Regarding the concept of this photo set, it actually originated from the original in-game line, "Though this beautiful scenery is beyond my reach." Moving past the heavy sense of destiny inherent to the character, I wanted to showcase the contrast between his static and dynamic sides through several completely different scenes. Preparing and producing these client photos took a long time, from choosing the fabrics of the costume to adjusting the makeup and styling, all in an effort to perfectly align with our understanding of the character.
Let's talk about the details of the costume first. The black-toned leather jacket has a very sharp and clean texture. The gilded pieces on the shoulders and chest are highly eye-catching, with patterns crafted from high-density gold thread embroidery and layered metal pieces, giving it a substantial weight in hand and a sense of gravity inherent to the character when worn. The blue water-ripple lines and red rope accents break up the dullness of the black and gold. Combined with the blue trousers and white bandages on the lower body, the entire design retains traditional Chinese charm while possessing a strong fantasy style. When I first put on this gear, just adjusting the angle of the bracer took quite a while. The metal parts and leather inevitably caused some restriction during movement, but this actually made it easier for me to find the character's steady, restrained aura in my poses.
The biggest challenge for this makeup and styling was actually the wig. The character's hairstyle has many layers. To achieve the effect shown in the pictures—long in the front and short in the back with a reddish-brown gradient at the tips—took a lot of time to trim and adjust the flow of the hair strands. Combined with the red colored contact lenses, my gaze immediately deepened once I put them on, making it much easier to capture the right expression during the shoot.
For the scene setup, we split it into three directions. The first is the Chinese scholar style. The background utilizes a screen printed with bamboo leaf patterns, wooden chairs, Chinese palace lanterns, and a few stalks of green bamboo. Paired with the hanging calligraphy scrolls, as well as the calligraphy brush and bamboo scroll held in hand, it visually creates a highly contrasting sense of restraint and tranquility, as if he has stepped away from the slaughter to sit leisurely in his study. The second is the dark theatrical style. In a dark-toned background, heavy iron chains were arranged, with red spider lilies scattered on the ground, and a white skull placed nearby. Once the red rim light was turned on, the entire atmosphere instantly became grim and killing. The lying posture combined with these props perfectly brought out the abyss-like resoluteness within the character. The third is a pure white studio shoot, switching to clean and sharp sword-wielding actions, using a high-speed shutter to capture the moment the hair flutters, retaining the sharp edge of the blade.
When shooting the white studio set, we tried repeatedly many times to capture the flowing sensation of the hair fully flying up. In terms of action, we needed to achieve the sense of power from gripping the long sword while maintaining a composed facial expression. The hand position, the height of the shoulders, and the tilt angle of the head all needed minor adjustments in front of the lens to express the character's confidence through this upright posture. Actually, when shooting this kind of fantasy ancient-style character, handling a long cloak or flowing hair is extremely important. The feeling of the wind blowing the hair strands in these pictures was created using a high-power industrial fan. To make the hair strands fly back naturally without looking messy required constant adjustments to the standing position.
Looking at these images during the editing process, it felt as if I could experience the interwoven traits of wildness and brokenness within the character through the lens. It can be considered a cross-screen dialogue with the character through cosplay. Every time I explore the mutability of a character under different scenes, it's a very gratifying experience.