We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Aihara Nico about their original and creative Illustration design work. Aihara Nico is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original illustration works.
Aihara Nico ("AN") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Horyukaku Illustration. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AN : Inspiration for this illustrations come from Japanese classic literature “Nanso Satomi Hakkenden”. This work depicts a scene where the cornered hero fights on the castle Horyukaku.He is desperately climbing on the roof to survive. This is a popular scene in Kabuki. The frame is decorated with peonies and plum blossoms, which are important motifs in Hakkenden. Classical Japanese literature is becoming unfamiliar even to Japanese people, but I have been familiar with it since I was a child. Classical literature not only from Japan but from all over the world provides a lot of inspiration for my illustrations.
AN : What I wanted to achieve most was to express the tragic feeling of the main character. This scene is often depicted in ukiyo-e, but I wanted to depict a more realistic figure than just posing on the roof. I think the idea of climbing up the roof with bloody hands while holding a sword in your mouth worked.
AN : I would be very happy if it leads to work related to Japanese classical literature.
AN : I made it as a private project in between work, so I don't remember exactly, but I think it probably took about 20 hours.
AN : There are many scenes in Nanso Satomi Hakkenden that I would like to draw, and I have tried many times since I was a child. This work is one of them.
AN : This illustration was created as a private work, but if there is an offer to use this illustration in a product, I am ready to discuss it.
AN : As you might expect, I respect Alphonse Mucha. I also love other illustrators from the era, such as Arthur Rackham. I also have great respect for the ukiyo-e artist Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. I owe my illustration style to these great creators.
AN : It is a harmonious blend of traditional Japanese culture and European design elements. The clear outlines reminiscent of ukiyo-e and the taste of old Western picture books make my work very unique.
AN : The title of the work, “Horyukaku” is the name of the building the main character is climbing, and is also used in the title of Kabuki and Ukiyo-e.
AN : I use Photoshop to color the hand-drawn line drawings on paper. I think there are few people who draw illustrations in the same style. I've been using Photoshop for over 20 years, but I only use the basic functions.
AN : Actually, the roof tiles were the most difficult to draw. Because I had a hard time finding detailed photos.
AN : This work is very inspired by the labels of products exported from Japan to Europe during the Meiji and Taisho eras. They depict traditional Japanese motifs using cutting-edge European design at the time, and there are many outstanding Japanese-Western designs. So, I looked at a lot of materials and came up with ideas for the design.
