The evolution of illustrator Akakura’s drawing process - To master the art of subtraction, you must cross the finish line first.
Interview by Ichibo Harada
Illustrator Akakura’s second solo exhibition, Ludique, is happening now until Thursday, February 29th, 2024, at pixiv WAEN GALLERY in Omotesando. Ludique is a celebration of Akakura’s eponymous first art book, published by GOT, and showcases a stunning array of illustrations from it.

In February 2024, Akakura marked their fourth year as a freelance illustrator. Ever-evolving as an artist, Akakura reveals in our interview that their exploration of the “art of subtraction” in illustration has led to a transformative shift in their drawing process over recent years.

- Akakura
Akakura is an illustrator active in many fields, including character design, key visual creation, apparel, sake label design, and collaboration cafés. Their original work mostly features characters spending a blissful time surrounded by sweets and fashionable items. Akakura's designs and ideas emphasize the positive duality of mature elegance and childlike wonder and blend them masterfully in their art.
Index
- “It’s become easier to express who I am as an artist.”
- To achieve your vision, you need to focus on more than just subtraction
- Never overestimate yourself, and consult references as many times as is necessary
- “My art book essentially sums up Chapter One of my career.”
- “The key visual for the exhibition features Alice four years from now.”
- Akakura’s solo exhibition, "Ludique," is open through February 29th!
- Merchandise is also available online!
“It’s become easier to express who I am as an artist.”
── Our last interview was back in June 2022, when you had your first solo exhibition. It’s been over a year and a half since then; have there been any changes in your work since? I got the impression that you’ve been doing more projects where you get to have a hand in the earlier development stages, such as designing characters for new IPs or avatars for VTubers.

It goes without saying that my client’s requests always come first. However, recently I find it a little easier to put more of myself into my artwork now, and I feel like I’m better able to reconcile my strengths and what I want to express with the goals of each project.
── I’ve noticed that you’ve been drawing more male characters recently, such as the characters in Sanrio’s multimedia fantasy project, Fragaria Memories. Is there anything you pay special attention to when drawing male characters?

I try to focus on what makes male characters unique and emphasize those traits. That said, if I try to draw them too differently than female characters, I risk compromising my artistic style, so it’s always a bit of a balancing act when I draw them.
── Speaking of Sanrio, your collaboration with them was a huge hit. I imagine it must have been pretty challenging to come up with an entirely different outfit for each character, though...

It was, admittedly. While I enjoy a variety of genres, there will always be stuff that I’m good at drawing and stuff that I’m not good at. Personally, I find illustrations with a “cool” theme harder to draw compared to illustrations with a “cute” theme, so whenever I see something I think is cool, I immediately snap a photo of it or save it. I also consume a lot of relevant media and often use K-pop music videos as inspiration since they feature many cool girls. Additionally, I make sure to collect plenty of references whenever I’m designing something.
── While I’m sure many of us understand the importance of research, it’s hard to draw something original as opposed to simply replicating it, especially if it’s a genre you’re not good at. How do you think people can use references while still making their drawings their own?

To achieve your vision, you need to focus on more than just subtraction
── Have there been any changes in the way you draw your illustrations? The characters in your older drawings seemed more doll-like and almost lifeless in a good way, but I feel like your more recent works emphasize warmth and vitality.

I’ve always admired drawings that make excellent use of subtraction. However, whenever I’ve tried to take the shortest route to complete an illustration, it always felt like it was lacking something, almost as if it’d stopped just shy of the finish line. Rather, I seem to have better results when I approach a piece by imagining myself overshooting the goal and then backpedaling. While this method obviously ends up taking more time, I realized that packing in as much detail as possible before gradually chipping away at the excess suits my personality better.
I also longed to design VTuber avatars at the time, and I thought that if I wanted to go that route, I ought to add more details to the eyes and coloring. As a result, I took the plunge and changed how I did things.
Akakura designed VTuber Nozomi Ishigami’s model.
── I saw you compared your artwork from 2021 and 2022 on X (formerly Twitter). The older version was just as adorable, so I was surprised to learn that you felt it didn’t live up to your standards.

