Manslayer
Illustration | Fan Work
2012
Mixed Media
A fanart with all my love for Rurouni Kenshin. The reference is a movie still of Takeru Satoh, the actor who portrayed Himura Kenshin in the live action movies. An earlier version of this was submitted as a contest entry for UP AME and SM Cinema’s Rurouni Kenshin Fanart Contest. At that time, there weren’t many screencaps available, and I wanted my artwork to stand out and show its relevance to the movie, so I picked a photo of Kenshin as Hitokiri Battousai as my reference. I changed the eye color to golden yellow to resemble how Kenshin’s aura changes in the anime. For the background, I took inspiration from the fabric designs and patterns found in the mangas and artbooks. I love the realism brought on by the movies, but as an artist, I felt like it was my obligation to incorporate as many elements as I can from the anime/manga. I wanted people to see it as a fanart of the whole Rurouni Kenshin and not just something that is exclusive to one form of media.
I am happy to say that my hard work paid off because I was one of the lucky winners of the contest. Thanks to this fanart, I was given tickets to the movie premiere in my country. I’ve had so many fond memories since then, which made this artwork and this series/show all the more special to me.
A progress shot of Manslayer before adding the traditionally-painted texture for the background. You can see the reference picture on the upper-left part of the image.
On August 6, 2014, a print was signed by the director (Keishi Otomo) and the main casts of the movie (Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki) during the Kyoto Inferno promotion/red carpet procession in Manila. ♡
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan ➝ Nobuhiro Watsuki