His name means 'Wind and Waves, Port' - the pun is very much indended!

*Dies, both from relief and being ill*

Well, it’s finally here, the long-awaited ‘Namikaze Minato’. I started this in... *checks* NOVEMBER. The 20th to be precise, but only just got around to finishing it.

Okay, way back when… the birth of this picture was quite odd. I had the strangest urge to draw a lake at night- then, I decided there should be someone ON the lake- which turned out to be Minato (in my head). The initial sketch took 15 minutes, I was really pleased with the speed, but the inking took longer. Then I based colored it and did a rough background, which for pun’s sake I decided to be a port!

…and left it to cook for a few months. As I hurt my hand recently (and my basic coloring method uses the mouse) I ended up coloring him, then when my hand was better I enhanced my cell-shading with airbrushing and then did an insanely complex background!

The background I think is what took longest, all that WATER, all those BUILDING and ships- I must be nuts..! At-least I can use it for other things, though

The water was a big old experiment, that came out well. I uses a texture, varied the light, then did several layers (the water effects has its own files on my computer it took so many layers!) to get something I was (very) pleased with. I’d tried doing the rough of the water before twice, but, third time lucky- because I got it into my head to treat it like treacle, which is easier to imagine because it moves slower… *is very pleased with the water*

The background- I loved sketching the buildings!! Then, I hated adding windows. I don’t know why, windows are my enemy, and there’s so many of them! I’m really pleased with it though, especially the boats! Initially I had trouble finding reference for boats because I couldn’t remember the name of an asian boat, until today I remembered they were called ‘junks’ yes, I have shamed all boat enthusiasts with my tiny boaty doodles, but I still like ‘em!

And Minato, well, meow.

Anyway, please enjoy! I spent ages on this (if only occasionally) I’m amazed I even pulled myself together enough to finish it, but eh, I did, and I’m pleased. Comments with be used to ferment Nattou.