Japanese Figurine Painting Book Review 01: Pygmalion - Obsessive Finish of Girl's Figure, The A to Z of Hiroshi Tagawa's Fascinating Female Images

Hiroshi Tagawa. That's the name of my absolute favorite miniature figurine painter. To me his body of work represents the epitome of realistic figurine painting. If you're an artist seeking to render ultra realistic skin tones and facial features on a three-dimensional miniature figurine, you would be remiss to ignore his painting techniques as well as general work practices. And for the longest time I only had Facebook's badly translated (Japanese to English) posts to rely on, to get even the slightest inkling of what Tagawa-san was doing hobby-wise. But it's finally here, a book by Tagawa-san himself that has English translations! Anyway enough with the fan boy talk. Here then is a quick review of Pygmalion - Obsessive Finish of Girl's Figure, The A to Z of Hiroshi Tagawa's Fascinating Female Images.

Pygmalion: Obsessive Finish of Girl's Figure, The A to Z of Hiroshi Tagawa's Fascinating Female Images (Front Cover)

Pygmalion: Obsessive Finish of Girl's Figure, The A to Z of Hiroshi Tagawa's Fascinating Female Images (Back Cover)

 

Before I begin this review, I would like to make it clear I have yet to try out the painting techniques on this book. But I'm an experienced enough miniature painter to be familiar with such techniques and also be aware of how they might potentially fit into my existing workflow processes. In short, I'm pretty sure these techniques work, and more importantly they are well suited to my own style of painting. As an added bonus, you'll be able to find a short video at the end of this post showing a quick overview of what's inside the book via its pages being flipped quickly. On the video and photos here, all text on the book is intentionally blurred out to protect the author's intellectual property.   

The 1/6 scale Female Android is one of my favorite pieces painted by Tagawa-san

 

About a third of the book is dedicated to a how-to-paint/prep tutorial of which the end result you can see in the photo immediately below this paragraph. From a cursory glance at the tutorials, I believe Tagawa-san uses a combination of lacquer, enamel and oil paints to achieve the paint effects you see in his work. In addition, he also shows how to place real-life fake eyelashes on the eyelids of the miniature figurines to exponentially increase the realism of the figurine's facial features. In the book, you can also learn how he paints veins and blemishes which makes skin tones look ultra realistic. 

Tutorials in the book are geared towards painting the ballerina girl above

Each painting tutorial step is written in both Japanese and English

In addition, to the how-to-paint guide, there are also descriptions on the resin figurine prep work

 

Ballerina girl is the only how-to-paint example given in this book and it takes up about one-third of this 96-page book. That leaves the bulk of the content comprising photos of Tagawa-san's completed works, articles about the artist himself and his work area, etc (see below). While this was a bone of contention among some online reviewers i.e. lack of tutorial examples, it wasn't the case for me. I was happy to take quality over quantity. Having a fairly detailed look at how he brings even just one resin figurine all the way from the prep-stage to the final fully painted stage was a real eye opener.    

A large proportion of the book comprises photos of various completed works by Tagawa-san

Tagawa-san's body of has also been on display in art exhibits

The master himself, Hiroshi Tagawa-san (in an article about him and sculptor Hiroki Hayashi)

 

In line with my wish to get my YouTube Channel up and running with more content, I decided to do a quick page flip viewing video for the book. Please do note that the somewhat blurry book text on the video was intentional in order to safeguard the author's intellectual property. Also blurred out were sections of the book which contained nudity. Personally I've no issue with nudity in miniature figurines as I consider it to be art. However, I'm aware some may be sensitive to it hence the censorship. 

 

If I had to score this book out of 10, I would give it an 9 out of 10. Being a huge fan of Tagawa-san, I'm frankly just relieved he decided to finally publish a book that highlights his painting techniques. Of course as consumers we'll always want more. More tutorials, more photos, more articles, more detail. But apart from video tutorials or face-to-face classes with the artist, this is about the best one can hope for. In short, I'm extremely happy with my copy of  Pygmalion - Obsessive Finish of Girl's Figure, The A to Z of Hiroshi Tagawa's Fascinating Female Images. I highly recommend it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion enters project pipeline & some personal EVA treasures in my collection

Neon Genesis Evangelion was the first anime I owned in hard copy in the form of DVDs which I had scrounged and saved to buy, a few years after entering the workforce. So naturally the Evangelion series holds special meaning for me. Directed by Anno Hideaki, this iconic mecha anime first aired in 1995 in Japan. It has since seen a reboot through a series of movies i.e. Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone [1997]; Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance [2009]; Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo [2012]; and Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 [eta 2020]. It took me long enough but I finally got my hands on some Evangelion scale model kits and resin figurines to add to my project pipeline.

