Oh man, I've been drooling over this concept for a while, I even tried to figure out what the chinese writing was. I had to email my friend in china, the guy who translated 50 shades of grey from english to chinese, and he couldn't figure out all of it. If not for that I would have started already, I think, but I like this…
Like I said earlier I've checked with a friend a few months ago who says the signs are in chinese, and the artist Wang Rui is chinese. : ) The sign over the door says "Orchid garden" and the sign on the right was in some writing that's only used for decoration these days. Not sure exactly what to do with making those, but…
That's cool Alex - but please keep feasibility in mind when making your decision. The amount of time some of us can realistically dedicate to this is a real issue - that's why I chose the Chinese courtyard; it's small and manageable :)
Foliage is always difficult to model when you're a "noob". The Chinese (Japanese?) scene has one tree and it's a pretty simple one. The other scene has a few trees and grass, which is something even experienced artists find difficult to get right. The Japanese (I'm sticking with Japanese, since there is a bonsai tree there…