Silas Zee: Katsuragi Misato

Katsuragi Misato

2009.09.23

Misato is one of my favorite Anime characters, and even though this is the first piece of art I've ever drawn of her I'm tempted to leave it as the only one because I still love this so much. When she "dies" in the original series just slumping over after Shinji runs off pissed me off to no end. I always thought she'd be the kind of gal that would want to go out in a blaze of glory, and this is dedicated to that.

This piece actually has a funny history. Originally, I had no intention of making it Misato at all. One day I had the idea of drawing a random gun-toting lady in a Die Hard situation. Pinned-down, gun in hand, bleeding but definitely not out... and waiting for the right moment to give the bad guys their due. I sketched out a pose similar to this one, but it just wasn't working. Try as I might, I couldn't get the expression or sense of urgency down. There was no story or reason behind the pic other than the vague plot I had in my head. I remember getting up out of the chair to walk around and mull it over when I saw the Misato wallscroll hanging up in my bedroom and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I sat back down and furiously scribbled out the lineart for the piece you see now.

I have to say that I think everything came out as perfect as I could make it in this piece. There is quite a lot of blood, more than I'm used to as a matter of fact. I was concerned with how much to show. I didn't want this to be a "violent" piece, but more of a last stand. Misato is the kind of person who wouldn't go down without a fight and I really wanted to show that she's still ready to roll even though she's been through hell. To off-set the blood, I made sure that there was plenty of red to make the color more like a motif. I kept her trademark jacket close to her body, and her bandage is supposed to be as if she's used part of her outfit as a field dressing. I also threw in the NERV logo to even out the blood on the wall.