When I was a little girl, I always saw drawing as a passion. At that time, I was used to reading a lot of Manga(s) and I practised drawing based on their art styles. In the early period, there were many sources of artistic influences for me such as…
What made you want to become an illustrator or artist? What did your beginnings look like?
At first, I just thought that drawing was my favorite hobby and I did not expect to become a 2D artist – at least, until 2015, when I began to study the basic digital drawing so that I could show my drawings to other people and friends and have some fun conversations with them. During that period, lots of my friends recognized my talents and motivated me to open my own drawing commission service. I realized that I could develop my artistic career instead of following other careers I was not good at because I felt that the drawing hobby was so affined to me that it was a part of my life. Since that point, I have been determined to become a 2D artist.
Firstly, I began to work for a small game company and I did not have any skills related to drawing so I decided to apply for the company’s internship position, hoping that I could comprehend many basic lessons. However, the company neither provided any lessons nor salary for interns (as expected) so there was quite a bit of struggle for me at that time.
So, after four months of working with the company, where I used most of the time for self-learning experience, I decided to apply my resignation from the company and then joined two basic drawing courses. After finishing them, I stayed at home to continue my practice and to refine and develop my drawing skills. I have worked this way for five years.
Can you remember any of your earliest influences?
When I was a little girl, I always saw drawing as a passion. At that time, I was used to reading a lot of Manga(s) and I practised drawing based on their art styles. In the early period, there were many sources of artistic influences for me such as Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, D.A. Angel, Black Cat, etc.
You are mostly focusing on digital painting now, don’t you? Could you take us through the creative process?
Regarding my creative process, I usually sketch my ideas first and search for many related pictures and samples that can closely resemble my ideas so that I can revise the sketch. Then I start drawing the line-art, do basic coloring, correct the color scheme, and then continue rendering all the elements together appropriately in the final touch. During the drawing phase, I usually continue to find more references to refine my artwork and Pinterest is my usual choice of referencing source.
Valentine Day
Chocolate
What software do you use? Have you been using it since the very beginning?
I have been using Adobe Photoshop to draw since the beginning, but now with the addition of the Paint Tool SAI, I can use both software programs simultaneously.
Have you been focusing more on the commissions or your projects lately?
I have been busy with the company at the moment; hence, I haven’t spent much time on personal drawing and sometimes my customers request me not to post any of their commissions to my fan pages, which is why I couldn’t be frequently active on my social media pages recently. However, once I can arrange my schedule properly (with more free time), I will actively publish more artwork to my pages.
Is there any painting or illustration you made which you consider the most precious?
For me, the most precious artwork is probably the portrait of Kyoko Okitegami, which was my first artwork after I had finished the basic drawing courses. This piece of artwork took me almost one month to finish and eventually, it attracted a lot of attention and compliments from everybody after I had published it in a group called “Level up!”. This achievement gave me a huge source of motivation and led me to a decision to open the drawing commission service when there were a lot of orders that came after that. In addition to this, I also received more than 10.000 likes from the Urban-Muse.com website.
Did you enjoy creating the new Figubo mascot? Was this project different from the others you have made?
I felt very excited when creating the mascot for Figubo, they had a professional approach and especially, they did not prompt for the deadline, which made me feel quite comfortable and enjoyable when designing and drawing Nishimura (Figubo’s mascot).
What about the future? What would you like to focus on the most?
For the time being, I will continue to work for the company in order to develop some suitable management skills, and in the future, I am planning to launch a small studio or a drawing class which is specialized in teaching drawing Portrait arts *smile*.
Which current illustrators or artists do you admire the most?
Personally, I admire Ilya Kuvshinov’s artwork, and some other artists/illustrators such as Artgerm, EvanLee, Zeronis, Rosdraw, Sakimi-chan, etc.
What is your favorite anime and anime character? Or, if you are not interested in anime, what is your favourite film or book?
My favorite anime character is Doraemon *laugh* and Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher 3, which is the series that I will enjoy watching when I have time *smile
Nishimura Yayoi
Snack
Interview: Ateens