Reicheru Natarii (Rei Nai)

Allow me to introduce you to my new character, Rei Nai.

Rei Nai is something that had churned out, on my first attempt, on anime drawings (T1.0) proper. As the full name in the title suggests, its a Japanese translation of the English name "Rachael Natalie". This anthropomorphism denotes the higher connotation of idealistic manifestation.

Technically, she is a synthesis of traits from different characters formally exposed to:

Yui Hirasawa from K-ON!  (General outline and storyboards)
Fine from Twin Princesses of Wonder Planet (Facial features and body proportions)
Kimberly Ng from Nine Months (Personification and themes)
Rachael Natalie from Campaign RN (Higher agendas)

Well, Rei is supposedly the embodiment of the innate construes on the concept of Moe. At around 13 years of age , she packs the familiar concepts of innocence, child-likeness and a message of self unfolding (budding) into a singular image. But her depiction would also connote the personal stand that such concepts of Moe-ness does not naturally imply eventual deflowering or pedophilia. Indeed, many of such characters are eventually exploited sexually, since they make weak and easy targets for paraphilliac manifestations. Many have been subsequently depicted in compromising positions, or in sexually arousing outfits. However, Rei will not, in any way, be depicted as such. 

Yes, Rei will always be cute (moe). It's my aim to make her feminine, diabetes inducing and innocent. However unlike convention, any unnecessary accentuation of her figure, especially in the bust-line, hips, or posture will be removed or largely covered up appropriately. Should she have a corresponding storyboard, in no part will it be lewd or suggestive.

Innocence, as purity of heart, is an intricate virtue- please do not mock its demeanor nature or exploit it for perverse reasons.

That being said and done, its good time for me to make my stand in this largely mindless world of sexual fetishism and the lolita complex. After all, its okay to get diabetic once in a while, just as long as there isn't festering genitalia from the unclean practices accompanying it. LOL (icon) to that.

Rei says no to the lolita complex. 

(Reference picture courtesy of Yui Hirasawa, K-ON!)

Take 2 of Mio, part 1.5

Nope, we haven't finished shadings on our singing diva yet. I did not want to rush things beyond what was comfortable this time, since I was no longer striving for graduation from the 'under-training' phase for T1.7 pictures. The poses were all more or less there by now- along with the shadings and measurements, what's left is really practice, fine-tuning and improvisations.

On the other end of the LoD spectrum things are definitely heating up. I had finally picked up manga-style drawings proper- after years of exposure, and months of unsuccessful depictions,  two T1.1 pictures came out of the wash this afternoon. Both pictures were scaled down depictions of  their T1.7 counter parts. The first was a bust portrait of Jacqueline Hui (a fictional character), the second was a replicate shot of (take 2) of Mio.

T1.1 pictures have proven to be conceptually different in design and execution from even their T1.7 equivalents. While the latter emphasizes on the realism of proportionality, dynamic effects and texture-tonality, T1.1 forgoes the majority of such considerations. Instead, it focuses particularly on aesthetic appeal, and moderation in exaggeration of specific feminine traits. Simple proportions were used to outline the general facial shape and position of the eyes; apart from that, everything was nearly drawn as deemed-fit.

Not very simple, in light of the fact that I have been relying heavily on my ruler for the past 9 drawings. I know it sounds weird for a person who's churning realistic-looking portraits to be absolutely stumped by something cartoon-ish. But trust me, its easy to churn out bad manga, but to keep moe essence without turning it into fan service requires LOTS of self-restraint.

Lolita complex, how complex.

I guess they worked out, pretty surprising once again. Jacq looks like she wanted ice cream and is plotting how she can hijack the ice-cream truck without getting caught. Mio looks like a princess in a night club- singing her character song "Hello Little Girl". Behind, pedobear lurks...

hmmmmmm, lots of love huh- till then, L4D3 witch killers; moe is life (OOPS).

Ice cream? (dunno why there is an Indian dot....)

our (very moe) singing witch killer

"Hey Hey Hey! Hello Little Girl!!!!"

Completion

Today is Saturday. I have been away for the majority of the week for FOC, and I came to learn more than I ever expected.

