[I'm not sure whether this requires a Mature Content tag or not ... I've left it off for the reason of making art as accessible as possible (non-members can stumble across it ... lol ... ), and also because I don't think it's that gory. I'm comfortable with my seven and ten-year-old brothers viewing this. But yes, it is quite dark. I'll change my mind and tag this, however, if enough people think that I should, or if the Touhou clubs reject this for that reason. =]

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[EDIT: Is it just me or is the full-view (not DL) for this picture extremely grainy? I've set it to 1600 pixels wide but it appears stretched from much lower ... does anyone know how to fix this?]

Koishi Komeiji of the Touhou Project in two very different depictions but at heart verily the same - childlike and curious, but one on the gentle end of inquisitiveness, whilst the other is the embodiment of wild impulse unshackled.

Prompted by the two very different portrayals of this character in fan works, the darker one inspired by her appearance in "Komeiji Koishi's Heart-Thumping Big Adventure" ... or rather, by dA-based artworks influenced by it (I've yet to watch past episode 2), my initial contact having been Logos1959's numerous depictions of that creepy girl.

Inspired by pcmaniac88's gorgeous [link] for the symmetry. Also, fainin's [link] definitely snuck its way in there subliminally, especially for the background motifs. NawaKakeru too for the thorns on K2's vein-cords, I hope you don't mind me referencing your [link] Mad Hatter Koishi! Sweating a little...

This can be considered the spiritual successor to two earlier drawings: Sepia Checkerboard [link] and Rorschach's Wandering Rose [link] Within both of those I imagined a moody, darker image that I couldn't translate to the final pictures. Getting a new 1920x1080 screen with non messed-up colours compared to the Macbook one definitely helped with painting unsaturated tones, as well as expanding the scope of scene from what I usually can fit into a picture. ^^

This be the first picture with more than one character I've completed that I've put a lot of heart into. (Or if you prefer, a lot of Hart, Mann ... oh geez, terrible pun. XD)

I hope to continue doing multiple-figure pieces, but my gawd ... it was hell trying to get them into sync on the same perspective plane with acceptable proportions. I winged it a bit in the end but before that I completely repainted K1 (left girl) ... see here [link] lol. Referenced heavily ... mostly myself and household items, but Google for K1's hat, K2's heart and the bird, and a big book on roses from the library, even if the ones here are only very faint (so you can't see the mistakes!). I actually grabbed a plate of cake, drew it, mashed it up, stuck a knife on it, then drew it again. But rest assured I didn't actually tear up a teddy and pillow, chip the teacup and so on. =p (Razz)

Lastly ... that little poem at the bottom of the pic could have been a sonnet, but I ran out of ideas and time so just threw in what would've been the third stanza. Again, I'm a pragmatist, so if enough people prefer the image by itself I'll remove the offending item. >,< I'm not much of a poet ... but I'll be studying Poetry in Uni this Semester, so hopefully I'll get better.

EDIT: Since it can be barely visible on lower-res screens, the verse reads:

How doth the withered rose of hellish fire
Beside the bud of velvet pureness bloom?
The mind, a maze of parallel desire,
Cradles both light and shade, as one entombed.

Sorry again for TL;DR description. >,< Bless those who actually made it all the way through!

Peace!

- D.

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Koishi Komeiji belongs to ZUN / Team Shanghai Alice.
Picture by me using Wacom Bamboo in Photoshop Elements 3.
Subtle references to a certain newly-released Aronofsky thriller hopefully will not go unnoticed. =3