I’ve been looking back at my own artwork again, and since I haven’t painted in a long time, decided to try some exercises.

I want to move more towards realism, in whatever way I can, and try to create things that are unique in both anime and realism - a hybrid as you may have heard me talk about it before.

One thing that I did want to improve upon was understanding light and shadow more. So I did a couple of exercise studies and painted a few things that I saw on my desk. It wasn’t very fun until I decided to give Miku a try.

The cool thing about Nendoroids is that they are very simple and clean in shape, making their features very easy to define. I figured that if I was to do some studying, I should have fun doing it.

This is a retrospective photo that I took after I was finished painting. The photo looks way darker compared to what it actually looks like. The color is also off. Miku’s hair is more green than blue. Overall, it’s not an accurate representation, but there it is anyway.

I started off as usual with a rough sketch. I had full intention of discarding the sketch, but it’s important to have one so that when you paint, you retain the shape.

Here’s some rough color. I tried to block in as much of the shadows as I could, studying how dark and how light things appear in relation to each other. Already, we’re starting to see some form and depth.

Some refinement begins to take place. I had a lot of trouble with the pleated skirt, and trying to make the hair appear concave on the inside.

Cleaned up some more and added legs. Of course she needs legs!

Did some more refining of the shapes and shadows, and added Miku’s face. I decided to put the face on a separate layer, and it turns out I was wise to do so, as I made some significant tweaks to the facial structure later.

At this point, you can kind of already see how the light and shadow are working to bring a bit of photo-realistic depth to the image, but it’s still looking a bit flat.

After 4 and a half hours of painting, the end result! I relocated the nose, and added saturation to the mouth, and added highlights and deeper shadows to really bring depth to the painting.

Even though it’s still a little off here and there, I’m pretty happy with the result. Not bad for a true first attempt at painting an object digitally.

Well, that’s another post. Hope you enjoyed my painting! Hopefully many more to come!

http://www.radiantdreamer.net

I’m super happy that the site has reached 20,000 hits! Thanks avid readers! I’m glad that you are checking back and reading my articles! I guess that means I’m doing something right! So here’s my simulated fighting game photoshop image of Figma Saber VS Fraulent Rei. Looks like Rei is well on her way to losing.

After I had finished this image, I noticed that the hit counter was already at 20,900 hits. I guess I took longer than I had expected.

For reference, here’s the original image:

As you can tell, there are quite some differences.

In order to achieve the pixel look, I first shrunk this 10 mega pixel image down to 320×240, and from there, began pixel-pushing details back into the image.

In order to clean up the transparency properly, I couldn’t use my regular selection tools without ruining the edges. Turning off anti-alias just wasn’t cutting it. So instead, I used the eraser tool under the pencil setting and began hard-cleaning stuff I didn’t need. I then touched up the edges using the pencil tool to get the non-transparent anti-alias working smoothly.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t fix the lighting, so the characters still look too realistic from what I had wanted the end result to be.

From there, I began applying filter upon filter upon filter to make the image look even more pixelated. I could have gone in and literally pixel pushed everything to exactly what I want, which was 16-color sprites, but that would have taken more time than I wanted to invest.

Next, I grabbed a background image from Guilty Gear, and put in the Guilty Gear HUD (cuz it’s a cool looking HUD).

The FX, I won’t reveal how to do it. That’s my specialty.

Hope you enjoyed the image!

http://www.radiantdreamer.net

I would have to say that I am MOST impressed with aquiring this figure. For a very long time, I’ve been waiting for a version of Saber that really appealed to me - both in dynamic pose, and in detail. In part, this would be my first armored Saber and first Figma in one go. Fortunately, when I made the purchase, I had committed to this being the first and last Figma I would purchase (for the sake of my wallet, my sanity, and my marriage). I had to make it a good one. Thankfully it is.

Unfortunately, because of how crappy my camera is, I couldn’t take too many close up shots. But the detail is there. Perhaps you would like to know that Figmas are just slightly smaller than Fraulent Revoltechs, so I’m presuming 1:12 scale. That’s TINY.

The best part about this version of Saber is the posability of her. She’s mostly ball-jointed, so her articulation is very flexible compared to say, Revoltech Saber. She doesn’t seem to have as many articulation points as a Fraulent, but that doesn’t seem to matter with Figmas. But unfortunately, with ball joints, we all know that too much posing will wear it down and cause the joints to loosen. That’s one advantage Revoltechs have with their clicky joints. The deal-maker for me on this Figma though, was the face. She looks far more accurate than any Revoltech figure I’ve ever seen from any series. And don’t get me started on the ebcraft Hyper Fate saber!

