I really enjoy folklore and legends. They have always been one of my favorite bedtime stories growing up, and I’m always on the hunt in thrift shops to find books of tales I have yet to read.

Then when Pokemon came out, with it’s elemental creatures, I fell headfirst into this fandom. Heck, my first blog post was creating corkboards inspired by Pokeballs.  And one of my favorites from the first gen was Ninetails. I loved trying to learn how to draw Pokemon in general, but would always come back to trying to draw it specifically.

As the years past, I soon came to learn that this Pokemon was inspired by the myths of East Asia countries, and though it had many names, the one that stood out most for me was the name Kitsune. It was the perfect combination of two of my passions.

As I searched to learn more, I even found a book called “The Classic of Mountains and Seas,” that tells tales about it, as well as other mythical figures from that area. It comes then to no surprise that this mythical creature has shown up in a lot of modern fiction and most notable anime (i.e. Pokemon, Naruto, etc., etc.).

And with me fully diving into my other passion for art, I thought it would be fun and sorta challenging to try to create a patterned design inspired by Kitsunes and their lore.

The coloring was inspired by the Japanese red fox, and the patterning by what was seen on clothing in the region. So that the culture is within the kitsune itself. I also wanted to highlight the tails in this piece since they are a sign of their wisdom and age. No matter what I tired it still ended up having a bit of my culture woven in it as well, cause it’s hard to take that out of my style, but I really love how it all blended together.

If you would like to own a version of it for yourself, or help support me on my journey of improving my art and crafts skills, please head over to my shop to see this design on a variety of merch!