The Laughing Oni
“In this Japanese folklore legend, a young girl is traveling to marry a man in a distant village. Suddenly, as she is traveling, she is captured by an evil Oni, an ogre-like demon, and is taken away to a faraway land. Join her mother on a long journey through the mountains to rescue her daughter from grasps of the powerful Oni and his minions.”
The Laughing Oni showcases edge-to-edge illustrations on all pages, featuring a combination of gouache and digital painting techniques. For this project, I wanted to emphasize the beauty of Japanese folklore and pattern-making, so I combined a deep and rich color palette with collages of original Japanese patterns to evoke the feeling of original Japanese artwork. This project also allowed me to develop and test the boundaries of my illustration style, which has been a rewarding experience.
This story is based off the translation by Keigo Seiki in “Folktales of Japan” in 1963.
Instructor: Paul Kepple
Photography: Austen Hart
Mediums: Gouache, Watercolor, Photoshop and Procreate
Displayed in the Student Annual Showcase at Tyler, Spring 2019
