part of the drawing. This photo shows an example for the clothes. I have a set of 3 layers under this group. I have separate layers for the lineart, base color and shading of the clothes. The same applies to all other parts of the drawing.
This photo shows all the layers of this drawing. I created 11 groups of layers and a layer for the sketch. Each group contains 3-8 layers. This drawing has a total of 43 layers.
BACKGROUND
Background is always the last thing I do. It's easier to decide on its colors once the subject is done. Here are the steps I did for the background.
The first thing I always do is to decide the basic gradient colors. I want pastel colors that will match the cherry blossoms I intend to put on the background so peach, pink, and yellow are my choices.
I made another last minute changes on this one. As you have seen on the sketch, I put bushes and cherry blossom trees on its background. I realized that it looks cluttered with too many plants. I came up with the idea to focus on the cherry blossoms since they look nice with the gradient colors I chose. I used a built in brush for this since I have a cherry blossom brush. I used texture brush to enhance the background.
For the final touch, I added some flying petals to make the background more attractive. This screenshot shows the process for this final touch. I used a flower brush that has the petals I need. I made three flowers out of it. I used the Freehand Selection Tool to select each petal then I used the Move Tool to move each petal to create a flying direction. I resized and rotated some of them to create variety.
THE FINAL RESULT
This is the final result of the shrine maiden concept I came up with. I'm happy with the result because I was able to achieve what I want from character design to the pose and the background that gives the overall shrine maiden feels plus the feminine touch of the cherry blossoms that match her beauty.
I niche in creating original Japanese style anime character designs using the art style I developed from watching anime. If you love anime and if you love collecting anime art, you may want to check on my NFT Showroom profile. I will be minting NFTs there as soon as I finish a masterpiece. Thank you in advance for your support.
Drawing Software: Krita for Windows
Device: Huion drawing device
Feel free to check my works here.
https://nftshowroom.com/kris11/gallery
