Iris by SkyTube
Project details
SkyTube’s Iris is yet another EGG for Tony Taka to put in his basket. The sculptor and artist partnership has proven itself to be successful in the past with figures like Maya Kamiwazumi and Reiko Date Wingfield to show off their combined craftsmanship.
The character, whose full name is Iris Hartley, can be seen in IdeaStock’s shoot ’em up Valhellio released back in 2011, a game where Tony Taka provided his art.
Iris stands 21 cm / 8.19 inches tall as a 1/6 scale. One would say standing if looking at the original illustration but here we see the character down on her knees instead. Perhaps it felt like a hassle adding some kind of pool base or even worse; thighs with a little bit more meat on them.
Full-castoff includes removable aqua gear in pink, scuba tank, bikini top and bottom piece. The bunny ears however are fixed on the character’s head.
It’s hard to dislike Iris; I like the placement of the hands, the slightly tilted head and the fact that there’s unease coming from the character while striking such a pose. The quality also speaks for itself with great sculpting and paint job, not to mention the optional castoff option.
SCALE
1/6
ART DIRECTION
Experimental
PHOTOGRAPHY SETUP
Flash (partial gel), black backdrop, fish tank
Tian
Nice shots! Looks like a good figure although the lack of anatomy is a bit disappointing. I do like that the figure doesn’t look bulky or awkward with clothes.
Nightmare
I’ll vouch for the quality that currently sits at an arm’s reach. The cast-off portion has been handled with great care and the only part that has suffered can not be seen from the front.
Cerberus
Great idea about the background. I’ve always wanted to make water splash effect in my shots but I hesitated to get wet.
Another thing that troubles me is when trying to shoot with telephoto perspective on these small objects, it is very hard to get both beautiful round shaped bokeh and large enough depth of field at the same time. I haven’t got a lens with round aperture blades but I wonder if that could help.
Tian
Round aperture blades will definitely help. Having a lot of room to work with also helps, as you’ll need some distance between you and the figure, and the figure and the background.
Nightmare
The elements are there to be explored. If you want to give water a go, wrapping equipment in transparent plastic bags is a good start. Ensure that the camera is out of harm’s way and keep towels nearby should something unwelcome occur.
While my bokeh experience is limited I’ll echo what Tian said regarding depth of field; distance is, in particular between figure and background, a luxury when shooting indoors with subjects of this scale.
Wieselhead
Oh lovely Alphamax and Taka seem to be a great combo, I already liked Batrass a lot, but Iris is another great example of this “colaboration”. More seducing characters with this style know how to convince .
The face is beautiful, she is quite expressive and shows an exquisite upper body, the sculpting is really nice also on her fingers ^^. Well, if you ask me her buttocks are too small, but she has some anatomy down there it seems, unfortunately no cute cameltoe though.
The optional parts on her look interesting, I like the airtanks quite a bit. A snorkel and dive mask would have completed the set.
Nice idea with the waterbasin, I also get a few ideas while looking at her.
Nightmare
I’m a fan of Velvet as well and it pretty much came down to deciding between the two. Storage is a big concern at the moment and as much as I want to I can’t accommodate for a flood of figures.
The sculpting is very good and as cliche as it may sound she looks even better in person. They probably had to size down the backside to avoid bulkiness when clothed, I don’t think it looks too bad but it’s a keen observation.
I knew I wanted to include water but I can’t really say it turned out the way I wanted it to. Still, it was a fun shoot and very much so worthwhile doing.