Hi, this is Sone.

Starting today, I’m going to share the making-of for the pieces I created for a competition. I’ll walk you through the process in a diary style, day by day.

I made two works, but let’s start with the small red demon, “Taiki”.

2025/07/21

While browsing for sculpting competitions online, I stumbled upon one called “MONSTER Exhibition 2025.” It’s an exhibition held at Shibuya Hikarie where anything goes—graphics, sculptures, whatever—as long as it matches the “monster” theme. They even give out awards.

I already had something monster-like in the works, so I thought, “This is way too perfect…!” Then I checked the deadline and it said “July 21.”

In a panic, I filled out the entry form and submitted it with the mindset of “Well, worst case I’ll just drop out later…” Not everyone who applies gets to exhibit—there’s a document screening of some sort.

After that, I had to jump straight into making another piece for a different competition I found later, so this one went on pause for a bit.

2025/08/31

Got an email with the document screening results. I passed, so I get to exhibit.

But I was drowning in work for the other competition, so I honestly didn’t have the mental space to think about this one. At this point I hadn’t prepared anything at all.

2025/09/04

During the weekly I.CEBERG meeting, I casually mentioned that I’d actually signed up for two competitions.

I added, “But I might have to drop the MONSTER one… probably can’t make it in time…”
The moment I said that, the team immediately shot back:

“No, you should absolutely participate.”

With that push, I finally dragged myself into action. Since the other competition was leaning toward digital sculpting, I decided this one would be a real-world physical sculpture.

2025/09/07

I knew what the workflow up to printing would look like, but I had zero idea how painting would go afterward. So I bought a Coloso tutorial by finisher Shinya Suzuki on airbrush painting.

I checked the full painting workflow, including all the equipment.
At this point I had none of the gear, and my biggest problem was: Where the heck do I paint? I’m allowed to keep the 3D printer at the office, but painting there is obviously impossible. So I started thoroughly searching for a place to paint.

Shockingly, nothing came up.

There are dedicated Gunpla painting spaces, but they’re fully booked for the next six months. Other DIY rental spaces all said “Ah… bringing paint equipment is not allowed…” and turned me down one after another.

2025/09/09

I kept searching for a painting space, but eventually came to the conclusion:

“Screw it, I’ll just rent a stigmatized property I can move into today.”

So I started looking for cheap accident properties. There are plenty, and they’re dirt cheap to live in, but renting one only to use as a painting booth was still too pricey.

I spent an hour thinking: “Isn’t there a super-haunted clearance-sale kind of place…?”
But halfway through, the whole idea felt stupid, so I gave up and decided: I’ll just paint on my balcony.

Then I immediately bought all the airbrush gear I needed.

2025/09/12

Time to brush up the model I planned to print. It was something I’d been working on, but hadn’t actually finished properly, so I refined the details.

I also separated parts and added dowels so pieces could slot together.
I made these dowels basically by intuition without researching… which I would later regret deeply.

Completely unaware of the pain to come, I ran to catch the final IMAX showing of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon that night. The original CG version is one of my all-time favorites, and since the same director handled the live-action remake, my expectations were sky-high.

The moment the line “This is Berk…” came up, I got chills.
And the flying scene with Hiccup riding Toothless— I felt a pure “joy of cinema” I hadn’t experienced since Top Gun: Maverick.

It was incredible. I need them to make sequels. As many as possible.

Anyway, that ended up completely unrelated,
but the assembly and painting process continues in Part 2!

Here’s where the real hell begins!