The Palace of the Dragon King: a Manual of Myths and Monsters

Chapter Illustration: "The Royal Court"
about 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 29, 2024 at 06:38:52 PM

Greetings backers!

Every day the book is getting closer and closer to completion. The Backerkit pledge manager will remain open for a little while longer. I am planning to lock down all orders in the beginning of May, which means that if you haven't completed your survey by then, your name will not be in the book! So if you haven't finished your survey and confirmed your order, visit the Backerkit pledge manager now and do that!

This week I'm happy to share another chapter illustration with you. The fifth and final chapter of The Palace of the Dragon King is titled "The Royal Court," and deals with the inhabitants of Ryugu. This is a really fun chapter because some of the yokai in here are almost like Edo period "fan fiction," reflecting just how popular the legends of the dragon king have been throughout Japanese history. In addition to Ryujin, Urashima Taro, and Otohime, we have the illegitimate mermaid daughter of Urashima Taro born from the time he visited a fish brothel... And other zany characters.

The idea behind this sketch is a teahouse or a room in the palace overlooking the underwater kingdom. The view is inspired by one of my favorite teahouses here in Fukui (called Yokokan Garden):

Another strong inspiration for this painting comes from Edo period "dime novels" that contained comic stories, many of them even about the dragon palace. One in particular I absolutely love, for its cartoonish depiction of people living under the sea, with fish for heads or sometimes just sea creatures on top of their heads. Check these out:

Look at these figures! Aren't they great?? It's hard to believe this was published almost 200 years ago! The figures are so modern looking, and the book is full of jokes and fish puns. I am always astounded by Edo period humor and artistic sense.

I used the depictions of this book as inspiration for a lot of the characters in this chapter as well, so you'll see fish-headed figures here and there among the characters in the book.

This painting is now also available in the galleries, and can be chosen as a print add-on.

Here is the process of my painting, from rough sketch to completion:

Chapter Illustration: "Out at Sea"
about 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 06:53:17 PM

Hello backers!

It's been a little while since the last update, but I've been working hard on the book, doing some of the less glamorous work like getting the layout finalized, compiling the index and references pages, and so on. I've also been working on the last couple of chapter illustrations, including today's share: Out at Sea.

The "Out at Sea" chapter naturally includes yokai that are found farther away from the shore, including giant sea monsters like akuru, akugyo, and akaei as well as undersea creatures like meppōkai.

This illustration leans into the idea of Ryūgū as a mirage. Just like Western mythology talks about oases or cities appearing in mirages, Japanese mythology talks about the mythical undersea city appearing on the distant horizon. Images of mirage-Ryūgū can be found in ukiyoe pictures like the ones here:

Conceptually this is what I am going for, although I didn't make my illustration as exciting and busy as these ones, with their vast undersea wars going on. My sketch is a bit calmer:

Moving on to linework:

And the final:

This painting has also been added to the image galleries, so if you'd like to select it for your Art Print add-on (or any of the other landscapes) you can do that!

More soon!

Chapter Illustration: "By the Water"
about 2 years ago – Sun, Feb 25, 2024 at 11:01:12 PM

Greetings backers!

The next chapter in The Palace of the Dragon King is called "By the Water," and it includes yokai that you'll find in rivers, lakes, and along the coast. This chapter features a lot of yokai that are somewhat aquatic, but still appear on land. This includes kappa-like creatures such as yajo and enko, seaside lurkers like daki, and river and lake spirits like teruto uo.

This landscape is based on the Shirahige Shrine in Shiga Prefecture. It's a beautiful location on the western side of Lake Biwa, and if you've ever driven along the coast of this lake it's impossible to miss. It's also responsible for terrible traffic jams whenever I need to drive from Fukui to Kyoto since everyone driving by slows down to gaze at it. But it's easy to see why. This place is especially beautiful at sunrise and sunset, when the lake and the open sky fill with bright colors. Although the Shirahige Shrine itself is not dedicated to Ryūjin, Lake Biwa is according to some legends the location of the dragon king's palace Ryūgū.

