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JohnSu — Ghost Thread

Published: 2013-03-21 15:31:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 43081; Favourites: 1097; Downloads: 224
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Description Title:
“Ghost Thread - Postman of Acheron” (ゴーストスレッド -三途の川の郵便屋-)

Alternative Title:
“A Man, a Plan, a Canal - Panama”

Jakob Knaves was horrified when a letter showed up one day at his house with no return address - the contents being a curse from an unknown sender. According to the letter, there was only one way for the recipient to protect himself and his household from the fate described within: to make 15 copies of the document and distribute them to 15 people within the time allotted.

Jakob knew what he had to do, and wasted no time. He transcribed the 15 copies to parchment by hand and set out that very night to spare his younger siblings the misfortunes that might visit them. One by one, he nailed the cursed parchments to the sides of his neighbors’ houses by lantern-light. As he was nailing the 13th copy to the side of one particular house, its occupant emerged from the door.

“Hey! What are you doing there?”

Jakob was quick to apologize. “I’m sorry, sir; I know your probably sleeping-”

And this was his mistake, for he did not know that this man was a Grammar Nazi (whose ears can hear even the differences in spelling of heterographs), and this misuse of the word “your” would be his last. Before Jakob could finish, the Nazi procured a firearm and punctuated him in the head, dropping him to the ground. His assailant then dragged his body into the nearby canal and let him loose into the currents.

This canal also happened to be where old content from a series of tubes known as the Internet is dumped out. Jakob’s body was covered in all sorts of junk, from tinypics to midi files of TV shows from the 80’s. But most importantly, he was tangled up in old forum threads - one of which was necro’d just as he was passing from the canal into the River Styx.

Jakob was brought back to life, but only part-way. He is now stuck in a limbo, confined to hopping between necro threads lest he fall back into death. His only goal now is to find a thread that connects back to the Grammar Nazi who killed him, and to follow it to his house and finish posting that poster that he left half-nailed.

Perhaps then he can at least save his family from seven years of bad luck in romance.
(SPOILER: Nope! He is too late. )



Sorry guys, it’s been a while since I wrote something like this, hasn’t it? Anyhow, I hope you like it!

This one was drawn entirely in SAI, though I did all the sketchwork in Flash. I still feel like my painting is very rough, but I also feel like I’m gradually getting there. But every time I see part of it looking splotchy and uneven, I’m reminded of my work from like 8 years ago (which is about the time I was still experimenting with raster painting) and I facepalm. And then I go “ouch!” because I am holding a stylus in my hand.

IT IS GOOD TO WEAR GLASSES, MY FRIENDS.

Made in PaintTool SAI
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Comments: 130

JohnSu In reply to ??? [2013-03-24 01:02:25 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! One of these days I will get the hang of trying to represent different materials with paint.

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diskfire [2013-03-22 01:09:19 +0000 UTC]

And to think, it all started from one dude who followed a chain mail.

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JohnSu In reply to diskfire [2013-03-23 22:07:12 +0000 UTC]

this is why you don't propagate it.

PEOPLE DIE

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invisible-chan [2013-03-22 00:15:59 +0000 UTC]

Wait, even if he get's back to the Grammar Nazi, he'd have two more copies to distribute.

Anyways, I kind feel like the sketch deserves a story of its own.

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JohnSu In reply to invisible-chan [2013-03-23 21:59:34 +0000 UTC]

Yup. It would have made more sense if it was the last one, but then I realized I drew him with more posters hanging out of his pack.

Story of the sketch:
Jakob accomplishes his goal, and jump ropes in triumph.
He also learns that jump roping with a necro-thread allows him to go wherever he pleases

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invisible-chan In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-24 08:31:57 +0000 UTC]

Wherever? How about whenever?

because a necro-thread that travels in both space and time would be pretty cool

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Creamybunny1 In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 23:52:54 +0000 UTC]

Made me giggle hysterically and snort chocolate milk out of my nose.
Good job.

