Japan Product Development

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Thu 2011/05/05 10:40 JST in Japanese Pop Culture
Just a quick update on the Itamado stuff. Been working on experimenting with various materials and coatings for the product. There's a lot more to just printing them out and flogging them on the Internets which is why its taking a bit of time. Wanted to have them ready in time for Anime Expo but don't think I'll make it ToT
As mentioned before, Itamado sheets are designed to work not only windows in your house but also on cars too. This Choco Chip sheet has been laminated to protect it out in the weather.
By the way, I plan to have a small Itasha show during the Anime Expo season in July in Los Angeles. If you have a car and are willing to let me Itarize it for you then post a photo of your car in the comments below. I will pay for your car to get the Ita-treatment but I need your car from the 31 June - 4th July. Your car will be kept in a convention center (guarded 24 hours) and you wont be able to use it until after the convention. You will also need to wash it before Ita-treatment too ^^;
After I've picked out a few cars from the comments, you will need to follow the how to make Itasha instructions to measure your car. You can obviously keep the stickers on your car after the event.
I'll touch down in LA a few days before Anime Expo and we'll all meetup to work on the project. I'll also cover a vendor pass for you too.
While we are at it, if you got a coolsome bike that you want Itarized then leave a photo of it too.
Your mean machine will be Itarized with either Mirai-chan or a Kadokawa title which I will discuss with you. Yoroshiku!
Early versions of Itamado needed an extra sheet called "Application" to help you stick em up but the latest version can be applied on its own. Itamado sheets can be re-applied to a surface many times.
This is Mirai-chan in her new Solar Marine uniform which I'll talk about next week ^^;
We've discovered that its going to be difficult to cut around the illustration perfectly - hair is a challenge as its all over the place. Hair in the illustration I mean and not my hairs.
Thus there will be a small gap of black or white around the illustration. This introduces something which I have no experience with and that's Path Data. Path Data is needed in Illustrator format so that the cutting machine can plot a smooth path around the illustration.
As you can see from the photo - one Mirai-chan has a black outline and the other has white. Black looks great when its night but white looks better during the day ^^;
Got some non-laminated ones to test too. Illustrations printed at this size need to be originally drawn in at least 350dpi. If you are an illustrator then you may want to consider to start practicing drawing at that dpi. The norm is A4 @ 350dpi. I previously used to ask for 600dpi but it seems that's only really used for monochrome printing.
Plan to make Itamado so that you can use em as posters too. As they are water resistant, you should be able to stick em up in the shower if you fancy.
Been playing about with the idea of using the dead space on an Itamado sheet to make iPad stickers too. This one of Mirai by Ikkyuu-san.
The sticker is also laminated which will protect the back surface - but not if you drop it though ^^;
But cant do much about the Apple logo which shows through if you look at the back from an angle ^^;
Can also print iPhone stickers with the remaining dead space too - this sample came out too grainy.
Little Devil Mirai by Yuu-san.