Darumaru
For our Japanese Heritage Night Game with the Washington Spirit Women’s Soccer team, I helped to create this Japanese Ema. Ema are small wooden plaques, common to Japan, in which Shinto and Buddhist worshippers write prayers or wishes. Ema are left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami (spirits or gods) are believed to receive them. During the event, sports fans at the game were able to write their wish on their own ema and hang them. While another artist was in charge of the illustration, I was tasked with figuring out a way to affordably create the actual ema, it’s shape, and wood texture.