Nendoroid 820 Uchiha Itachi - My Cute Husbando

　

For those who know me, it is common knowledge that I have erected a shrine for my favourite man Uchiha Itachi, and today's figure is the latest addition to my sacred shelf space. For those who remember, my 1st nendoroid was the regrettable 2015 Snow Miku that I have acquired on impulse (and later on sold off by a pedestrian's path next to my neighbourhood primary school...).

That was supposed to be my last nendoroid, but when Good Smile Company (manufacturer of the Nendoroid line) threw this to the Internet one fine July in 2017... 

Any fine rules makes accommodation for exceptions hmm?

If possible, I would like to keep collecting all Itachi figures, as long as they're decent and faithful to the original... Tbh I am not a fan of Nendoroid. Granted they have superb QC and even with its chibi form still manages to retain the distinctive features of each characters. However, it's really hard to fangirl when ya man looks like a newborn infant hmm?

Anyway, here are the figure stats:

Series: Naruto

Manufacturer: Good Smile Company

Product Line: Nendoroid

Scale: NA

Material: ABS, PVC

Sculptor: Shichibee

Release Date: 03/2018

Ironically, this is by-far the most time-consuming project I've done, spamming almost a week from planing to execution. All for this baby figure... Thank goodness it's ma man.

I had this scene in my head a month ago, but amidst wuxia dramas and final exams, this was unfortunately pushed back...until now. I am using his house's backyard as a reference, and to customise this to his character, I decided to decorate the garden with his favourite snack: dango~ Who needs bonsai

Screenshot of the Uchiha backyard, traditional Japanese house style

The 1st and last time we get to see a blushing Itachi, reacting to his crush's offer of dango ><

With the general BG in mind, now it's time for specifics - the dimensions. As nendoroid is a deformed figure, it does not adhere to any scale, so it's all freestyle and common sense from here. I have never studied so many reference photos of these shoji (Japanese style sliding door) so hard... Only after building one myself did I appreciate its intricacy more.

And for the first time I'm breaking away from relying solely on paper to build my background. Since nendoroid is already so small (Itachi is only 9cm!), the materials need to be as 'real' as possible, meaning thickness, texture, and details - nothing should be skimmed. 

Luckily, my arts and craft shop Artfriend sells ready made wood strips in all imaginable dimensions, so all that matters is $$$ and a good gauge of the appropriate dimensions to build the doors. 

Shoji in progress - this deceptively simple door is anything but... Each lattice piece has to be trimmed to form the criss-cross, and slicing these wood strips accurately is the worst chore. I still remember the lengths of each horizontal strips: 24.5/16/8 mm... It's the 8mm ones that kills me

As for the respective surfaces, I used 2 A3 styrofoam boards - 1 for the "grass" and the other I half it to make the engawa (縁側), a veranda built from timber running along outside the house, and for the wall. The photograph above is how it looks after I've furnished them with the materials...

What can I say, still nothing beats good o' paper ;)

 

Next, I'm building the poles supporting the engawa for that elevated effect. It it the floor area that one steps onto after sliding open the shoji that the figure is gonna be placed 

The blu-white tack doubles as a glue to the floor and a good imitation to the concrete base supporting the pole, as in:

Actual concrete base

Last but not least, it's creating the trees of Itachi's fantasy... Again, knowing Artfriend sells these pre-made cotton balls saved me tons of trouble from rolling tissue balls. However, I had to buy the acrylic paints ($2.50 each), and I foresee these bottles drying up in my storeroom after this is over...

Finished products - 20 sticks of non-edible dango T.T

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Now, all these took 5 days, and I'm finally ready to take it outdoors...! 

Also, it rained as I was setting up downstairs, and I had to retreat zzz

However, that was how I discovered another perfect location for my shoot - my porch.

As I was opening my door, I left my props on the porch and realised the lighting was pretty good, so...

Amaterasu!

Yes, & I finally perfected the motion blur! A marked improvement from my Nicholas Brown shoot

the default expression of Itachi, "Deadpan and undecipherable..." or just thinking about what's for dinner

Did you know: the forehead protector symbol is the shape of a leaf?

Also, I'm testing 2 different effects, as with the 1st 2 photographs, and the subsequent dreamy version. Which do you dig?

How many different maple leaves can you spot?

...& of course he's reaching for the dango.

Am digging the framed effect of the dango

Right now my job prospects R like Itachi reaching for these dango, so close yet just slightly out of reach...

While I was pouring sweat trying to find the best angles, these dango would not stop falling! Goodness, and my neighbours all thought this was for a school project, like what type of school grades the students for figure photography, please sign me up!

Anyway, I'm glad to say I'm satisfied with the results. Hopefully you R too, my cute Itachi <3

As always, thanks for sticking to the end, here's a behind the scene shot for memory:

Those 2 black styrofoam were added minutes before after the backboard would not stop falling down... ditto for the dango, so I had to resort to using the ugly blu-white tack. However, you won't spot them in the photographs ;) 

tsk tsk, turns out it's the "technical" stuff that took out the most from me. But, that's model-making for ya hmm?

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xoxo