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(or 'Ghost Soldier' - they're both approximate translations of the Thai  'Tahaan Phi' )

I read somewhere (although I can't find the source now) that  …

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(or 'Ghost Soldier' - they're both approximate translations of the Thai  'Tahaan Phi' )

I read somewhere (although I can't find the source now) that  in Vietnam the GIs referred to the Thai soldiers who fought with them as 'Tahaan Phi' (Ghost Soldiers), because of their protective tattoos. In many parts of S.E.Asia 'Sak yant'  (sacred Buddhist tattoos) are believed to have supernatural powers, protecting the wearer from all manner of dangers, and it was, and still is, common to see men (usually) with their whole upper body covered in these protective tattoos.

The idea of a modern day warrior with his protective spirits around him seemed a wonderful idea for a picture...

The first four images are to remind me of various problems I ran into. The 5th picture was the first I was more-or-less happy with . The 6th is a reminder about simple layer masking. 7th is tests for improving the image. 8th (new default) is the latest (version 6) with sun and focus blur.

- I know that he needs a lot more tattoos !

- I'm quite pleased with the dragon.

- I'm not so happy with the water droplets on his skin. Getting them to look like rain/sweat rather than blisters is rather tricky! Version 6 has a lower density of drops - not sure if that's better?

- I want to put some more foliage back in, like I had in the earlier attempts.

- anything else? (I'm modifying the list above as I progress) « Less