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I did another chair drawing at the weekend - again, I picked a difficult chair, but I'm starting to think that all chairs are equally hard to draw. The difference this time is that I actually enjoyed it. And it was in a public place - a museum (full disclosure - there was nobody else in the room!)
[b]About the (conversion) project:[/b]
After a long hiatus an anime character model again! This Rei Ayanami figure was inspired by a photo-realistic illustration I found while browsing A.I.-generated artwork at playground.com, and the respective artwork was created by a prompt from someone called “YCTt”.
I liked the less anime-esque style of the character, and the red-and-white plugsuit design with many colorful contrasts, and saved the artwork as an inspiration – until I recently felt the urge to build “something different” from my usual what-if military vehicles and went through my stock of resin anime character kits to find a suitable “canvas”.
I eventually settled upon a 1:6 scale model of Rei Ayanami in her authentic white plugsuit, even though it’s a more anime-ish rendition and not so “realistic” as the A.I. illustration. The kit is just a recast and I had preferred a smaller scale, but I found that the figure’s upright standing pose and the plugsuit’s rather simple style would be a good starting basis.
The parts were cast well, without bubbles and with almost no seams, but details and edges not particularly crisp. The white resin material was not very dense either, everything felt light and a bit delicate – but not brittle. However, the kit was quite cheap, and you get what you pay for – and that was/is not bad at all, esp. as a conversion basis.
After cleaning the fit of the major parts (torso and legs were a single piece, and both arms, together with an area of the flanks, cut out along natural seams of the plugsuit) turned out to be very good, so that the arms could be worked on and especially painted separately, to be assembled later without PSR!
For display I built a neutral 4x4” base from a piece of laminated chipboard, pimped with edge band. A 2.5mm iron wire was mounted as a figure holder, and the same material was also used to strengthen the connections of the figure’s major components. Once completed the base was painted with semi-matt acrylic black paint from a rattle can.
The figure was built mostly OOB, I just made some minor tweaks. One fundamental thing I changed was the head position. The original figure looks over the left shoulder, but I wanted to present her later in a frontal view, so that the eyes should rather look forward. That was not so easy to realize, because the neck had to be modified, with a wedge-shaped plug under the chin to lift the face into a proper new position. This was sculpted with 2C putty around the head’s iron wire connector and some fine acrylic putty for a smooth finish.
From that point on head and body developed separately. The boxy things under the breast were removed, and instead I sculpted a W-shaped ledge, again with 2C putty, to come closer to the A.I-generated, somewhat “cleaner” version of the plugsuit.
The head was taken OOB, but the eyes required some attention, because they were sculpted in a rather protruding fashion, and overall it did not have much resemblance to the original character. However, I did not dare to take the risk of physically modifying the eyes and the IMHO too pronounced lips – a decision that later turned out to be better than expected (if you do not cling too much to the real Rei Ayanami character and her traits).
Head, body and arms were worked on and painted separately – the arms made it insofar easy as they were molded with the body’s armpit sections, using natural edges of the plugsuit to hide the kit’s seams.
Painting started with an overall coat of grey acrylic primer on everything, followed by a foundation with RAL 9002 (Grauweiß) on arms and body, plus some Tamiya TS-26 (Pure White) post-shading “from above” to support light effects. This was not really necessary, though, because the figure is at 1:6 scale (1’ tall!) large enough to produce realistic light and shade effects on its own.
In the meantime the face was spray-painted with a foundation in Tamiya TS-77 (Flat Flesh) and some shading with Vallejo “Pale Flesh” from a rattle can. The lip’s line was laid out with thinned Humbrol 70 (Brick Red), and at first I painted the lips themselves in a rather dark and reddish skin tone – but that looked too exaggerated and obtrusive, esp. for Rei’s introvert and reclusive character. This was later changed to a much lighter skin tone, similar to the rest of the face.
The eyes were experimentally created with the help of decals; I had ordered a set of generic anime eye decals of various sizes and colors before the build, and luckily there was a pair of suitably red female eyes in the set that I tried. To make them fit properly onto the face I separated the yes from their brows, though, and the rather tall eyes had to be trimmed to fit on/into the sculpted eyes sockets in the resin face. Weird task, but it wok4ed better than expected, also because of a rather sturdy but flexible clear carrier film, reminiscent of vintage Matchbox kit decals.
However, this was not the end concerning the eyes: I added some eyelashes and eyelids with black paint, some lighter red sections to the pupils and small white light reflexes. In the end the combined method of decals plus painting worked well, with a presentable result.
After the face had been finished it was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and the “hair helmet” had to be mounted and PSRed around it – another delicate task, followed by paint work on the pale blue hair for which I used Humbrol 47 as basis, mixed with Cobalt Blue for some deeper areas and hair strands and with some white for highlight, tips and an artificial light reflex halo around the upper head, frequently seen on the animated character.