For the Revoltech Saber, they had decided to put her armor flaps on ball joints, but unfortunately, it looked very stiff, and you could see the apparent lameness of it (sorry, Revoltech Saber owners, but it’s the god-damned truth. Suck it.) This version uses ball joints and hinge joints in combination for huge flappy articulation. The armor piece is ball jointed from the back, the blue and white fabric is hinge jointed on the front of the armor plate, and that triangular blue flap you can see in the back. Finally, the very front white fabric is hinged to the blue cloth and front of the armor. Overall basically 3 articulation points.

You can see the ball-joint from the back in this photo.

Accessories, accessories! Options, options! I love this. The swords can be sheathed all the way into the scabbards, and the detail is bang-on accurate. I like how the interchangeable hands can be stored safely in this plastic “storage rack” so they don’t get lost. And there are 8 slots too! You know, just in case you want to display your Figma with no hands… In addition, the two hair piece options are great, so you can do dynamic poses and static poses without it looking weird. The three faces, each looking in a different direction, is also a very good idea. Unfortunately, I only decided to use two of the faces for my shots this session.

In addition, a little zip-lock sealable bag is included so you don’t have to store everything in the box, and try to fish it out everytime you want to change something. The bag also has a hole at the top so you can hang it. If you own multiple figmas, you can also label the bag. Excellent! Mine will stay blank though. I wish Revoltech was more advanced in features this way.

You may recognize this pose as an attempt to mimic Enter Brain’s Saber.

Different pose of Enter Brain’s Saber.

Pose of Clayz Saber.

Good Smile’s Saber pose.

Good Smile Saber pose close up.

Alter’s Saber Maid pose.

The Valkyrie Profile classic pose.

As you can see, she’s VERY posable. I have yet to try something drastically dynamic, as I kind of got bored part-way through, so enjoy the other few photos I took!

The high-spreadability of the armored skirt is a definite plus.

Can you tell which photo I used for my photoshop image?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this close-up review of my Saber. Until next time!

http://www.radiantdreamer.net

FINALLY. I’ve sold Ignis the White on Ebay. I’ve had Ignis for a while, but have been itching to get rid of her ever since aquiring her. I bought into the hype way back when she was announced, and when everyone and their dog tried to get one of these. At first, I was indifferent towards it, thinking “yeah, it looks nice, but it’s a big space hogger, and it’s out of my price range.

When I saw her available at play-asia, I jumped at the opportunity and bought her for a reasonable price. I was thinking “Yes! I finally get to own such a magnificant figure!”

The thing is, she seriously is a big space hog! She took one whole Detolf shelf! She definitely demanded presence. I can’t stop complaining about the problems with this figure. Get ready to hear my rant!

First off, the dress. It’s nice, but it’s also very heavy, and made out of an ABS/PVC blend. Super hard, and impossible to form-fit. Which caused her to not grip her dress properly (her left hand), and the mid-section of the corset wouldn’t tuck in properly either. Basically it was warped from the start. I probably could have heated it and bent it back, but it was a hassle all on its own trying to remove the damn thing.

Speaking of which, sometimes, Cast-Off “features” drive me nuts. I honestly don’t care about that option, but when it’s there, it actually becomes problematic, and a waste of effort if you ask me. Ignis has a full lingerie set underneath. You know, with the lace panties, the stockings, the garter belt and clips, the whole nine yards. But the thing is, I have no intention of displaying her like that! The big billowing dress is there for a reason. And to add to that, the top of her corset can be removed to bare her breasts! I could care less. But they keep falling off! Not only that, the “cups” are semi-transparent, meaning you can see nipple through them. That I did not expect, as it didn’t appear that way in the prototype shots. Anyway, I was displaying this at work, so I had to make it a little more “decent” by cutting a small piece of tissue and placing it as a layer between her breasts and her cups. Worked out pretty well. I ruffled the tissue a little so it looked like it was part of the design. It hid her gaping cleavage too.

In addition, I tried to take photos of her for some photoshop work. I tried and tried and tried, but it was impossible to get a good angle out of her. her blank stare forward threw off the angle most of the time. If I tried a bottom up 3/4, she looked like she was staring into space, and the billowing dress was literally a conic mountain. If I tried a top down 3/4, that little antenna hair would cut into her face, so it looked like it was picking her nose backwards or something. Overall, no angle impressed me. I think that the one I got had a bit of fault in the angle of the head. The prototype shots show her head slightly turned more.

