for this month's contest myth and folklore i choose the yuki onna of japanese folklore
colored in photoshop unedited pencil drawing [link]
symbolism used for winter: snowflakes, snow drops, pinetree.
death: blood skull
the kimono design was based on a wedding kimono which has a white over kimono and red inner kimono with black obi... her inner kimono isn't red slik but blood stained.. the kimono also shows where the folklore is based
the kanij stands for dangeous and beauty
title of the peice comes form the song by afi: love like winter
i wanted to show her more in the succbus like vampiric side of the tale

"Exactly what Yuki-onna is after varies from tale to tale. Sometimes she is simply satisfied to see her victim's death. Other times, however, she is more vampiric, draining her victims' blood or "life force". She occasionally takes on a succubus-like manner, preying on weak-willed men in order to drain or freeze them through sex or a kiss.

Like the snow and winter weather she represents, Yuki-onna has a softer side. She sometimes lets would-be victims go for various reasons. In one popular Yuki-onna legend, for example, she sets a young boy free due to his beauty and age. She makes him promise to never mention her again, though, and when he relates the story to his wife much later in life, his wife reveals herself to be none other than the snow woman. She reviles him for breaking his promise but spares him yet again, this time out of concern for the children she has born him (but if he dares mistreat their children, she will return with no mercy. Luckily for him, he is already a loving father). In a similar legend, Yuki-onna melts away once her husband discovers her true nature." from wikipedia