The new "Prinz Eugen Kindred Evening Spirits" from PONY CANYON FIGURE begins pre-orders from February 14. From the popular mobile game "Azur Lane", the iron-blooded heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen character with a mysterious atmosphere and sensual charm was made into a figurine. We decided to interview the creators of the figurine from PINPOINT: Kobasan (sculptor), Shian Tanaka (painter), and t2y (painting director)! Here we present the creators' deep passion and commitment to figurines, allowing no compromises.
■Expressing Prinz Eugen's charm to the fullest! Shining a light on the creators' focus points
――As the sculptor and painters, what did you think of the charm of Prinz Eugen and how did you try to express it in the figurine inspired by the original illustration of Prinz Eugen Kindred Evening Spirits?
Kobasan: From the sculptor's position, I personally interpret Prinz Eugen's appeal as having the sexiness of an adult woman, but with the mischievousness and innocence of a child. I created it with that in mind from the prototype data stage, whether it was in the direction of her gaze or in her expression.
t2y: I already played the Azur Lane game, and I had an image of Prinz Eugen as a strong woman. So, I told Tanaka, who is actually painting the costumes, which colors I wanted him to create and he worked on it so that it would not look overly cute and would have a realistic look like real clothing.
Tanaka: The "Prinz Eugen Kindred Evening Spirits" illustration is quite elegant and chic, so I took the advice given by t2y and painted while aiming to complete it in a thoroughly elegant manner.
――Please tell me about the points that each of you focused on for this work.
Kobasan: As the sculptor, the main thing I focused on was expressing the sensuality of the body. I really wanted to express the lean yet soft body, as well as her appeal as a woman. And of course, the face. In most cases, once the prototype is finished, we proceed directly to the coloring stage, but this time, we discussed with the project planners and revised and redid the prototype data after coloring, making adjustments until the very end.
Tanaka: I painted the face twice, and for the second one I tried painting in a different way to the first. I think this helped improve the quality even more.
t2y: It became more polished. We were also able to improve the gaze so that the face can be seen more clearly when the eyes meet at the correct angle. The form of the body is rather slender without any excess, but it is not too muscular, and has just the right amount of fleshiness. There are cool areas like her muscles around the shoulder blades showing, and we were able to create a mature look that is cute and appropriately sexy.
――There's realism in the fleshiness around the border of the knee-high stocking and her skin.
Kobasan: The same is true for the border between the dress and the skin. The softness of skin against the cloth is also something I usually keep in mind when creating the prototype.
t2y: The interesting thing about figurines is that you can make it as if there is a little bit of skin over the fabric, and there is something very appealing about that kind of borderline (laughs). In the painting team, we were able to successfully express the realism of the belt buckle in a shimmering silver and the silk texture on the sides of the abdomen. We also worked hard to show the translucency of the knee-high stockings.
Tanaka: If you just glance, they appear black, but I first painted them in the skin color, then gradually sprayed black over it, so they look like realistic knee-high stockings.
t2y: It was like they were being put on as we were painting.
Kobasan: I also really wanted the painting team to focus on the translucency of the stockings. I’ve worked with t2y for a long time so I already trust him and thought there wouldn’t be any problems, but t2y and Tanaka really did a good job expressing it. The translucency on the chest area is different to that on the legs, and I thought that was also painted excellently.
t2y: For the actual product, you could also express the transparency by covering the chest with a separate thin piece, for example, but this time I wanted to make it look more realistic by expressing the translucency with a thin layer of paint. Also, I thought another feature of Prinz Eugen that her skin tone is not very vibrant...
Tanaka: Yes, we worked really hard on the skin tone too.
t2y: If it was too bright, it might make her look like an energetic and cute character, so I wanted a pale, muted, mature skin tone. I think Tanaka did very well on the skin.
Kobasan: I agree. Of course, I try to make the model form look good as it is, but I felt again that the coloring makes it come to life even more, and that this was created together with the coloring team.
■Passing the baton from sculptor to painter! Cohesive teamwork without compromise
――Kobasan, as the sculptor, what were the challenges you faced in bringing the illustration to three dimensions?
Kobasan: In the original illustration for "Prinz Eugen Kindred Evening Spirits," the character is posed leaning against a bar counter, but this time the bar counter is not attached, so it was difficult to create a pose that could stand on its own and still be consistent with the illustration. I went through a lot of revisions during the process.
Tanaka: It's simply amazing to see how the figurine was created without conflicting with the feeling of the illustration. I really felt Kobasan's strength as a sculptor.
t2y: Really. I was amazed at how naturally he had done it, and I braced myself to take up the baton as the coloring team.
――t2y, Tanaka, were there any challenges in deciding the color scheme or in the painting stages?
t2y: My position is the direction, not directly painting, but thanks to Tanaka's ability to effortlessly produce colors that capture the atmosphere, there was surprisingly little difficulty in the direction. However, there were instructions on color given during the supervision process for the stockings and the see-through bust part that I mentioned earlier. The most difficult part was the trial-and-error process of how much to spray the black color.
Tanaka: I had never painted see-through fabrics before in my experience, so I made a few parts with test parts to get an idea of how I wanted the colors to look.
Kobasan: They tested about 10 variations on the transparency. It seems it was very difficult to arrive at this color.
Tanaka: As a hands-on worker, your focus inevitably becomes narrowed and you can sometimes lose sight of the correct way forward, but at such times I was able to ask for help from t2y and Kobasan, and they guided me.
Kobasan: Although I’m a sculptor, I often give direction on the painting too, and I can give my opinion as an artist.
t2y: We were able to push through as a team without compromise.
――“Prinz Eugen Kindred Evening Spirits" delivers the charm of a cool, mysterious, poised and mature woman with attention to detail in her facial expression, body form, dress, and silver hair. Could you describe the appeal of the completed figurine from each of your perspectives?
Kobasan: Cool and mysterious with a hint of innocence, I think the figurine captures the essence of Prinz Eugen.
t2y: We were able to pack in plenty of thoughts that can’t be expressed in words. For my part, I would consider this piece a success if a person who picks it up feels the urge to get stepped on and hears the voice of Ayane Sakura, who is the voice of Prinz Eugen. (laughs)
Tanaka: We all worked together to create a figurine that makes you feel as if Prinz Eugen is right in front of you. When you can see the actual figurine all angles in 360 degrees, you can feel a charm which cannot be seen in the promotional photos.
Kobasan: We have paid close attention to many parts that you cannot see in the promotional photos, so we hope you will appreciate the figurine once it’s in your hands.
Writer: Yuka Sugie
Profile
Sculptor: Kobasan (PINPOINT)
Prototype sculptor for all genres of male and female characters. Also sculpted figurines for the Girls' Frontline UKM-2000 Soda Tale figurine sold by PONY CANYON FIGURE. Currently serves as the director of PINPOINT's in-house 3D modeling team.
Painter: Shian Tanaka (PINPOINT)
Painter for 3 years. Previously painted the “‘Attack on Titan’ Levi: The strongest soldier alive” figurine sold by PONY CANYON FIGURE. Currently, primarily works on female figurines at PINPOINT.
Painting director: t2y (PINPOINT)
Involved with painting for a wide range of genres, from general scale figures of male and female characters to mecha, monsters, and mascot characters. Currently works as the team leader of the painting team at PINPOINT, directing the painting of many figurines.