Established by the executive committee of Japan's largest model exhibition, WONDER FESTIVAL, 'WONDER SHOWCASE' is a selection mechanism that, for each exhibition, chooses participating sculptors who possess the characteristics of a 'rising star,' conducting interviews with the sculptors and their works to allow the entire industry to recognize more outstanding new artists. In the recently announced list of WONDER SHOWCASE Vol. 40 inductees, the highly anticipated sculptor Soichi Harigiri was selected for his 2021 masterpiece from 'Dark Souls,' 'Gravelord Nito.'
Currently 33 years old, Soichi Harigiri began sculpting in 2008 and participated in WONDER FESTIVAL as an amateur sculptor under the name 'G-Rug' in 2011. Whether it's bishojo characters like those from 'Touhou Project' and 'Kantai Collection,' or dark fantasy characters from FromSoftware's Souls series, he is capable of sculpting them. His courageous and challenging mindset has led him to widely tackle various characters, making rapid progress, and he officially became a professional freelance sculptor in 2018. During the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, he further learned ZBrush, transitioning from traditional analog sculpting to digital modeling with astonishing talent. The 'Gravelord Nito' piece, which earned him this selection, is a work he sculpted using digital tools.
Traversing the pitch-black Tomb of the Giants, awaiting players in its dark depths is 'The First of the Dead,' Gravelord Nito. With numerous human bones entwined in a hair-like cloak, Nito's design is sophisticated, yet the dark background amplifies its oppressive and terrifying presence. Soichi Harigiri naturally sculpted the intricately detailed skeleton, comprising the main body from approximately 120 parts. However, even more astonishing is the lifelike, thread-like cloak, formed by implanting 43 bundles of hair parts into a powerful sculpt, recreating characteristics like curling, bundling, and knotting, much like human hair, creating an extremely dense and chilling effect.
Soichi Harigiri expressed great joy at his work's selection, stating, "Honestly, one of my long-standing goals in continuously participating in WONDER FESTIVAL was to be selected for WONDER SHOWCASE." Perhaps due to the wide variety of his works, Harigiri's style can be elusive, but whenever someone thinks, "It's impossible to sculpt this design in 3D, isn't it?" he becomes highly motivated to make the impossible a reality, until someone sees his work and exclaims, "How on earth was this made!?" "Always being a bit reckless with each creation and striving to achieve the impossible" might just be his most prominent characteristic. At the WONDER FESTIVAL scheduled for this summer, Soichi Harigiri will continue to challenge himself with new works of different genres, and his future development is highly anticipated.
Soichi Harigiri Twitter: https://twitter.com/harigilly
Dark Souls™& ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc./ ©FromSoftware, Inc.