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JohnSu In reply to Creamybunny1 [2013-03-23 18:09:51 +0000 UTC]

you were drinking chocolate milk at the time, right?

right?

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Creamybunny1 In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-23 18:53:36 +0000 UTC]

Yes, Mr. John Su. I'm not a creepy Cthulhu monster who can spit chocolate milk out of my nose at will.

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Tentakustar [2013-03-21 23:25:04 +0000 UTC]

I think it looks fine to me.

though i must say your blends are pretty nice and the lighting is well done! and I love the text too! a lot actually haha!

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JohnSu In reply to Tentakustar [2013-03-23 21:56:54 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! I hope to get faster and smarter at doing it in the future

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Mikisakiiro In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 23:23:13 +0000 UTC]

Ahaha, I really liked that story. Most of the time I'll just go through the art in my inbox without looking at descriptions but whenever I get to something of yours I make sure to read the description, because there's usually something quite entertaining there.

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cddmanful In reply to Mikisakiiro [2013-03-22 04:30:51 +0000 UTC]

IKR? I watch him because of his backstories....and his con-diaries....

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Thinkingninja1 In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 22:59:18 +0000 UTC]

I LOVE YOUR STYLE!!!! SHAaaaaaaaaaa

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superjaegar-aviator [2013-03-21 22:53:35 +0000 UTC]

I really like this one~ This is probably my new favorite X-D
I really like the story behind this, and the art is beautiful as usual John!
Keep up the great work!

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JohnSu In reply to superjaegar-aviator [2013-03-23 03:15:57 +0000 UTC]

thanks!

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Claytorpedo [2013-03-21 22:10:47 +0000 UTC]

I used to facepalm when I was working in a kitchen, but I had to stop after the incident. Good thing he didn't half-ass those letters and wrote them properly on scrolls.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnSu In reply to Claytorpedo [2013-03-23 03:15:48 +0000 UTC]

he makes sure to do everything properly

everything but grammar

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Claytorpedo In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-24 14:46:44 +0000 UTC]

The worse the grammar the more the curse is appeased.

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Alistu In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 21:51:35 +0000 UTC]

Where does your mind get these ideas from?! I REALLY like the concept behind this. As with most of your illustration tales, I think a lot could be developed much further and be the basis of some great novels/comics/films/games.

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Kitti606 [2013-03-21 20:40:05 +0000 UTC]

When I saw the thumbnail, I read the kana at the bottom and said, "Does that say 'Ghost Sled'?" XP

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnSu In reply to Kitti606 [2013-03-23 03:14:46 +0000 UTC]

"Ghostos Red"

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Rakugaki-otoko [2013-03-21 20:35:42 +0000 UTC]

Woooah! These colors and shading! Great job with this one!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnSu In reply to Rakugaki-otoko [2013-03-23 03:14:08 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! It was a learning experience for me!

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petrichild [2013-03-21 20:31:51 +0000 UTC]

So...what projects are you working on at the moment? I'd be interested in seeing your work outside of Deviant Art...

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JohnSu In reply to petrichild [2013-03-23 03:13:56 +0000 UTC]

Just Firefall and what I like to call Stupid Tumblr

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petrichild In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-23 06:44:13 +0000 UTC]

I've heard about Firefall. I've been considering starting with an engineer.

Why do you call it stupid tumblr? Are you annoyed, or do you just find it silly?

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JohnSu In reply to petrichild [2013-03-23 15:52:40 +0000 UTC]

not saying tumblr is stupid, but rather that the content I put up on it is

kind of like "this is where I share my bad ideas"

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Arakis-angel In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 20:28:22 +0000 UTC]

I had the hardest time trying to figure out what the big, sort of blurry white and grey/blue balls were below the waist and it finally dawned on me the white is underneath the tunic and the grey are legs. I had to put my glasses back on. LOL

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JohnSu In reply to Arakis-angel [2013-03-23 03:11:28 +0000 UTC]

Yup! Good job!

