Sazae-oni is a shape-shifting bakemono who lives inside a turban shell. Sometimes she disguises herself as a beautiful temptress in order to lure sailors to their... dismemberment, shall we say?
I decided to depict the moment afterwards, when she begins to reveal her true, rather crabby nature to her poor victims. After all, vamping it up can be fun, but sometimes a girl's just gotta relax & be herself.
Acrylic on illustration scanned from Wonders of the Heavens, Earth and Ocean, 1887 (with some Photoshop touch-ups in the grand pin-up tradition) ~5.5"x8.5"
She's a man-eater, alright. What's she got against those poor sailors?
ReplyDeleteAmazing work. love the colors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and your nice comment.
Crabby - I just got that! I was thinking she looks rather lobsteresque. Love your creatures!
ReplyDeleteThe big eyes and very nasty teeth are rather unsettling, I must say. An excellent addition to the oddness, particularly that super cool turban shell.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! What more could anyone want from a pin up? :)
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