French: Voici un nouveau personnage, Akamu, qui est un prénom Laotien. Akamu est né d'une mère Laotienne et d'un père Anglais ayant vécu en France pendant de longues années. Ses parents se sont rencontrés lors d'un voyage. Le père était partit pour le Laos et c'est la bas qu'il a fait la rencontre d'une très belle femme, qui est maintenant la mère d'Akamu.
Akamu Lao Chau Cai vit depuis sa plus tendre enfance dans un monastère des montagnes du Laos. Ses parents, après sa naissance, se sont installés dans ce cloître régit par des moines bouddhistes. Ces bonzes ont accueillit la petite famille et leur ont permis de rester vivre ici, dans ces magnifiques montagnes au milieu de ce superbe paysage, ce en échange de petits services tels qu'aller chercher des provisions pour le mois en allant faire les courses dans le village le plus proche, ou encore aider au ménage du monastère.
Akamu apprit à vivre avec les bonzes et assimila rapidement leur coutumes et traditions. Cependant, une chose particulière le différenciait de tous les autres moines. Tout d'abord, il était le plus jeune, mais le plus frappant était que jamais il ne coupait ses cheveux. Ils étaient entretenus à merveille et il ne voulut jamais que l'on lui coupe.
Akamu ne va pas tarder à fêter ses 26 ans, et ses cheveux sont devenus tellement longs qu'il s'est épris d'un art tout particulier, le corsetage. Sauf que dans son cas, ne portant pas de corset, car inexistant là ou il vit, il noue ses cheveux tressés autour de sa taille. Il commença à l'âge de 9 ans avec des bout de tissu, et se rendant vite compte que sa peau était assez élastique, il décida de ne jamais se couper les cheveux pour un jour pouvoir les utiliser comme ceinture. Il décida également de perfectionner cette technique tout au long de son adolescence. Sa taille devint ainsi de plus en plus souple et fine et il parvint à réaliser de magnifiques prouesses, ce qui impressionna beaucoup les bonzes qui lui donnèrent l'autorisation de laisser ses cheveux pousser. Certains moines s'étaient même épris du beau jeune homme mais ne l'avouèrent jamais. Akamu était dans ce monastère une sorte d'idole que les bonzes adoraient.
Le design du personnage et des vêtements est de moi, ~Kombanwa. Je n'ai ni pris de modèles ni reproduit quoi que ce soit de déjà existant. L'histoire est également de moi. L'idée de faire une tresse autour de la taille vient de ~yuni.
English: Here's a new character, Akamu, which is a Laotian name. Akamu was born of a Laotian mother and an English father who lived in France for many years. His parents met while traveling. The father went to Laos and it was there he met a beautiful woman, who is now the mother of Akamu.
Akamu Lao Chau Cai lived since his childhood in a monastery in the mountains of Laos. His parents, after his birth, settled in this cloister ruled by Buddhist monks. These bonzes have greeted the small family and allowed them to stay and live here in these beautiful mountains in the middle of this beautiful landscape, in return for small services such as going in the nearest village to buy provisions for the month, or even helping in the household of the monastery.
Akamu learned to live with the bonzes and quickly assimilated their habits and traditions. However, one particular thing differed from all the other monks. First, he was the youngest, but most striking was that he never cut his hair. It was well kept and he would never cut it.
Akamu will soon celebrate his 26 years, and his hair became so long that he fell in love with a particular art, waist cinching. Except that in his case, he could not wear corsets because there are none where he lives, so he ties his hair braided around his waist. He began at the age of 9 with piece of cloth, and he quickly realized that his skin was quite elastic enough, so he decided to never cut his hair. Like that, one day it can be used as a belt. He also decided to develop this technique throughout his adolescence. His waist became increasingly flexible and thin and he managed to make stunning prowess, which greatly impressed the monks who gave him permission to let his hair grow. Some of the bonzes were very enamored of the handsome young man but never wanted to confess. Akamu was in this monastery a kind of idol that the monks worshiped.
Design of the character and clothing belongs to ~Kombanwa. As the story. The idea of a braid around the waist comes from ~yuni.
So yes, this is a kind of little gift for you Yuni, because I liked a lot your little input on my previous artwork and I wanted to draw a character that would be able to do that. Thanks to you and I hope you will like both the text and the character.
I really love the clothes on this one not only detailed but creative and with good colours. I also like how easy and pleased his expression is ) Great work and I must say I really like your pencil works )
Thank you very much ! I am glad you like the clothes design ! :') I worked hard on it to find something that would not be too banal. Oh and I'm way more happy to know you like my pencil works ! :3 Thank you !
Oh my oh my you were so quick with it!! The scary part is, this looks EXACTLY like the picture I had in mind when I typed my previous comment Also the rest of him beside the braid is such a beautiful and harmonic character design, everythin really suits him so much! ^-^ I love his story and his name too! It's always specially wonderful to read about how the characters started to practice this kind of art and all kinds of medical details are also always very interesting to read, haha!
I love how he started with a piece of cloth, I was thinking along the same line for my village Hudja where the majority of children practice waist cinching (in the past because of poor harvest waist cinching helped people to feel less hungry, now they practice it just because it's become an old custom and it's considered beautiful in their village), they mostly wouldn't wear any hard belts that could leave bruises but would use something soft, even a silk ribbon tightly wrapped around the waist in multiple layers. So it's nice we thought along the same lines here :3
Also at first his stance made me think of Shaolin for some reason, but reading that he's with Buddhist monks now I'm not surprised haha. Now the pose reminds me a bit of the sleeping Buddha except he's standing, lol. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, my head is full of random rubbish X3 It's great you translated such a long text into english, I really loved reading it and I'm sure google's translator wouldn't make it justice X3 Back to the character, he's so wonderful really! Sometime when he's very very old he wouldn't even need clothes, he could just make a sweater out of his own braid :>
He he, yes ! I really wanted to draw him ! I had the design in mind at the very moment I read your previous comment. So I needed to draw him quickly.
