Tentacle Bento: Okuni

The incomparable Raf drew up the line-art for this curvaceous beauty. It was an absolute pleasure to color it for her (I think I might gone a little overboard)! The concept behind this one was a modern incarnation of Okuni of Izumo and what better way to inject some cheer into Tentacle Bento: Double Major!

I drew the girls in the background; they are a trio of cheerleaders from Raf's upcoming project.

The historical Okuni was a shrine maiden who lived in the late 1500’s. She became famous for her acting and dancing ability, particularly for her sexually charged renditions of well known religious and folk dances which she regularly performed near the riverbeds of Kyoto. She later began recruiting and training homeless women (many of whom were orphans or prostitutes) to sing, act, and dance as a way to help them off the streets. She eventually formed a troupe that would become famous for inventing the style of performance known around the world as "Kabuki".

Tentacle Bento: Saeko

I asked my friend (the incredibly talented) Chu if he would like to do some guest art for Tentacle Bento: Double Major. He sketched up this awesome line-art and I had the pleasure of coloring it so it could be included in the game. Her uniform is definitely not up to code, but I'm sure nobody here minds.

Tentacle Bento: Kitsu and Kicho

These troublesome twins made for a challenging, but enjoyable illustration.
See them in the card list for Tentacle Bento: Double Major.

Kitsu and Kicho are based on a pair of famous ladies from Japanese history.

Kicho (better known by her formal title, 'Lady No') was the wife of Emperor Nobunaga. She was well known not only for her beauty, but also for her sharp intellect and skill in the martial arts. Nobunaga credits her advice for many of his early victories, but it is also a popular rumor that she was secretly spying for her maiden family, some even believe she was involved in a plot to assassinate Nobunaga, but no such attempt on his life was ever actually made. There is a popular story about Kicho playing "double agent" and feeding false information to her father about a ficticious plot to murder him by two of his vassals. Kicho's father believed the misinformation and had two of his most loyal vassals killed for treason.

Kitsuno was the concubine of Emperor Oda Nobunaga. She had been widowed after the battle of Akechi and supposedly the Emperor was so struck by her beauty and dedication to her departed husband that he fell in love with her the moment he saw her (talk about catching a girl on the rebound). None the less, Kitsuno would later give birth to many of Nobunaga's most famous children, including his heir.

Skullgirls Drawing Results and Thank You!

As many of you likely already know, as of last week Skullgirls helped raise more than $78,000 for breast cancer research! While we were unable to dethrone the juggernaut of Super Smash Brothers Melee, all together the fighting game community raised in excess of $220,000 for the BCRF.

In fact, EVO was so impressed by the outpouring of support and generosity of the Skullgirls community that they have decided to chip in and make Skullgirls the unofficial 9th game on the roster! Expect to see a dedicated setup for Skullgirls, a special exhibition live stream from the tournament floor, and EVO will even be chipping in extra money for prize pool!

Everyone really came through and I'm really proud of the support and good spirited competition that everyone showed all last week!

So without further ado, I would like to announce the winners of the K.O. Cancer raffle! In no particular order:

• B. Warren
• C. Butler
• A. Martinez
• C. Lindle
• P. Pena
• R. Fujiwara
• D. Wheeler
• L. Amparo
• S. Lee
• A. Ford

If your first initial and last name are on this list, CONGRATULATIONS! You should be receiving your limited edition signed print as soon as I can dig myself out of this snowstorm and mail them out to you (which will probably be next Monday by the looks of things).
If you did not see your name on the list, worry not, while you didn't win the uber-awesome grand prize I will be sending you a consolation prize consisting of a smaller, unlimited, unsigned print to express my deepest thanks and sincerest gratitude for making Skullgirls at EVO a reality.