Japanese Horror Sleeve

Matt came in with the image of a man tearing a mask off his face and pulling his own face off with it. My first thought was "that's too much." But I also love drawing gory horror, so I agreed, knowing we'd figure it out.

Matt was right. It was a cool idea. I used a Yoshitoshi print as the reference for the guy losing his face, and it worked perfectly. The rest of the sleeve needed classic subjects to set the horror scene properly. Matt wanted malevolent ghosts, cherry blossoms, and a few personally significant numbers worked in somewhere.

I did a take on Kohada Koheiji's ghost from the Edo period on the lower outside, and a more classic Yurei ghost from a print Matt brought in on the inside. A Gashadokuro riff on the inner bicep, done super dark to differentiate it from the other skeleton figure on the arm. Cherry blossoms to balance the darkness and let some light into the sleeve. Numbers hidden on an omamori charm on the back.

Dream project. Came out gnarly.