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.

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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.

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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.

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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

This is the 1st year AGF kicked off at Suntec Convention, organised by Singapore's events company Magika, in partnership with Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) and Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL). Recent years we have seen the rise of E-Sports, (which I'm still having a hard time accepting), and over the weekend from 9-10 June, there were lots of games tournament and immersive gaming booths to challenge and entertain ticket holders.

That's right, ticket holders, which unfortunately excluded me... It's not often you can brag about attending a con at the entrance. But I'm not paying $15 to take a spin around Hall 402 N exit with zero merchandise. Since my laptop's hard drive fried from overindulging in DOTA 5 years ago, I've stopped seeing myself as a gamer, although I still occasionally dream about being Shadow Priest or Puck... Damn it was fun being support.

Unless you count visual novels, which I've subscribed as a permanent member until a 4D Prince comes along and distracts me long enough... However, it could hardly qualify as an e-sport with no competitions or live community interactions involved.

While I'm unable to provide a coverage of the actual festival, I'll be reporting on what went on outside. Judging by the number of international cosplayer guests they have invited, I was expecting enough cosplayers to turn up to warrant my visit. Thankfully, my 2 hours of camping like a stalker by the entrance proved to be fruitful.

Unfortunately I was still too weak to approach every single cosplayer, and to those who kindly posed for me, thank you once again, you guys R amazing.

&you didn't cheat and wear shoes from our world-



Za grand entrance to the exhibition that I was denied entry

They should have named themselves Game Festival Asia (GFA) then it'll sound like Anime Festival Asia (AFA)~

Memorable for the hanging bells by the hem of her top

&I thought she was Miku until I saw the bob @.@ 

If anyone knows who she's cosplaying as pls lemme know

Is this Marine Captain MIku, or did I get it wrong again @.@@@@@

Love the converging effect from the overhead lights and floor tiles

Look at her sparkly smile...! (Ok ok I failed as a pseudo-reporter for not getting their character names and series)

From that gambling anime, Kakegurui: Yumeko & Mary 

(they were the only pair I rmb to ask for their characters...)

I tried googling green uniform anime girl with photo frame, but I guess that's too broad

Hey, my friend says you have a nice body

Hi Kylo Ren

Captain Gorgeous

Hands down prettiest kimono lady

Ah I miss my Lolita obsession days

Begins: badass gals series

#1 Gun girl (I missed using the 0.38...)

Badass girl #2

Fate/Grand Order: Saber Alter Causal

On point facial expression... How could she made such a simple costume so bloody cool

Badass girl #3
Fate/Grand order: Jeanne d'Arc
Another breathtaking cosplayer... Perfection from tip to toe

Badass couple from FF XV: Cindy Aurum & Prompto Argentum

They look legit straight out of the game...

This Midoriya (Tall Ver.) has officially melted my aging heart with that messy bed hair & cute smile

...& the costume reminds me of Lee from Naruto

Last but certainly not least... A man/sword from the game that caught the Internet ladies unguarded... Now manifested as flesh & bone & melting more hearts: Mitsutada from Touken Ranbu

P.S.: I think your interpretation of Mitsutada is better than Numacchi da yo~

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It has been fun yet challenging capturing live subjects (compared to figure photography), since I have only this many frames & time to get the best shot. Hopefully I'll see you guys at the upcoming Cosfest too! Looking forward to ya future projects N good luck!

xoxo

Today's entry works on Photograph as the graphic design theme and photo-in-text masking as the motif. It is my first attempt at completely relinquishing the use of diorama in favour of digital background. This was challenging and completely out of my comfort zone of editing and touching up photographs. I think I spent more time brainstorming for design ideas than I did for building backgrounds...

By now my lovely Itachi, today's model from Naruto, should be no stranger to my fellow visitors. S.H. Figuarts is a line of posable action figures manufactured by the giant conglomerate Bandai, and my 1st Itachi action figure. Personally, any given day it's definitely scale over action figures, because the joints are seriously ugly. Plus it comes loaded with tons of exchangeable parts, and I'm usually satisfied with the default pose & outfit that came in the box, so those would be additional empty bucks I paid to sit inside. Or, are they?

