In July 2024 I decided to visit Paris, right before the start of the Olympics, in order to visit a Comics exhibit at the Centre Pompidou.
After securing flights, a place to stay, and a ticket for the exhibit, I contacted a couple of models I knew through Instagram and asked if they would be interested in a body calligraphy session.
Here you can admire Somali, une petite japonaise en France.
I had been a follower of her IG profile for a few months already, but I never actually drew her, so this was a bit of a serendipitous thing on my part.
After securing flights, a place to stay, and a ticket for the exhibit, I contacted a couple of models I knew through Instagram and asked if they would be interested in a body calligraphy session.
Here you can admire Somali, une petite japonaise en France.
I had been a follower of her IG profile for a few months already, but I never actually drew her, so this was a bit of a serendipitous thing on my part.
Luckily for me, she was more than ok with this, and we started the usual planning phase.
What I mean is that not only I discuss what to write, but also where: most models sport some tattoos so I also need to create a sort of map of their bodies to try to harmonize their ink with mine.
What I mean is that not only I discuss what to write, but also where: most models sport some tattoos so I also need to create a sort of map of their bodies to try to harmonize their ink with mine.
Being Japanese, Somali already had a nice idea for the "long form" part: she asked me to write:
花の色は
うつりにけりな
いたづらに
わが身世にふる
ながめせしまに
Meaning
I have been loved in vain
and now my beauty fades
like these cherry blossoms
paling in the long rains of spring,
I gaze upon it alone
花の色は
うつりにけりな
いたづらに
わが身世にふる
ながめせしまに
Meaning
I have been loved in vain
and now my beauty fades
like these cherry blossoms
paling in the long rains of spring,
I gaze upon it alone
(as usual, and especially for poetry, I asked my teacher to kindly provide me with an example to copy from)
Noticing the reference to "Cherry Blossom" in the text, I suggested we could go for 桜, i.e. "Sakura" (cherry blossom).
This created a little complication, though, because this specific character exists only in Japanese (i.e. you cannot find any version of it in original Chinese texts).
This created a little complication, though, because this specific character exists only in Japanese (i.e. you cannot find any version of it in original Chinese texts).
桜 - さくらsakura (Cherry blossom)
Strokes:10 -Radical: 木 tree
This time we agreed to do the "big character" on the front, while using the back for the longer text.
I actually tried to record a full video of me writing, so I set up my camera with a tripod and everything… unfortunately I am not really much of a photographer, let alone a videomaker… so I ended up with a few minutes of my back and little else.
On the other hand, the apartment had a nice window providing good natural light, so I am quite proud of the photos, so I suppose we can just move to the gallery session, where I show a selection of the pictures I took after finishing the Calligraphy part.
