The only thing I know about Peace@Pieces is that Ito-sensei designed the beautiful shinigami girls of this universe. Well, that is enough for me ^^”
Like Sumomo-chan from Nanatsuiro Drops, Hikaru is a true cuttie, while Nagi seems to be one of those quiet but horribly efficient character. Her death clothes are also the greatest I have ever seen! What a view!
But those two are now quite “old”, and if I am putting them at foreground once again, this is because of the later-comer : Death-sensei.
On a French-speaking forum dedicated to figures, there was a thread asking us for our top 3 figures of the past year (2007). I put the FREEing Haruhi in 3rd place, Kureha comes 2nd, and since I received Death-sensei on 31st December, she takes the 1st place.
Why? well, Death-sensei is maybe the figure I have been waiting for the most. It was kindda love at first sight when she was revealed, and now it is a true satisfaction to have her surrounded by her two pupils in my collection.
Reviewing is not really the purpose of today’s figure article, so for more detailed pictures of ALTER’s third Peace@Pieces model, I recommend visiting HappySoda, I’ve Anime and also shinohai’s new place. Ok, I am also just too lazy, and I admit this figure does not offer a lot of various good angles of view.
So below are just few experimental pictures I wanted to share.
I think, as I managed to acquire a good experience with black backgrounds, I still have a lot to learn with the opposite white ones. Thanks to ron~ and others, I now know the clue is to consecrate lamps to the lighting of the background.
And that’s why it ends with such non-white pictures ^^”
I definitely miss one extra lamp, at least. Those pictures were taken with three lamps. One for the background only and one for the figure only (with reflector). The third lamp was used to light both the white background and the subject. I first tried to direct it only toward the back, but the reflexion generated a “dusk” effect, due to the lack of lighting for the figure itself. A bit like in the Nagi’s picture above.
Anyway, I tried, and I failed. Three lamps are definitely not enough ^^;
Fortunately, I choose gorgeous figures. So it cuts the feeling of boredom which emanates from those tasteless pictures.
And to end with, the magic of computer edition. In few steps I learned from Radiant, I made that ugly gray a bit more white. This is not good yet, but a bit better, and colors are a bit warmer.
The process is the following, using Photoshop :
- duplicate the image to a new layer
gaussian blur it
duplicate the blurred layer
desaturate that
select color range and pick the whites with 200 range
hide the desaturated layer and go back to the previous blurred color layer
invert selection
hit delete
set layer blend mode to screen
It should blow out all the whites to extremely white, while adding a great deal of blur.
Convenient isn’t it? But should be used with moderation.
Oh and be it said, months ago, I bought the Peace@Pieces novel with the Nanatsuiro Drops one… for the day I will be able to read Japanese haha ^^”
1-2 more lamps to make that background ultra white :D
and also nice figurines too hehe, I don’t have any of those figurine ^^;
Sweet stuff man, always liked my pics darker than normal so I’ll probably fail at white backgrounds. I like seeing white backgrounds, just that it’ll probably be hard for me to replicate it -_-”
All my lamps are scavenged from here and there anyway and the different bulbs would probably make a real mess too xD I actually like the GSC uniform versions more (yeah I know, I’m a uniform guy xD) but Death Sensei is definitely more likeable than the GSC uniforms =)
lol, I just got my Death sensei today.
I simply don’t have the room for a good indoor photo setup =/
I’m also not a huge fan of plain white backgrounds, I like to see some sort of gradient ^^;
I think I prefer the Alter line of figures, but the Nagi from GSC is still one of my favs.
I definitely agree with your ranking of Death Sensei. We need to get Alter and Morikawa to finish off the series. I don’t know the characters either, but with figures like these does it matter?
I’m not a big fan of pure white either. It looks freaky to me…though sometimes freaky is good. I’ll have to remember that process you got from Radiant. My way is really primitive in comparison.
As far as buying stuff you can’t read on the off chance of learning Japanese, I did that with the Boogiepop mangas…and then they got official English translations.
I’ve got to agree with you, it was love at first sight + the anticipation of waiting and finally receiving her. In terms of satisfaction for me, Death-sensei ranks higher than Kureha.
