Hi there! How's everyone going? I got a pretty good response from my latest blog post for my photoshop tutorial about how to make your colors pop on your figure photos. I also got pictures from fans saying that they've used my tutorial and they like it so much, so I'm truly happy sharing my own technique in enhancing my figure photos. :)

As I've said also on my previous blog, the same technique was applied to this next set of photos of a new scale figure. Well yeah, I use it all the time, but I did some enhancements to this next set because I'm liking texture effects lately. :)

Today's set of photos is about  Kotobukiya Sword Art Online Leafa - Fairy Dance. I noticed that she's quite popular and I got messages saying when will I take photos of her, then I thought Asuna was the popular SAO girl LOL. 

Leafa was an online avatar of Kirigaya Suguha from the online game, Alfheim Online. She's a Sylph Warrior who appeared first on the Fairy Dance Arch of the SAO series. This figure is in her Sylph Warrior costume, which is elicately perched on a tree which makes her more like a dainty fairy than a warrior is you ask me.

Talk about a slightly inappropriate environment for Leafa because her figure base is water and there's no water source available so the shoot just took place in our garden. 

Leafa's color scheme screams nature, good thing the sun was shining that afternoon so it complements the figure's main colors. I love how her fairy wings seem to shine behind light.

Her mint colored fairy wings are slightly translucent and I love how they're delicately scupted, she looks so dainty even at her back. I was thinking those cropped tights are really unnecessary but with the abundance of female figures exposing their white lingerie in such a provocative pose like this, then I though it's okay for Leafa's tights to leave it just like that. LOL. It's all part of her costume. XD

What I like most about this figure is her face; she's such a girly figure, that half smile adds up to her dainty appearance and she looks really pretty in close up shots.

A funny story here, when my mom saw me taking pictures of Leafa, she thought she'd make a perfect garden accessory! (to put beside her garden gnomes LOL!) of course I said no, but I asked her to plant more flowers so I could shoot Leafa again in a different setting.

I might travel again this weekend and I was thinking I could bring her. A fairy figure like her belongs in the woods and nature themed shoots suits her better. I want to put her beside a waterfall! Then her water base would be put to good use! XD See you again on my next post!

~Love, Pinkcheeks

"How do you make your photos look so vibrant?"

That's one of many questions I get in my page's inbox regarding my figure photography. I guess that's already my distinctive style, I really like vibrant colors. It adds depth to my figure photos, as it makes them look cheery, bright and alive at the same time.

I'm currently editing a batch of photos from my recent photoshoot with Kotobukiya's Leafa, and you may notice this when I'm done posting the entire set haha. So today I'll be sharing my editing technique in boosting the photos' vibrance; I call it Pinkcheeks Color Pop! (nyahahaha I just made that up, heck, I do this everytime I edit photos XD). I always use this as a finishing touch after doing all the master editing on my photo. Most landscape photographers do this technique too to make the details and colors pop out. Since I used to take landscape photography before, I might as well use the same technique in figure photography. :)

So here's how you do the Pinkcheeks Color Pop in just five easy steps. You may do this before and after do you edit your photos, it's up to you if you're gonna follow my style. ;) Let's get started!

1. Open your photo in photoshop and on the Layer tab, click Duplicate Layer.

Today's figure brings so much nostalgia. I knew her so well from my arcade gaming  days back in college where I would save a portion of my lunch money just to play with my buddies. 

Meet Chun-Li, the hero I used to play in tandem with Morrigan Aensland at Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Heroes game. I could still remember her moves like the lightning kick and Kikoushou and besides, who doesn't know this iconic Street Fighter character? :)

I first saw this figure at the Arigatoys' display booth last Toycon 2014 and I was so amazed at how gorgeous she looks. These Bishoujo line of characters by Kotobukiya are all so beautiful, they don't appear to look like feisty heroes at all.

Just look at Wonder Woman here, she's such a beauty! I absolutely love her face!

