(Scans found on Weibo, credit on pics.)
Nine years of illustration.
It started as "Yuichi Nakamaru's Road to Picture Book Artist" in the August 2012 issue, and after a change of title to "Illustration Study Group", the serialization that has continued for 9 years finally comes to its final installment.
Nakamaru has been a regular contributor to WINK UP for about 22 years since his first appearance.
As he looks at past illustrations, he realizes how much his drawing skills have grown, he got excited about memories of location shoots and talked about his thoughts on the series.
I can only say "thank you" for this series. I've been doing this for nine years now, regardless of whether I have any talent or not, and it's become a form of art in its own right, and I think I've grown in some small way by drawing every month. It's a great opportunity for me because I never used to draw illustrations except for this series, and for those who look forward to this series every time, I think I could tell you about the growth of my art as a documentary (laughs). When I look back at my work like this, I see that I spent a lot of time on it, and I think I did a good job drawing it. The three illustrations I've picked up here are ones that I've tried relatively often and that I feel I can draw reasonably well. In the early days, I think it was especially time-consuming. I don't remember the details, but I think it took a couple of days. I had a deadline for submitting my illustrations, so I always tried to complete them by that deadline. As for meeting the deadlines for illustrations, it was difficult at times. When I was busy, such as when I was working on a drama, it was very difficult. But as I repeated the process, I gradually learned to draw more efficiently, and my work time gradually became shorter. In last month's issue, we had a quiz where we had to guess the title of the picture, but we didn't get many correct answers. As for the title, I often thought about it when I was typing emails to send the data for the most popular illustrations, so it was really an inspiration. I think that's why it was so hard for me to remember.
On location, I was always allowed to go wherever I wanted. Each time I looked up a place or event that I was interested in and requested it. In the summer, I would eat shaved ice, and after a certain period of time, I would say, "Maybe it's time for the aquarium next time" (laughs), I think I was given a lot of freedom. Eventually, the staff members started suggesting places to go, and we all said to each other where we wanted to go. I think we probably visited most of the hot spots and famous places in Tokyo. Besides, I was allowed to visit many museums. At popular events and exhibitions, there are usually too many people to take a good look, but since I had the advantage of being there to cover the event (laughs), I was able to take my time. However, we often had to do our interviews before the facility opened, so we had to be there early every time. I was able to finish early and have lunch with the staff after work, so I was able to have a meaningful day on the day of the interview (laughs). That's how it was, so there was almost no sense of work. As you can see from the photos, it's plainly a normal travel photo. I think it was the same for the staff as well as for me. The staff would often leave me alone while they were absorbed in the exhibition (laughs). But if I had to draw something every month without going on location, it wouldn't have been that interesting and I probably wouldn't have lasted this long. The fact that I was allowed to go to places that interested me each time was one of the secrets that allowed me to continue the series for so long, I think.
I was quite surprised to hear that the length of time I have been on WINK UP is the longest in history. Well, I stayed and did it (laughs). The first magazine I appeared in after I joined the Johnnys office was WINK UP. Of course, I didn't think I would be able to keep up with it, but 22 years is amazing! Before this series started, there was a coloring corner in the KAT-TUN series, and that's where I started to do a little bit of drawing, and that's when the series started. After that, I started my own personal series, and while the titles and forms have changed, I've been able to continue like this. In the last episode, it was a barbecue and it was raining heavily (laughs). Well, it's the rainy season, so it can't be helped. This series will end this month, but I will be changing the medium and starting a new series on "+ act" in the future. I'm planning to draw illustrations there as well, so I hope you'll continue to enjoy them!
(Nakamaru's new magazine column on +act is called Nakamaru's Room and it's being translated by
LnF)
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