Mongolian couple

 The second entry for Summer Joust 2021! This is for Asian setting category, which is a fitting one, as I am not stranger to this theme; my Tea Ceremony scene from 2019 would have made a good entry. And I would glady have made another model with samurai themes. Only history of Japan was already well represented within the entries, and I wanted to seek for something more surprising. I checked several regions and their cultures and ended up seeking pictures of traditional Mongolian clothing. It is of course very diverse culture, not limiting to Genghis Khan and horseman armour. The usual attire is called deel - I made one for the male figure - and impressive hats are essential. Warm clothes are used on the winter, of course. What's not to like? Even the colours seemed to be vibrant and beautiful.

I built the male figure with his deel and tall fur hat. I like dark azure, but hadn't managed to use it in large quantity before. Here my decent array of 2x4 curved slopes made the deel, with pleasanty slight angle with the front flap. Ornamental sleeves and collar above the belt-line bring some colour to it, but overall I wanted to keep it simple and elegant. The boots are traditional curved toe style (similar to lapikas boots in Finland) with ornaments made using pretty printed CCBS shells that matched to colour scheme nicely. The fur rim of the hat covers upper half of the eyes, creating a feel of universal male stubborness. Such details tend to bring character builds to life!

The female figure sports my synthesis of various traditional dresses that vary by tribe and area. It is not supposed to present any specific attire - there weren't simple enough reference material for such. Material I found had plenty of variation, but bright colours were overall very common. This features medium azure overcoat with long, warm sleeves and a black ornamented dress underneath Looking it now, with a black background, the dark green shoulders should probably have been red for the silhouette to read better, bummer... Anyway, I really like the sleeves - they use sausages to make the slight curve on the elbow. This means very limited poseability, but the pattern would have been impossible with an elbow joint! The hat uses inside-out tire for unique, flowing shape; and the blackness of the hair has contrast with the white, connected earrings.

-Eero.