That’s pretty hot.
Erasable ink is pretty handy stuff. If you’re a sub-par speller, have sloppy penmanship, or simple like to edit your own writing after putting pen to paper, the ability to undo what you’ve written can make a huge difference in the quality of your finished compositions.
But Japanese Twitter user @micro280 has found that erasable ink can be useful for artists as well, and not necessarily to get rid of errant lines they’ve mistakenly drawn. Instead, the clever illustrator found a way to remove the clothing of sexy anime-style girls he’s drawn using a common household grooming gadget, as demonstrated in the following video.
At first, @micro280’s ponytailed muse appears wearing a coat and long pants. But he flicks on a hair dryer and points it towards the illustration, and after a few moments her clothing begins to melt away, revealing her striped underwear.
So why does this happen? @micro280 says he used pens loaded with what manufacturer Pilot calls “friction ink,” a type of thermochromic ink. After the friction ink is put down on paper, rubbing it with an eraser produces friction and then heat, which activates the acid compounds contained in the ink and neutralizes the dye.
However, you can produce the same effect by applying heat directly with, for instance, a hair dryer. So all @micro280 had to do was draw the character and her undies in regular, permanent ink (which won’t disappear when heated), then sketch and color in her outer garments with friction ink.
The inventive method soon inspired another artist, who applied the technique to a drawing a slender young men dressed (temporarily) in a sweater or long-sleeved T-shirt.
Of course, clothing isn’t the only thing you can make disappear like this.
Nevertheless, some have taken to calling this furikushon datsui, or “friction undressing,” so we’re likely to see more heat-stripped anime-style artwork heating up the Japanese Internet in the future.
Source: Togech, Twitter/@micro280
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he figures at least those characters won’t be cold while they’re getting half-naked.