Interview with Fui, grand prize winner of the pixiv High Schooler’s Illustration Contest 2022 - Their catchy work is filled with their favorite things.

I felt very inspired by Ishida-san’s winning work for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2020. I entered the next year, but while I did win a prize, I felt like I hadn’t had enough time to draw an illustration I could be satisfied with. I ended up putting a lot more effort into my entry for the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2022.

I had hoped maybe I would win one of the judge’s awards or corporate sponsor awards, but I never dreamed that I’d win the grand prize. I was so shocked I actually got sick! (laughs)

I got about 3000 new Twitter followers in a single day. I also received my first professional commission from a business, to illustrate a music video for the Nijisanji VTuber Ryushen. I felt so nervous about landing such a big project all of a sudden! The time period for completing the project also overlapped with my exams, so I think that was the busiest, most challenging time in my life so far. (laughs)

Later, when I applied to art college, I used a print of the illustration that won the grand prize in the pixiv High Schoolers Illustration Contest 2022 as part of my portfolio. When I talked about the illustration contest during the interview, I got a pretty good reaction. I think that was part of why I was accepted to the school.

I didn’t want it to just be pretty and eye-catching at a glance. I wanted to create an illustration that would spark the imagination of the viewer. That’s why I was very particular about the title of the piece. While I wanted to choose a title that would easily explain the work, I didn’t want to go too far in explaining, so I wavered for a while about whether to title it or leave it untitled.

Also, I used stronger colors and contrast than I usually do, so that the thumbnail image would stand out.

It’s a little embarrassing, but that was actually my mother’s advice, so I added them in at the very end. My mother said “What if he had scrapes on his hands?” (laughs)

That’s right. I thought a lot about what type of work would be favored by the judges. But ultimately the most important thing is that the work instantly captures the viewer’s attention, and in order to do that, the best way is by increasing the color saturation and contrast, to make the work stand out. The title and caption should further broaden the scope of the world expressed by the work. Also, as an artist, I think it’s very important that your work should express passion for the things you love.

That’s right. Maybe it doesn’t sound good for me to say that I made up the story after the fact, but I really only start thinking about the story after I’ve already started drawing.

I started during the winter of my first year of high school.

My biggest influence is the illustrator RAID. RAID’s work is perfect, from the character styles down to the folds in the clothing. Also, the manga Horimiya (author: HERO / illustrator: Daisuke Hagiwara) inspired me to draw the folds in clothing, and for a period of time I was just drawing lots and lots of clothing and fabric.

I enjoy anime and manga, but what really inspires me is music. When I hear lyrics I like, I think “I’d like to illustrate this scene”. I often listen to Ed Sheeran and Queen.

Until now, I didn’t have many chances to draw two characters together, so I tried my best to do that. I like to draw the randomness inherent in nature, so I added in images of waves and light reflecting on water, light reflecting on balloons, things like that. I used motifs that were to my own taste. I drew at duck for the 2022 contest, so this time I decided to draw another animal, called a flapjack octopus.

That’s why I’m so anxious these days!

I do try to go for “cool” over “cute”. I like the way that RAID and WOOMA don’t add any extraneous elements to their characters’ faces, but still make sure that all the features are in the right place and the whole thing looks polished. That’s my ideal style. I’m still far from being able to draw illustrations that look as good as the images in my head. Even with illustrations that I thought were finished, sometimes I look at them again the next day and think, “This doesn’t look cool at all!” Then I spend hours reworking them. I especially want to make the faces as perfect as possible, so I look at lots of different angles, flip them right or left, adjust the proportions, and keep asking myself, “Does this really look cool?”

I’m learning sketching and oil painting at college, but illustration is still what I love best. I’m not studying oil painting and sketching to do that as an end goal. Rather, I’m studying oil painting so I can use elements from oil painting to improve my illustrations. I would never have been able to paint the work I submitted to the pixiv High Schoolers contest if I hadn’t already taken an oil painting course at a cram school. All the techniques from fine art that I’ve learned, I later incorporate into my illustrations.

I want to do illustrations for music videos. I’d also like to do book covers because I love reading.