Turns out, they're pretty fun, once you get over how hard you have to pull at certain joints and stop fretting over how you might break/ lose a hand or leg. They're especially an asset when it comes to figure photography, or headache depending on your perspective. Because of the million possible poses, it's mainly the latter for me.

He came with 3 face plates - deadpan, mouth agape-angry, and a death smile, and I would mostly be working on the 1st and 3rd (the 2nd one sucked, like, he only showed his wrath ONCE and it was just an illusion & TOTALLY not representative of my gentle Itachi pls zzz)

This shoot was carried out against a blank white styrofoam board - again at the comfort of my doorstep - and then painstakingly cropped out to be transferred to different coloured backgrounds. Since I have been editing this series of photographs over the week, even my mother couldn't resist speaking out what has been in my mind, "Aren't you sick of staring at the same thing already?"

I am.

Between searching for internships, falling sick, and figuring out the direction of my career/future, figure photography has become more of a temporary escape from reality than a pure hobby. I was feeling so sorry for myself that I might have unconsciously projected it into the images - although I was following the context and designing according to the anime (I'm referring to all the sorries, you'll see it soon). The lack of fresh inspirations means I had to extricate myself from staring at the blinking cursor and pull a pre-mature conclusion to this project.

Alas, I've certainly became more sensitive to colour combinations & rethink about the value of typography beyond delivering meanings.

I had no idea how hard it was the find the appropriate comma to represent the great Uchiha's sharingan ~.~

& this kinda looks like a name card eh

-inserts name at blank space-

F-O-R give me... You're supposed to gradually fall forward till F-O-R-G-I-V-E is spelt out...

Who tore my imag-

Glass font - prolly my favourite typography texture

Who says mugshot needs to be black & white

The iconic pose where he first appeared in the manga.

The context was: So I the hottest male in Konoha causally showed up in my village some years after slaughtering my entire clan but please don't mind my arm I'm just causally resting it on my criminal organisation's cloak because it's getting warm in za billow sleeves-

Keeping up with the polaroid design

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OK after a final review of the images I daresay I was thankful for persisting through. Even though the images ended up not wholly connected & pretty random in terms of thematic design, I decided to embrace them as different iterations for a single product. I also tried to limit my colour palette to mustard, khaki green, maroon, & purple, although in some instances I carved in & borrowed some beiges & browns. 

If I were to name my favourite, I kinda like the R image with the peeling wallpaper effect.

What about you, lovely stranger?

xoxo

29 April 2018, 5:07 PM:

Cloud of the week: Cumulus humilis (Cᴸ1)

L= Low cloud

One of the most common residents of the celestial sphere, also known as fair weather clouds. Rejoice if you have plans outdoors, or lament if you are a shadow seeker (like me), because I hate getting tanned...

I was so lucky to spot this just below my house, don't you think it looks like puffs of smoke rising from a chimney? So cute!

9 May 2018, 3:27 PM:

Very energetic clouds, and its expansive size makes for good shade (as seen in the heavily greyed bottoms)

xoxo

　

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... 

company


It's been a while since I've looked skyward;

     to my tumultuous fluffy cotton:

coming to derive breaks from greens afar;

     Just out of sight - rest assured not forgotten;

silently nudging me forward,
   
     my Valentine from spring to autumn.

you leave me ajar, o my lucky star.

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26 March 2018, 7:45AM:

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII is the exemplar of my soft spot for guys with long hair... I knew I had to get him after he went up for pre-orders last year (2017), despite never once touching the franchise. I totally broke my rule and bought home a guy I knew nuts about... To justify my purchase, I duly went to watch the movie Advent Children (2006) and confirmed what I already knew - he's hawt and ima getting him.

I mean, a one-winged angel... How many of his kind do you know?

Omurice (オムライス) or omelette rice, is one of the common dishes available in Japan, with a wide price range for the frugal to the rich. Classified as a western dish (洋食), each plate is made to order with many variations to boast, be it the way the egg is prepared or the desired flavour of the rice.