As my personal hobby convention would dictate, wherever possible each project universe should comprise a scale model (mecha/vehicle) and figurine kit. Sometimes it's only possible to find either one or the other and not both. So far I've been lucky as two other sci-fi anime universes included in my project pipeline had both (check out the third- and second-last photos below). 

Bandai Limited Model High Grade kits of the EVA-00 and EVA-01 as well as a 1/6 scale resin cast of Rei Ayanami

E2046 miniature 1/6 scale resin figurine kit of Rei Ayanami

Bandai Limited Model High Grade plastic scale model kit of EVA-01 Test Type

Bandai Limited Model High Grade plastic scale model kit of EVA-00 Protoype

Both the EVA-00 Prototype (Yellow) and EVA-01 Test Type model kits were chosen for a specific reason. In Episode 6: Showdown in Tokyo-3 of the original series, there was a scene in which EVA-00 holds up a shield to protect EVA-01 from a Fifth Angel attack as the latter was preparing to take another sniper shot at the angel. It's a cool scene I would love to recreate in a diorama, if I can find miniature trees in the correct scale. If not, I'll just pose them together sans a diorama setting. As for the figurine, my first from this universe will be Rei Ayanami who is the EVA-00 pilot.

Screen capture montage of a scene showing the EVA-00 (left) and EVA-01 (right) 

Back in the 90s when I first got into anime in a big way, there weren't many shows which held my interest. For a show to interest me then it had to have two things going for it. A great storyline and excellent animation. The latter characteristic was harder to come by in an age when digital animation technology wasn't the norm like it is today. So back then what caught my eye was work by directors like Anno Hedeaki (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Watanabe Shinichirō (Cowboy Beebop), Oshii Mamoru (Ghost in the Shell) and the great Miyazaki Hayao (My Neighbor Totoro, etc.). And my first anime series was of course Anno's 26 episode Evangelion which debuted in 1995.   

DVDs  of the original 26 episode series and The End of Evangelion movie still in pristine condition

Aside from the DVDs which I have carefully kept in pristine condition (see above), other Evangelion keepsakes included Gashapon or capsule toys I was collecting at a time when I was introducing my then young son to anime. (Incidentally it was then, sometime in the last decade, when I dropped the "excellent animation" requirement and just chose to enjoy any anime with a good storyline with him.) Gashapon, they are dispensed from vending machines in a random fashion so that you are never sure of what you will get apart from a limited range of products that is specified. What I remember is being extremely lucky in that I got Rei, Asuka and Shinji (see below) almost on my first try.   

Neon Genesis Evangelion Gashapon or Japanese capsule toys

Three separate capsule toys consisting of Rei Ayanami (left), Asuka Langley Soryu (center) and Shinji Ikari (left)

Pen Pen the penguin came together with the seated Shinji Ikari figurine

Also in my collection is a recent addition i.e. an artbook titled Evangelion Illustrations 2007-2017 (see below) published just last month by VIZ Media. This artbook showcases illustrations featuring characters from the series that was used on bullet trains, CD covers, film posters, etc. Here's a bit of trivia: when I first saw the characters drinking UCC Coffee I had no idea that it would eventually become my favourite brand of coffee. Now I drink up to three cups of the stuff everyday.     

Recently released artbook Evangelion Illustrations 2007-2017 is an English version of the Japanese original

Back cover of Evangelion Illustrations 2007-2017 artbook

Artbook contains a decade's worth of Evangelion illustrations used in various commercial settings

Sample page of Evangelion art work showcasing the characters and EVA units

Yet another sample page of Evangelion artwork; this time on the female characters

Info on the last page clearly shows that this artbook was published just last month, June 2019

As mentioned above, there are actually two other E2046 resin cast figurines (see below) in my project pipeline, and it's highly likely that either one would precede Rei Ayanami on the airbrush turntable.

Mobile Suit Gundam universe project pairing of the RX-78-2 and Sayla Mass

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 pairing of the battleship (Cosmo Reverse version) and Yurisha Iscandar

Before starting work on any new figurine, I have to first finish painting the Race Queen. She is coming along nicely and should be the next hobby project to be completed. After that I will decide on who next to paint ... either Sayla Mass from the Mobile Suit Gundam universe, Yurisha Iscandar from the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 universe or Rei Ayanami from the Evangelion universe. 

So that's that. A new sci-fi universe has entered my project pipeline. Neon Genesis Evangelion it is.

