Hope comes from the stars v2

Hope will come from the stars - With "mask" version.

**Reload page if you want the full-sized version** (dunno why xD)

Damn DA scaled it down too much

Again, I first drew it on paper with 2B pencil, then colored with Corel Painter 8 and Adope Photoshop 5.02, and Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS4, and using tablet.

CAUTION: Looks a lot better in non-flat monitor colors, God knows why xD...Deviantart scaled down the pic a lot, which led to resolution and big face detail loss......in the original pic the Saints are BIG....so if you want the bigger pic in which the Saints look big, let me know i will send you the URL to get it. Too bad had to add an ugly watermark xD


So, here's the promised alternate version of my pic, featuring Kurumada Masami's 12 Gold Saints, this time, wearing the "mask" headpiece of their Gold Cloths.

Althought it was a simpler task adding the "mask" headpiece, it took a little longer than usual with this kind of work.

Each and every Saint got me in devising a way to make the "mask" look in place. Some work in the hair was also needed to give the "masks" a 3d, overlapping, super-imposing effect.

Again i used mostly Kurumada's design from his manga.

Aries Muu : rarely wore the "mask" both in manga and anime, but here is it in all its glory xD

Taurus Aldebaran: He was the other way around, he wears the "mask" almost all the time, both in manga and anime.

Saga & Kanon: Kurumada drew Saga wearing the "mask" only once in all its manga, before dying at the Wailing Wall. Yeah, the Gemini Gold Cloth also appears with it, but that is the Cloth only, not Saga or Kanon. In the anime, they never wore it, not even once. They looked kinda goofy with it, so maybe thatw why Kurumada never used it much, although the "mask" design is great, so to counter the goofy effect, i decided to use the shadow in the face, that was also used by Kurumada in his manga and in the anime.
The results were really good...gone was the goofy look xD.

Deathmask: best "mask" ever, out of all the 12, and one of the best among all the 88 Saints. I wish i had it...i am Cancer too. I would never take it off XD. Enjoyed a lot drawing , coloring it.

Aioria: also, runner up for best "mask" ever. Awesome design by Kurumada, the Nemean Lion's mane, so cool... and I enjoyed a lot drawing and coloring it.

Shaka: Looks great with his "mask" helmet, it has a complex design. I thought of using the same shadow face from Saga & Kanon, but decided against it as he never appeared with it in manga or anime.

Douko: his "mask" looks like a tiger head, intentionally done by Kurumada. It took some time to color it right.

Milo: one of the coolest "masks" too. The part that took longer was the tail, although it wasnt that hard, just each piece needed to be carefully positioned.

Aioros: great "mask" too, really cool. I enjoyed working on it, a lot.

Shura: one of the best "masks" too, period. I decided to use Kurumada's original design in his manga. I used a correct, realistic perspective to depict the way the horns would look. Most of the time theyre drawn in the shape of a lyre, but that is not a realistic take. In the anime, it was modified to cover his head entirely, as a helmet. Anyway, in the Hades arc of the manga, his Surplice "mask" is almost identical to the Gold Cloth's, and the anime, they also used the manga design, without turning it into a helmet.

Camus: his "mask" looks like cat ears xD, but it ended up looking great, in my opinion.

Aphrodite: his "mask" is also a helmet, and the Pisces Gold Cloth is one of the most beautiful. Took some time to color it right, but i guess it come out decently.

Well, I am happy with results, and though I wish it would have been better, I think its enough for a decent pic.

Rest of the info from the original pic, is kept below, in case you want to read xD, bu I guess no one will xD.

Again, after like one million hours of work, i have finished another tribute to one of my favorite mangaka, Masami Kurumada, and to one of his best manga, Saint Seiya. His ORIGINAL manga...not that awful non-canon Lost Canvas crap.

At first I conceived the picture as a portrait of the 12 Gold Saints embedded to a marble surface covered with baroque ornaments. Well, I went it that way, it was coming out nicely, but then I came up with the Zodiac Wheel design found in the final pic, which although not really original, fits perfectly with Kurumada's characters, and in my opinion, the resulting design came out a lot better than the first design I had in mind.

