[Menreiki cosplay] Onmyoji Arena: When blue-and-white porcelain and masks merge into one

Having already had three sets of proportional masks at home, I kept wondering how to break out of the framework of the original masks while retaining their visual impact. This time, seeing the inspiration of porcelain personification, I suddenly thought of combining masks with blue-and-white porcelain elements, which gave birth to the prototype of this photo set. To highlight this sense of integration, I communicated with the set designer for a long time about the details. Due to limited budgets, we didn't build a particularly grand real-life scene, but instead chose to use light and shadow to build momentum. The background lattice windows, hanging blue-and-white porcelain plates, and pieces of broken porcelain all over the floor were built piece by piece in the studio. Luoluo pushed light and shadow to the extreme during photography; the light and shadow cut light-dark relationships immediately brought out the coolness of blue-and-white porcelain and the fragility of broken porcelain, so I tried my best in the picture to match the direction of light and shadow, making the posture more tense. The makeup was done by teacher Zuilan, and it was simply stunning. The butterfly and floral face patterns on my face not only fit the theme of blue-and-white porcelain, but also carried a broken aesthetic. To combine with Menreiki's own temperament, her iconic yellow balls and twin tails were retained, but the clothing was changed to a blue-and-white porcelain color scheme more in line with porcelain personification. The wide sleeve cuffs and shorts design of this outfit allowed me to more freely showcase limb lines. Stepping barefoot on the floor covered with broken porcelain fragments made me quite nervous at first, fearing I might press down hard and get scratched, but the final photos showed a strong contrast between bare feet and broken porcelain, and I am very satisfied with the visual impact.

Speaking carefully about the conception of the masks, I used to always treat masks as props held in hand or worn on the face, but this time I wanted to try a feeling where the human face and the mask melt together. The lines of the makeup actually drew inspiration from the outline of the mask, resembling blue-and-white porcelain totems growing out of the skin. The broken porcelain pieces on the ground reflected light under the illumination, and those light spots hitting the body and clothes brought the blue-and-white porcelain patterns on the clothing to life. During the shooting, Luoluo kept guiding me to adjust my posture, such as when lying in the pile of broken porcelain, paying attention to the angle of the neck and the extension of the legs, both looking good and avoiding sharp broken porcelain. The hollowed-out porcelain stool was actually quite prickly to sit on, but for the sake of the picture effect, I tried my best to relax my expression, presenting a lazy and aloof temperament. There were also those suspended transparent spheres and butterfly props, which formed a great depth of field in the lens, making the picture less flat. The light and shadow used this time tested the texture of the makeup greatly, and fortunately Zuilan's makeup totally held up to the camera. The fabric of the clothing was also very good with strong drape, forming a beautiful arc when swinging the sleeves. Actually, the studio was quite stuffy when shooting this set; wearing so many layers of clothes while stepping on broken porcelain was truly physical work, but seeing the original photos made me feel that everything was worth it. The post-processing of this set was handed over to Yange, so there was nothing to worry about. Not only did he adjust the tone to be very pure, but he also added fine sparkling particle effects, giving the picture a dreamy texture. The layout details were also handled exceptionally well. The entire shooting experience was extremely pleasant, and thanks to the efforts of all teachers for giving me such a meaningful piece of work.