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Riverfox237 [2013-03-21 20:05:11 +0000 UTC]

I love how your drawings can look so epic and serious and then they have a backstory like this one. XD

....I see from the link entitled 'sketchwork' that he was originally a ghostly jumproper?

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JohnSu In reply to Riverfox237 [2013-03-23 03:10:53 +0000 UTC]

that was back when I sketched him and couldn't figure out what to put in his hands yet; I only knew that I liked his pose

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Riverfox237 In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-23 20:31:00 +0000 UTC]

Ahhh yes, I know this problem well. I recently drew a dude's face really well, but it was at such an odd angle that I had to settle for the conclusion that he'd just banged his head on something.

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JadeWulf [2013-03-21 19:52:48 +0000 UTC]

This is so cool! This looks like it could be a cover for a movie or a book XD

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Dante8411 [2013-03-21 19:35:16 +0000 UTC]

It's like three ideas you had at once slammed into a wall or something.
Those damn Grammar Nazis.

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JohnSu In reply to Dante8411 [2013-03-23 03:10:05 +0000 UTC]

the reign of Grammar Hitler must be stopped

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Dante8411 In reply to JohnSu [2013-03-23 04:16:45 +0000 UTC]

If only he'd made it into Sentence Finishing school!

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Demialc-neeb-sah-em In reply to Dante8411 [2013-03-21 22:11:29 +0000 UTC]

John Su has any less than 3 ideas at once?

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Dante8411 In reply to Demialc-neeb-sah-em [2013-03-21 23:04:45 +0000 UTC]

No, but he usually keeps them in separate lanes.

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PuddingValkyrie [2013-03-21 19:34:54 +0000 UTC]

Ah I've missed your amazing-things-with-a-silly-story pics X3

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RaineArtz In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 19:31:47 +0000 UTC]

I love those colours

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DeadCobra In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 19:31:14 +0000 UTC]

Cool

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JeMiChi In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 18:53:14 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I'm speechless

This picture is amazing but the story is the best part of the whole thing - truly epic!

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NinGeko In reply to ??? [2013-03-21 18:52:38 +0000 UTC]

wow love the colours and atmosphere!

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CaptainRicco [2013-03-21 18:33:15 +0000 UTC]

You really dont need to draw anymore, just write your stories.

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chibiwolf7 [2013-03-21 18:23:25 +0000 UTC]

Great work. Fits it like some sort of ghost movie poster. Also, might that goat be related to the one in Nichijou, heh.

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JohnSu In reply to chibiwolf7 [2013-03-22 21:57:36 +0000 UTC]

me-e-e-eheybe

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Nazgul100 [2013-03-21 18:19:17 +0000 UTC]

Dear John,
I havent left a comment on your works for quite a while,
But today I thought enough time had passed for me to once again remind you that you that 'you are the greatest human being on earth', without having it go to your head and making you sloppy just because you would think you really were that great, as might have happened had I said so any sooner.
Really though John, you really know how to make my day with your random and wonderfully original stories.
Not to forget your little humourous sidenotes, they serve as the pefect end to the already great, experience that is "John Su work of the week/month/half-week".
Today I really did imagine the camera making that slow zoom out of the picture while playing the music from Nichijou, not only bringing back memories of a very fun show and nostalgia, but also I feel you adding something new to it, as if the show didnt quite end.
On a side note, I dont have a tumblr account, but I have yours on my favorites list and still check in on it almost daily to see if there is anything new.
I have very much been enjoying that as well, so also thanks for that.

TLDR: I love you John, thanks for making the internet a much more fun place to be.

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JohnSu In reply to Nazgul100 [2013-03-22 21:56:58 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Your comments are always a pleasure to read, and I'm glad you enjoy my work to this extent!

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redleaveshavefallen [2013-03-21 18:02:12 +0000 UTC]

Oh goodness. I see this amazingly mysterious composition, and thoroughly intrigued, scroll down to read about... chainletters and dead forums.
I can never be correct with you. I am always surprised.
But I adore it so much. Goodness.

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