Illustrator Kanda Done’s relentless pursuit of cuteness - If something feels “off,” it needs to go.

I’ve liked drawing ever since I was in kindergarten. If we’re talking about when I started drawing character illustrations, however, I believe that would be around the second grade of elementary school when I started copying shojo manga illustrations. Most of the manga I was reading then were full of cute girls, so I think it was only natural that I chose to draw them. In junior high school, I started using the internet to search for better ways to draw and followed the tutorials that came up in the search results, such as drawing lots of circles on a sheet of paper or copying illustrations done by animators.

I’ve studied many different creators and taken inspiration from them, but if I had to name one person, it would be Hinata Takeda-sensei. Her world-building, in particular, has had a significant influence on me, and I really admire the way cute girls and realistic, textured clothing come together in her art to create a world that’s both robust and delicate.

For one, I definitely practiced replicating a lot of her artwork. Additionally, world-building is a skill acquired through experiencing and observing various things, so I strove to broaden my knowledge by purposely visiting places such as rose gardens and taking photos of their interior.

After graduating from high school, I went to a vocational school to learn art. While I learned many things there, the one class that was really helpful to me was the Historical Studies class, where we were given handouts that taught us why people of a certain time period—for example, Medieval Europe—used to dress in specific clothes. Understanding the background of how certain clothing styles came to be can make your drawings all the more convincing, and information like that is really hard to come by on the internet nowadays. Now that I think back on it, I’m really glad I had the chance to learn that sort of stuff in school.

To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about it too deeply back then. It was only when I began job hunting that I finally started to get the sense that I was going to work as a professional illustrator.

While I was still in vocational school, I did an internship at a company where I drew illustrations for social network games. That led to my very first job, and I ended up joining the company later on and working as an in-house illustrator for them for a while.

I wouldn’t say my mindset changed because I started getting paid for my work, but it did change thanks to the things I learned from my senior colleagues. Since I wasn’t drawing for myself, I had to be really mindful about how the illustration should or would be presented and be aware of how others would perceive it to satisfy our clients.

For example, I learned that sometimes, clients might prefer something that’s flashy and instantly eye-catching versus something that’s neatly drawn but not as impactful. Although, as an illustrator, it’s tempting to judge a drawing based on how “well” it’s drawn, that can sometimes cloud your judgment when it comes to commercial work.

Well, there was a project to create a new game at the company I was working for, and we had to choose one of the in-house illustrators as the main illustrator for it. I badly wanted to be chosen, so I made a personal account under the name “Kanda Done” and started posting my illustrations on pixiv. Sadly, I wasn’t chosen for that project, but then someone from Houbunsha came across my work on pixiv and asked me if I could draw a yonkoma manga for them, which led to my debut as a manga artist.

It really was a lucky coincidence since I enjoyed being a part of a company and had no intention of going freelance when I first started working. When I couldn’t become the main illustrator for the company project, I felt utterly useless and untalented, but Houbunsha taught me that I was capable of drawing something that stood out even among countless other illustrations.

Yes, it was definitely one of the turning points in my life. Unfortunately, a year after quitting the company I’d been with since I was an intern to become a manga artist, the series I was working on came to an end. I went through several changes in my career after that before I began receiving work requests from clients who’d seen my art on social media. If I hadn’t received any requests back then, I probably would have returned to work at a company, so getting to market myself as a freelance illustrator was another major turning point.

Yes, I don’t think I would have minded that. When you’re working at a company, there’s comfort in the tangibility of actually knowing the people you’re collaborating with.

At the same time, corporations tend to favor employees who are well-balanced in all areas, such as speed, efficiency, and communication. Even if there’s something you’re extremely good at, people don’t really value that part of you. In that sense, I think people who have “unbalanced” stats will fare better as freelancers, and it also makes it easier for potential clients to envision what you might be good at and approach you. For me, my unique ability was being able to draw cute girls, which became my strong point when I switched to freelancing.

Oh, definitely. I constantly think about what people expect from me, which, in my case, is cute faces, and I pay extra attention to that to maintain a certain standard of quality. Of course, if I only focus on maintaining my current standard, the quality of my work will start to deteriorate in the long run. Therefore, I try to challenge myself so my art continues to feel interesting and up-to-date.

