How illustrator Namie conceptualizes and breathes life into each illustration - It all starts with the medium.

I didn’t draw anything particularly special, in my opinion. I simply drew whatever manga, anime, or games that my friends and I were into at the time, like Pokémon and Final Fantasy. I also really liked Cardcaptor Sakura because of all the cute outfit designs. At the time, I pretty much used drawing as a medium to communicate with my friends rather than as a form of self-expression. I used to post my artwork on the internet as well, which helped me make a lot of friends online who shared the same interests and passion for drawing.

When I was posting my art regularly on the internet, I noticed there were a lot of people in Japan who did illustration as a job, and that came as a huge shock to me. At the time, that sort of thing wasn’t really some sort of path you could pursue, and it was pretty much unheard of, especially in the West and Australia. But then I thought, if they can do it, maybe I can do it. That said, it was really hard to convince my parents to let me continue down this creative path because they kind of wanted me to have something a little more “robust” as a career, so to speak. As a result, I made a compromise and decided to study graphic design in college.

It wasn’t anything remarkable, to be honest—it was simply a random job that required me to draw in someone else’s style. Sometimes I did the line art; other times, I did the coloring or composition. Although I did lots of these kinds of tasks, they were all low-paying, and I was never once credited for my work. While it was certainly my first professional job, it felt like any work I did simply went into the void, so it wasn’t an easy time for me.

Yes! The first professional job I was proud of was a card illustration I did for Fate/Grand Order. Winning the first pixiv x FGO Illustration Contest might have sort of put me on their radar, which is probably what made them decide to contact me. At the time, I’d already done a lot of jobs that didn’t get me anywhere for a number of years, which led me to think that perhaps the people who had told me that drawing was a waste of time had been right. So when FGO contacted me, I finally could think I was taking one step in the right direction on this path. Although I was very nervous about that job, I worked on it to the best of my ability.

I wish I could name particular artists who influenced me, but there were so many that it's hard to narrow it down. In equal influence, really, all I did was have fun with the games and manga I was into at the time. If I had to name one work that influenced my art style, it would probably be Pokémon. Also, this isn’t an artist either, but I remember one incident that sort of served as a turning point for me. When I was around 12 years old, I posted some of my drawings on the internet. While I didn’t think they were very good, I’d put my heart and soul into them, but then a random stranger on the internet told me they were garbage and drew on them.

I don’t actually remember if their criticism was any good, but I thought it was a very, very rude thing to do. However, that incident helped me realize that I shouldn’t let others dictate my art style and made me decide to keep drawing what I liked exactly how I liked, all at the young age of 12. I guess you could call that a kind of influence, and I’m very grateful for them.

My personal rule is to give my work 110 percent so that I can be proud of what I make. If I’m proud of my work, then it doesn’t really matter what other people say about it, and it makes it easier to accept legitimate criticisms about what I can do better. Being a professional comes with a lot of pressure to continue displaying a certain standard to people, but having confidence in my work helps take some of that pressure off.

The first thing I do is figure out what the illustration will be used for. This is a habit I picked up while learning graphic design, as it’s important to know how people will interact with the medium that your illustration will be used in. If I’m working on a promotional illustration for a game or an event, then it usually needs to be quite lively, so I use lots of colors to create a fun atmosphere. If I’m doing character design, I try to consider how people might interact with the character. Are they easy to draw? Can people remember their outfit and silhouette easily? Are they easy to cosplay? You know, stuff like that. Essentially, it all depends on how the illustration will be used.

Hmm, let’s see... Well, I do want to draw stuff that only I can express. I also like making things look cute, so that’s something I put a lot of effort into.

I think my art style has changed for the better to what I want it to be and feel more comfortable with. Sometimes, I’ll be drawing something and think, “Oh dang, this looks like poop,” but I’ve also experienced that enough times that I’ve gotten better at figuring out what’s wrong with my drawing and which areas I need to refine a bit. Because of that, I try to refine my style bit by bit whenever I feel like I’ve hit a wall.

For me, it’s either digital form or die!

After experimenting with different techniques over the years, I’ve gotten pretty fond of using different kinds of brushes in order to simulate texture. I also think the Camera Raw plugin on Photoshop is kind of amazing. Although it’s usually used to touch up photos, it’s great for illustration too. I highly recommend it.

