■ Let's make a set base!

Let's set the base to make a set of sea of clouds.
First, we set up a light to illuminate Horizont from below.
I am using an elongated LED light that I bought at the home center here.
Fixed to a position slightly lower than the height of the desk so as to wind the aluminum wire.
It is setting to hit light from outside the screen.
To make the background evenly bright, you should also illuminate from the bottom.

Put a black cloth or black paper on the part where you will put cotton clouds from now on.
This is to hide the table visible from the cotton gaps.

We cut square bar sold at home center or 100 yen shop to appropriate length,
Make a pillar to fix the cloud in the air.
The lumber is fixed with a tool called C clamp, which can be bought at a 100 yen shop.
At the shooting site, this tool called "Shako Million"
Even if you do not drive a nail etc, you can easily fix it and it is useful.

Heaton is attached to the square material,
I will stretch the tegs in the form of being caught there.
Let's make the heights of both sides equal in height beforehand so that they are level with the desk.
The point is to stretch the tegus so that it is double.

Let's make the sea of clouds with clouds!

Next is finally making the sea of clouds.
I use cotton for handicrafts!
(Depending on the quality, it may be thinly extended and some types are not clumpy.
Because it is sold in a large lump containing bags,
I cut it small and rounded, and I will make lots of lumps.
If you make as much detail as possible, you will see a wider cloud sea.
If you mix the hard type of hair mousse, it will make it easier to keep shape.

It is the trick to lay out the line of sight to the camera angle and lay it out!
The angle which is slightly higher than horizontal with respect to the cotton cloud sea looks real.

And fix the cotton clouds in the air using the stitched tegus.
I will pinch the thin cotton between two pieces of tegus and fix it.
If this is one, I can not fix it easily because I slip.

It is an image of distant clouds drawn toward Horizont's lower side.
Viewed from the camera angle, it blends into the background, does not it?

Now, this set of sea of clouds has been completed!
From the camera position, if the clouds drawn by pastels are connected to the cotton clouds in front and Horizont, it is a great success!

■ Let's hang the character!

The stage is the sea of clouds, so you have to skip the character.
This time,"S.H.Figuarts ULTRAMAN ORB ORB ORIGIN"I will have you appear in.

First of all, I will make "handed over" to hang the character.
Using the C clamp as before, we will combine it into a torii shape on the sea of clouds.
Let's adjust the length and height so that the post does not enter the assumed camera angle.

Once you can pass, hang the tegus tied to the neck and ankle of the Orb Origin.
(In the completed photograph, retouching erases tegus)

Let's find the best angle so that the face can be seen!

You can angle the character by way of setting up the transfer.
Please note that the figure will not fall.

■ Let's write!

The last is lighting.
We will make lighting using small LED light etc.

Considering the direction of the sun's rays, from the top to the character and cotton clouds,
To Horizont, it is a point to hit light uniformly.

■ Let's shoot!

Finally, shoot!
Once you have decided the frame, adjust the sharpness of the cotton cloud accordingly.
Tall clouds become accent in the frame.
In order to express the spacious sea of clouds, I framed it widely.

Actually it is a set of narrow range, desktop size,
There is also the effect of clouds drawn on Horizont, and it can be seen as a wide cloud sea that continues to the end!
This is special effects Magic!

■ Let's make the sun by lighting!

Let's add another idea at the end!
Hollow out a part of the Horizont and set the light bulb there.

Shining the light bulb ... ... it will become the sun!
It is OK to open only the hole without using a light bulb and to illuminate with LED pen light etc. from the back.
(Let's not use because the light bulb is dangerous)
It is best to decide the position of the cutout assuming the angle before starting to draw clouds.

Character"S.H.MonsterArts Gamera (1999)"Substitute the player and shoot!

Let's adjust the framing so that the sun will come at a cool position against Gamera.
This gamera and the cloud sea of daytime are also fresh paintings.
The upper row is the photo before retouching. I am erasing the matching eyes and the tegus of the background.

■ INTERVIEW Toshio Miike PART 2

- "The sea of clouds" was a subject suggested by Mr. Mikei, why was this situation chosen?

There is a lineup of characters that fly in the sky, such as Gamera and Ultraman, so I was thinking of including them in this workshop. The point is that it is a diorama that can be done relatively easily. Prepare the sky in the background, draw clouds quickly, and if there is a cotton cloud on the flat desk in the foreground, it will look like that. Is it a simple setting?

- The sense of craft that can be imitated even by a child is also attractive!

That's right. Recently I've been a lecturer and have been doing special effects workshops in various parts of Japan, but there are many times I make this clouds of clouds.

- Is it a technique that is actually used even in the scene of special effects movies to make a sea of clouds using cotton?

Recently, it is rarely done because it is often expressed in CG, but in Showa's special effects it was an ordinary technique. It is the "Gamera Large Monsters Airborn Decisive Battle" (1995) that is the easiest to understand in my work. We are making miniature sets with cotton clouds in the gamera flying the sea of the sunset and in the air battle scenes. Though it is a movie 30 years ago, I made a set of clouds using a lot of cotton even in "Capital Disappearance" (1987). Recently, cotton is also used for the mushroom clouds of "Gods appear in Tokyo" (2012). Because this work was a concept to dare to take with old techniques.

- This time, I was amazed by the realness of clouds drawing with pastels!

Every time, it is a technique that I am doing at a cotton cloud workshop, but at the actual special effects site, I do not draw clouds in pastels (laugh). Using pastel, unlike paint, no drying time is required, so it is convenient for a workshop where you can work in a short time, but after all it is powder, so it is not suitable for preservation.

- In fact, what kind of technique is used?

A specialist called background painting uses an airbrush to spray paint. yen famous is better that a large veteran of Shimakura two thousand and six, who depicted the background image from the days of the valley Eiji supervision, not only clouds, coming out at the end of the battle of "Destroy All Monsters" (1968) Mr. Shimakura's work is also amazing Mt. You can see the miniature set better with the power of the background. Even if you set up a large miniature set on the 9th stage of Toho, which was said to be the first in the world, there is a limit to the size of the set as seen from above. The power of the background is what gives "depth" there.

- This time it looks like replacing airbrush with pastel.

Yes, just by rubbing and blurring the part drawn in pastel, you can easily create a soft touch that looks like it was blown with an airbrush. However, even if the materials used are different, the basic work procedure is based on the process when Mr. Shimakura and others are drawn with an airbrush. Mr. Shimakura is still active today, and he has drawn the backgrounds for the special effects of Super Sentai Series and Ultraman Series, and we have seen his techniques up close. On-site, he draws realistic clouds that look like they're only in a photograph, on a large horizon without worrying at all. I want many people to know that this kind of technique supported yen Tsuburaya's special effects by actually experiencing it.

- I am also looking forward to the next workshop!

Everyone, when you take pictures, it is likely to be a problem other than figures. Although it was the same as last time, the important thing in drawing is camera angle, background and lighting. By making the set look good, I've been doing the job of making the character stand up for many years, so I would like to make an interesting diorama next! Please look forward to it.