This detailed Gundam “sketch” is actually an unbelievably colored 3-D model kit!【Photos】

One of Japan’s most talented anime modelers continues to create works of art that look more 2-D than most actual drawings.

Despite the name, Japan’s Yodobashi Camera sells a lot more than camera equipment. The chain is actually a comprehensive consumer electronics retailer, and its massive stores also usually have floor space set aside for anime merchandise, since there’s plenty of crossover between technology fans and anime otaku.

As a matter of fact, Yodobashi’s Sapporo branch is even exhibiting some fan projects at the moment, one of which is Twitter user @kyo512a’s take on the Refined Gundam Zeta RGZ-91 Re-GZ mecha, which shows up in classic anime film Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack as well as the more recent Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.

That’s some impressive colored pencil work, isn’t it? It obviously took a lot of time, so you might be surprised to see that there’s also a rear view.

So did @kyo512a go to the trouble of preparing two drawings? Nope. He went to the trouble of putting together one jaw-dropping three-dimensional model kit which he then colored, using colored pencils, to look like a 2-D sketch.

枚数制限で貼れなかったネタばらし的なやつ（今更 https://t.co/Iv4cUutNw0
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今日@札ヨドリ画ズィ展示中 (@kyo512a) March 05, 2018

Hard as it may be to believe, the lovingly colored model started off entirely white, save for the lines separating the robot’s panels.

@WTR2D2 今回は下地にグレーサフ→白サフ→つや消しを吹いていきました。つや消しで表面を凹凸にしないと色鉛筆の色が乗りにくいんですよね。 https://t.co/RhZjEFja5f
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今日@札ヨドリ画ズィ展示中 (@kyo512a) February 20, 2018

To really help complete the illusion, @kyo512a mounted the finished model against a picture frame with some pencil shading applied to a plain white piece of paper, which also helps hide a thruster that’s broken off the robot’s backside since its initial assembly.

リ画ズィ完成！ヨドバシ逆シャアガンプラコンテストに出展したので公開！色鉛筆とペンで描いて？いきました。絵と言いたい所ですがHGUCです(・∀・) 札幌ヨドバシカメラ3Fおもちゃコーナーレジ横に展示して頂きましたのでよろしければ… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
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今日@札ヨドリ画ズィ展示中 (@kyo512a) February 10, 2018

もう充分すぎるくらい広がってしまったリ画ズィ実はおケツのバーニアを紛失してしまって後ろからあんまり見せられなくて額縁に入れられてしまったのです…ｗ #私の作品もっと沢山の人に広がれ祭り #イラスト風模型 https://t.co/qv8pKnd5Uf
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今日@札ヨドリ画ズィ展示中 (@kyo512a) March 07, 2018

This isn’t @kyo512a’s first time to play tricks on our eyes. Last year he did something similar with the main mecha of Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, only with a cel-painted aesthetic. With decades’ worth of source material in the Gundam franchise, hopefully we’ll be seeing more of his interdimensional talents in the future.

Sources: Twitter/@kyo512a, IT Media
Top image: Twitter/@kyo512a
Insert images: Twitter/@kyo512a