The sixth ranger to the Pocky-tan, meet Azuki-tan!

Self Critique: I’m not sure I shaded in the wrist right on the raised hand.

2020 sucked. So let’s end things on a high-note. This is Azuki-tan, the 6^th Pocky-tan. Obviously this was supposed to be for Pocky Day, which was on November 11^th. However, like everything this year, it was incredibly slow to do. The idea of adding a sixth Pocky-tan was conceived after a conversation I had with a co-worker of my at my old part-time job last year. I had a collage frame with six openings, but only five Pocky-tan. I was thinking of just filling one of them with my logo and social media info. Then the sixth Pocky-tan idea came up. We bounced ideas around, namely about basing a Pocky-tan on off of one of the Japan-exclusive flavors since the original five were based on flavors officially available in the U.S. That landed me on the Azuki Pocky, a sweet red bean paste flavor. There’s actually two varieties of Azuki Pocky packaging. I leaned more on the one with the pink and purple ropes on it. It was surprisingly difficult to find hi-res pack shots of the box, then I found out that it was part of a long line of limited-time flavors that Glico makes.

When it came to the design of the kimono, I was admittedly stumped for a bit. Then I remembered the style of kimono that included a fur collar. So I settled on that. The tied ropes that you’d see on the crunchy Azuki Pocky box would be incorporated into the obi and headdress. The pattern of the kimono was very close to being nothing but red beans. That’s until I looked it if there’s a plant associated with it. And to my surprise (why?), there was! Even a flower as well. So that became her kimono pattern. The handbag as added after seeing many of the women in the reference photos I had holding one.

With that said, unless otherwise stated, this may very well be my final pic for 2020. I’ll be spending the rest of the year updating and improving the main gallery, and getting the merch shop up and running. Do check out the Roadmap article on what’s planned for the main gallery.

Good luck to everyone. Looking forward to 2021.

Done on Clip Studio Paint Pro. Cintiq tablet used. Body-chan model traced for construction lines, then drawn freehand the rest of the way.

Azuki Pocky is © Glico. Design of Azuki-tan © DeadPhoenX.