Kamado Tanjiro | Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) - Retouching to Enhance Color Accuracy of Model Kit Figure

 As expected the retouch work needed for Tanjiro wasn't as extensive as that experienced for his sister Nezuko. Despite my adversity to sticker decals in general, there were some really good ones provided with this Tanjiro model kit figure. So much so that I didn't hesitate to use some of them, for example the earrings, the kanji on the back of the shirt, and the handle/hilt of the katana. These sticker decals were a good complement to the enamel and acrylic paints as well as dry pastels I had used to enhance color accuracy on this Bandai Namco Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure.

Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure work-in-progress: parts & sub-assemblies retouched

 One of the best things you can do right of the bat to improve color accuracy on a model kit figure is to apply shadows/highlights to the figurine's facial features. This I had done using Tamiya Weathering Pastels (i.e. a chestnnut hue) on either side of Tanjiro's nose. In addition I also used a fine permanent ink pen to draw out the design on his hanafuda earrings, which is the image of the rising sun over a mountain. This design has drawn criticism for its close resemblance to the rising sun symbol synonymous with the Japanese Imperial Army during WW2. In reality the hanafuda earring design is actually symbolizes the Sun Breathing Style fighters as told in the lore of the Demon Slayer story.

Before: Tanjiro's head prior to pastel dry-brushing, but earrings' design had been marked

After: Pastels with darker flesh hues were dry-brushed on both sides of Tanjiro's nose

 Unfortunately what I envisioned for Tanjiro's hair didn't quite pan out as well as I wanted. The original plastic molded colors for the hair was in reddish brown. To spice things up, I added enamel-based violet filters to brighten up the colors of his hair. To the naked eye, there is a subtle difference in how the hair looks overall. However this doesn't translate as well to the digital images you see below.

Before: Tanjiro's hair in its original plastic molded color of reddish brown

After: Violet filters were applied to some parts of Tanjiro's hair, especially ends of the strands

 Other flesh colored parts like the hands were given a combination of panel-lining with enamel paints and painting of the fingernails with acrylic paints (see below). Because the surface area on Tanjiro's hands were fairly limited, I didn't do any dry-brushing with pastels to add highlights/shadows.

Before: Tanjiro's hands in their original plastic molded flesh hues

Before: Fingers were panel-lined with enamel while his fingernails were painted with acrylics

 Meanwhile for Tanjiro's shirt and pants, I did a number of things. Admittedly results aren't obvious in the photos because again, the subtle changes didn't translate well into digital images. But to the naked eye, the differences are apparent. At the very least, the application of a lighter brown enamel paint hue onto the raised areas of the shirts and pants made it look less monotone to the naked eye.

Before: Front of Tanjiro's shirt in its original plastic molded color of dark brown

After: Front of shirt, with lighter brown enamel paint applied for highlights and white acrylic paint applied to from stripes around the collar as well as on the left breast area 

Before: Back of Tanjiro's shirt in its original plastic molded color of dark brown, but with the sticker decals of the kanji 滅 (metsu, meaning extermination) already applied

After: Back of shirt, with a lighter brown enamel paint applied for highlights

 As for the bottom half of Tanjiro's clothing, work done on his trousers was similar to his shirt, with some extra effort needed. In addition to the lighter brown enamel highlights, I had also panel-lined the belt with gray enamel paint as well as painted the belt buckle in metallic silver acrylic paint. The ankle wrappings were also panel-lined with gray enamel paint, and the buttons on it painted in metallic silver acrylic paint. Lastly, the straps of the sandals were painted in the red acrylic paint.

Before: Front of Tanjiro's trousers, belt, ankle wrappings, socks and sandals in their original plastic molded color of dark brown and white

After: Front view with the trousers/socks highlighted with a light brown enamel paint; the belt panel-lined in gray with buckle painted with metallic acrylic paint; the ankle wrappings panel-lined in gray; and the sandal straps painted in red acrylic paint

Before: Back of Tanjiro's trousers, belt, ankle wrappings, socks and sandals in their original plastic molded color of dark brown and white

After: Back of the trousers/socks highlighted with a light brown enamel paint; the belt panel-lined in gray; the ankle wrappings panel-lined in gray with its buttons are painted in metallic acrylic paint; and the sandal straps painted in red acrylic paint

 Now I could've used acrylics to paint the katana's hilt, but in the interests of time management I had used the sticker decals provided with the kit (see below). This was one of the few times I didn't regret using sticker decals because the end result looked great to me. On the other hand, both ends of the scabbard were painted with acrylic paint in a silver metallic color because the stickers looked lame.  

Before: Katana and scabbard, both in their original plastic molded colors

After: Katana with metallic pastel layered along its cutting edge and sticker decals applied to its hilt, while the scabbard has both ends painted in metallic acrylic paint

 Below is a teaser photo of the completed Kamado Tanjiro model kit figure. More photos will be uploaded in the next blog post, which will showcase Tanjiro from different angles.

A teaser shot of a completed Kamado Tanjiro model kit figure; more photos to follow in the next post

 So by my next post, I should be posting the final photos of a fully-assembled Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure that has been retouched for color accuracy. I'll also be embedding YouTube videos on my second Demon Slayer model kit figure project then. Because I usually upload the YouTube videos before the blog posts, you should probably be able to watch them by now already if you want to (please click on the middle banner below to get to my YouTube Channel). And with that, as is now customary, I'll end my post with my usual wish for you dear reader to be well and happy. またあとで!