What was it all about? Basically it was a freshmen orientation camp organized by the NUS CSS group. I did want to sign up with them last year, however due to commitments to academics in the special semester, I had to turn them down subsequently. Consequently, I had spent my first year in NUS without participation in any of their activities, and I did at several occasions, regretted not joining. This June was my transition to second year, I was strategically ambushed by them again at my parish church, and after due consideration I decided that it would be really cool if I could join again.

After all, such opportunities doesn't usually come knocking twice unless it's planned.

The timing and duration of the camp was set on 15th to 18th of June, with 2 nights at Eusoff Hall (in NUS campus), and the last night at St Joseph's Church. I arrived at the gathering point at 9 in the morning, drenched from the rain, and lugging around a bag which could nearly pass off as my impromptu wardrobe. After the preliminary registration, ice-breakers and opening address, I was ready to unleash the onslaught of expectations I had tantamounted over the past year. I had expected quite a lot from the camp, and somehow I had came to believe that it must be God's plan for me to be able to speak my mind. I was rearing to affirm in intellect in reason, to share and to gain and carry on. On the other hand, I was slightly apprehensive of the mindless madness my orientation group might engage in, since I am not a rah-rah person. But definitely, none of these ever materialized.

The camp, in short, was a perfect synthesis of attributes from both emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social and physical domains. I was plesantly suprised by the strong underlying themes of spirituality and intellect- through the meaningful talks given by priests, religious brothers and sisters, and fellow laymen; that complimented the games, which in itself brought out the essence of higher love and family on top of the usual values of co-operation and team-spirit. The talks covered material from 'the meaning of community', 'lifestyle balance in God', 'vocation and introduction to groups' and 'the meaning of love'- all of them held exceptional meaning and congruence (since I was blessed with the opportunity to understand the concepts in Project RN). The games were about conquering the seven mortal sins, not as in individual, but united as a community.

Yet it was most interesting how I was acquainted to my group. The facilitators were definitely not psyched-out, although they were definitely funky in their own respect. Throughout the course of the camp I came to realize that they were the optimum balance of spirituality, intellect, and social excellence. We enjoyed ourselves along the way without any of the usual fanatic thrists for championship, and yet we did emerge best in games. We shared actively during sharings, and most importantly I realised that true sharing was not only in terms of displaying objective intellectual concepts, but also complimented in the sincere outplay of personal experiences and reflections.

One very important srtuck me at the end of the day through my experiences with this group of amazing people. True re-affirmation does not lie solely within the like-minded, nor it necessarily reside with those with common interests. Rather, it is the cohesion of individuals, different in their own respect, yet willing to make room in their hearts for each other. That was the Catholic's definition of balance and union- rather than the personal want to people to agree with us after we have went out of our way to agree with them. I have to admit that I was initally appalled by the difference in character from some of my groupies- the lack of realization of objectivity and the theory of life. Then it came that it's objective fact that they are still innately good people capable of love and accomodation even without the mad augmentations in character I had inflicted upon myself. They had really taught me more than I ever could reason out without even having to postulate a single theory. I really thank God for them.

Its really sweet irony that the theme of this year's FOC was 'Journey'. I guess this theme juxtaposes the innate journey of myself since that day of realization. And from the acquaintences of my group members, as well as the activities planned by the ex-co, I have grown to understand that what I had taken as my pride, is actually no more than a short prelude for the greater potential I could exhuberate in Grace. As the camp drew to a climax in reconcilation and personal reflection- it was definitely a moving experience to now not only see so much meaning for myself to finally be able to reconcile these frayed (and imbalanced) ends back to the fabric of life and love. But also to be able to see each other- people I would have usually dismissed as un-intelligent, overtly holy-moley or mundane, as spirit filled individuals with unbounded potential just as long as the orientation and direction is right. It no longer mattered whether its 'me', or 'them'; rather, it has all along been 'us', one in union with Christ. (you can take this from philosophy or straight from the bible, it speaks the same thing anyway).

