Kotobukiya’s 1/8 ARTFX J Saito Hajime - Goodnight Lover

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.

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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//

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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