#coma-art

Chidori チドリ

Amber Colored City, the Morning of Shanghai Crab

Amber Colored City, the Morning of Shanghai Crab is my favorite song of all-time.

What cemented that title perhaps lies in the unique Japanese sensibilities, specifically the use of “Shanghai Crab” as a literary device to convey affection and love. This is contrasted against melodic cadence and arrangement that reminds you of a metropolitan city rich in cultural idiosyncrasies distinct from Japan — but also out of time.

Amber Colored City means a lot to me on a personal level, and it grew a new layer — after I played LaD.

Ichiban strikes me as a happy-go-lucky person that strives to be strong for the people around him — whether they are deserving or not. But that also means he necessarily neglects or shoves his own feelings under the rug. It is a very tiring thing to do day after day and would eventually wear anyone down, even if that person is Ichiban. In my head canon (haha), I just want someone like Zhao to provide a space — both physically and figuratively — where Ichiban is comfortable enough to let go of the aforesaid burden and be true to himself.

桐生ちゃんのお宝自慢 | Showing Off

——

I wanted to draw something ✨serious✨ but look at what I ended up with 💀 if this reminds you of that one particular scene in Lion King — yes, it absolutely is.

Happy Valentine’s Day…I guess???

バレンタイン要素ゼロのバレンタインイラストです。なぜこんなものを描いたかは自分でもわかりません。

恥ずかしかったら消します💀

「あーん♡ 」 Say “Ahh”

Well damn, Itchy Bum really has nice buns 🍞🍞

I drew this partially to satisfy my inner 足春 / 足イチ fan girl, partially to practice forced perspective. Initially, I wanted to draw Adachi as well but stylizing Ichiban took so long so…nevertheless this turned out to be very decent overall 🥹🫶🏻

Tools: Procreate, Clip Studio Paint

[pose reference from the net]

若干足春風味の一番単体イラスト。ホントにイチ沼に沈んで出られなくなっちゃった(〃ﾉдﾉ)

（今度こそ！！足立さんも描くよ！！絶対に！！）

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

I know I am a day late but…I am so excited to play infinite wealth!!! 😭😭✨✨

I really wanted to draw something that captures my excitement for the game so this is it!! For Ichi, I definitely experimented with another approach for his hair and eyes — and I think it’s good so I will stick with it. As for Kiryu…he looks good with his new hair but it’s hard to make bowl cut look good in drawing…or maybe it’s just my incompetence…💀

“Waka, look HERE.”

Sacrificed my sleep to finish up my first Masato x Ichi (or wakaichi) fanart 🥹🫶🏻

Loosely based on the Medusa meme (?) that has been floating around for a while.

I wanted to do up an English version but I am too lazy…or rather I really need to get up for work in 2 hours so…

Basically Ichi asks Waka to look at his face but…his eyes were fixated ✨elsewhere✨

記憶の片隅に / In the corner of memories

For my dear friend J. J reached out to request a Winnix fan art, with the description “please draw something that will warm my heart” (she probably can’t stand my overly sentimental proclivities...oops). She also sent me a snapshot from points, which is incidentally one of my favorite scenes from Band of Brothers.

When I was drawing this, I was thinking of Satomoka’s Lukewarm (and of course playing it). It’s such a tooth-rotting love song that really encapsulates the ambience that I was trying to portray. Here’s an excerpt of the lyrics:

Since the moment that our eyes met

I have been seeing a dream that I can’t see even when I am asleep

There are times that I won’t be able to see, when there’s only your voice

During such times, when I look into the camera

To try to look for the meaning to live

It feels as if I am being wrapped in a dress made of the same dream that you’ve given me

“If you fall in love, you will become human”

What my mother said was true after all

These sweet memories are like a warm, luscious bath

I won’t be able to leave, I won’t be able to go back

Hope you will like this drawing as much as I do 🙆🏻‍♀️

Created using:

Clip studio paint

Water colour

PS: played with the colors and lighting a bit and here’s the result:

Even though the world is ending, the mundane can still be enjoyed with you.

This piece is inspired by my favourite song ever, Quruli’s 「琥珀色の街、上海蟹の朝」

It is actually my second time drawing something inspired by this song. I don’t know man but there is something about it that keeps pulling me back.

The whole song feels liminal. It is hip-hop, kind of, but not in a straightforward, conventional way. There are the synths, the snare, the keyboard arrangement, those vaguely Chinese spoken bits at the beginning, the Chinese-inspired motifs. Somehow it almagamates together into this strange nostalgic glow.

Not nostalgia for something I actually remember. More like… borrowed nostalgia. Prosthetic nostalgia. A 90s memory I never had. A city pop fantasy that is not really based on the silhouette of an actual concrete jungle, but on a dream of one. Something reality-shaped, but not quite real.

It feels like a city at the edge of something. Maybe the end of the world. Maybe the morning after. Maybe that tiny in-between moment before everything tips one way or the other.

And then there’s the crab.

I used to wonder why Shanghai crab. Why that image? Why that specific food for the song? Am I making this into a blue curtain moment for myself?

Then one day I saw a YouTube comment in Japanese that said something like:

They say that crab makes people go quiet, but I think true happiness is having someone you want to eat it with, someone you’re comfortable being silent with. Just as the great literary figure Sōseki Natsume supposedly translated ‘I love you’ as ‘The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?’, maybe Quruli translated it as ‘I want to eat Shanghai crab with you.’ What beautiful lyrics.

And that hit me so hard because eating crab is messy. It’s awkward. It’s not elegant at all. You cannot really perform grace when you are desperately cracking shells and getting your hands dirty and trying to extract tiny bits of meat like your life depends on it.

It’s funny. It is kind of ugly. It is very real. 

To eat crab with someone, you have to be comfortable enough to drop the act a little. You have to let yourself be seen in a way that is not polished or romantic in the usual sense. No dramatic confession. No perfect lighting. Just two people sitting across from each other, making a mess, going quiet, and still feeling close. Maybe that is why it feels so intimate, almost obscene.

For the setting, I wanted a kopitiam / hawker centre (Singaporeans and Malaysians will be very familiar with) because I love how alive these places feel. The colours are loud. The tables are orange. The drinks are too sweet and condensation too much due to the sweltering heat. There is perpetual steam, grease, noise, clashing signage, plastic cups, random aunties and uncles, and five different smells happening at once. 

I also like the idea of placing this almost end-of-the-world tenderness somewhere so ordinary. Somewhere familiar. Somewhere you could actually sit down, order food, wipe your hands with tissue, and continue existing for a while.

A little apocalypse.

A little romance.

A very big crab.

Btw I have not drawn original artwork / OCs in such a long time, but these two have been living in my head pretty clearly. I actually have a whole setup for them already, so maybe I will draw more in the coming days if work permits

For now, they’re just here.