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Interview with Shoichi, winner of the Grand Prize at pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021 - “Aiming to create thought-provoking illustrations filled with little stories.”

Interview with Shoichi, winner of the Grand Prize at pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021 - “Aiming to create thought-provoking illustrations filled with little stories.”
Calling all high school students with a passion for drawing and illustration! pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2022, sponsored by pixiv, is accepting entries through Sunday, September 11th, 11:59 PM (JST). This year’s theme is “travel/journey”.


Since its launch in 2018, this contest has produced many young creators including Shoichi, who took home the Grand Prize in last year's edition. Shoichi began not only her adulthood, but also her career as an animator this spring. We spoke with Shoichi, who entered the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest every year while in high school, about what sort of goals she had for her award-winning work and her work from here on out.

庄一 (Shoichi)
  • 庄一 (Shoichi)
  • Her work, "While the Master of the Home is Away", won the Grand Prize in the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021. She's been creating illustrations and animations since her school days, and currently works as an animator for MAPPA.

The High Schoolers Illustration Contest is practically like the Japanese National High School Baseball Championships

── You participated in the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest during all three years of high school, right?

When I was in junior high school and saw that one of my favorite illustrators was one of the judges, I decided then that I would enter the contest once I got into high school. Last year was my final year and I was determined to leave my mark this time so I was ecstatic when I won the grand prize. 

── It's kind of like the Japanese National High School Baseball championships in a way, huh?

It truly is, at least for me when I was in high school. Participating for three years, it was only natural for me to become aware of more artists. I just took it upon myself to see them as kind of like rivals. (laughs) I’d see that so-and-so has really improved since last year and I’d tell myself that I have to work harder too. It’s good to get motivated like that. Thanks to this contest, I’ve been able to connect to other artists around the same age as me through social media. 

ブチ鳴らせ！！

by 庄一

Shoichi’s 2019 entry

龍に献げる

by 庄一

Shoichi’s 2020 entry

── Last year’s theme was “dance”. How did you come up with the idea of mice maids dancing for your winning entry, While the Master of the Home is Away?

First, I figured that I should explicitly convey the theme. I initially had an idea of having a man and woman dancing but it was difficult to translate the characters’ stories onto the canvas. It’s easier to show relationships between animal characters so that’s how I came up with the mouse-maids. Another reason is simply that I like animal characters and characters with animal ears. (laughs)

家主の居ぬ間に

by 庄一

Shoichi’s 2021 Grand Prize winning entry.

── Speaking of relationships between characters, looking closely at your work we can see that there’s a portrait of a cat on the wall telling us that the master of the home in your title is a cat.

Yes. There’s this picture book series called “I Spy” and that was the feel I was going for. In the same way one book may say something like, “I spy a moon” and you have to look for it on the page, I was aiming to create a thought-provoking illustration filled with little stories. During the critiques, one of the judges, Naoki Saito, commented on the cat portrait and I felt a sense of accomplishment from that. There was also the intention that if I submitted a piece with a lot of small details the judges would take a closer look at it.

You can read the reviews on last year’s Illustration Contest in this article.

── Did you have any other objectives with your work?

Many of the other award-winning works had such strong contrasting colors so I thought using a lighter palette of colors would make mine stand out.

── What was your reasoning behind lowering the head-to-body ratio of your characters? Looking back on the past winners, I think that was rather a bold move.

The faces of the characters in my piece are, of course, important factors, but to properly express the theme of dance, I wanted to draw out their whole bodies. However, doing that would take attention away from the faces so lowering the head-to-body ratio made it possible for me to put in their whole bodies and draw larger faces. 

── You’ve made sure to calculate for each element, haven’t you…! Each of the mouse-maids’ movements gives us a glimpse of each of their personalities, but do you have any particular favorites?

Those would be the ones carrying the cheese like a portable shrine. There’s actually a banana peel on the floor right in front of them making you wonder what will happen next. (laughs)

── It truly is a piece that makes you think! How did you feel when you completed it?