This (NUS CSS FOC 10/11) has been that one learning experience I could not have experienced on my own strength and will, no matter how righteous I may have felt (but I am not downplaying it) back then. And it has in a way brought a certain completion to my current issues with re-affirmation and spirit-awareness, as well as paving new grounds in the (much much larger) domain of truly living the life in supreme goodness.  Coupled with the great people I have met along the way, as well as the sub-closure in other domains (I found great people to work in in CVE, a christian group to anchor to, and of course- L4D2 buddies), I really do thank God for allowing me to finally bring completion in this two years, and of course, pray for greater strength to carry on.

Enjoy.

Take 2 of Mio, Part 1

We're back-

A little on the preliminaries before I get into the picture proper. A lot of us may be wondering (including myself) why am I drawing the same characters over and over again, especially when they were supposed to be manga/anime characters of the series K-ON! where the moe factor is supposedly at extreme levels brinking intolerance. The reason- I do not follow a hell lot of series (in one shot) unlike my true blue otaku counterparts do, so K-ON! is technically the only thing I am in touch with the Japanese world of manga- animation, apart from the other much more deeper Ghost in the Shell series (which isn't really much to talk about cuz it'll probably turn off half the world if I ever started talking). Well, as for why K-ON characters? I guess there is no need to convert up GiTS characters, them being already quite realistically depicted.

There is also this pertaining question that is getting more and more evident- why do I not do pencil portraits? Well, I don't like to convert natural things down to a style that I have yet to master. For now I am probably crunching away at T1.7 pictures, with a realism factor of 70%. Till the time I may replicate images at 90%-100% integrity would I then consider pencil portraits. For now it would be learning the ropes of basic postures, tonality, and detailling. Moreover, it'll always be greater fun if I could churn out realistic pictures with an idealism factor of 75%- 100% (i.e. just remember the face and general posture, and then detail in everything else from imagination) instead of chasing after every contour from a set picture. I'll eventually get there I guess, but I'll definitely need lots of practice, and of course guidance, in the meantime.

Well then, back to our picture of the week.

Our first depiction of Mio came in form of bust portrait. It was really the first prototype of T1.7 pictures, and naturally it was quite an unstable image of its own. The eyes were a tad too big, making her look a little too slutty-dolly. The nose was of the best of my ability then, and the mouth was off its mathematically calculated position. There was a lot of mathematics involved, and every line was very technical in nature. Still it was acceptable for a static pose- after all, everybody looks a tad off when they take passport photos. 

In the last picture project we focused greatly on drawing other aspects other than the head, hair and shoulders.  For our Hirasawa Genius we complimented her with a half-body shot (in school uniform) and a full depiction of Gita. Tonality wise we focused greatly on depicting details and material shine. However, there were still a lot of references to reference-pictures, bringing the idealism factor to 50% Moreover, it was the first attempt at managing pose, so the source picture was essentially quite straightforward. "Stand straight there, genius, -30% perspective, assume a guitar holding position, good- now say cheese". Not that it was terrible, but it was still quite static in nature. Well, its actually good that we started on posing from such a strong picture, now its time we truly break away from camera posing, and reference pictures, and progress to natural shots.

Naturally, Mio is now up for the challenge.

This time the source material was a little more fun. While the depiction of her clothes and hair is similar to our first picture (K-ON!! ED: Listen!!), this time she's at +60 degrees off center, head slightly turned to +45 degrees, holding a microphone with her left hand (the hand closer to the observer), singing (how to draw open mouths quite wide open?), and supporting her bass guitar (nicknamed Elizabeth by Yui) with her right. Elizabeth is at +60 degrees perspective, left-handed (invert Gita's configuations), and bottom facing viewer (the top is at the far end). Most importantly, Mio herself is not looking at the audience, or close to the audience, in actual fact, she appears to be looking straight on, but given her shy deposition, they are not focused on anything in particular.

Mathematics was quite out of question by now. Since most of her body is not in a constant plane with the paper, it was impossible to scale down dimensions from measurments and proportions. With the recurring issue of depth perception problems, there was only one option left. Heck the reference materials, and do it straight from intuition via trial and error (the Kimmie picture). A lot of self control was excercised to prevent the pencil from excessive ecentuation or neglectance, and the left hand was redrawn 6 times.