Added to the pic, are the names of the characters in greek to keep with the strong Greek mythological motif found in Kurumada's manga. Thanks so much to my friends in the Anime Greek forum that kindly helped me so much to get the names properly spelled in greek and their constellations too.

For those unfamiliar with greek or the characters, here is the translation to western alphabet of the names and their constellations. Also, the translation for the Sanskrit mantra over Shaka's head:

Μούου του Κριού - Muu tou Kriou - Muu of Aries

Αλντεμπαράν του Ταύρου - Aldebaran tou Taurou - Aldebaran of Taurus

Σάγκα των Διδύμων - Saga ton Didimon - Saga of Gemini

Κάνον των Διδύμων - Kanon ton Didimon - Kanon of Gemini

Ντεθμασκ του Καρκίνου - Deathmask tou Karkinou - Deathmask of Cancer

Αιόρια του Λέων - Aioria tou Leondos - Aioria of Leo

Σάκα της Παρθένου- Shaka tis Parthenou - Shaka of Virgo

Ντούκο του Ζυγού - Duko tou Zigou - Douko of Libra

Αίολος του Τοξότη - Aiolos tou Toxoti - Aiolos of Sagittarius

Σούρα του Αιγόκερω - Shura tou Aigokero - Shura of Capricorn

Μήλο του Σκορπιού - Milo tou Scorpiou - Milo of Scorpio

Κάμους του Υδροχόου - Camus tou Idrokhoou - Camus of Aquarius

Αφροδίτη των Ιχθύων - Afroditi ton Ikthion - Aphrodite of Pisces


And for the text in the center of the wheel:
OTAN TO KAKO ΘΑ ΚΑΤΑΚΛΥΣΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΓΗ, Η ΕΛΠΙΔΑ ΘΑ ΕΡΘΕΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΑ ΑΣΤΕΡΙΑ

Which translates to: "When evil floods the Earth, hope will come from the stars"

Anyone familiar with the manga and anime will immediately know that the phrase pretty much sums up what its about.

And Shaka's mantra read as: oṃ mu ni mu ni ma hā mu ni śā kya mu ni svā hā.

I chose it because it is a mantra for Sakyamuni, the japanese name for Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. Masami Kurumada got Shaka's name from Sakyamuni, who came from the realm of the Sakya (pronounced Shaka).

I enjoyed drawing each one of the characters, and every aspect of creating this piece, specially adding the Gold Saints, who are all awesome characters, like Gemini Kanon, the bad-ass Saint, Scorpion Milo, the tough but gentle Saint, anyway, each one of them.

Once again, creating a beautiful starry night to keep up with the constellation motif was done with a clever use of Photoshop standard brushes. And i think the results were nice.

Altough the anime adaptation was really faithful to Kurumada's designs from his manga, they needed to simplify the Gold Cloths design for the sake of animation. So I enjoyed employing mostly Kurumada's richer designs for the Cloths and other elements from the manga that were not translated to the anime adaptation, such as Virgo Shaka's eerie yellow eyes when he flares his Cosmo to the max. Also, I used mostly a golden base color for the Cloths as they are in the manga- For the hair colors, they come mostly from the anime adaptation, as in Kurumada's manga, most Gold Saints are blonde, so I can later add a version using Kurumada's original hair colors. Some things are from the simpler anime designs, but theyre cool too.

I will add very soon a version of this same pic with the Saints wearing their "mask" headpieces, which Kurumada designed all in great awesomeness. I just need a little bit of resting from coloring metallic surfaces xD, but I am sure I will have it ready in a jiffy.

Well, thanks to God, one more pic added to my online portfolio. Hope you all like it.


© 1986, Kurumada Masami
© JOctober 2th, 2009, Kitsuen Koumori. Dont steal or I will have your asses xD...