I put in everything I had in this to the point that I honestly thought, “Even if nothing comes of this, I’ll have no regrets.”

The crossroad between anime and illustration

── Have there been any changes since winning the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021?

The number of followers on my social media accounts has increased, that’s one thing. Even though I’ve been doing both animation and illustration up until now, I was worried that I didn’t have a clear calling card as a creator but I’m happy to be recognized as one of the Illustration Contest participants.

── From this spring you’ve been working for the animation studio, MAPPA, as an animator, right?

That’s right. I was accepted into MAPPA under its new animators' training project. 

── Did you ever find yourself at a crossroads between pursuing a career in animation and illustration?

There was a time when I worried that doing both animation and illustration would eventually end up being a half-hearted effort for both. But I had a feeling that forcing myself to choose one over the other would’ve been painful for me. Some, like Mai Yoneyama, are active both as an illustrator and animator, so I started to think that there’s nothing wrong in pursuing both. Winning the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021 reaffirmed the part of me that wants to work as an illustrator, as well. 

── Your self-produced animation, The Heart of the Witch is the Eye of the Kitten was trending on Twitter as well, wasn’t it? Could you tell us what the individual appeals of animating and illustrating are for you?

With animation, you can fill it with various settings and scenes, which is something you can’t do with illustrations. On the other hand, when I want to convey something immediately at a glance, I’ll choose to do an illustration. 

── When did you first think of making illustrating and animating a career?

I’ve loved anime since I was young, but it was Little Witch Academy that made me think of wanting to become an animator. From there, it became my goal to create lively animations and when I became a junior high school student, I started using Flipnote Studio to create animations.  

── Aiming to become an animator at that time, how did you hone your skills?

I used things like fashion magazines for reference. I’d also do some sketches in my croquis sketchbook as well as tracing practice. I used to draw a page a day in my sketchbook and fill it with 30-second drawings. I wanted to be an artist who could draw the human body from any angle, front to back, so I’d look at a picture and try to sketch what that particular pose would be like from the backside. It’s just that if I felt it was becoming too much like “practice”, I’d get tired of it, so I gradually began to prioritize drawing what I wanted to draw and from there incorporated practices that pushed me to understand the human body so that I can draw them in this pose or that pose. I’m able to have more fun practicing that way.

“Are you going to keep running away from drawing scenery?”

── Please tell us what your current work environment is like.

I’ve been using iPad Pro since I was a freshman in high school. I use my computer for making animations or editing but my iPad for everything else. It was also very convenient that I was able to bring my iPad to school since it was a creative arts school. I also have a pen tablet and an LCD tablet but I’m so used to my iPad that I can’t seem to use anything else. (laughs)

── Looking at your pixiv account, we get the impression that your art style made a complete change around 2018. What sparked that change?

It was around that time I decided to face what I truly wanted to draw. I’ve always wanted to create works that express everything from the character’s setting to the appearance of the world around them, but without realizing it I ended up focusing on drawing just the characters. Then I thought to myself, “Are you going to keep running away from drawing scenery?” And that got me sitting down and properly drawing backgrounds as well. Looking at my pieces now, I think they all lack something in the technical department but I also think I’ve been able to broaden my range of expression thanks to all the practice I put in. It’s a little embarrassing to have my older works viewable but I’m leaving them up as proof of the effort and hard work I put in at that time.

練習

by 庄一

Shoichi’s 2018 entry titled, Practice. The work including the background will be submitted later.

── How did you practice drawing scenery?

I’d randomly pull up a place on Google’s street view and replicate it. 

── Some illustrators create scenery and background using computer graphics, but how about you?

I am interested in it, but it’s simply that the specs on my computer can’t handle it. (laughs) Also, I think to get a better sense of perspective I should first draw it out by hand. The perspective ruler in Clip Studio Paint really helps me out a lot.

A picture drawn using a perspective ruler

── I hear that there are a lot of people out there who end up drawing just the front side of their characters’ faces even though they want to be able to draw more complex structures, backgrounds, and poses.