In the end it somehow came out. I don't know if its objectively correct (3D trigo would be needed to justify), but more or less, it looked asthetically pleasing. In actual fact, it's quite convincing as a natural pose. The fluidity of her fingers on the mic, and how she bends slightly forward to sing looks slightly convinving that this picture is taken while she is singing, rather than a picture taken of her going to sing. As for other minute details, I guess the only way to verify them is by subsequent experience.

I'll try to shade this in a twink- Hopefully the tonality matches with the basic posture. If so, then hooray guys, we have our first natural pose in T1.7 =D

Reprise on our Hirasawa Genius 2

This is part 2 of 2 on our Hirasawa Genius (again, again). Unlike the previous 2 posts, which were of her in a trial run, or her slated for T1.7 depictions, this post can only mean one thing: she has officially been converted up to T1.7 proper.... face, body, guitar and all.

And the result is...... Oh my goodness.

The shading itself took about 4 days, each of about 4 hours each. This was slightly faster than the previous semi-project on the Love Hina group photo (in T1.5), although it was definitely much more vexing throughout. Unlike the last time, where much emphasis was placed on tri-chromatic light dynamics (surfaces facing light were all white, surfaces skew were mid-tone, and obscured surfaces in dark tones- giving it a very studio-like appeal), T1.7 shadings do not strictly adhere to light dynamics. Rather, more emphasis was placed on natural shadowing, colour conversion (how would a dark yellow fare, in comparison to a magahony, on a greyscale), and texture detail (i.e. shine in metallic surfaces v.s. cloth v.s. hair).There were a lot of points for consideration, and most importantly- details to consider.

The shadowing for the bust portrait should be relatively easy to cough out by now, and this time there were quite a number of T1.7 samples to consider. Some modifications from the Rach-Nat portrait were the curvature of the eyes, the reflection of light (wrong for the Rach-Nat portrait), a double eye-lid, abstracting the nose bridge, and incresing the dimensions of the mouth to give a small but distinct smile. The whole idea was to make her 'Moe'- not in a cutesy or adorable definition, but rather in the definition of 'budding'. After all, Hirasawa's supposedly fifteen (then), not a runway model, but rather a puberscent girl with a little chubb and yet a look rearing for maturity. The schoolgirl look had to hold- I guess it somehow did: not in my ideal way, but appropriate nevertheless.

The tonality for the jacket-uniform was slightly tricky- in the original, the jacket was in dark navy blue, while the hair was yellowish brown. On a greyscale, it would naturally follow that the jacket would actually be darker than the hair, even at it's lightest shine. Initially, I tried to be true to the original- but on a T1.7 it turned out that Yui was a blonde caucasian- after some negotiation, it was settled that the jacket be slightly lighter than the hair, but at its shine brighter. This gave the jacket a sort of reflective finish, and to justify things I tried to keep the majority the dark surfaces minimal. On the flipside, I definitely forgo the ideal light accentuation in her chest region. Nope- Yui's a moe schoolgirl, and school uniform's are NOT supposed to be kinky; moreover, she's not nineteen-going-twenty with well developed boobs like Rach is.... So to all sick-ass otakus waiting to see her with realistic-depicted boobs the size of melons: go stare at some yourself- boo!

But the chief troublemaker had to be Gita. Instead of simply having to look like anpother les-paul guitar, it had to have a cherryburst-design finish- and this time (unlike the original), Gita was a smorgasbord of wood, wire, shiny metallic twinkies, and polished surfaces. I had to simplifiy the wooden-finishing, since It was near impossible to replicate without looking like a watermelon, and in turn I gave the wood a little more shine. The rough unpolished wood was depicted in darker and roughly shaded grey instead of jet black. The killer was still the guitar strings and tabs- they just had to be white against the black of the wood, not whitely white, but shiney white! Between the shines must lie an element of black where the underside of the wire lies. Consequently, the wood had to be shaded in 1 by 1 in boxes. There were about 110 boxes- that one sucked totally.

