I couldn’t believe my luck when Kotobukiya, one of Japan’s giants of figure manufacturers, released the unpainted prototypes from a game-turned-anime series called Hakuoki (2012), 5 years after its release. 

Source Aminews Twitter (2017)

In an industry where speediness and relevance makes money, this was a giant leap. Especially considering that the consumer group of the figure industry is predominantly male, coupled with the increasing amount of otome games (literally “girl games”) being churned out over the years, I could only speculate the pushing factor to be the popularity polls - a grade book equivalent for anime - to be the determinant. Oh bless the faithful fan girls!

Okita Souji was 1 of the 2 bad boys scheduled for the 1st (and evidently final) release, and as my 2nd favourite, I had to snag him. 

As the sadist of Kyoto’s self-employed police force Shinsengumi, he is extremely popular among fan girls. Much credit is due to his seiyuu (voice actor) Morikubo Shoutaro, who also voiced Nara Shikamaru of Naruto. I wasn’t initially convinced but was eventually won over. The change of mind happened during this lovely scene:

Look how hard this basic MC who is supposed to represent all mediocre fan girls and hence “relatable,” is blushing... Oh but the sexy smirk oh Souji-

And that’s the beautiful part of otome games - no matter how basic and clumsy you are, he will eventually fall so hard for you he wouldn’t let you go...

We ladies could all do some under-the-tree cuddling, with the right man of course

This should suffice for the backstory, hehe. Let’s move on to the process.

*

*

*

My Kwansei Gakuin student buddy - why didn't I take any selfie too...

I actually forgot I've been to The Fushimi Inari Taisha at Kyoto until now... Unfortunately the shrine did not inspire fond memories as it was jam-packed with people and going to a tourist spot in the middle of Summer, not wise.

To keep things in context, I decided to import these iconic orange torii gates to Singapore. While this is one of the lowest costing projects, it was time-consuming and painful to build, versus the shoji panels from Hajime’s shoot.

I had to prepare both the vertical poles and overhead columns separately, as the top ones are rectangular. Boy do I hate rolling these cylinders... While I did not have to measure and prep 6 sides as I did for the rectangular overhead columns, the lack of QC meant every poles ended up with varying diameter. Thankfully it wasn’t evident in the blurred backgrounds (hah.)

To up it’s authenticity, I even summoned the dormant calligrapher within me and diligently copied the writings on the vertical poles, based on the photos I found on Pinterest.

And this stack of paper was the only purchase I made to make this happen.

You may not know this, but I enter every project with insecurities and uncertainties. Even with faithful research and careful planning of the backdrops, there are no guarantees.

Take this Fushimi Inari shrine theme project. 

This was the second time the backdrop failed and the shoot was delayed by 2 weeks:

1. I did not make enough poles, leading to lack of intended depth;

2. Insufficient poles also meant I could not create the illusion of an endless pathway

3. (Painstakingly) gluing each poles to the floor led to jarring g a p s between them, ruining the authenticity 

4. Steps (stairs) originally created for depth were abandoned - I made 3 of these steps/risers but that meant I could not create a bent pathway... in short wasted resources

5. There was a glaring empty backdrop at the end of the pathway

Fun fact - the inscriptions are names of the individual/organisation who donated to the shrine to get aa torii gate built for them. Price starts at ¥400,000/gate.

I nearly gave up but that entails wasting my time doing these 22 poles AND no post, so I persisted...

Wholly glad I did, so now I can share with you my March-April feature model - Okita Souji.

*

*

*

See what I meant by the empty backdrop? Thank goodness I managed to find a stand-in shrine to fill that space-

Experimenting with contrast and shadows

I really enjoy this night shot

Original photo - I really enjoy taking photos with this low contrast and light setting on my camera

After editing - I took an hour to figure this out

Behind The Scene - to counter the stupid gaps and save time, I pushed the poles together such that they're leaning against one another

And that's it, thank you lovelies~

And I'm running out of figures to photograh-

xoxo

Hello world, I’ve recently graduated from a full-time university student to an underemployed employee, desperate to contribute to society. And I’ve ran out of excuses for procrastinating on updating my blog, so here I am to start 2019 with my #2 bae of the 2D universe...

This is by far my most costly project, where I dropped over $30 purchasing basswood strips alone. However, it is also far easier to cut compared to styrofoam and it already came in a variety of pre-cut widths that suit my needs, so...

Before I got him I’ve already knew I wanted him to be in a “traditional” setting, but I’m unwilling to take the Edo streets route seeing it’ll take 1000 years to replicate those tiled roofs... I needed something authentic, fast (I try la hor), and shouts samurai, and shoji panel was the natural answer. I was initially reluctant to do it, seeing I already made it once for my most recent project, but I was hard pressed to get this rolling and went ahead.

After gathering some feedbacks from friends and reflecting on ways to differentiate this panel, I’ve decided to:

1. Add some design to the shoji panel
2. Paint it a darker shade of brown
3. Vary the shoji panel’s designs

Based on the figure's width & scale  I've quickly came up with the dimensions of the shoji panel:

 I've also decided to create a corridor backdrop, and for that I figured 2 pairs of panels on both sides would suffice

I’ve made the upgrade from my leftover roll of butter paper to some fancy A3 translucent craft paper, and even downloaded a bird print from the wrong era by Ohara Koson (1877-1945) just because I loved it and refused to change. Building the panels this time was actually easier with thicker widths and bigger scale, and combined with rigorous sanding the panels were soon ready.

To create the desirable burgundy shade I’ve mixed red, brown, and black poster colours with some water for applicability. The downside is that colours transfer happen should your hand or the wood gets wet. That said, the colours went on easily, dries quickly, and when dried still retains the vivid colour.

Various designs of shoji panels for visual interest

Building the shoji panel

Here R Hajime's specs for reference:

Series: Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan

Manufacturer: Kotobukiya

Product Line: ARTFX J

Scale: 1/8

Material: ABS, PVC

Sculptor: Matsumoto Kouei

Release Date: August 2018 (can't believe I took this long to start this...)

This shoot took place on my doorstep, hope you like it.

*

*

*

Loving that intensity \o/

Come on, if there's samurai you GOT to have these cascading petals... I swear 8 out of 10 CGIs of this series features some form of sakura petals

Don't be caught dead in his path

This almost feels like a scene from its non-existent 3D adaptation  o//

*

*

*

For the longest second I’ve dreamt of turning day to night, but with photoshop skills as deep as my empty wallet and a silly aversion to failure, I’ve mostly stuck to daytime lighting and the same few conservative effects... My goal in in figure photography, whenever possible, is to give a contextual appreciation and understanding of the character, and hopefully also to become someone’s desktop/mobile wallpaper. It would have been ideal to set up those fancy light boxes and do it in the comfort of ma woman’s cave, but I’m unwilling to invest in lighting equipment (nothing beats free daylight!)

With some research I’ve found the trick is to colour correct the original to a slightly yellow wash and mask it under a blue temperature copy of the image. Next, unmask the parts where the light hits, and the result is an alluring mix of warm interior lights and a dark blue moon light. I’ll continue to experiment with nighttime shots and refine this tedious process. Don’t think I have done this much colour adjustments., but alas I still did it!

I don't usually like to show the unedited photo, but since this is a journal of sorts, and the difference is (literally) from day to night...

Before 

After 

(Please don't tell me you prefer it unedited)

Love you for staying till the end, and as always, till next time, and here’s the BTS:

Don’t mind the fish rug


xoxo