#021

The Inspiration

This week I watched a couple episodes of My Hero Academia, one of the few anime shows I enjoy. The sights and sounds of over-powered teenagers got the creative juices roiling once again, and I quickly grabbed a sketchbook to jot down some ideas for a superhero. The idea was fueled by my interest in monkeys, and by several dreams in which I could run about on all fours like some beast. I very much enjoy that sensation. There was an image of a red-furred monkey with the ability to set himself on fire running about in a tournament. The sketches were subpar, but I still have that concept written for later.

The Art

This week the Inktober52 prompt was “Lamp”, so taking the monkey idea and running with it, I did some research on the primates of the world. I discovered the Japanese Snow Monkey, a new favorite. After doing some quick studies before church, I pulled out one of the old sketchbooks and did up some quick drawings of the snow monkey aquatint himself with a lamp. I decided to make a page full of little doodles rather than one finished drawing. The subject of monkeys and apes will always be a favorite, their humor, lanky arms, and genial attitude are very agreeable.

Macaque

If anyone knows how to pronounce that name, you get points (mah-CAW?). This species lives in the colder regions of Japan, spending equal time on the ground and in the trees. They eat a variety of foods, including fruits, leaves, bark, insects, and small animals. They are most known for lounging about in hot springs, sometimes in troops up and over a hundred individuals. They are very social creatures, forming two distinct hierarchies within the males and females, the male based on physical strength and the female on birth.

In Japanese folklore, these little bathing-conscious creatures are sometimes depicted as ferocious sarugami, a type of demon who would kidnap the occasional damsel and then be consequently defeated by a warrior. Other times, they are seen as messengers for the heavens, since they traveled between the tops of mountains to the lands below. Quite the dichotomy. The phrase “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, comes from the Japanese idea of mizaru, kikazaru, and iwazaru. Monkey spirits would live in your head and report all of your thoughts and deeds to the gods while you slept. Those with a clear conscience could sleep easily, knowing that the spirits would see no evil, hear no evil, and therefore speak no evil. Here is the site wherein I learned this: https://yokai.com/sarugami/

The End

And here we come after a five-minute read to the end of the story, and I hope you are inspired and encouraged to sally forth with unrelenting swagger. Comment a lightning-fast idea which you had to write down. Also, share this post with three cousins and a work friend by next week. Come back next week for more reading and art. Farewell.