#akugyo

Yokai Girl

I am very pleased with how the face went, the pastel eyeshadow being bold and her face having a general warmth to it whilst using green tones.

To add a bit of extra something to her face I added a beauty mark, chin cleft, and dotted scales across the cheeks. I enjoyed the effect of the mark and chin, but I felt the scales just didn't quite fit, especially as her skin already has that golden lustre. Regardless, it's not really visible enough to mar my overall enjoyment of her faceup.

Akugyo(悪魚)

Hello there! Have you seen the new Monster Hunter Rise trailer at the games award? The two new monster really got me excited. So, since I love studying lore and ecologies of videogames I wanna theorize a bit with all the information we have so far regarding Somnacanth and Bishaten. I’ll do Bishaten in a separated post. The cursive text are theories. I’ll remake this post when new information will be released by Capcom. So let’s begin!

Somnacanth (Isonemikuni in Japanese) is a Leviathan that inhabits the Flooded Forest (Yay it is back!).

“A formidable aquatic serpent that crests on moonlit nights—likely why it has often been mistaken for a mermaid. Despite its appearance, it is extremely aggressive, and tolerates no trespassers on its turf. It expels an intoxicating sleep powder from an organ on its neck, knocking out prey before it can resist.” 

-In game description

It’s name seems a fusion of the words Somnus (Sleep in Latin) and Acanth (Meaning Thorns or Spine in Greek) and is probably inspired by the Ningyo, an half fish half human Yokai that can be found in the Japanese Mythology, very similar to the Mermaids we know. It could also be inspired by the Akugyo, a demonic fish known to destroy the boats of fishermen, eating them after they’re drowned

Ningyo

Akugyo

 It has an elongated serpentine-like body structure, similar to a Lagiacrus or a Mizutsune. It has a purple, crested veil that covers it’s back (probably for protection by the sunlight or from other monster’s attacks). It’s tail while out of the water can be used by the Somnacanth to lift it’s body from the ground, aiding it while fighting/hunting.

It’s mouth similar to fishes and bioluminescent body parts makes me think about the possibility that this creature hunt small fishes like an anglerfish, obscuring the natural light with it’s veil, attracting the leviathan’s prey.

It’s claws can be used to dig through the sand in order to grab crustacean and shelled mollusks.

Somnacanth break through the shells of it’s prey using it’s hard belly, just like our real life otters do with the aid of stones. Also, just like otters, it has been seen swimming on it’s back.

Like said before, Somnacanth possess in they’re throats a sac containing a sleeping powder (it is unknown if it can be used underwater). The leviathan use said powder to stun enemy before attacking fiercely. It is in fact a very territorial beast and will not hesitate to attack monsters and wyverians that enter it’s domain.

In the trailer it’s voice can be heard for a brief moment, a chirping, high pitched sound. It wouldn’t be odd if the Somnacanth use it to make other monsters know of it’s presence or for mating rituals.

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I've been previously treating Jinafire's hair with Mr Sheen floor polish (a decent UK fix for glue head), and due to my custom budget being smaller than it previously has been, I opted to keep it as I wanted to use red in her new colour palette. This is inspired by the reference image I found (thank you Matthew Meyer of yokai.com) as well as the Akugyo's fire breathing abilities.

Presenting Umika the Akugyo! Deep sea diva and a fiery fire-breathing serpent.

Thoughts on her process under the cut:

I don't usually tend to use acrylics on fabrics, I prefer to use fabric paint in case a component needs to be cleaned, but as I wanted her fins to be a bit more stiff I opted for simple paint.

As she came without forearms I had to create my own. From my initial desire to create an Akugyo I wanted to give her fin-like hands, almost like billowing fabric. Though the transition from hands to fin isn't quite as smooth as I would have liked, I'm still very pleased with the effect it gives. The hands themselves have wire extending from the forearm that are secured onto the fins, allowing it more posing ability.