Oni of Skulls

hi all

more Rising Sun goodies, this time - The Oni of Skulls

I really love this model! but first a little more about Onis…

Depictions of oni vary widely but usually portray them as hideous, gigantic ogre-like creatures with a single horn or multiple horns emerging from their heads,^[2] with sharp claws and wild hair.^[3]

They are often depicted wearing tiger-skin loincloths and carrying iron clubs called kanabō (金棒).^[2] This image leads to the expression "oni with an iron club" (鬼に金棒 oni-ni-kanabō), that is, to be invincible or undefeatable.^[4][5]

Their skin may be any number of colors, but red, blue, and green are particularly common.^[6][7] They may sometimes also be depicted as black-skinned, or yellow-skinned.^[2]

They may occasionally be depicted with a third eye on their forehead,^[2][8] or extra fingers and toes.^[8] 

I tried to keep to a fairly limited palette because there is an awful lot of detail on this "miniature" and I didn't want it to look too cluttered.  The skin has about half a dozen highlight layers and was quite challenging in that I didn't want it to look white!  Sadly, i'm still yet to take a flattering photo and it does look better in person.

The brown red was a combination of crimson and chestnut brown from Vallejo and looks v nice imho but I think I over washed the tiger skin loin cloth to the point where the stripes are not evident.  What I didn't want to do however was make the orange too bright and artificial!  The brightly coloured strips of cloth were painted to look like they were torn from different victims and a painted in contrasting colours.  Once again I used matt varnish to the detriment of the finish of this model and I'm beginning to see the appeal of Simon "BlaxKleric" continued use of gloss! However, I'm stuck with the matt for this range of minis now...

hope you enjoy

dGG

Oni of Blood

hi all

more Oni fun...

The Oni of Blood!

an old etymology for "oni" is that the word derives from on, the on'yomi reading of a character (隠) meaning "to hide or conceal", due to oni having the tendency of "hiding behind things, not wishing to appear". This explanation is found in the 10th century dictionary Wamyōshō, which reveals that the oni at the time had a different meaning, defined as "a soul/spirit of the dead".^[9][10]

The character for oni, 鬼 (pinyin: guǐ; Jyutping: gwai²) in Chinese also means a dead or ancestral spirit, and not necessarily an evil specter.^[9] Accordingly, Chinese (Taoist) origins for the concept of oni has been proposed by Takahashi Masaaki [ja].^[11]

The oni was syncretized with Hindu-Buddhist creatures such as the man-devouring yaksha and the rakshasa, and became the oni who tormented sinners as wardens of Jigoku (Hell),^[12] administering sentences passed down by Hell's magistrate, King Yama (Enma Daiō).^[6] The hungry ghosts called gaki (餓鬼) has also been sometimes considered a type of oni (the letter "ki" 鬼 is also read "oni").^[6][10]

Some scholars have even argued that the oni was entirely a concept of Buddhist mythology.^[13]

This Oni was loads of fun to paint and I really went to town with reds, oranges and yellows to paint up the vast swathes of skin and clothing. The row of severed heads I painted in pale flesh and washed with purple, giving that recently dead look.  I'm particularly pleased with the warm gold look to the flails. I decided to go against the art work and make the "studs" embedded in the skin into pustules instead as it looked far more effective imho.

hope you enjoy 

dGG

Oni of Souls

hi all

I'm still painting up the huge monsters from the Rising Sun board game and this time I can show you - The Oni of Souls!

There are several different Oni in the base game and I'll show them each week with a little more information, taken directly from Wikipedia.  Now once again I know this is very lazy research as wiki isn't the most reliable source, but these days it seems I'm always strapped for time as I'm once again facing academia in order to push on towards advanced paramedic practice.

Anyhoo - the Oni

Oni (鬼) are a kind of yōkai, supernatural demon, devils, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are typically portrayed as hulking figures with one or more horns growing out of their heads. Stereotypically, they are conceived of as red or blue-colored (green-colored), wearing loincloths of tiger pelt, and carrying iron clubs.

They are popular characters in Japanese art, literature, and theatre,^[1] and appear as stock villains in the well-known fairytales of Momotaro (Peach Boy), Issun-bōshi, and Kobutori Jīsan. 

This "miniature" was a little more complicated than the others I have done so far (and this trend continues...) but still enjoyable to paint.  I started with a base coat of "Rotting Flesh" from Vallejoand covered it with green wash before highlighting it back to a lurid green/yellow tone. I then stuck with neutral colours for the rest of his attire - chestnut brown for the fur and grey/green for the breeches and finally Khaki for the leather pieces.  The corpses that he has on the Yari were painted with a pale flesh and washed with purple before highlighting back up to almost white and a little Taimya clear red for the gore, disappointingly I then matt varnished the model and it dulled the blood down... note to self...

anyway, hope you enjoy

dGG

Yurei

hi all

Happy New Year to you!

following on from my post last time showcasing the beautiful miniatures in the game "Rising Sun", I've completed another piece. 

This week I present Yurei, the Yokai probably most recognisable from films like "The Ring"

Yūrei (幽霊) are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 (yū), meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 (rei), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include 亡霊 (Bōrei), meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 (Shiryō) meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 (Yōkai) or お化け (Obake).

Like their Chinese and Western counterparts, they are thought to be spirits kept from a peaceful afterlife.

This Yurei is actually dozens of creatures coalesced into one manifestation.  I kept with muted white/greys and pale flesh colours with purple worm like tentacles protruding from their mouths.

*Edited post* here is a comparison picture or two.  The Bushido ninja is a 32mm mini (sorry I didn't have a 28mm to hand).

just a quick one this week

hope you enjoy

dGG