■Profile
Artist Name： YoaUuki
Twitter： @YoaUuki
Country： China
Career： Student
University: China Academy of Art
Major: Game Design
■Art Gallery
This interview is a translation based on the original interview.
──First of all, please introduce yourself!
Hello, I'm YoaUuki, an illustrator currently majoring in Game Design at the China Academy of Art, also learning to draw. Nice to meet you!
──Would you like to tell us about your experience in forming your current art style?
I started to get hooked on colorful style at the time of my painting training. In fact, I didn't have a good foundation in color initially, so I aspired to be a person who draws beautiful colors. At that time, I often went to see the paintings of Nicolai Fechin and Edgar Degas, hoping that I would be able to paint such paintings one day. When I started to use the digital board in the second half of my freshman year, I feel really tricky because I didn't know how to mix colors in a digital way, So I could only use it to draw some line drawings (XD). It is a mad period of practice, I gradually learned the principles of color, and evolved into what I am now.
──Who are the illustrators or artists you respect? What influence have they had on your work?
There are many artists who have influenced me, but the most influential in terms of technique would be the Taiwanese illustrator Krenz (@KrenzCushart). I`d like to say that all my coloring skills are learned from him, because the difference between traditional coloring and digital coloring is, for digital you need to select the color you want from the beginning, while traditional is to mix various colors until you find the desired color. His theory is full and detailed, and he is really a good teacher. I also respect those countless famous masters of oil painting in history, even though I transitioned from traditional art to digital art, I still have deep feelings for traditional art.
──What do you find hard during the creation? And what are your struggles as a creator?
Actually, I don't find painting hard at all. There is nothing sadder than I don't know what to paint. I was completely caught up in existentialist anxiety for a while, feeling whatever I did was meaningless, very anxious, and even had insomnia every day because I couldn't paint to my satisfaction. Both then and now, I want to pursue paintings that can convey strong emotions, the most important thing is to express something I want to say through my work, not just look pretty. As a creator, I would say that I want my work to be unique.
──How do you gather inspiration for your work?
I like to record life by taking pictures, and sometimes I draw self-portraits, but most of my inspiration comes from literature, movies, novels, music, games, and whatever touches me. I usually listen to a lot of songs, generally, lyrics often inspire me during the painting.
──You have drawn a certain amount of illustrations with the "Yaoi" (Boys Love), is there any reason or story?
Yaoi is my personal interest. The interaction between characters that I like is interesting, so I want to portray that scene in my mind, but I will not really consider the details seriously(XD).
──What do you think about your future work?
Currently, I'm working on an illustrations album and plan to publish it before I graduate. Since I'm busy with my studies, I can't move forward quickly, and I'm a bit OCD, so I think it will take me a long time to finish the album.
──Would you mind telling us about your favorite Japanese ACG works, literature, music, and movies, and the authors you like?
There are so many works that I like, I've seen all the famous ones. But my favorite is always Ghibli's animated movies. When I was very young, I accidentally saw the scene of "Spirited Away" where a hundred ghosts disembarked from a boat, which scared me and left a deep memory.
Later on, I watched "Castle in the Sky", "The Secret World of Arrietty" and "Howl’s Moving Castle", these movies have had a deep impact on me in terms of aesthetics, the evidence is that I also like to create images of people falling, or in the air, surrounded by plants, which I think has a lot to do with these movies.
I also like Japanese music very much, often surprised by Japanese composers' talent, recently my favorite should be Mr. Masaru Yokoyama, I think his use of strings in music is really beautiful. There are also many excellent works of music in the game works, my favorite game music is from “Nier: Automata” because I like it so much that I can't afford to listen to it too often.
──Please tell us what you think about combining art and business! Tell us what you think are some of the more successful cases, and what kind of project you wish to try!
I think the commercial is the major driving force behind the development art industry. One famous example is Jessie Willcox Smith and the well-known Mucha, who created works for magazines, operas, and merchandise that have survived the changes of time and space, it shows that art and business can be mutually beneficial.
As a student, I haven't had much opportunity to work with businesses yet, and I've only tried to work on 2D printing so far(lol). If there is an opportunity, I hope to try some 3D content.
──Thank you for being interviewed, is there any words you like to say to your audience or other creators?
Thank you for supporting my original works! I will be committed to creating works that you like!
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