Yes, that’s right. That was an illustration I really hoped would turn out great, but I wasn’t satisfied with the final result. Even though I liked the design, my coloring skills simply fell short of my own expectations... This was the drawing that made me realize that to achieve my vision, I needed to focus on more than just subtraction. Since realizing that, I’ve started envisaging things in 3D more often when I draw. While my drawing style may have changed, I’m satisfied with how the remake turned out. There’s always the possibility that I’ll look back on it several years from now and cringe, though. (laughs)
── You mentioned that you changed your way of drawing to “packing in as much detail as possible before gradually chipping away at the excess.” Does that mean your illustrations feel “meatier” in the stages just before the final draft, so to speak?

There are a lot more details, and I tend to be a bit heavy-handed with the shading. Every now and then, I’ll take a step back to evaluate my work, then gradually adjust the areas where I feel I went overboard. Basically, my illustrations are the result of deliberate subtractions. Although it’s cool if you can reach your goal on the first try, for me, it’s more like no pain, no gain. Even my friends tell me my way of drawing is pretty unrefined.
── So you’re saying that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that people might not see at first glance?

Exactly. (laughs) I especially struggle to stay afloat when working on the rough and second-to-last drafts. During the rough draft, I first sketch out what I want to draw, but in order to achieve the ideal amount of detail, I do a lot of adding and subtracting. Even when I’m almost done, I tend to think, “Hmm, I feel like something’s missing...” and add a detail, get rid of it again, then rinse and repeat the process.
Never overestimate yourself, and consult references as many times as is necessary
── Do you have any personal creative techniques you find useful?

Having two to three personas or “reviewers” is something I always keep in mind. To draw something basically means to make a series of choices. When working on a piece, I imagine myself discussing things with different people: Reviewer A questions the artwork, Reviewer B says positive things about it, and Reviewer C is essentially a hater. Usually, the negative persona tends to be the loudest, and they’ll nitpick and say things like, “Aren’t their eyes too big?” or “You could probably add more details to the hair.” It’s tricky, though, since their assessment may not always be accurate; it might just be me being too critical, you know? All this thinking is probably another reason I end up taking the long way instead of the shortest route, but I believe it’s a necessary step in order to judge my drawings objectively.
── As a popular illustrator, I’m sure you often juggle many projects at a time. Do you have any tips on managing your schedule?

I’d like to know that too! (laughs) What I can say is that I set time limits to pace myself so I don’t end up working for hours at a time. For example, I’ll tell myself that I need to complete the line art within one hour, then spend X hours on the coloring process, and so on.
── What’s something you’d like to do if you had lots of free time? It doesn’t have to be related to drawing.

There are lots of things I’d like to work on, such as fashion-related drawings or illustrations focusing on a theme, like the Summer Parfait series I did in 2021. Last year, I didn’t really get to draw stuff purely for myself, but I don’t want to cut corners on work assignments just so I can focus on personal projects. While I occasionally look up more effective ways of drawing and incorporate them into my flow, placing emphasis on quality naturally means the number of references I have to consult increases.
── So you often make use of reference materials?

I find my art tends to diminish in quality when drawing from memory, so personally, I never draw without references, no matter how familiar I am with the subject. That's my biggest fear: I’m scared of getting worse at drawing. That's why I never overestimate myself and make sure to consult reference materials as many times as needed. That said, I really want to make more time to draw for fun, even if I have to squeeze it into my schedule!
── So, in other words, your way of taking a break from drawing is to draw more.

“My art book essentially sums up Chapter One of my career.”
── I remember you asking your fans on X last March which illustrations of yours were their favorites.

I couldn’t announce it back then, but the reason I asked my fans that question was so I could use their opinions to decide which illustrations to include in my art book. Thankfully, everyone’s answers were pretty varied, and some even mentioned my work from before I became a freelance illustrator—I hadn’t realized there were so many people who’d been supporting me for that long. At first, I thought it’d be better for my art book to mainly feature recent works, but after reading everyone’s opinions, I decided to include my older works too.
── This February marks your fourth anniversary as a freelance illustrator. I feel like in any job, especially at the beginning, most people are preoccupied with just getting the work done, and it’s around the third-year mark that they start to become a little more aware of their future career path. Would you say that is the case for you too?

Yes, which is why I’m hoping to sum up Chapter One of my career in this art book. I’d like it to serve as a stepping stone from which I can grow even more as an artist.
── What are the highlights of your first art book, Ludique, which goes on sale on March 1st?

The illustrations in this collection are in reverse chronological order, so the closer to the end you get, the older the artwork becomes. This way, you can get an overview of how my art has evolved to what it is now and enjoy how my style has changed over the years.
── I heard you put a lot of thought into the design as well.