Overall, the quality of this piece of plastic garbage was unbearable after some time. I should have expected as much from Orchid Seed. The color tone of the skin looked terrible - very plastic-vinyl-like. The spray-on eyes were terribly done, and the hair color was way too saturated. Overall, it didn’t work with the dress at all. I would say that the best feature is that arc of fabric going up her right side. Outside of that, everything else looked like garbage. I’m glad to have gotten rid of it, even at a loss. Goodbye, and good riddance!

Today, I levelled up!

Experience: +500

Charisma: - 50

Strength: - 200

Wisdom: + 500

Skills: +800

HP: + 60

MP: + 0

Your equipment has levelled up! You’ve upgraded to PS3!

I had completely forgot about it, and so I didn’t make any birthday plans. Now I’m too lazy to do it. Ha ha.

So at one point in time, I was on a resin spree, and had purchased three resin statues all over the place. One of which was the Gothic Devil Girl, from HobbyFan, the Asuka on Motorcycle from e2046, and finally this much anticipated Elf Ranger. I had originally missed out on the first run of this prepainted beauty. As you know, I’m a sucker for elf girls. So when this was suddenly open for a second production run, I jumped on it without thinking. Was it worth it? Read on!

First off, the box. This is some good quality stuff here just from the box! The box is very sturdy, with a nice gloss finish. The picture on the front and on the bottom are actually stuck-on labels (but also high quality). I’m guessing they mass produce these boxes and just put the labels on for which ever figure they need.

Inside, each piece is individually packed, plastic wrapped, and topped with a soft foam cover. Some assembly required, but that’s quite the packaging!

There’s something to be said about a blonde elf girl lying face down with her naked ass in full view. Then again, maybe there isn’t.

So here she is, in full assembled glory. Took me a good half-hour to do it. She comes with a mirrored base, if pervs want to look up her skirt. Though there’s really nothing to see except full armor undies. The detail is exquisite for this figure, and the pose is like a ballerina dancing on a floor of ice (at certain angles).

As this is a complete custom sculpt, I appload Ori for an absolutely excellent job. The flawless paint job was done by Gathering, and shows the attention and care that went into each one of these even though they probably had to paint a tonne of them. I’m sure the people painting it had fun (maybe for the first couple or so).

Absolutely fabulous detail on the bow! Getting a hand-painted figure is almost like getting the prototype version of a PVC figure. Stunningly perfect detail and craftsmanship has gone into this, for sure! The design of the bow is a little hokey, and would have preferred something a little less clunky looking - this bow looks more elegant than practical.

The only thing that I’m not super fond of, is her face. While it’s very well sculpted, the proportions don’t really scream “elf girl” to me. She looks very caucasian, which is fine, but the features seem a bit rougher than what you’d figure an elf girl would look like.

Also, the expression on her face isn’t very gentle. Her lips are pouty, and that’s always good, but it’s the eyes. Perhaps they were trying to go with the same feel as the Lineage II Dark Elf? It misses the mark and doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the figure’s pose.

This angle shows a bit more profile. You can see how much the nose sticks out. You’d think that an elf would have a smaller, more sprite-like nose. I blame the fact that it’s asians trying to sculpt an elf. I’ve seen some of Ori’s asian-influenced kits, and they look very asian.

Excellent detail in the chest armor. You should probably be aware that the chest plate is removable, revealing a very naked set underneath. Why this feature was made, I have no idea. Doesn’t make practical sense to me other than for pleasing the perverts. I won’t be displaying her bare-breasted, that’s for sure. But you can imagine the awkward situation you would be in if one of your friends was looking at it and it accidentally pops off, Lucy Lawless style!

Excellent detail on the arms! Can I stop talking about the detail for just once? Obviously not. I love how the shiny metal areas actually look like shiny metal, and not painted plastic trying to look like metal.

A brain-fart shot. I don’t know what happened… but at least you can see a closeer shot of the front.

A quiver of arrows! This was apparently a “bonus gift” for ordering.

That’s right! Each arrow is removable from the quiver! How cool is that?! Not so cool when you keep accidentally tipping the quiver and they all spill out.

A lovely view from the back. The only thing really worth mentioning that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the beautiful hair blowing in the wind, and that lovely gentle braid. Such detail!

