One thing that makes me a little bit sad at times is that I am having trouble finding fanart of Lum and Ataru together. Despite the anime/manga being on the "veteran" side Urusei Yatsura still stands strong. Even though it could use a fanart boost there are so many amazing artworks out there (especially of Lum herself, being the icon that she is). Instead of sitting around moping about there not being a lot of lovey-dovey art I decided to draw the happy(:P (Lick)

) couple myself. It went so-so, so I decided to color the half-finished sketch and make changes as I went along. For anyone who would ever consider working like that: BAD IDEA!

This is usually where I start complaining about my mistakes but the worst ones are quite understandable this time around as the sketch was very... sketchy... and when one decides to use watercolors one must reconcile with the work having a life of its own (to begin with Lum was the one smile-kissing but the watercolors wanted it the other way around). Actually, I should not be posting this now. I was thinking about perhaps trying to make a simple background (but knowing myself that is not going to happen so here I am).
I decided to try and make it look more finished with the help of Photoshop. I found a real neat effect but at the same time I did not want to change the work too much (hmm, maybe I should upload that other one to scraps? Nah). Basically, I just added the white frame and tried to make the colors look more natural... you know how a scanner can kill a picture...

I often have an amused smile on my face when I think about Lum and Ataru as a couple. Being an avid reader of shōjo manga and romantic books like the ones written by Jane Austen I am used to zooming in on the canon couple and following them from the very beginning (first introduced/first romantic hint works more often than one would imagine). When I started reading Urusei Yatsura I already knew that Ataru and Lum would end up together but it was quite obvious who was supposed to be with Ataru to begin with. Despite knowing that things would change for Ataru and Shinobu I fell into the canon pattern. The amazing thing is that Lum won me over. Rumiko Takahashi is truly amazing. I cannot remember to have changed my mind, ever, about these things except for that one instance with Akari in Takahashi's Ranma1/2 - and now this. Forget all about the sappy shōjo love scenes about being fated for one another. This couple throws fate upside-down!

Ataru & Lum ©Rumiko Takahashi