Oracle bone script is the oldest officially recognized Chinese calligraphy script, and it goes back all the way to Shang dynasty, starting around 1600 BCE. It appeared on animal bones (mostly ox shoulder blades) and turtle shells. It was used by priest diviners who were acting as oracles, and also were responsible for recording important state events. Texts were carved onto the bones and then heated up in fire until they cracked. Those cracks, their shape, and the way they visually interacted with the text were considered and interpreted as signs of the gods.

Oracle bone script is often seen as pictographic writing but only a small percentage of characters that have been deciphered are actually of pictographic nature. You can read about this in greater details in my article on oracle bone script here. This is the first time I actually wrote oracle bone script on skin. I have been studying it a few years ago during  master classes organized by a Grand Master Kajita Esshu of the All Japan Calligraphy and Literature Association, who happens to be my calligraphy teacher. It was a small group for those who wish to go beyond regular studies of Chinese calligraphy. It was a great experience to actually translated some of this ancient writing and find out more about ancient Chinese civilization.

Oracle bone script, and any type of great seal script really, requires patience. Writing should imitate chiseled characters with fairly sharp lines well defined strokes. It should appear raw and unpolished, irregular yet harmonious. Writing on skin imposes many challenges. Skin is uneven, it stretches too especially when model changes her pose. Writing itself is quite tiring because positions I have to write in are uncomfortable. Models lay down for the most part of it, first reason is that it is comfortable for them (in fact it is so comfortable and relaxing that literally all of them fall asleep in a process) and second is that it minimizes body movement and heaving. Calligraphy that you see on pictures took me about 3h to finish.

We had a great two days shoot with Naomi, who flew all the way from Kyushu to Tokyo. This type of shoot requires lot of preparations, especially on my side, and also photo retouching is not as easy. Skin retouching is time consuming and one needs a lot of patience for it, but skin covered in writing is on entirely different level. It is not just down to splitting tones and textures in photoshop via frequency separation, but also separating tones from one another and lots of fine tuning and very local and taxing dodging and burning, etc. Nude photography is unforgiving as there is no chance to hide body language imperfections with clothing. There is no fancy dress that will draw attention away from the model like in fashion photography. Working with flashes that offer no modelling light one has to know how light works and predict its effect. Low key dramatic photos are based on shapes of shadows, light fall off is usually quite dramatic so shadows are well defined and rapid. A centimeter of movement can ruin or improve a photo. Last but not least, if the model does not trust the artist it will show in the photos clear as day, just like a lack of skill and knowledge shows in writing of a Chinese or Japanese calligrapher who has not mastered his art yet.

Models interested in Chinese or Japanese calligraphy body art please message me directly.  You can find my portfolio here.

Contact me directly for one-to-one online photoshop tutorials via desktop sharing.

Portrait photography service, Tokyo - website
http://www.portrait-photography-tokyo.com/
Photography workshops in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/photography-workshops.html
Hire a photographer in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/hire-a-photographer-in-tokyo.html
Photo blog: http://www.japan-in-photography.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ponteryuurui
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PonteRyuurui
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PonteRyuurui/posts
For more tutorials and how to videos check out my photoshop and photography tips and tricks YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEOVGZ2rpLhR7gSPvaexxxQ

Take care of the small things and the rest will fall into place. Shadows are one of those "small " things. To tell the truth shadows are everything when it comes to photoshop manipulation. In one of my previouis articles titled " How to start with photoshop manipulation and composite photography " I have mentioned the most important elements of composite photography but I think that shadows are so important they just deserve a separate article. In any photoshop manipulation that is a collage of few photographs or 3D models, etc. you will have to deal with perspective, lighting and colors. Now, perspective and color matching are extremely important, but if you do not get the shadows right things will look completely off. You can still get away with mismatched perspective and colors, but if you mess up the shadows then your photoshop manipulation will look fake. And by shadows I also mean the lighting, because there is no shadow without light. You simply cannot separate those two.

Shadows are complex and the more light sources you have the more taxing your job will be to have those shadows being cast correctly. You have to match the light direction on all the pieces of the photoshop manipulation puzzle, i.e. all images have to be lit from the same angle and with similar strength and color, but then if you decide to add your own light sources you will need to take that into consideration. The best way to do it is to build around your subject or model. Some people like to start with the background, mostly those who are not using their own model images. If I create a photoshop manipulation with a person in the photo then I always use my own images. I know how I lit them, what lens I used, what perspective I shot from, etc. But it does not really make things any easier, the only advantage is that I can work on RAW files and get as much info out of them as possible, but I still need to create my own shadows. 

When you create shadows in photoshop pay attention to light direction, light strength, number of light sources and the light ratio between them (which one is the key light, which one is a back light, etc.), angle of light (low angle light will cast longer shadows, just like a sunset or sunrise). you also need to consider how shadows affect the textures (textures are less visible when in shadows), color temperature (shadows are colder, so often have blue-ish cast), then there is length of the shadows and their definition, so you will have stronger shadows near anything that casts them and they will dissipate the farther they cast. Shadows have shapes and if they are cast over other things in the image, they will wrap around them and become deformed. Stand near a wall and place a light behind you and you will know what I mean; the shadow on the floor will be different than on the wall. Warp, puppet warp, distort and skew will be most helpful tools there. Last tip that I will give you is extremely important. Build shadows in layers. Do not try to do it in one go, it won't work. Just like with skin editing, or any type of photo retouching for that matter, the more detailed and patient you are the better results it will yield you.

Contact me directly for one-to-one online photoshop tutorials via desktop sharing.

Portrait photography service, Tokyo - website
http://www.portrait-photography-tokyo.com/
Photography workshops in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/photography-workshops.html
Hire a photographer in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/hire-a-photographer-in-tokyo.html
Photo blog: http://www.japan-in-photography.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ponteryuurui
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PonteRyuurui
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PonteRyuurui/posts
For more tutorials and how to videos check out my photoshop and photography tips and tricks YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEOVGZ2rpLhR7gSPvaexxxQ