After showing us their line of Marvel and Tekken figures, Kotobukiya introduced Chun-li as the first SF character for the Bishoujo line. I knew there's also Cammy, but between her and Cammy, I'd pick Chun-li because I like the cutesy type of fighters. Now I wonder if they're gonna make a Bishoujo Morrigan Aensland too :D She's my absolute favorite! 

Chun-li is a 1/7 scale figure based from the illustration by renowned Japanese illustrator Shunya Yamashita.  She seems so huge compared to the other 1/7 scale figures I used to take pictures with (like Ryougi Shiki). Maybe it's because of her muscular built she does look chunky for that size. Well, who would expect for a street fighter to look lithe and dainty while kicking someone's ass right? LOL.

They were true to her costume details like the gold patterns on her chest, back and the linings of her skirt.

She stands on a basic circular stand with a special insert of Master Shunya Yamashita's artwork, where this figure is based on. It also comes with a basic Street Fighter logo insert that you can change it with.

I then took her outside for some fresh air. She still looks so good in ambient light. Just look at that face. The paint job on her face is superb in giving Chun-li a youthful, oriental look. I am totally loving her red cat-eye makeup and faint pink lips that matches her nail polish, which totally gives a feminine touch to an already brusque-looking lady fighter.

You could clearly see how muscular they are, glute muscles and all, Kotobukiya did a fine job in sculpting Chun-li's assets.

A cute little butterfly also wanted to be in the picture too!

If you're a Street Fighter fan, then getting Chun-li is a must. Her mid-kick pose is great for imitating some fight scenes with the other SF characters. I thought of using a game theme setting for her but since I suck at making dioramas, I just relied on some simple setup and my favorite place, the outdoors hahaha :)

Thanks again Kotobukiya PH for this figure! :)

Love, Pinkcheeks

Finally! Some figure photos for Levi! This is prolly a bit late but I'm happy I finally finished this shoot! Now it's the dashing Levi's turn in the spotlight! This, along with Nendoroids Wo-Class, Sayaka and Kyouko, and Figma Kaga are Summer WonFes 2014 exclusive items and I'm pretty sure you've all made your pre orders already! If you'd remember, I was also able to do some figure photography for Nendoroid Levi: Cleaning Version. Now I'm as equally happy to do the same with Figma Levi Cleaning version haha :)

Oh gosh, this is his most photogenic angle! He's such a good looking Figma!

Today's photo session is with Figma Levi Heichou and I used the admiral's office I made from the previous shoot with Kaga. Well, apparently,  after the shoot, all the KanColle girls came over and just had a party of some sort! They just left the office in such a mess so Kaga asked Heichou to clean it all up. 

Must...clean...EVERYTHING!!!

YUCK! There's bugs everywhere!

GET OUT!!! Get out of this room!!!

YATTA!!! I finished cleaning all that mess! If this isn't clean enough, I don't know what is!

As I have noticed, Levi has this oh-so-handsome angle. I've already noticed it while doing this set so I took more of it and ended up crushing on him even more LOL.

Now I wonder if I missed one spot...

LOL! Even if he's resting, he still thinks about cleaning hahaha!

Okay, just one more bottle... *gulps*

Ahh just look at him staring at me like that... he's so cute! I wouldn't mind having him cleaning my room at this minute!

Oh btw this is basically the same setup I did for Kaga's previous photoshoot. The shoji windows I made (which I have posted a previous tutorial right here) served as a light diffuser so it would appear dimmer at some shots.

Figma Levi Cleaning Version is a nice addition to your collection! Especially if you already have a Figma Levi because he comes with two extra hairparts, one for him and one for Mikasa which I have used here:

She looks so pretty!

Sadly, the extra hairpart for Levi doesn't fit with the Figma Levi Cleaning Version because of his bandana. You really have to have the standard Figma Levi for you to enjoy this extra hair part.

Ohh another thing before I end this post, here's a lovely teaser of my upcoming post! Well, it's gonna be a month long full of scale figure photography! 

It's Chun-Li! With a butterfly on her head LOL.