Major Kusangai and Fuchikoma

If I remember correctly (it's been more than a decade...) this was initially created in High School. It was cleaned up a few months later. Two years later, some further corrections and (mostly) darkening of the shading and shadows were done, and it was sent off to the Dark Horse 1996 manga art contest.

The inspiration of the image was one (or all?) the covers of the Ghost in the Shell manga and some of the characters and poses in Intron Depot, all by Masamune Shirow. The honey-bee motif on the Fuchikoma's head was taken from another manga by the same artist: Orion; and it's Susano-oh (funny how that manga makes sense after coming and living in Japan, and both learning and experiencing Japanese culture and religion!)

The face and extended arm leave a bit to be desired, however everything else has a very strong Masamune Shirow feel to me. I especially like how the shading turned out in this scan (300 DPI) and reduction (to 727x1000).