There were many times I though this picture was definitely going to fail. The multitude of surfaces, lightings and details, adding to the sheer size of the portrait, only meant that everything had to be equally well-depicted, and by T1.7 standards, an idealism margin of only up to 30% is given to simpify portions where I have yet to master upon (since it's my first time shading full body shots in T1.7, I have officially mastered nothing). Yet miraclously these little hiccups managed to harmonize themselves to give a sufficiently well-depicted picture for it's own style. I guess the honour is not completely mine to claim, but shared between members who (unadmittably liked it) chipped in their opinions, or saw potential in what could more probably turn out to be a visual graphite disaster. Credits have to be given to the source material, and the reference material (including a real Les Paul Gibson Custom 1955 electric guitar cherryburst design- the closest I could get as reference). Of course, with determinism deing the divine plan; due credits too have to be given to above.

Now one question: Is this going to be your last attempt in doing such horrendously large protraits in T1.7? Have you learnt your lesson in biting off more than what you could chew, Jesse? Definitely T1.7 portraits in its respective size is not a feat to be underestimated, and by conventional definitions it brinks on the border of impossible, but then and again- LETS BRING IT ON!!!

Hmmmm- we've finally proven our Hirasawa as the Genius- now then....when will Mio kill the witch?

Attributes:

Genre: Version 1.7 anime / manga character conversions.
Source material: Yui Hirasawa; Sakurakou K-ON bu, K-ON! Cagayake Girls!
Other reference material: Cosplay uniform, Sakurakou Girls High; Les Paul Gibson 1955 custom version, cherry sunburst design; General pictures of people holding guitars (2).
Dimensions: 50 : 50 cm half body portrait w full depiction of Guitar.
Idealism factor: 50% - reference to guitar tonality and school uniform design.
Duration: Total 7 days: 1 day for general depiction, 4 active days- shading, 2 days break.
Comments: Definitely the most ambitious picture drawn ever, with the highest amount of detail insofar. Even so, some improvements on proportion could be made on the fret-board of the guitar (a little too high); and the right hand position, so that she appears as if she's in the process of strumming (technically she appears to be adjusting her guitar, but that's realistic enough to pass). More research could be made on surface reflection and opacity, but that would require charcoal, art pencils and soft erasers. This picture is done in a 4B mechanical pencil and a polymer eraser.    

The 7th age- a place I never wanted to be, and yet the place where I may truly belong

This post is an personal introspection into the LimSYJe timeline, created circa June 2004, on the various phases of life. The timeline was dated at the 4th age at it's point of creation, after the 3rd age of early secondary education, and before the 5th age of education in the Junior College. Since many predictions have been made for the ages to come- especially in the 5th and 7th ages, where college and university life ensures. Plans for academic excellence, social widening and personal achievements came aplenty. The original plan was to get to AJ, reunite and excel academically and socially- be admitted into the faculty of science at the National University of Singapore five years later, and from there see to graduation and employment.

Five years on and looking back, much of what was predicted didn't exactly turned out as planned, but manifested accordingly nevertheless. I had been offered a place back in CJ, after rejecting AJ (and a multitude of JC-hopping). My results crashed- and throughout 2005 and 2006 I had been chasing a concept I could never fully grasp. I blamed, sulked, and shut up altogether towards the end. I couldn't wait for the 5th age to end, the 6th age (army) to never come, and the 7th age to become tomorrow.

Yet it was in the 6th age I may finally have exposure to the fundamentals on that one concept I could not grasp- It was not in ORD-ing, or 'transition of circumstances' (rephrased in light of transition theory), or 'hitting checkpoints' where true change and progress may be found. Rather, it has always been about the self- the attitudes, mindset, and the 'transition in heart' that is the biggest change. With that realization, as well as the creation of the reaffirmation project (a.k.a. Project RN), that transition into the 7th age ensured. The whole idea of the 7th age was to fully realize the living best, transcribe it into convicting actions, and from there re-visit that life of excellence I had failed to achieve back in the 5th age.

And of course, those plans have a nasty habit of not turning out as planned.

Was it within expectation? I had written a little more than 100 000 words of theory on the living best over two projects. Visited half the philosophy section of my library- picked up psychology, and merged physics, mathematics with music and arts under one general theory called balance. All of these were way out of expectation, and initial plans to seek consultation from 'more adapt peers' had dropped subsequently. Basically I had arrived at this spot in life where few had ventured before- and the only people I could understand were probably elders, philosophers, and Jesus.