Did I mention her completely removable skirt can be interchanged with different armor? I guess not… Did I mention that all the removable parts are MAGNETIC?! That’s right! There are no unsighly holes or tabs! She really knows how to attract!

Her knee armor is removable too, if you decide not to use it. The detail on those heels are stunning. The copper look to them is utterly realistic looking. I kind of wish they were able to get the same effect with the gold. Honestly, the knee armor is the poorest done out of the whole thing. The red doesn’t work. The gold is too overpowering.

I personally like this armor much more. It feels more complete. Notice that her undie-armor is also differently shaped. While the skirt version has only a front piece (meaning the back is naked), this version has two pieces - a front and a back. It also has two “hip armor plates” that hook up with the undie armor, and then the blue plates on top of that.

The back part of the undie armor is also a separate piece and is also magnetic. Though I prefer the look and style of this armor, I’m not so keen on the butt showing like that. Fortunately, when she’s on display, you can’t really see that back part of her. There isn’t a whole lot of detail there anyway.

At the end of it all, I would have to say that this figure is astounding. Completely original, professionally painted, with exceptional detail, I would consider it one of the best purchases I’ve made in terms of my figure collecting life. It did cost me a pretty penny though. No photoshop image this time, but I hope you enjoyed my sharing this with you!

Sometimes, one may feel the need to express their interests and hobbies proudly. They might decide to wear a shirt of their favorite anime, or carry a keychain of their favorite character, or use a wallet emblazoned with the logo of their favorite show. But the truth is, most non-otaku people will look at you funny. They don’t share the same interests as you, and don’t understand your fandom is not of nerdiness, but of a form of expression. Much like how a sports fan wears a sports jersey of their favorite team. The difference though, is that sports is widely accepted. So let’s look into what you can do to still be a fan, but not look like a dork.

In most otaku’s current situation, they have one of two options :

1. not care

2. find some way to prove you’re a fan, but look fashionable doing it.

Option 1 is a very common option. On the surface, most seem to not care. But with it, they also typically abandon other important aspects of the physical image, including grooming, and social interaction. They congregate with other fellow otaku, typically in a comic shop, carry an oversized backpack or messenger bag containing otaku things such as comics, hand-held game systems, and stuff that I have no idea what makes that bag so stuffed. They also speak in a very specific “nerdy” manner, if you get my drift. These people typically don’t have lives outside of their otakuism, and typically either don’t have girlfriends, or their girlfriends are also in the same line of interest as they are. I know it sounds very stereotyped, but the unfortunate thing is that it’s true.

Most people in option 1 wish that they were in option 2 though. Whether they care or not, they are being shunned by the rest of society, and that hurts and sucks. People in minority groups of various cultures, sexual orientations, or race, would understand what I am referring to.

So how do you prove you’re a fan, without looking like a complete dork? The basis first is to admit to yourself that you need to clean up your physical appearance. Though I am making specific reference to men here, women apply as well.

1. Groom yourself. If you don’t cut your hair, clean up your face, and care more about your physical appearance, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing Georgio Armani. You’ll look unpresentable. Read some men’s fashion magazines and health magazines for tips on grooming. Ask a hair stylist to cut your hair and give you tips.

2. Dress better. Before starting on you start sporting your otaku goods, you have to first look like you fit in. Read men’s fashion magazines. Look at mannequins in shopping malls. Go into places like Mexx or Club Monaco, or Armani Exchange. Even if you’re not going to buy clothes there, try them on anyway, just to see how you look. Watch “What Not To Wear”. Get tips for friends who seem to dress better than you.

3. Speak with confidence. This one requires some practice. You may think you speak pretty alright. But try this. Record your own voice. Then play it back and listen to it. Try comparing it to a stand-up comedian. Doesn’t really matter who, just someone who can make an audience laugh. Pick out the differences in speech patterns. You’ll know what’s wrong at that point. Make an effort to correct yourself.

After these steps, you’ll probably find that you’ve sort of stepped out of the otaku label, and are just like “everybody else”. That’s not where you want to be. Time to express your individuality as an otaku.

Firstly, look at this messenger bag :

It’s a nice bag for people who are fans of Tsubasa Chronicles. But the problem with it, is that there’s a lot happening in this bag. Giant gawdy text, this big anime character on one side, and bright anime cartoon colors. Cartoons are typically associated with children, no matter how adult-rated the anime is. What you want to do is bring out something more sophisticated. Anime bag manufacturers see this. More of the recent bags are typically monotone, or match closer to the color of the bag. Unfortunately, that gawdy giant anime character still hangs around on the side. Even more unfortunate is that sometimes, the logo isn’t exactly fashionable material.

