Finally, the long-awaited Princess Mononoke collage is finished! I started this piece the last day of the most hellish year of school ever (curse those honors classes)! In celebration of my freedom and summer vacation, I decided to watch Princess Mononoke after swimming for hours on end! The next day, I woke up with a great idea--to compliment my pencil Princess Mononoke collage with a colored morphing one! So, I broke out my Princess Mononoke comic books which contain every frame and scene from the movie, and began picking my favorite "San and Ashitaka moments." Of course, there were so many more pictures of them I wanted to draw, but an 8x11 paper can only hold so much! This piece of art was first drawn in pencil. I agonized over detail, attempting to capture Miyazaki's style as much as possible. Next, I outlined the characters in black colored pencil. Last, but not least, I colored everything in prisma colored pencil. This was definitely the hardest part! I had to mix them to make colors I didn't have and color with extreme intensity in order to duplicate what was done in the movie with digital painting. That is why this piece took so much longer than expected. I often grew tired or frustrated from coloring just one character. However, I just had to finish it on order to show all you DA members what I can do!
San and Ashitaka's relationship changes so much throughout the movie that I had to draw it. When they first meet, Ashitaka watches San across a creek as she sucks blood from her wolf mother Moro's bullet wound. Next, they meet in Iron Town as she attacks in search of Lady Eboshi, cutting his face with her wolf tooth dagger. In that same night, San bites Ashitaka's arm, and he knocks her out; then he wakes up riding Yakul and Ashitaka falls off after being shot by a woman named Kiyo. San threatens to kill him, but he tells her to live and that she is beautiful. A stunned San carries Ashitak through the ancient forest and across the pool of the Forest Spirit with a sakaki tree offering for the god. Ashitaka (who has had his bullet wound healed, but not the demon mark) awakens to San feeding him dry meat, in the manner wolves do, because he is unable to chew. A lot of people say this is like their first kiss Later, after San nurses him back to health, Ashitaka finds himself in a cave sleeping next to her in the moonlight. San had place fur blankets over him. When she wakes up, they talk a little, and he places the blankets on her. That morning, Ashitaka is alone in the cave, his belongings neatly placed together and some food packed for him. So... Ashitaka has San's wolf brother give her the crystal dagger Kaya gave him. Awww... The next time Ashitaka encounters San, he desperately struggles to rescue her from Lord Okkoto's red demon "worm" tendrils. After failing to do so, Moro pulls her daughter away from the giant demon boar god and gives San to Ashitaka. He hugs her under the water as the demon tendrils float away from her body. After witnessing the Forest Spirit's head being shot off by Lady Eboshi, Ashitaka asks San to help him, Eboshi (whose arm was just bitten off by Moro before she died), and Gonza. She refuses, saying she hates all humans and that Ashitaka was always on the humans' side. Ashitaka calls San "human," but she yells in rage, calling herself a wolf. When he tries to hug San, she stabs him in the chest with the crystal dagger he gave her. Ashitaka absorbs the pain and hugs her tightly. Then, they pursue Jiko's men who have the Forest Spirit's head in a box. They fight Jiko and his men, and convince Jiko to let them return the head. As Ashitaka and San lift the head towards the headless Night Walker (Forest Spirit), they are covered in what looks like Ashitaka's demon mark by the green goop dripping from it. Ashitaka puts his arm around San's waist and holds her tightly just before the Night Walker takes his head back. The sun rises before the Night Walker can change back into the Forest Spirit, causing it to fall (dead) on Iron Town. From all this death and destruction comes the regrowth of the grass, the flowers, and the trees in bursts of green color. Yakul walks over to Ashitaka, who is laying in the grass with San, and nibbles on his hair, waking him up. Ashitaka wakes up San shortly after to show her what has happened. San is extremely sad about the death of the Forest Spirit, but Ashitaka tells her that the god is not dead because he is life itself. In the end, Ashitaka's demon curse is lifted, and he goes to help rebuild Iron Town. San will live in the forest with her wolf brothers, but Ashitaka and Yakul will still visit her whenever possible. I still think they should have lived in the forest together
Anyway, I dedicate this picture to my family, my pets, my friends, Hayao Miyazaki, Joe Hisaishi, and the actors who helped make this movie come alive including Billy Crudup (Ashitaka), Claire Danes (San), Gillian Anderson (Moro), Minnie Driver (Lady Eboshi), Jada Pinkett Smith (Toki), Billy Bob Thornton (Jiko), John DiMaggio (Gonza), Keith David (Lord Okkoto), John DeMita (Kohroku), and Tara Strong (Kaya), and the additional voice actors and singers. Thank you, and PLEASE COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!!!!