This illustration is relatively spartan, so I put only a single yokai in it: a ryūtō. Ryūtō are will-o-the-wisp-like orbs that appear on the surface of bodies of water that are inhabited by dragon gods. This was a tricky picture to insert a yokai into; I wanted it to be relatively simple, and anything overly grotesque or bizarre would overshadow the simple landscape. I think this ryūtō doesn't upset the balance though.

And here is my process, from sketch to lines to finished painting:

Chapter Illustration: "In a Garden"
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 01:34:31 AM

Greetings backers!

Chapter 2 of The Palace of the Dragon King is titled "In a Garden," and appropriately contains yokai that you might find in your yard and garden, or who are food-related. It's a bit of a silly chapter name, because there's no actual classification of "garden yokai," but it was a fun way to group some more unusual yokai together. In this chapter you'll find several vegetable yokai based on pumpkins, corn, melons, as well as yokai named for foods like botamochi, kinako, and eggplants.

Like chapter 1, this painting is framed by a clam's breathe, signifying that it is all just an illusion. The farmhouse in the painting is modeled after the Tsunashima Farmhouse, an Edo period house that was dismantled and rebuilt into part of the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.

There's no singing kōrai no bōzu in this one, but you will find a few yokai hiding in the painting!

Sketch:

Line art:

Painting:

Chapter Illustration: "On the Land"
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 09, 2024 at 12:19:16 AM

Greetings backers!

All of the Backerkit surveys went out last week, so you should all have received your survey email by now. If you haven't, please visit dragon.backerkit.com and access your survey directly there. You have to fill out this survey to confirm your order and receive your rewards, so do not put it off for too long! You can also put add-ons into your cart there if you weren't able to pick up everything you wanted in the Kickstarter.

A note on add-on payments: if you add any items to your order in the Backerkit store, you have two choices of payment: credit card or Paypal. If you choose Paypal, you will pay the cost of the add-ons immediately when you confirm your order. If you choose credit card, however, your card will be saved with Backerkit until all of the orders are locked down and charged this summer. So just please be aware that if you choose credit card, you will not be charged anything until later when the Backerkit store closes. I will post an update before that happens so you won't be surprised by the charge.

Now, on to some art!

I am currently finishing up the final bits of The Palace of the Dragon King. There are six paintings left to complete. These are the five chapter covers and the yokai map for the beginning of the book. As with my other books, this book is organized into five chapters based on environment. In The Palace of the Dragon King, the five chapters are On the Land, In a Garden, By the Water, Under the Sea, and At the Palace of the Dragon King. Each of these chapters begins with a two-page spread illustration.

The painting for the "On the Land" chapter is based on a famous waterfall here in Fukui Prefecture, called Yanagi no taki. You can see it below:

It's a beautiful place up in the mountains, and very cool and refreshing in the summer.

And here is the development of my illustration, from sketch, to linework, to painting:

Framing my illustration is a misty cloud being breathed out by a clam. In Japanese, the word for mirage is shinkirō, which means "castle from a clam's breath." Clams are said to breathe out visions of Ryūgū which can be seen by sailors on the horizon. This is a theme I'll be repeating for the other chapter header illustrations, as it fits nicely with the title and theme of the book.

Lastly, sitting on a stone in the stream is a yokai called kōrai no bōzu, who appears in this chapter. Putting him here was inspired by a favorite movie of mine: The Muppet Movie. I adore the opening scene where Kermit the Frog sits in the swamp singing and playing on his banjo. Since kōrai no bōzu are supposed to sit by their rivers and plays their gekkin ("moon lute") while singing the popular songs of the day, I have never been able to look at kōrai no bōzu without thinking of Kermit. So I decided to make my own version of it for this painting.

I'll have more chapter illustrations to share with you soon. In the meantime, don't forget to fill out your surveys!

- Matt