This is as close to a “cool” messenger bag as I could find. This messenger bag however, only matches with a specific style of dress (the more denim, or slightly rougher look - think Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace.

Here’s another messenger bag that’s got a little more style to it than your typical anime bag:

The look of it is a little more designer and sporty. So it’s well suited for people that are on the go, but casually dressed. Ideally, this isn’t a bag that you would carry if you were wearing some designer clothing, or anything from Mexx. But it might work for carrying books for school, things like that. For those of you that don’t know, that’s Master Chief from Halo. The idea behind making otaku fashion more fashionable is displaying your otakuism proudly, but in a subtle way that easily matches with everything else. Subtlety is the key. By presenting your fandom in a subtle manner, common non-otaku people will see an interesting design, while otaku will understand your statement.

Let’s take another look at a “I thought it was a good idea” fashion boo-boo :

This Naruto wallet shares the same problem as the first messenger bag. It looks very immature, nerdy, and overpowering. You pull this wallet out of your pocket, and people will look. Not in a good way. Compared in contrast to this interesting Hellsing wallet:

While it does have a sort of grunge look to it, you can tell that this is more in-line with fashion. The subtle logo on it is still easily recognizable by most anime fans, but is interesting enough that even the most non-otaku will think it’s cool.

Here’s another example, for Death Note fans:

This one is a bit more intrusive in terms of the style, but it does sport a biker look of sorts. If you’re into that sort of style.

What about keychains? I’m sure some of you have some sort of anime keychain. Now I ask you, is carrying one of these around really a good idea?

Some people like to carry these on their messenger bags, keys, cell phones, etc. This is honestly, not a good idea, especially if you’ve gone as far as to carry a nice looking messenger bag. I personally have failed this, as I had attached an SD Tifa (FFVII AC version) on my umbrella. Again, subtlety is the key. My own personal preference is an “L” keychain on my bag.

It’s subtle enough that not many people think of it as anything more than the letter to my last name. But I was asked once “Is that ‘L’ from Death Note?”. This is the type of response you want to elicit from people. If you’re carrying an otaku item that basically shouts out “It’s Naruto!” people, even fellow otaku, won’t ask “is that Naruto?”. Where as something subtle like this will get people asking, and will allow you to strike up a conversation. This is always a good thing. You want to make your otakuness cool.

Squaresoft does this extremely well with their Final Fantasy jewelry, creating subtle fashionability, while remaining practical and wearable.

On another note, you can also customize your attire to include anime. Iron-on badges can look quite nice if done right, and the proper ones are selected. If you’re able to, who says it’s a fashion no-no to get Rinoa’s wings ironed on the back of a girl’s tank-top? Or maybe you’d like Naruto’s clan symbol on the back of your jacket? That’s cool too.

The one common thing that you may notice is that none of these designs have an actual anime character in it. You don’t need it. Character designs are smart - there has to be distinguishing features of a character that one would recognize right away - for example, Mickey Mouse is known for his gloves and his pants. People associate that lion keychain to Squall.

The only place that I can see where you can truly display otaku pride is on your cellphone. Your cellphone wallpaper can be some ultra cool anime wallpaper that screams who you are. Your ring-tone can be a subtle sound effect of your favorite anime or video game as well. But again, subtlety is the key. So you can forget Lucky Star or a Haruhi phrase. I currently have the Metal Gear Solid codec ring as my ring-tone, and Lumines “Shinin’ Combo” sound effect for when I get messages.

So go forth, and dress well. Wear your otakuness proudly. Put that Capsule Corps. badge on. Match your otaku-wear with your dress shirts. Wear that naruto leather wristband with your FFX necklace.

So I’ve been looking at my blog stats, relative to the type of viewers on my site, and have decided to keep Radiant Dreamer specific to anime. Anime figures, my anime artwork, anime topics, and anime news. By focusing specifically on that, it becomes better for me, for the blog, and especially for my readers. You come here not to be inundated with boring topics on game development, or strange non-anime related artwork. You came here to check out figure photos. Photoshop enhanced figure photos. So that’s what you’ll get.

