Japanese Folk Tales - Peach Boy 日本昔話・桃太郎

This is the story of Momotarou, or…Peach Boy!

The story dates back from a waaay long time ago, so I decided to set it in Heian Era Japan (around 1000AD).  I have no idea what Heian Era Japan looked like, so it took awhile to dig up photos of the typical home interior, but its pretty awesome to learn about how they lived, and what they wore.

Once again an old, kindhearted couple make their appearance. This time around, they aren’t poor and starving, but they aren’t happy either, cause they’ve never been able to have kids. One day the old woman finds a bunch of peaches in the river, takes the best looking one home, and just before she cuts it open, it splits apart, to reveal a baby inside! Naturally they don’t find this freaky at all, and they happily raise the son as their own.

He grows up to save the village (with the help of a dog, a monkey, and a bird) from a clan of demons living on a nearby island, and they all live happily ever after.

Sketches of the gooey baby coming out of the peach to follow. Tomorrow perhaps?

Japanese Folk Tales - Kasajizou (2)

I did a quick mock up in pencil of the thumbnail I thought had the best composition (from my previous post) to see if it still held up when I did it almost full size. My goal is to eventually do this in watercolor without the help of the computer. I may be biting off more than I can chew.

And some more old man character studies.