brandished sword

This is my entry for the competition...

Bakumatsu Kenshin..

As usual I had no clear idea when I first started; did three different sketches and even for this one the figures were moved around even as I had already started painting...

I initially just wanted to do any random fight during Bakumatsu, after all it was 5 years before Kenshin left, ..you know the usual Kenshin against many.. but having Tomoe's figure in the background seem appropriate, which placed this during Ikedeya jiken..

I can't remember how times I've watched the OVA to get the details of the fight.. (and was amazed anew at the awesome fluidity of the fight movements, the details and the sequence of the story telling).

I picked up several things I didn't notice before.. the fact that Shinsengumi were wearing chain vests.. Kenshin noticed after the first stroke, after which he went straight for the throats... but because of the angle in this pic Kenshin's tsuki would have been higher so his arm would have covered his face.. so I tweaked it but that's the highest it gonna go.. and yeah the katana would have gone through to the back but I wanted to keep the rating low.. so you can just take it that the loose haori would be pushed back instead of being pierced and it covered the wound

other deviations - the Shinsengumi had their haori tied, and the hakama tucked and were wearing the knee length tabi...
but since I'd already started painting...

the dropped lantern was also not logical, but heh.. I wanted a a low and closer source of light ...


Edit:
made the lantern paper burn and added the yellowish light reflection of surfaces..