Now that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped drawing non-anime stuff, or stopped writing about game development. Quite the opposite. I’ve started a new blog specific to those interests, called The Mirror’s Edge. On that blog, you’ll find more focus on game development from an industry eye, tutorials to self improve as a game artist, and news that are more video game oriented. I’ve started an RSS feed on the side so that you can still check out those topics if you’re interested, as well as another one on the other side so you can bounce back. See why it’s called the Mirror’s Edge? It’s both sides of the same coin. It’s the reflection of myself in two different but linked interests.

Why do this? As I’ve stated, to keep radiantdreamer more focused on what you want to see. From now on, you may see less frequent posts about stuff you don’t really care about, but more focused posts on what you want.

Finally, the last Shuraki figure. It’s been a long haul, and many exciting e-tailer camp-outs, but I’m glad that I have all five of the 1st-run Shuraki figures. The style of Rize matches Shall very well. Of course, what’s the point of me posting pictures if they aren’t photoshopped? Onward!!

I quite like Rize. She’s got some interesting characteristics on her. The most obvious is her color. To start, I’m not fond of it. She’s mostly monotone, and because of the darker nature of it, tends to fade out from brigher figures like Shall and Mei Feng. However, because of her style and design, these colors fit her very well. The halberd she carries is the best looking weapon out of all the Shuraki figures, in my opinion, mainly for the sheer size of it. It just looks damn imposing in a shot like this. In fact, I liked this shot so much that I decided to make a second background using one that I had intention to use for Shall:

I might still use it for Shall when I get a chance. But right now, Rize is the star.

I really like the facial expression she has. It’s very gentle and calm. Not what you’d expect from a girl carrying a giant halberd in a gravity defying position. But out of all 5 Shuraki figures, she’s the one that doesn’t look like she’s out to kick your ass.

The detailing in the ruffles are amazing! (what do you think I’m talking about?!) Technically, if she was really holding the halberd that way, she would break her wrists, and twist her fingers. Fortunately, her breasts are holding the halberd up. I couldn’t get the staff to rest on her left hand because her boobs were too big!! I love how there is an engraved design on each of those little ruffle things.

Nice details on the boots. They’re shiny! What can I say about boots? That’s about it.

Her midsection has the most detail on the entire figure. Leather straps, string-tied corset, lace, buckles, rings, buttons, it’s totally awesome there!! Very well done. The seam to pull her top off is very well hidden too.

Again, I must emphasize how much I love this angle. Shlooom!! You’re dead. If that’s the last thing you see, that’s a pretty good way to go.

And finally, yet another photoshop version!

I don’t know why, but recently, I’ve been really loving the high contrast images with dark-blue shadow hues. It totally throws off the white balance, but when applied only to the main object of focus, really pops the character off the background. This image is definitely my favorite one from all the other Rize shots.

Well… I have a backlog of figures to post, so stay tuned for Asuka on Motorcycle, and Konata Nendoroid (that one will be special, if Miku gave you any hints of what’s to come).

In the meantime, I’ll be updating the look of my website again, and try to streamline it to look more professional. http://www.radiantdreamer.net

I just got Needa today. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to take proper photos, so I’ll post more when I get a chance. Here is my latest photoshop work.

The original photo was taken using the same lighting conditions as the first photo. Instead of doing the realistic matching like I did with Revy, I decided it’s way more interesting to play around with the surreal form of lighting and atmosphere.

The tanks in the photo was taken from the interweb, and then duplicated. You can’t see the furthest tank because Needa is covering it, but I tried to introduce depth of field and distance blurring. I also added in extra dust flying around.

The contrast of the image was increased to give it that blown-out daylight bloom, and several adjustment layers were added to give it that blue-ish shadow hue on all objects.

Needa is rather interesting… almost all Shunya figures that have been released so far are 1:6 scale, while Needa is 1:8. She’s also the only one in military garb compared to the other Shuraki figures who seem to fit better with the theme. To make up for the simple design, such as exhuberantly dynamic hair, she comes packed with detailed accessories. Her knife is removable from the sheath (false - it’s actually just a removable handle, and a secondary knife she can hold), and her rifle is configurable with a variety of pieces. The scope on the rifle also has clear lenses on either end too. That’s good attention to detail! That cute beret is also removable!

Another thing I like, is the face. Unlike most of the other Shunya figures, Needa’s facial expression isn’t trying to be Paris Hilton. She’s got a pretty look to her, with pretty lipstick, pretty complexion, and pretty mascara. Hardly what you would expect from someone of seemingly high military rank.