In the beginning, not being able to draw well no matter what you do is pretty rough… But as you continue to practice you’ll find yourself able to draw a variety of subjects and that should tie into giving you more motivation. Also, even if you struggle in the beginning, there’s a big difference between drawing for a whole year and not drawing anything for a year. 

── That’s a good point! With your work as well, the style and color palette change from piece to piece, doesn’t it?

Back in the day, I’d get caught up worrying about my art style, how I should paint or which approach would be best but I stopped thinking about all of that after a while. I think it’s best to change things up according to what I want to express.

バニーガール達の日常

by 庄一

18

── It’s very much like an animator to not be too particular about their style and be flexible in changing the way they draw.

Now that you mention it, you’re probably right. 

I enjoy the inevitable improvement that comes with my work.

── As the grand prize winner in last year’s competition, you were in charge of the main visual art for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021.

I was aiming for a cute collage notebook feel. I planned to draw something centered around scenery at first, but one of the people in charge advised me that since it was going to be the main visual, it would be better if it was character-centered. Since this was the first time for me to work on a main visual, it was a good learning experience.

TRAVEL

by 庄一

── When did you receive your first commission request?

It was when I was a freshman in high school and I was doing things like illustration work for music videos. That said, I was getting more personal commission requests so compared to other active creators out there my age, I still think I have a long way to go. I mean, I was also busy trying to get through school, so…

── I don’t think a lot of high school students out there are getting paid commissions, though. (laughs) Do you ever have trouble typing out business e-mails?

All the time! I have to look up how to write words or phrases in polite business terms in practically every sentence. (laughs)

── You just started working as an animator this spring, right? How is your life right now with all of that?

There are tough times but it’s very fulfilling to be able to do the work that I’ve always wanted to do. 

── What kind of drawing practice do you do now that you’re a professional?

I’m not really doing anything that could be considered practice, instead, I think I’m growing through my job every day. When you’re working on your own, you tend to put yourself in this space that limits what you can do at the moment, but when it’s work, every situation is like, “It’s hard, but I have to do it.” There are many times when I have to challenge myself to do complex compositions that I would never be able to think of myself. I enjoy the inevitable improvement that comes with my work. Also, even though it’s not something I’d call practice, whenever I’m drawing for fun I’m taking on different poses that I’ve never tried to draw before. 

── Have you ever had to deal with creative blocks?

In my case, whenever I run into a situation where I can’t draw something, I worry that I’ve run into a creative block. But when I redo the image with a basic rough sketch I find that, gradually, I’m able to draw it and get over that block. 

── It’s important to go back to basics, isn’t it? Could you please tell us what your goals are going forward?

I want to become an accomplished animator as soon as possible, that’s at the top of my list of goals. Eventually, I’d like to be able to do personal illustration jobs alongside my main job, too. 

── Lastly, could you please give a message to everyone thinking about submitting their work for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2022?

Entering this contest gave me a goal to work toward each year and I feel like it’s changed the way I approach illustrations. I think it’s a good idea to participate in this contest and enjoy yourself without getting too self-conscious. If you learn as you go by trying a different method or using colors in a different way all while having fun, that will definitely come across to those looking at your work. 

The pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2022 is accepting entries now!

This is Japan’s largest digital illustration contest which aims to give rise to the next generation of flourishing creators. Acclaimed illustrators, Mai Yoneyama and Seiji Yoshida, as well as corporate sponsors, will be participating as judges and all entries will be reviewed from their professional points of view.


Award recipients will receive prize money and special prizes from each sponsor, as well as the opportunity to create visual works and participate in projects sponsored by pixiv.


The application deadline is September 11, 2022, at 11:59 PM (JST). Why don’t you give it a shot during this summer vacation?


＞＞＞Take a look at the entries for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2021 ＜＜＜

Past interview articles for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest

We Interviewed Ishida, Winner of pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2020 - Leaving a mark by combining 3DCG and 2D illustration



Interview with Roki, Grand Prize Winner of the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2019 - My life of "drawing pictures" has finally begun

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