“Ludique” means “fun” or “playful” in French, and I really wanted my art book to embody those qualities. The limited edition is designed to resemble a box of chocolates and comes with four different prints, which you can swap out to customize. Just look at how stylish this box is with its foil stamping! The regular edition is also designed to look like a box of chocolates and is just as adorable.

“The key visual for the exhibition features Alice four years from now.”
── Your second solo exhibition that’s being held in celebration of your art book is also titled Ludique. Is there a reason for this?

Playfulness is something I value a lot when I draw, and that’s something I want to continue to cherish even after four years of freelancing. Giving my exhibition the same name as my art book helps serve as a reminder of that.
── How do you feel after looking back on your first solo exhibition?

At the time, I’d never participated in a doujin event, so the autograph signing was the first time I got to interact with my fans face-to-face. I have to say, IRL communication has a real energy to it that on-screen text doesn’t! Initially, I was worried that I’d be drained from my first-ever autograph signing, but thanks to the surge of adrenaline I got, I didn’t feel tired at all. Having my own exhibition was a really strange experience, and I couldn’t help feeling slightly disembodied and wondering, “What am I doing here?” while signing everyone’s autographs. (laughs)


Photos of the solo exhibition held in June 2022.
── I noticed you drew Alice from Alice in Wonderland for the key visual for your exhibition.

I’ve always liked drawing Alice, and ever since I did that drawing of her two years ago, which became the turning point in my art, my love for her has become even stronger.
Many people seem to regard it as one of my signature works too. The key visual shows how I imagine Alice would look four years later, and the new illustrations I did for the exhibition all feature characters from Alice in Wonderland.

── It seems like you also put a lot of thought into the interior.

The previous exhibition had a cheerful and breezy vibe since it was held during the summer, but because this one will be held during the winter, the atmosphere is more relaxed, with a chocolate interior accented by Alice's minty colors. When I asked if we could make the decor tea party themed—which I thought was a long shot—the person in charge of the event came up with more than double the number of ideas. The result is this beautiful space embodying the “playfulness” of everyone involved.

── All of the goods that will be on sale at the exhibition are simply lovely...

The original merch is all absolutely adorable. Although I would recommend all of them, if I had to pick just a few, I would probably start with the tea set since it goes with the tea party theme. Not only does it come in a little pouch, but there are also five different flavors to choose from. The layered graphs that were popular last time and the acrylic keychains, which are smaller versions of the graphs, are also items that I would personally like to own. I also think the mirrors with a mirror art finish are gorgeous and showcase the cherry blossom illustrations really well. Since they’re 60cm in size, I bet they would look stunning if you hung them on a wall in your room. Gosh, I could go on and on...!


A table set for a tea party displaying original merchandise of the exhibition.
── That just goes to show how much there is to see!

Besides the illustrations, including new ones I drew for the exhibition, there are also figures on display, a promotion video for my art book narrated by Kaori Maeda, and, of course, the afternoon tea party that’s part of the interior. Basically, everything is the main attraction of the show. (laughs)
Akakura’s solo exhibition, "Ludique," is open through February 29th!
pixiv WAEN GALLERY by TWINPLANET × pixiv, a gallery jointly operated by pixiv and Twin Planet, is currently holding Akakura’s solo exhibition Ludique through February 29th, 2024.
In celebration of Akakura’s first art book, Ludique, published by GOT, which will be released on Friday, March 1st, the exhibition will feature various illustrations from the collection. Please enjoy the playful atmosphere of the Alice in Wonderland tea party-themed interior, and we look forward to welcoming all of you.
Dates: Friday, February 9th, 2024 to Thursday, February 29th, 2024
Free admission
Address: Tokyo, Shibuya City, Jingumae, 5 Chome-46-1 TWIN PLANET South BLDG. 1F
Hours: 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
*Certain dates when crowds are expected will require advance reservation for entry. Even on the dates when a reservation is not required for admission, we may issue numbered tickets during busy hours. For more details, please visit pixiv WAEN GALLERY’s official website.
Merchandise is also available online!
Some of the merchandise sold at the exhibition will be available for purchase on BOOTH. We have a variety of carefully curated items, such as acrylic keychains and layered graphs, which were popular at the last exhibition, so please take a look!