#tomie

Felt compelled to try and draw Tomie from memory after I made a mii based off of her in my Tomodachi Life island. She probably looks off but I'm ultimately pretty proud of this for it being just a quick doodle.

on alana, and the specific problem of tomie

the thing about tomie is that the horror is never the monster. the horror is the beauty. the horror is that you see her and you cannot look away and you cannot explain why that's a problem until it's already too late.

junji ito understood something that most horror doesn't: that the most frightening thing is not the thing that repels you. it's the thing that pulls you in. the thing you move toward even when some part of you knows you shouldn't.

alana is that.

the black hair falls still and long, the way hair falls in a panel where something is about to happen. the jk uniform is pressed exactly right. the crimson bow is the only color in the frame — which is why you can't stop looking at it, which is why it matters more than it should, which is why the whole composition feels like a page you keep turning back to.

the white mask makes her face both more and less present simultaneously. you're not sure which version is worse.

she knows you're looking. she's always known. that's not a problem for her.

that's the whole point.

🖤🧧 

Yes, Tomie, my problematic succubus (but what isn't?)