Taking Death-sensei really takes more effort to get a good shot out. I noticed that her sexily intimidating pose does seem to highlight her beyond the background. Great photos still lu-k! Need to convince myself to save up for a decent camera… camera phones are really no good.
hmm seeing all this nice photos of her makes me think that maybe I shouldn’t have cancel her, but then my wallet said otherwise ^^
I have given up trying to get a really white background, since I don’t even have enough light to do it XD, nowadays I usually just use texture paper.
Another nice photos ;)
I just notice it today, but there are reflects on the ground. Glass ?
ron~ : yeap, one or two at least! need to find some little lamps, not too expensive ^^
shinohai : oh I think it is just a matter of practice… and a number of lamps ^^”
Don’t really know if the differences between lamps could spoil the final result, since one of the three lamp I used hasn’t the same light color than others (two “orange” and one “white”).
Aya Kyunik : congratz! o(^^o)(o^^)o
That’s true, Death-sensei requieres more room than others 1/8 scaled figures for proper indoor shots. Her dress and hair take a lot of space!
super rats : absolutely, with figures like these, don’t need to know anything about the characters ^^
But I still want to learn (one day) a bit more about them, that’s why I grabbed the novels, which won’t be translated I think hehe. Maybe an anime about Peace@Pieces? about that, I am very surprised that nothing has been done…
rain : I guess we have heard so much things about Kureha’s quality before her release (and just after through our Japanese collegues’ blogs) that it was rather normal to be satisfied when she arrived. Whereas Death-sensei did not receive the same promotion.
valho : well… just a matter of priority ^^”
My wallet also said no for other figures… but I convinced him to keep this one.
For white backgrounds, I will need to think about getting other lamps before trying again…
JC : you see those white boards where you usually draw with colored felt-tip pens during a meeting/lesson? well, I have an old small one I “transformed” into a table to take my photos. Needed to buy two wooden trestles (3€ each) to support it and tadam! ^^”
Of all those 3 from peace@pieces Nagie is my least favorite cause the breasts look out of proportion and the hands look too big and Hikaru is the cutest of all ^^.
Death-sensei is really nice but I never saw her until I saw her at Happysoda. The way everything flows around her is amazing but then again there’s one draw back in this figure for me, (am I really a bad and annoying guy in terms of figures other people buy?) the hand on the dress. That hand also doesn’t look normal comparing with Nagi, the hand should look a bit more like Haruhi MaxFact slim hands or Mirei’s hands.
I like your backgrounds, it gives more of a mood. Especially with these figures, they need a “interesting” lighting mood to bring out their potential which I believe you captured. I don’t think they would look as good as they do now with a blinding white background, but that’s just my opinion ^^.
awesome work man! Cool beans with the photoshop! I’ve actually been using the same technique at work for some of the game art for the past half year, and it’s very effective. You get some really nice high-contrast control.
You can also invert the selection and apply a hue-saturation to it to create some wicked mood lighting. (I’ll be demonstrating that in my next tutorial with Ryuna in the rainforest)
I can’t wait until I get my Death Sensei! One thing that still bugs me about her is the fact that her hair ribbons are the same color as the bird. It makes it look like an unpainted recast, and doesn’t match the rest of the colors. If she had red ribbons, and a white bird, it would be much more put together.
Belela-san : her breasts looks ok to me haha ^^”
And you’re right, Death-sensei’s and Nagi’s hands are a bit too podgy, but IMO that’s what makes them even cutter. The “kawaii” touch ;)
AS : thank you! you’re almost embarrassing me with such nice words ^^”
Radiant : oh~ looking forward this next tutorial! Love your work, and thanks for sharing such great and simple photoshop tips :D
Red hair-ribbons and white bird mmhhh… it may look better indeed.
I love the reflective ground! NICEEEEE
I got Hikaru from Anime Castle about a week ago. ^^ Death Sensei is most definitely a classic figure. Still looking for Donne Anonime. Wish me luck. A very strong recommendation for all the Japanimation fans is “5cm per Second”. Beautiful, moving, a masterwork.