That was what happened in the 7th age- and despite the periodic complaint of the lack of re-affirmation, I guess I could finally say that I belong. I entered the faculty of engineering instead, and got wobbly results- save for physics and psychology (no prizes for guessing why). Yet I never had that much needed re-affirmation I had envisioned; instead I lost quite a lot of people along the way. They had all thought I was going totally off tangent- they blamed it on transition, and I knew better.

The animosity between the real and the ideal tantamount throughout 2009, and by the beginning of 2010 I guess I finally broke. On one hand lay enough personal conviction to save lives, and on the other hand lay a life desperately in need of purpose. Rach-Nat became the convictor, embodiment of my personal conviction. The plan was to reunite the self, by first splitting the self, treating it as two, and reuniting the two in love. Should the theory of communion hold, then in 'true love' two may become one, and the two irreconcilable sides of the self may be reunited again.

Even as the plan worked out better than expected (there is no councelling session that could reunite the self faster than Rach could), all of these were spiralling way out of initial plan of seeking the living best. In short, the 7th age was nowhere near where it was supposed to be, or rather, the visions for the 7th age was nowhere near where things are manifesting. The 7th age was meant to be fun, meaningful and something I could sit down and laugh off at the end of the day with a cup of iced lemon tea, not something perculiar, unprecendented, and great- to the point I never knew what I was actually doing except for the fact that it has to be right. Moreover, by the way things were manifesting, there can be no end to the 7th age- after all, the madness never ends- and the animosity never gets weaker.

Someone stop this madness....

Today, I guess much of these madness have seemed to died down after the initial hype. Rach-Nat no longer lives arbitrarily outside the self, and I can daresay I feel much more than I could ever before having this voice of reason (something I could really say belongs to me) constantly at my side. I have successfully merged this personal philosophy (for the living best) and my existing Catholic beliefs into one personal religion (in Love), so the fanatic introspections into general philosophy to keep developing new theories have ended, and my writings for Project RN(T) are not as frequent as before. I have officially picked up drawing, and happy-go-lucky-anime, and enjoy them on the same level as how I would enjoy something deep and thought-proboking. I make music, and I write occasionally, keeping my old character by myself, although most of the incorrect older beliefs (i.e. transition theory) were scrapped to the point I may not recognize my old method of reasoning. In short, I did achieve that level of personal balance I had envisioned back in the 6th age- it was not universal, as I would like everybody to conform to initially, but it was definitely where I would want myself to be.

And I don't want this goodness to end because I may not achieve social reaffirmation yet. yes, I am aware of the possible areas of improvement, and I have yet to reach that level of balance I may be totally in tune with the cosmos. But I definitely do not want to forsake this, in which I may collate as the 7th age, in search of greater 'plans' that otherwise turn out to be selfish agendas undermine what goodness had developed insofar. 
   
The 7th Age- a place I never wanted to be, or even expected myself to become from the start. But yet that very place I may finally sit back and admit that I truly belong- not to the world, we definitely do not belong to any convention, mindset, or norms; but rather to myself, so that what I may be may only become solely because of me.

Alright, enough happy ranting, its time to focus back on the Hirasawa Genius- and we've got a Les Paul Gibson to go.

Reprise on our Hirasawa Genius

Well, this is the first of our two-part post on our Hirasawa Genius (again). Unlike the last time- which was really a trial run for T1.7 pictures, she is slated for a true T1.7 depiction this time.

With a little twist- It would be a half body shot of her holding "Gita" (a.k.a. her Gibson Les Paul guitar).

Conceptualizing the picture was suprisingly quite a difficult task this time. Its not the fact that there are not many stock depictions of her (in anime form) on the web. In fact, there were plenty- more than I could ever go through. Rather, as most anime depictions come along- most of the stock depictions were either gravity defying, exxagerated, or would make her look like a total bimbo should I attempt to 'realize' her. Moreover, it was the first time for me to venture beyond bust portraits, and I am not exactly good with poses. I needed something simple, easy, and yet not too straightforward- I don't want her to look like a suspect under identification in prison.

