His Majesty's Digimon

Posted Jan 8, 2011, 2:32:46 AM UTC

Drawn for Yuletart on LJ for LittleWolfstar. A fusion between Digimon and Temeraire.



Taken from 'Travels in the Country of Japan', a collection of paintings:



Like China, Japan allows for dragons to choose their handlers and professions, though young dragons are paired with children and they are often raised together. My hosts in the city of Edo were the Yagami family, who were honored to have both their children chosen by draconic 'partners'. Their daughter and her dragon, breed Shin-riu (which translates to 'divine dragon' when written in English) agreed to stand for a portrait.


Decided on a fusion between Digimon and Temeraire, which meant taking the most dragon-looking of the Digimon, Tailmon's Mega/Ultimate/final form, Holdramon/Mugendramon and Hikari. And probably messing up the size ratio, since she only appears in a single movie. Of course, then that meant thinking about what Japan was like in the Temeraire universe where, like China, it might not be just coming out of an extended isolation from the West.

I wanted to do a military uniform, but Wikipedia failed me for early 1800s, as that was several relatively peaceful decades before the Imperial Japanese armed forces formed. So, something that seems to match (male) samurai garb -- like the Roland women, Hikari will just have to rock the male fashions.I probably messed up the color usage, but I wanted to go for green as a contrast to Holydramon's pink and as an allusion to the British Aerial Corps.

I also wanted to slip some allusion to Tailmon herself, hence the blue-and-white maneki neko statute in the corner. I think that's my favorite part of the painting and now I kind of want a Tailmon beckoning cat of my own.

Looking back, I should have used a more limited palette -- it's a bit bright.

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