- EDUCATION -

Ragdoll Ronin draws almost exclusively from Japan, Japanese culture, samurai films, video games, and all things Japan. For some who are viewing this project, the art for Ragdoll Ronin may be the main drawing point. For others who might want to dive a bit deeper, we wanted to use this space as an educational, inspirational and application overview as to what went into bringing this project to life.

Here, we give a very brief education on some of the art, techniques, fabrics, clothing styles, weapons, etc, that were traditionally used in Japanese and samurai culture, how all of these things inspired the look and feel of Ragdoll Ronin, and how they are represented in the final art.

There is an immense amount of material to draw from in Japanese culture and we hope you find this section as educational and inspirational as we did while researching during the process of putting the project together. Our goal was to bring this project to life as authentically as possible, while still retaining some creative license, and we feel the final product is quite successful in doing so.

Before we get into the details of Ragdoll Ronin, we need a quick overview on some facets of Japanese culture and fashion that apply directly to the project, and then we can tie them back to the story and concept of Ragdoll Ronin.

Boro:

Boro (ぼろ) are a class of Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together. Meaning “ragged” or “tattered”. Boro are patchwork textiles hand-pieced by peasants in Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was done by overlapping and stitching spare or discharged scraps of fabric together, using a sashiko stitch, to reinforce the material. The inability to cultivate cotton in the climate of northern Japan necessitated the practice of stitching remnants of used fabric into utilitarian items. Boro fabrics were typically indigo-dyed as it was the cheapest natural dye available. These hard-used garments – reworked over generations – express essential principles of Japanese ethics and aesthetics, such as an appreciation for distinguished imperfections and the avoidance of waste.

Sashiko Stitching:

Sashiko (刺し子, lit. "little stabs") is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching used for the decorative and/or functional reinforcement of cloth and clothing. Sashiko and Boro are both intertwined in history but not interchangeable. Sashiko refers to the style of embroidery, whereas the word Boro meaning rags or tattered cloth and indicates the textiles used rather than how they are put together.

Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints:

Ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” were a style of woodblock print that captured the exciting urban popular culture of the Edo period (1603-1868), promoting its beauty, landscapes, fashions and heroes.

Shibori Dyeing:

Shibori is a Japanese dyeing technique that involves folding, bunching, or bundling fabric, binding it with a resist, and dyeing it with indigo dye. The results are patterned blue lines that are both geometric and organic.

INDIGO DYEING:

In Japan, indigo dye is known as AI-ZOME and was very popular during the Edo Period (1600-1868). The dye can actually be extracted from a variety of plants and is a very strong dyeing process. The deep blue color fades slowly or not at all from porous fabrics such as cotton.

Primer out of the way, who are the Ragdoll Ronin and how does this all relate to them?

Simply put, Ragdoll Ronin are quite literally, ragdolls made of fabric, set in a world in which these ronin roam against a backdrop of traditional Japanese UKIYO-E woodblock style environments. In typical ronin fashion, these wanderers inevitably come into conflict with other wandering ronin or samurai along their journeys and may sustain damage during battle. In the event of sustaining damage however, these ronin do not die, but are able to use fabrics, saved from previous battles or obtained throughout the landscape, to patch themselves up and live to fight another day.

Starting off as one single, solid INDIGO fabric(chambray, denim, linen, canvas, among others), the ronin collect and layer these fabric patches over time. In doing so, these patches add up, continuously changing and evolving the ronin’s body and appearance. Layer upon layer of different fabric patches, ie, the technique of BORO, along with a distinct, heavy, SASHIKO stitch, reinforce the ronin’s original body fabric and gives them a very distinct and individual look and patina.

Most importantly however, these fabrics are not just superficial...each fabric obtained from a previous battle with other ronin holds attributes of that particular ronin...when applied, the new patchwork imbues characteristics of the previous owner to the new owner, granting the new owner more strength, experience attributes and fighting ability. Over lengthy periods of time, these ronin become so heavily patched, they are literally dripping with boro, and become incredibly powerful.

Clothing Assets:

In addition to the BORO patchwork available for your character, each ronin has the ability to obtain various styles of traditional Japanese clothing... from basic HAKAMA (pants) and HAORI (jackets), to various styles of KIMONO, UWA-OBI (sashes), HACHIMAKI (headwraps), KASA (headwear), HORO (capes), KABUTO (helmets), shawls and footwear among many others, all in various styles and colorways. Along with the clothing assets, many styles of masks are available, from traditional MENPO (samurai half-masks) to KABUKI theatre masks, NOH masks, SOMEN (full face masks) and various others.

Weapon Assets:

Of course, no ronin is ready for battle without the appropriate weaponry. All manner of traditional Japanese samurai weapons are available to each ronin, along with the ability to show each weapon active(in hand) or stowed(on ronin’s back or waist). KATANA, TANTO, various styles of YARI (spear), TETSUBO (heavy club), YUMI (short and long bows), KAMA (sickle), among many others are all available.

Art and Creative Process:

While this project is living in a virtual world(for the time being), great attention has been placed on giving the project an actual, real world, tangible and tactile feel. All assets for the this project have been hand drawn and shaded in ballpoint pen, scanned, and then “painted” digitally, to reach the final image. Along with the fabric assets as described above, an immense amount of time has been spent incorporating actual textures into almost all assets. Wood grains, pitted and stained metals, worn and distressed fabric prints, straw headwear, woven rope textures and fabric textures have all been incorporated. Additionally, keeping with the look of traditional UKIYO-E woodblock prints from various periods of Japanese history, a distressed patina has been added to each background, giving each piece the look of a woodblock print worn over time. With all of these characteristics combined, this project presents very distinct and unique visuals, unlike anything else seen in this space to date.

We hope you enjoyed this brief overview of Ragdoll Ronin. This is just a very small sampling of what RR has to offer and we look forward to sharing more as launch day approaches…ありがとうございます