I guess I finally settled on one of the screenshots in the opening theme. As stated, she's basically standing at a slight perspective (say -30 degrees), strumming a tune, and enjoying herself along the way. The pose was quite simple, however at the very least she isn't teeth-picking it or brandishing it like Les Paul himself. There was a little proportion asymmetry at the chest region, and it wasn't really very detailed (actually, its really generic), but it was possible to make do. It would not be fun if there were more details in the original than the 'realized' version, right?

The outlines for the bust portrait was relatively easy to cough out by now. Some improvisations made to the hair and the eyes, and she's wearing her trademark hair-clips this time. However, there was a little confusion as the pencil ventured away from the familiar terrian of face and hair- mathematical calculations point that the head shoulder ratio should be around 2.4, yet seemingly it was impossible to realize that in drawing. I settled at 2.1 in the end; I guess T2.0 pictures won't be coming anytime soon.

More calculations were made for the uniform. While the original image does not provide any information whatsoever about how the uniform would look like in reality (and is proportionally off), secondary reference was made to the actual cosplay equivalent. There was not much trouble thereafter, and we proceeded to "Gita" himself.

And it was a nightmare.

Technically Gita had to be proportionate, not only to itself in diameter, but also to its length. It had to be comaptible to Yui's hand position, so that we don't end up with the right arm being significantly shorter than the other (the original made this mistake, and the forearm is too short), or Yui looking like she's holding a goose with a really long neck. Most importantly, it had to look like a Gibson Les Paul Guitar (Custom variant, cherryburst design); so this time generic guitar depictions are a no no no. Details were painstakingly added in, and I threw in the inscribed caption "Gibson" in case people still couldn't figure out what it was. This segment took 2 hours on its own- I could have drawn another drummer girl.

3 sheets of A4 sized paper were needed to complete this picture. With its dimensions tentatively at 50 : 50 cm for a half-portrait up to her waist. She would slightly over a metre if her legs and shoes are added. Simply scale it to 1.7X magnification, and voila! she's as big as a real human. (and Gita would be a real guitar)

Now that the full sketch is completed- I have to daresay it looks quite impressive. The size is just right for a T1.7 depiction~ large enough for a corresponding level of detail, (too large and it'll look plain, too small and it'll be difficult to add in details). For a 7th attempt at drawing, I think I really had bitten off more than I could chew- I will definite regret this when I start shading this. LOL

Conventional Depiction of Rach-Nat

First things first:

Disclaimer: This is a conventionally accepted portrayal of Rach-Nat in 1.7 style. It does not mirror the actual philosophical manifestation of the RN domain, nor serves as a personification of it's intended characterization.

Now that we have settled the preliminaries, the air is now clearer I guess- as the disclaimer has already pointed out blatantly: The following depiction is a T1.7 depiction of Rach-Nat, and a general portrayal of how she may turn out to be like. The source material for this picture was an earlier T1.2 depiction, both drawn by Xam, and then shaded in subsequently.

Due attention was paid to possible areas of improvement pointed out in the previous pictures. Soft shadings were used, the eyes were reduced slighty, and the nose was re-visited in collaboraion. Most importantly, personal intuition and experience was employed (from previous T1.5 pictures, and the source material) on top of fixated mathematical calculations to balance the logical aspects of harmony. In comparison, Rach-Nat turned out as a more balanced, well-rounded (characteristically), and contemporary character.

We will of course, leave the intepretation of her character to subjective whims- since this portrait does not mirror (tabooed) matters at hand. So in the meantime, just sit back and enjoy what is to come yah?
   

Attributes:
Genre: Version 1.7 contemporary character conversations
Source Material: Rachael-Natalie, version 1.2 depiction.
Dimensions: 20 : 14 cm bust portrait
Idealism factor: 100 % (source material is technically ideal)
Duration: 7 days (drawn 1 week prior to shading)
Attempts: 2 (drawing attempt and shading attempt independent)
Comments: Arguably the most well-rounded version 1.7 depiction up to date- it being a collaborative portrait and given seven days of re-consideration, and of course a depiction of an intra-personal character. Mouth dimensions can be improved to give a more realistic look, and certain black-white ratios can be tweaked for greater balance. Plans are made for inclusion of a full body, which may extend up to 110 cm. Facial depictions can be customized more to highlight expressions and deeper personifications.