The lighting in this image seems a little less blown out than the one I used for my photoshop image. Perhaps I will try another attempt at something different with Needa with this image later.

That’s it for now, though. You can expect more pics of Needa in the future!

Until then, my gallery is always up for show http://www.radiantdreamer.net

So I finally got to buying Yotsuba Vol 1 through 5. And here, is my latest photoshop work, a fan-art of Yotsuba and my so far favorite chapter. Some of you may remember those fabulous lines. And let’s not forget the best shot ever of Yotsuba, Asagi and the strawberry cake. “Zooom Zoooom!”

I’m currently reading Vol 3.

After all this while of cult-hype and crazy fandom… after watching and totally loving Azumanga Daioh… yet I failed to read Yotsubato until NOW. Not because I had preconceived notions that it was crap. Not because I wasn’t excited about it. Not because I was stubbornly avoiding it, despite my fellow otaku friends urging me to “buy into the hype you won’t regret it it’s that good”…

Honestly… I just never got around to it. ¬­_¬­;

It was difficult as it was trying to find a place that sold the whole 1-5 all in one place, but when I did get around to it, I purchased it on a whim at a comic shop. I had just finished a job interview and decided to check out the local comic shop nearby. I had been there before, years and years ago. Browsing through the shelves of comics and manga, I didn’t seem to find anything I really wanted to buy. Just as I was headed out the door, it started POURING and I had no umbrella. So I decided to wait around a bit and picked up a copy of Frank Cho’s “Women”, which I had been looking for. Then I saw it… the Azumanga Daioh Omnibus… I drop Cho in awe. But withing minutes, I began to wonder if they had Yotsubato. Indeed they did. The last full set of 5. Yoink!

I still haven’t gotten the Azumanga Daioh Omnibus yet… it’s on my wishlist though!

The fan-art I’ve drawn is a dedication to just how much I love Yotsuba. The expressions she has on her face are priceless, and really make the manga for me. While the shapes and lines were simple, drawing this and trying to capture the essence of Yotsuba was actually way more difficult than I had imagined. Personally, I believe I have failed in capturing it properly. I doubt I’ll be trying that mistake again though.

http://www.radiantdreamer.net for more gallery images!

My story… is rather simple on the surface, but deeply rooted.

I have always been an avid fan of Anime. I grew up in the Macross/Robotech era. I didn’t really understand anime back then as anything different from other cartoons, but took it for the face value that I saw, much as I took to He-Man and GI Joe and Transformers at the time.

It wasn’t until high school that I had a more serious point of view on Anime. Watching series like Maison Ikkoku and Orange Road, I could identify with the main characters and their pursuit for happiness with the woman they admired. My identification with these characters stemmed from my own silent crushes with the many girls in my school. Always thinking, never acting.

It wasn’t until I went to college that I started getting more interested in Anime and became a proud Otaku - buying anime CDs and posters, talking about Anime, and playing anime related video games. This was mostly due to the friends I met whom I still consider them my best friends.

I had realised that my interest in Macross and Gundam was minimal. I was more interested in the likes of Morrigan, Armitage, and Sharon Apple. (this was the mid-90’s) Strong, independant, and sexually librated females, my adaptation of these personas projected through my avatars in online RPGs (back then, they were text based). I adored how these females were comfortable and confident about their sexuality, and respected themselves to not flaunt it in a degrading way.

My interest with Anime figurines began when I saw the very opposite of these personas appear in the form of an Anime figurine - Belldandy. This version is well known - with wings, and a white dress, she stood on the tip of a pillar, with her eyes closed, and her hands clasped together - her hair flowing in the wind. Gentle, and very reserved, she neither radiated the same sense of strength or sexuality, but instead showed incredible grace, generosity, and kindness.

But this was not mine to own. It was a resin kit which at the time, I could never afford, nor obtain the skills to paint it in such an ethereal beauty.
Back then, resin kits were the only figurines available. If you wanted to own it, you had to have the skills. This was a figurine beyond my reach, forever. Or so I had thought…

My second brush with Anime figurines was when I found a resin kit of a beautiful girl in a chinese dress, one hand grasping her clothes gently around her, the other, palm facing outwards. Ribbons of cloth flowed around her in suspended animation.

