Whilst doing research on Mani, I came across another artist; Monokubo – a Japanese illustrator, commonly known for his illustrations of giant animals which immediately peaked my interest.
Although I couldn’t find much information about Monokubo, I did however find several images of his that I really like.
A lot of his work involves real animals such as racoons, dogs, cats, etc. However some of his pieces are based around Chinese mythology which I thought was quite interesting.
For example, Inoshishi is a boar from Chinese culture and mythology. It is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac symbols, it’s previous name being Yamakujira which meant “whale of the mountains” which appears a lot in Chinese folklore as Inosasao – the boar with the back covered in bamboo leaves.
One thing I really like about Monokubo’s work is his colour palettes – they are always soft colours and well co-ordinated with the animal in the image. For example, the image with the Shiba dogs works well because of the soft greens and browns, with the occasional splash of white and blue which add a bit more colour to it.
With these two images the colours typically whites, blacks and greys with the occasional splashes of colour such as greens, reds and browns which really completes the images. However there are a few more colours in the panda illustration with the hat and banners but it helps add to the adorable nature of it.
It’s a shame that I can’t find much information about Monobuko however I am still glad I came across his works as they are incredibly well done and quite interesting to hear about the mythology behind some of them.
stevenson.snaps 