u/Fun_General_739

Acrylic in sketchbook (approx. 90 minute sketch) and a digital illustration. A spectral character in a novel I wrote last year called "Ghostmark". Starting in on some illustrations for it.

Pushing the caricature a bit more and breaking anatomy to attain more horror vibes for tonight's sketchbook painting. Inde Navarrette's performance was awesome in the film! 2026 has been a great year for horror.

"FLY MY PET!!! FLY!!!!"

"Let me ask you, Dee. Are you good at playing... characters?"

My stepdaughter requested this painting before leaving for college so I had to deliver!

I wanted to dive into the protagonist of Ghostmark by creating a scene illustration and offering some insight into the novel's tragic hero.

Renjiro Karasuma, aka Ren.

Lethal, sardonic, and selectively warm to those who know him best. His past is riddled with hardship, with parental figures absent through most of his childhood and the supposed abduction of his sister, Sora, when he was thirteen. What he values most are the memories he still carries and the innocence he finds in the people around him, his community and the few he allows into his inner circle.

A man of wit, loyalty, and quiet burdens. A life shaped by loss, and a predestined calculus for vengeance. That is Ren.

Synopsis: Humanity crossed a boundary it was never meant to cross, and the consequences rippled back through history. In this alternate timeline, extinct species return from the dead, historical records contradict themselves, and impossible artifacts appear from ages that have yet to happen.

The paintings above are “Ghostmarked,” familiar to specific periods in Japanese art, yet supernatural in nature, as they resonate with future moments and events that have not yet occurred. Alongside the paintings appears a Futuraic language inscribed upon the scrolls: a written system whose symbols may be capable of influencing the physical world. (I am still developing this. Only one of the paintings has the language inscribed so far)

I started world-building in 2024, finished the novel this past January and am now 5 months into the chapter illustrations for the novel, to which there will be 23 total. I've studied Japanese art for decades and am finally able to see my project through to fruition here in the next few months. The range of Japanese art I've targeted for inspiration for Ghostmark is the Kamakura through Edo periods (11th-19th century). The Kamakura period is significant as it was when Zen Buddhism was formally established in Japan (albeit the religion technically arrived in the 8th).

No AI assisted for the art. Grammarly assisted for text editing. Just thought I would share. Hope you all enjoy the art!

Note: The images above depict "Ghostmarked” paintings from my worldbuilding project

Ghostmarked.com

-Eric