About two to three years ago, I worked myself to the point where I was mentally burnt out. I was unable to draw anything at the time since my mind kept going blank when I tried to, and when I went to the hospital, the doctor advised me to stop working for a while. That’s probably the most obvious setback I’ve experienced.

Exactly. To overcome that issue, I reduced my workload to the bare minimum—enough so I could just about support myself—and made sure I got ample rest. My condition improved as a result, so since then, I’ve been careful not to take on too much work at once.

I’m planning on streaming and uploading videos at a pace that’s sustainable for me. As an illustrator, I’d actually been thinking I ought to have a YouTube channel before I even started one. I feel like if you’re just posting finished illustrations, they sort of become mere images, at least from the viewer’s perspective. It’s... How do I put this... It’s kind of hard for people to put a face to the name or view your illustrations as something you created—i.e., works of art—so to speak.

Yes, exactly. That’s why I think it’s necessary for viewers to get to know the personality of the artist behind the work. I also hoped that people would find my YouTube channel, learn about who I am as a person, and discover my art through it.

My process tends to be pretty different each time, but I usually start by coming up with the concept of my drawing. Once I’ve flipped through some magazines or scrolled through my camera roll and settled on the motifs and composition for my piece, I might work on the rough draft before jumping straight into coloring. Or I might follow each step neatly from rough draft to line art to coloring—it really depends on the drawing. The one thing that does remain consistent, though, is that I always set aside plenty of time to make adjustments.

It’s all based purely on instinct, but if there’s anything that still feels “off” to me after I’m technically done with the drawing, I’ll fix it to make sure it’s no longer present in the final illustration. For example, I might have issues with the placement of the character’s eyebrows and lower them by a millimeter each. Naturally, this has a ripple effect, which means I have to change other parts of the drawing too. Essentially, I’ll keep looking for things that feel off and continue to fix them until I’m satisfied with the result.

No, it’s something different.

Not really; it’s something you kind of have to feel to understand. I really wish I could though—it would make things much easier.

Oh, plenty. If I had to choose just one, though, it would be to incorporate the latest makeup trends. There are certain makeup looks that tend to be trending at the time, so I try my best to incorporate those in my characters’ faces. For example, the current trend is to make your face look shorter and your overall appearance more youthful, so I try to apply those rules to my drawings too.

I do. I watch a lot of makeup tutorials on YouTube, and I also have a favorite makeup artist whose book I own.

I would say my strength lies in the way I draw characters’ faces. I often get told on social media that the characters I draw look really cute, so I guess that’s what people pay attention to the most. That said, I also try to make sure my characters radiate cuteness with their entire being, from the way they pose to the movement of their hair, so I put a lot of thought into each brushstroke.

In my case, I like to try and make my characters seem like good people. It’s a deliberate choice on my part—mostly because I like good-natured characters—so I don’t really draw characters with a mean-ish streak unless I have a special reason to do so.

Given how people can see my artwork on the internet anytime, a big part of me was curious to know just how many of them were willing to go through the effort of visiting a physical venue. After all, traveling all the way to Tokyo just to see an exhibition is a relatively huge commitment. That’s why I want visitors who come to see my exhibition to be able to leave with a sense of satisfaction by the end of their visit.

“Pre Lady” is a term I coined myself, meaning “a girl who has yet to bloom into a young lady.” I always enjoy drawing young women who embody the girlish innocence of youth, which is why I gave my exhibition this name.

Not at all; I’d only planned on drawing one illustration at first. It was only after seeing the positive feedback that I decided to turn it into a series.

I mainly selected works that I thought turned out really cute.

So, you know how when you’re visiting an exhibition, you essentially go from a bustling street full of people to a quiet, enclosed space? I wanted to depict that transition from a public space to a private one in the key visual by showing the main character sneaking away from the main street—or the masquerade ball, in this case—and going to a private room, i.e., the exhibition. That’s why she’s carrying a mask.

That’s a good point. Since the character is going from a well-lit area to the solo exhibition, aka a private salon, I’ve made that area a bit darker than the rest to create a dramatic atmosphere.

While I’m excited for all of them, my number-one recommendation would be the layered graph prints. I think they’re pretty rare as far as merch goes, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them.

Thank you. My solo exhibition will be a space where things I normally don’t get to express in my illustrations come to life, so please come and see them for yourself!