This is the first artwork for my second series "A Night in Japan". The drawing was created using Copic markers and coloured pencil. The artwork depicts a young woman in Tokyo taking a break from work at the restaurant behind her. She is watching a young man who is walking up the street. A chef from the restaurant is also outside. He is watching her watching the young man. The line of the windowsill helps draw the eye from the female figure to the 2 men. I used coloured pencil instead of marker for the figure's skin to give it a more realistic look.
This series continues from my first, 'A Year in Japan', yet focuses on a single night in Tokyo. There is no longer a 'lone man', instead, a variety of people are shown, each going about their lives on this one night which binds them together. My influence for this series is drawn from the film Blade Runner, a film loved for its dystopian, 'Neo Tokyo' nighttime scenes. As with my first series, I am attempting to convey the Japanese phrase 物の哀れ 'mono no aware' - the gentle sadness of things. This refers to the ephemeral, transitory nature of the world, which in turn evokes a greater appreciation for things which are quick to disappear, such as cherry blossoms. The scenes I portray are fleeting moments in time, where the figures, objects and light will only be in that exact state for a moment, never to be repeated. Furthering this concept, this series depicts scenes from a single night in Tokyo, highlighting the ephemeral quality of time. The style I used was inspired by Studio Ghibli animation and traditional Japanese woodblock prints.
The dimensions are for the size of the image, not including white border or frame. My signature is in gold pen near the bottom right corner of the artwork. The styled scene isn't 100% to scale but it's pretty close, and gives an idea of how the work could look framed.