In the meantime body and arms received contrast areas in deep red (Revell 34), Garter Blue (Humbrol 221) and Oxford Blue (Humbrol 104). This stunt required a lot of masking, and the demarcation lines between the red and the white sections on torso and legs were later added with generic 2mm black decal stripes. After a light black ink washing to emphasize edges and recesses the suit’s wrinkles were post-shaded with lighter shades of their foundations – only as a subtle effect to add a bit more materiality to the figure. The “00” on the breast was created with 45° USAF letters from an aftermarket decal sheet, while the large “0” on the backpack was laid out manually with black acrylic paint.
A lot of detail paint and corrections followed, everything was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish, and the figure was finally assembled.
A tough project, and at first I was a bit disappointed by the kit’s face which does not resemble the anime Rei Ayanami at all. However, once completed, the face and the figure’s expression matches the A.I.-generated, rather realistic picture of the character more than expected, as if the figure would rather be a physical model of that picture than of the “real” anime Ayanami. Odd, but a pleasant and conciliatory outcome of a quite challenging conversion project. And the colorful plugsuit variant looks pretty good, too.
The top drawing had some gestural setup lines most of which i ignored when I got down to ink but I think they helped make it a better drawing.
The Prompt gallery and nightclub site is at promptgallery.space where there are event listings for shows in AltspaceVR - also see account.altvr.com/channels/abstraction. The world code for the Prompt is YQT013
There are videos of the Prompt Events here www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfzKgAP3NhxBe0FW2bXY5Xvk8h...
He loved jingling those bells, one of which he pulled off and his daddy, Nick, promptly threw into the trash! His mouth was busy with the pacifier, luckily!!
Guess where I was born - to a German mother and American Dad stationed in Germany.
Prompt: I miss this person...
The Prompt gallery and nightclub site is at promptgallery.space where there are event listings for shows in AltspaceVR - also see account.altvr.com/channels/abstraction. The world code for the Prompt is YQT013
There are videos of the Prompt Events here www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfzKgAP3NhxBe0FW2bXY5Xvk8h...
Prompt: window. Background is smashed acrylics, cutout with spray inks, foreground black gesso and interference red. Accented with micron pen.
Play along at DaisyYellow: daisyyellow.squarespace.com/icad/category/dailypaperprompt
This is my prompt book for the current show. We're into the second week of rehearsal (#06) and start blocking tomorrow, so today's project was putting in my blocking pages. The tabs are for action breaks (only four scenes here) for rehearsal purposes and the colors tell me who's in it. In about two weeks, that clear white page of set will be covered in pencil scratchings and erasing and more scratches.
Artwork created by Midjourney from a sequence of text.
PotatoChop was used to tweak the letters and remove frames and borders.
Southern Regional Fuels Program recognized for implementing prescribed fire over 1.3 million acres this year
Wildfire season has intensified with “mega fires” becoming the norm across western landscapes. The Regional Fuels Program acknowledged it’s not “if,” but “when” the south will have to face similar wildfire seasons. Forests across the Southern Region applied prescribed fire on a regional record-high 1.3 million acres of federal lands. All of this was completed during a pandemic and a new budget modernization process.
The last decade, the U.S. wildfire season has intensified year after year with “mega fires” becoming common place across the western landscape. The Southern Regional Fuels Program acknowledged it’s not “if,” but when the south will have to face similar wildfire seasons as climate change continues making its mark. This Region accomplished implementing prescribed fire to more than 1.3 million acres in FY21, during a pandemic, and following a new budget modernization process.
Forest Service employees carried out the program of work while putting their trust in Regional leadership that the funding and needed resources would be provided. Every Ranger District executed its best effort on all burn days, managing the team's safety while meeting the objectives outlined in the interdisciplinary approved burn plans.
The Forest Service improved water quality, air quality, and carbon sequestration as it reduced the wildfire threat to local communities throughout the south, including Puerto Rico. Our employees embody the skills necessary to perform at a high level to accomplish the mission and communicate the benefits of their work to external audiences. This monumental feat would not have occurred without thousands of Southern USDA Forest Service Employees dedication and strong work ethic.
The success of the Regional Fuels Program was dependent on several individuals for their leadership and ability to communicate to make this year’s historic accomplishment possible.
Mike Ward has been at the helm of fuels management, overseeing suppression, aviation, and coordination functions to acquire the necessary resources and not overextending fire suppression needs. Ward coordinated with Air, Archeology, Biology, Budget, and Timber program managers to ensure a desired outcome by all.
Jason Demas has managed budget concerns and balanced fire suppression needs. Mike Seaton managed the surge modules stationed all around the Southern Region. Seaton communicated daily inside and outside the Geographical Area to keep a workforce available to meet Regional needs. Nancy Ellsworth was a critical contributor to streamlining the ordering process and troubleshooting with the National Interagency Coordination Center to improve the process.
Shardul Raval helped navigate the process to keep the Regional Leadership Team informed, while addressing concerns promptly. He had the bigger picture insight that led to the great success for all of our lands treated with prescribed fire.