I am so glad you like him that way ! This really makes me very happy because this character is precious to me ! Thank you so much for your very kind words Yuni !
And thanks a lot for reading the story and appreciating it. I really enjoyed a lot writing it ! And I'll probably write other things about him, if I have enough time.
"Now the pose reminds me a bit of the sleeping Buddha except he's standing, lol. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, my head is full of random rubbish X3" Ha ha ! x) No problem at all, this made me smile. ^-^ And now you mention it, he also makes me think of the sleeping Buddha. Ha ha !
Akamu already doesn't really need clothes in fact. His hair is long enough to dress himself with it. ^.^ I'll maybe draw something like this soon.
And again, I really want to thank you a lot for your very kind works about my text and drawing. It made my day even much brighter than it already was. <3
I think you did an awesome job! I really love this drawing every time I see it! He's such a great character and it's one of the most beautiful ways to waist-cinch.
As for a possible picture showing him "dressed" in his own hair, I just had in mind a picture of him standing about thigh-deep in water to wash himself and his hair would be straight and falling down into water while he's brushing it or something. So e.g. the left half of his body would be covered ("censored") with hair and the right half would be naked or something like that, showing his beautiful skin ^^ So it could be a way to show how much his long hair can cover him without turning him into a haystack, lol.
Anyways I really love how you draw waist-cinching and contortion, you're a rare artist who can draw them without making them look like it would hurt, quite the contrary the more extreme the more pleasant and exciting it looks! Maybe because more extreme tricks make the character's body look much softer and that's what makes it so appealing ^^
Your idea seems really good and I'm sure it could make a very beautiful drawing ! In your style it would look even better. I am imagining it and... well, it simply looks wonderful. Personally, I won't be able to draw something like this at the moment, as I explained in another comment. But I really like the idea a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. :'3
I really want to thank you a lot for your last paragraph because reading it really made me very glad. <3 I'll continue to draw contortion and waist cinching. I love it way too much to stop ! And your very kind words always make me want to improve and draw more.
Thank you very much Odie ! I'm really glad you like it ! The idea is not mine though, comes from ~yuni, whom I thank a lot cause I loved this idea at the point of making a drawing of it.
Great work and I must say I really like your pencil works )
Oh and I'm way more happy to know you like my pencil works ! :3 Thank you !
Il n'est pas anorexique, il fait du corsetage. ^-^
I love how he started with a piece of cloth, I was thinking along the same line for my village Hudja where the majority of children practice waist cinching (in the past because of poor harvest waist cinching helped people to feel less hungry, now they practice it just because it's become an old custom and it's considered beautiful in their village), they mostly wouldn't wear any hard belts that could leave bruises but would use something soft, even a silk ribbon tightly wrapped around the waist in multiple layers. So it's nice we thought along the same lines here :3
Also at first his stance made me think of Shaolin for some reason, but reading that he's with Buddhist monks now I'm not surprised haha. Now the pose reminds me a bit of the sleeping Buddha except he's standing, lol. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, my head is full of random rubbish X3 It's great you translated such a long text into english, I really loved reading it and I'm sure google's translator wouldn't make it justice X3 Back to the character, he's so wonderful really! Sometime when he's very very old he wouldn't even need clothes, he could just make a sweater out of his own braid :>
I am so glad you like him that way ! This really makes me very happy because this character is precious to me ! Thank you so much for your very kind words Yuni !
And thanks a lot for reading the story and appreciating it. I really enjoyed a lot writing it ! And I'll probably write other things about him, if I have enough time.
"Now the pose reminds me a bit of the sleeping Buddha except he's standing, lol. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, my head is full of random rubbish X3" Ha ha ! x) No problem at all, this made me smile. ^-^ And now you mention it, he also makes me think of the sleeping Buddha. Ha ha !
Akamu already doesn't really need clothes in fact. His hair is long enough to dress himself with it. ^.^ I'll maybe draw something like this soon.
And again, I really want to thank you a lot for your very kind works about my text and drawing. It made my day even much brighter than it already was. <3
As for a possible picture showing him "dressed" in his own hair, I just had in mind a picture of him standing about thigh-deep in water to wash himself and his hair would be straight and falling down into water while he's brushing it or something. So e.g. the left half of his body would be covered ("censored") with hair and the right half would be naked or something like that, showing his beautiful skin ^^ So it could be a way to show how much his long hair can cover him without turning him into a haystack, lol.
Anyways I really love how you draw waist-cinching and contortion, you're a rare artist who can draw them without making them look like it would hurt, quite the contrary the more extreme the more pleasant and exciting it looks! Maybe because more extreme tricks make the character's body look much softer and that's what makes it so appealing ^^
Your idea seems really good and I'm sure it could make a very beautiful drawing ! In your style it would look even better. I am imagining it and... well, it simply looks wonderful. Personally, I won't be able to draw something like this at the moment, as I explained in another comment. But I really like the idea a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. :'3
I really want to thank you a lot for your last paragraph because reading it really made me very glad. <3 I'll continue to draw contortion and waist cinching. I love it way too much to stop ! And your very kind words always make me want to improve and draw more.