Well, I can only say what appeals to me—I have no idea what other people like about my work, so I can’t really speak for them. If you do enjoy my work, thank you very much! I guess as I continued to draw and refine my art, it eventually came to resonate with people, and I’m really grateful for that.

First, I make a list of elements I need to include in the piece. Let’s say I’m asked to create a piece with ten people riding a carousel or something. I then make a list of elements that need to be in the piece to form a complete picture, so I’ll see if I can group a certain number of characters here, a certain number of characters there, have characters who are clearly friends hanging out over there—stuff like that.

I think the way I draw my eyes is a remnant from my Pokémon superfan days. I used to draw a lot of Pokémon fan art and fan comics, and this style of eye was very common in Pokémon. I’m glad that people still enjoy this aesthetic for eyes even now.

Probably the first sketching phase, especially if I’m experimenting with a new technique or going through a bit of an art block. When I can’t think of any good ideas, I sometimes go through a lot of drafts, but now that I’ve drawn so many illustrations, I can sort of autopilot once I’ve settled on a sketch. I’ll start thinking about what I’m going to draw next while working on the final product. I can’t say for sure which process takes the most time, as it really depends on the occasion and how I’m feeling.

Good artwork is finished artwork, not necessarily something that is high quality. I think any finished piece that you put your heart into can be called a “good” work of art. Even if you feel dissatisfied with the result and wish you could just forget about it, as long as you put your heart into it, the fact that you finished a whole piece is commendable. Just keep working in that fashion and continue improving your art one drawing at a time.

Nobody knows what they’re doing, not even me. Regardless, if you keep at it, there will be people who eventually resonate with what you bring to the table, and it’ll be worth it in the end. I could never have imagined where I’d be now, ten, five, or even two years ago. Nobody knows how they made it to where they are now, including myself. You probably won’t know either once you’re here.

I’ve been working as an illustrator for a couple of years now, but I always have a huge backlog of work to do for other IPs and games. While I’m very, very grateful for those opportunities, I don’t really have many originals that I can one hundred percent claim as my own, and I was curious to see what I could do if I had total freedom over my work. That was when pixiv WAEN GALLERY contacted me about holding a solo exhibition, and I immediately said yes.

When I thought about how far the gallery in Tokyo is from Australia, where I live, I had an image of a character growing over the course of their travels. The character I drew for the key visual is called Alette, a girl who travels with birds, whom I created back when I was a part of pixiv Fantasia. When I thought about a word that encompassed themes of travel and growth, Wanderlust seemed like a pretty good word. From a graphic design point of view, I also really like the letters W, D, L, S, T and felt like they would make a nice logo.

There weren’t any requests—if anything, I was the one who did the requesting by submitting a rough draft for approval. Like with my other pieces, I started with a list of exactly what I wanted for this key visual. I knew it would be showcased in the windows at the front, so I figured it would probably be quite interesting if I made it sort of loose-shaped instead of a square or a rectangle. That’s why I thought about drawing a diorama with the kind of atmosphere I wanted for the exhibition.

When I imagined myself as the interior designer of the gallery, I thought about it having this outdoorsy vibe with lots of trees and leaves while still being very comfortable; essentially, things that defined and summarized the feel I wanted for Wanderlust. I then looked up different plants that would help bring out that atmosphere and incorporated them into the key visual.

When I was brainstorming this kind of calming, outdoorsy atmosphere, impressionist paintings were the first thing that came to my mind. While it may seem like a bit of a leap, many impressionist works tend to feature loose brush strokes that capture the feeling and impression of the object the artist wanted to draw, and I find that style really effective when I want to draw something natural, such as trees or plants. When drawing scenes in nature, I really like doing them in an impressionist art style rather than a detailed and realistic style.

I’d love to have a visitor participation system of some sort. I think it’d be really cool if we could have a tree-shaped message board where people can contribute drawings or messages onto paper leaves. Then, as the exhibition goes on, it will look like the tree is coming to life with everyone’s messages.

I’m just really excited to put my grubby hands all over and smother my face in the tins, blankets, and cushions. (laughs) The shaka-shaka aku key, or resin acrylic keychains, are also something I’ve been really excited to make for a long time, so I’m really happy my dream came true. I can’t wait to touch them and play with them like a five-year-old.