Japanese Man Character Reference Sheet

A single character reference sheet photograph, wide landscape format, on one continuous
plain flat mid-grey background, perfectly uniform with no gradient and no shadow falling
on it. Flat even studio lighting from the front across the whole sheet, no dramatic
light, no rim light, no colour cast.

Three views of the same person are arranged side by side on this one sheet, evenly
spaced, all standing on the same invisible ground line, all lit identically.

THE SUBJECT — an adult Japanese man with the worn look of someone well into working life,
lean and wiry, with a long narrow face and a visible jaw hinge. Warm-toned skin, tanned
and weathered by sun, with sun lines at the outer corners of the eyes. Narrow hooded eyes,
a straight even nose bridge, thin lips, an angular jaw. His gaze is level and unhurried,
calm and settled. Short black hair cropped close at the sides, a few grey threads at the
temples, pushed back off the forehead. Light patchy stubble across the jaw and upper lip,
a few days old.
He wears a faded olive-green cotton jungle shirt, softened and thinned by wear, sleeves
rolled to just below the elbow, with the top button undone so the collar sits open and
loose at the throat; dark khaki cargo trousers with flat side pockets; and scuffed brown
leather hiking boots.
He wears no harness of any kind: no waist belt, no buckle, no thigh loops, no webbing
straps, no rope, no carabiner, nothing strapped over his clothing anywhere on his body.
His nose stays exactly the same colour as the rest of his face: no red tint, no pink tint,
no rosy tip. His skin is dry and matte: no sweat, no oily sheen, no wet highlights.

LEFT VIEW — a large portrait, head and shoulders only. The face is square to the camera
and looks straight into the lens — the face is frontal, not turned away. The head is
tilted gently to one side: the crown of the head tips toward the subject's own right
shoulder, which is the shoulder on the FRAME-LEFT side of the picture. A soft tilt of
roughly ten degrees, no more. The shoulders stay level. This tilt is required.
This portrait is by far the largest element on the sheet: the head alone is at least
twice the height of either standing figure's head, and it fills roughly the left third
of the picture from top to bottom.
Keep the real fine pores, vellus hair, stubble texture and natural asymmetry of the skin.
No retouching, no smoothing, no beauty filter. A small clear catch-light in each eye.

CENTRE VIEW — a full-body figure from the neck down, standing straight and facing the
camera, arms relaxed at the sides, feet slightly apart. The figure ends cleanly at the
base of the n