Again, this figure showed the same type of demeanor as that of Belldandy, but with a more asian take to it. However, I didn’t know this at the time, but this figure was actually based off of a popular hentai manga called Countdown Sex Bombs, made famous by the manga-ka Hiroyuki Utatane of Seraphic Feather fame. This figure had the simplicity that I could handle in painting. This was something I could own! But alas, I could not afford it… Resin figures were and still are a very expensive hobby. The cost of a resin figure unassembled and unpainted are equivalent to a mass produced PVC figure. And don’t forget you have to buy paints and supplies too!

The tip of the iceburg to be was my first Anime figurine. This was shortly after I had met my wife online. Since she lived overseas, she was the only one capable of giving me that figurine. It was Sakura Shinguji. An elegant vinyl figure of her in a kimono, sword at ready. It was the classic fusion of traditional Japanese culture with modern pop culture Anime. I had seen the figure in a popular Japanese anime/game magazine and discovered that it did not require assembly or paint. This was the very first mass-produced, prepainted figurine that I had my eyes set on. A gift from my future wife, no doubt!

Because of how special this gift was, Sakura is still proudly displayed, and will forever be in my collection as my most prized figurine.

Yay!! My blog has finally reached 10,000 hits!!! It was only last month that it hit the 6,666 mark!

As of 10am this morning, the blog stats were captured.

Thanks everyone that took the the time to visit my site and share with me my interests. I do hope you will continue visiting, because the site can only get better!

My collection of figures have been featured on Tomopop! I didn’t expect that I would be interviewed and featured as a story on Tomopop, a website dedicated to toy culture of all forms. http://tomopop.com/post.phtml?pk=4511 Do check it out!

This is an old story, that’s been posted many times across the internet, and forwarded to everyone you know. But sometimes, one needs a gentle reminder to put them back on track with life. I’m at that point in my life where I need to re-evaluate, and understand myself. What makes me happy? Am I working towards that?

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining space. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous ‘yes’.

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the space between the sand particles. The students laughed.

Now, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. ”
“The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favourite passions - things that if everything else were lost, and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out to dinner. Go out with friends. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the washing. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

I’ve had this version of Revy for a while now, but it’s only recently that I actually took her out of the packaging. I originally ordered her with the full intention to sell. Seeing as polystone figures seem to be expensive and all, I thought that I could make a small amount from it (like $20 or something). Turns out, that demand for her at the time wasn’t very high. I don’t know if it still is that low, but regardless, I decided to keep her. She’s now on display, but at a sacrifice of putting two other figures away in order to make the space.

I hope you like my new photoshop image. I’m not going to talk too much about how I did it, because it’s really no different than my other posts. The only real difference for this one though, are the shadows. I painted them on myself. I couldn’t use the shadows on the original because they were on a checkered tile, so I could only use the original image as a reference for creating a new shadow. It was difficult to try and get it to look convincing, but overall, it’s not too bad, I suppose.

The face is fairly well painted. None of it are decals like typical PVC figures. These are painstakenly painted on using a brush. I do wish that the expression on her wasn’t so… casual. The cigarette is a metal piece that you poke into her mouth. It looks terrible without it, so it’s not an optional piece of accessory.

Very nicely sculpted tattoo. (what do you think I’m talking about?!) It’s actually engraved in her rather than simply painted or decaled on. While decaling it on would be more believable, engraving it on actually gives depth to it, and makes it quite cool. She looks so Lara Croft without it.

The attention to detail is very nice. To know that they are using a pretty hard material (as I said before, PVC is much softer) it’s pretty incredible that they were able to do this with polystone.

I know it’s just a gun, but the detail is good. I like this shot anyway.

The sculpt on her hands are quite well done, the details on the boots are good too. The laces are bendable metal that go into holes in the boots (which are protected by metal rings of sorts)

Well, that’s about it. In case you’re wondering, this was the original lighting and background I used for the photoshopped photo.

As always, there are more photos in my gallery http://www.radiantdreamer.net

Until next time!

Ah! Taisen Shiyo, Ah! Taisen Shiyo : Come Back!

Publisher : Snow Dharma

Released : 2004, 2005

Platform : PC

I wish I wish I wish I had this game. Too bad it was released in 2004. Chances of finding this nice little fan-made game are next to nil now. A sequel was even made for it too! C’mon, you know you want to play as adorable little Chiyo-chan and kick some serious ass (who wouldn’t?). Well, too bad… I can’t find it anywhere. So here are some screen-shots for amusement purposes anyway.

Edit : Actually, I did find the torrent for it, so have fun playing it!

Of course, some of you may also know of the Azumanga Daioh Beach Volleyball game. Direct Link Here.