Year of the Rabbit

[Matt Thorn]

New Year's cards are an important tradition here in Japan. Last year I sent out "Fos Smilodon" cards to commemorate the year of the tiger. Turns out the year of the tiger was a pretty crappy one for me. This year I thought "rabbit + lightsaber" and immediately thought of my favorite Leporidae warrior, "Usagi Yojimbo." I spent all day today working on this card...and I got the permission of the artist, Stan Sakai, to use the image! Thank you, Stan! I'm so tickled with the result that I thought I'd give a sneak preview here, even though it's still December 28 in Japan. The Japanese is a traditional formal new years' greeting. The Aurek-Besh you can figure out on your own.


May your year of the rabbit kick the derriere of your year of the tiger!

[Knighthammer]

Awesome!

[Skottsaber]

How coincidental.
Here is an image I made a while ago.



Happy year of the rabbit and good luck on F5-Fu

[cannibal869]

What the @#*(&!*(~???
Hey man, I was born in the year of the tiger! Ain't no little rabbit gonna kick my butt!!

LOL... j/k
nice card!

-C

[Azmaria Dei]

^_^ i'm certainly looking forward to a new year. i do need to find my nearest shrine, though. i can't seem to find one that close to base for some reason...

and thanks for the awesome pic/preview! ^_^

[RattleHornet]

Order of Year(Oriental Zodiac)
Mouse, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Hose, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Wild Boar.

I was born in year of Chicken.

マットさん、絵もお上手なんですね。マットさんの干支は何ですか？

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks, all. Stan liked it, too, and asked me to send him one.

^_^ i'm certainly looking forward to a new year. i do need to find my nearest shrine, though. i can't seem to find one that close to base for some reason...

You can't throw a stone in Japan without hitting some sort of shrine or temple. Sometimes they're hidden in the oddest places. What base are you stationed at (if I may ask)?

Order of Year(Oriental Zodiac)
Mouse, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Hose, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Wild Boar.

I was born in year of Chicken.

マットさん、絵もお上手なんですね。マットさんの干支は何ですか？

Thanks, RattleHornet. But it's not my drawing. The character is Usagi Yojimbo (兎用心棒) by Japanese-American artist Stan Sakai (スタン坂井). Here's the original, which I scanned from a book of Stan's sketches:

I just colored it, erased the katana, and added the lightsabers. (^_^)
I was born in the year of the snake. 巳年ですよ〜。カノジョにはよく「マット絶対前世ウサギだった」と言われますが。(^o^)