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2016

Oh my! grandma, what big eyes you have. Well, it's that time of the year again for us bookworms in Kuala Lumpur to get our paws on stuff we couldn't afford otherwise - The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale. With up to 75% to 95% discounts off the retail price, books previously looked upon with longing were now within reach of yours truly with his meager stash of Asia's worst performing currency.     

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2016 in Kuala Lumpur

Beyond my wildest dreams, this year's sale turned out to be way better than what I could have hoped for. Almost every other book on my geeky wishlist was in attendance at this sale - covering topics ranging from the better known Star Wars and Star Trek universes to art, astronomy, music and fiction.

Loot from this year's book sale ...

... precious finds ...

... and yet more loot

Shown below is a  relatively detailed breakdown of the books I managed to score from the latest Big Bad Wolf book sale, starting with the science fiction and astronomy books. They comprised stuff from the Star Trek and Star Wars universes as well as a couple of huge astronomy books - Mars: A New View of the Red Planet measures roughly 14 by 17 inches while Cosmos came in at a whopping 17 by 20 inches. While each Star Wars/Star Trek find was a gem in its own right, I was particularly happy with Star Trek Costumes - a much wished for book that was finally affordable thanks to the sale.

Star Trek goodies ... Haynes' manuals for the Enterprise and Bird-of-Prey plus the Art of War, Klingon style

Star Trek Costumes, a much wished for book that was finally affordable for a Federation credit-challenged Trekkie

Getting in the mood for Rogue One with a Death Star manual and a Marvel covers art book

My biggest score of the sale was also the largest in size, Cosmos (right, 17 by 20.5 inches)

Art was another genre that was well represented in this book sale. I couldn't believe my eyes when I came upon art books of video games such as Fallout 4, Uncharted Trilogy, Witcher and World of Warcraft. These tomes were fairly new releases and worthy additions to the library of art lovers or artists seeking ideas and inspiration. Another worthy mention is Realms: The Roleplaying Game Art of Tony Diterlizzi. In it are some truly lovely and inspiring fantasy character art.    

My heart skipped a beat when I set my eyes upon this two gorgeous art books

Love the games and books, and now I have the art/lore reference

Always have a soft spot for Blizzard World of Warcraft's art and lore

Fantasy art books make wonderful reference material for my miniature painting projects

Instructional art books were also aplenty. That and Adult Coloring Books which I pretty much expected. A little bit of trivia for you - did you know that sales of Adult Coloring Books rose from 1 million in 2014 to 12 million in 2015. While I don't fancy coloring books per se, the byproduct of this trend is more guide books on colored pencil as an art medium. This dovetailed well with my search for such instructional books to complement my venture into portrait drawing using colored pencils. 

A trio of colored pencil guide books to complement those already in my collection

Some books on color per se and portraits

Bargain fiction novels were a little bit harder to come by this year. Worse still the section on Science Fiction and Fantasy was wholly inadequate to put it mildly. All I got were the 31st Annual Collection of The Year's Best Science Fiction, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and Peter Hamilton's first book in his new duology The Abyss Beyond Dreams. But I did get horror hardbacks by Stephen King and books from two other authors whose work I like Neil Gaiman and Murakami.

With a Stephen King bargain to be had every year, I no longer buy his books at retail prices

Science Fiction and Fantasy books were hard to come by this year but I'm still happy with my finds

Adding more titles to my Neil Gaiman and Murakami collections is never a bad thing

Rounding of my loot for this year was some music biographies and a book on my favourite online store. There were so many that I wanted to get but a limited budget meant I limited myself to two and they were on two of my favourite bands namely AC/DC and Metallica. And to round it all off I got a book on my favourite online store Amazon. Either the inefficiencies of the Malaysian economy or the ruthlessness of Amazon's cut-throat pricing means that more often than not, it is much cheaper to buy stuff from the US online store than most shops in my country, including shipping costs. 

Music biographies were aplenty but a limited budget meant choosing just two ... AC/DC and Metallica

And then there's that book about my favourite online store

I'm still pinching myself. Ouch! Nope. It's all real. Those gorgeous art books are still sitting in a pile; their inherent creativity waiting to be read and unleashed. It's sad these trying times make it harder to justify a reading habit. Rant begins. To understand how bad it is for Malaysian readers, here is an apples-to-apples comparison. Average hourly wage in McDonald's is about US$10 in the US and RM6 in Malaysia but a paperback costs about US$9.95 in the US and RM39.95 in Malaysia. And one US dollar is worth about RM4.45. Do the math. Rant over. To not end on a negative note, here's wishing the force is with you as you join Jyn Erso and gang in the hunt for the Death Star's plans. ^_^