Hello friends, here is a topic that I thought you might find interesting and I wanted an opportunity to expand on what I have just included in the draft for the Sci-Fi FAQ.

ボケ足 or Boke Ashi

“Blur the Outline”

We were sitting at Kow Yokoyama Sensei’s dining room table in the early afternoon. “The office” where much of the Maschinen Krieger world is created. At any time there would be a collection of top talent from around Japan seated here, sipping green tea, enjoying rice crackers and being either stalked, attacked or ignored by Uran-chan, the family cat.

Here is where I learned so much about Japanese culture, the language and the nuances pertaining to the art of plastic model making. In particular, the behind the scenes of the creation of Japanese Sci-Fi. The business, the lore and above all, adding value to our お客さん okyakusan, our wonderful customers and fans.

Often our day would start with jokes and catching up, complimenting the day’s snackery which as the newest member was my duty and honor to bring. My secret weapon here being my amazing wife who knew the correct items to bring based on the time of year. Yes, that is a big deal in Japan. This helped me to be accepted as although I didn’t look quite right, at least I was behaving and sounding acceptably.

Then it was work which would be to hit the books. Kow Yokoyama Sensei is an expert on many varied tops. Art. The history of art. The machines of war and their historical significance. The colors of war. This was a fascinating topic. This is how I came to understand that to create, you really need to know a great deal. The reasons behind Sensei’s work and creations took on a whole new depth of meaning with varied nuances, tones and hues. This inspired me no end, to start the never ending process of continual self improvement so that I too could make cool things and add value to the hobby.

For the Maschinen Krieger property, WWII “Warbirds” are a large source of inspiration. The color schemes and camouflage patterns, markings and insignia as well as the fast evolution of designs and technology at a frenetic pace, the pace of world at war.

The topic of the “Tony” came up.

Also known as the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien 飛燕 Or flying swallow.

To confess, I was not overly familiar with this aircraft, as a young modeller I built countless spitfires, mustangs and corsairs and was discouraged from making equipment from … the “other side”. We all laughed together at how we all grew up like this, even Sensei’s father did not approve of his fascination with Allied aircraft. Yet here we all were, together, making cool things and learning from our past.

Whilst admiring the lines of this sleek fighter, I saw a re-colored photo like this. In fact, I suspect it may have been exactly this photo.

[Update After sharing this article with Kow Yokoyama Sensei, not only did he confirm that it was exactly this photo as I suspected… he also reminded me the reason he is so clear that it was this photo is because… he was the colourist for this updated version. Double win and such a connected story, so happy to have been able to share this with you!]

Whilst amazed at the re-touched photo and how close and recent it made me feel… my now trained eye and brain could not help but start to think, “how did they achieve this finish and how might I do this in scale? Could it be done with only a paint brush?”

Sensei without hesitation replied, “yes, that is with the Boke Ashi technique and yes, we always did this with a paint brush before we had airbrushes. We can use both now. Paint the camo in first and then with a diluted mix, we paint the outline to merge and blur the two. Practice and show me.”

Please see the diagram below , Boke Ashi Nashi and Boke Ashi Ari on the left and right respectively. Nashi means with none and Ari meaning with.

Simply put, the outline of the first circle has been blurred on the right but note that it not all blurred, it is only a certain and decided percentage.

This is Boke Ashi.

There is an excellent technical discussion linked in the diagram but my short explanation and use in modelling should suffice.

A technical tutorial on the theory of Boke Ashi in Japanese.

This is the background for how I learned of Boke Ashi and I have been working to learn it ever since, both with an airbrush and a paint brush.

Here are 2 recent examples,

Boke Ashi with Hand Brush and with Bokeh Photography.

Lastly, many of you might have heard the word “bokeh” with regards to photography. After reading my story with the word you might imagine my surprise to hear english speakers on YouTube mentioning their “bowKA” effects with depth of field shots.

“Wait a sec, I wonder if this is related to boke?” As I had only heard it by ear, a quick internet search proved that it was being written “bokeh” but was popularly being pronounced “bowKA”. Oh I have no issue with this, it’s just become a useful borrow word to shorten a complex idea so I am cool with that but now you can let your friends know, “oh did you know that in Japan they call that boke, or to blur?” Some guy that paints things told me!

Hope you enjoyed the story,

Linc

For an article on Bokeh Photography in Japanese, click on Danboro.

Bokeh Ashi Blur the Outline