Yes, Sensei now has to wear magnifying goggles for fine details. He once said the aging modelers should consider them seriously.
A closer look (sorry, it's blurred)...
... a bit closer...
But I can't see what's he's doing!
Oh... the screen, of course, duh!
At the session I attended, Sensei was working on the 1/72 Slave 1 by Fine Molds, from Episode I. He loves that shpaceship from the days of The Empire Strikes Back, but didn't like the finish in the later movie, so he set off to paint it Yokoyama-style.
In particular, the demo focused on how to paint the panels, draw the band, what kind of white mixture to use and how to make it, etc.
See how absorbed the audience is by the screen, not Sensei in flesh and blood?
This is Ma.K TV, if you ask me!.
Or a Ma.K talk show!
A little mixing...
... and a little painting.
Notice how the band begins to form.
After a while, Sensei switched to paining the "front" of Slave 1, using different techniques, involving multiple layers for peeling and chipping, as well as blending.
Now, Sensei is working on the female pilot figure that was available from Arpeggio.
He shows here how to make white suitable for eyeballs, as opposed to space ships, which he just did with Slave 1.
Basically, white for eyeballs are very close to pure white, while white for space ships are off-white with some yellow in it (I hope I got this right. If not, please some one let me know!).
As the figure is small, the screen cannot really convey the colors and the details, so Sensei asked that at the end of the demo, people come look closely at the actual model, to get a good idea of the effects he's been talking about.
He likes this figure so much, he asked who in the audience managed to get one at the venue. Two people apparently did. He then said we should all have one, and could, because the figure was going to be released as a general market item. He urged us then not to rush and get her on auction sites.
The demo is now over, and people are talking freely to Sensei, while checking on the models.
Thank you Yokoyama-sensei!
Otsukaresama deshita!
While it was taking ages for people to check on the models , I took this pic of some of the tools.
Finally, the way was clear for me to check on the models in turn. These are some models that have apparently undergone treatment with the GaiaNotes paints and brush set.
And this is the freshly painted figure.
OK, the pic is blurry, but can you see the sun burns on the shoulders and arms?