This was my winning entry into the Best Themed Artwork category at AICon 2011. The theme was "twisted fairy tales", and encouraged mixing fairy tales/fables with anime shows/culture/themes.

Whilst I was on stage receiving my award, there were a few people who expressed interest in the piece. I didn't catch up with anyone afterwards, and I gave the copy I'd submitted to Blah, the "Tyrant King Of AICon", but if you are keen, to shoot me an email at cheese@twolofbees.com.

Below are some thoughts:

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz is a tale about recognising one's inner strengths. Dorothy and company's journey towards self comprehension has influenced contemporary media for over 100 years, and encouraged children of all ages to look below the surface for positive qualities in themselves and others.

These themes resound in Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (The Wallflower), as initially superficial characters are given dimension, taking on depth and charm as they grow to know one another and themselves better. In their quest to trun Sunako-chan into a lady, the boys learn more about themselves, and discover as Dorothy did, that the destination is a red herring - it's the journey that shows us who we are.

There are some cropped parts of this image here and here, and a flying monkey that I didn't end up using here. At the time that I wrote this (in case I forget to link), there are a couple of initial sketches and some more monkeys yet to be uploaded.

You can also see a video of it being made on YouTube :)

Mim's won Best [Made On The] Weekend too! You can see her entry here.