Creator Interview：Kamin

Kamin

〜Dozing in a cell〜

Tamagotchi was one of my inspirations, one of the reasons I decided to start drawing. I was drawing characters that I brought up in the game.

The real underlying reason for my love of pixel art probably comes from Tamagotchi.

As a result, I was always drawing characters and scenes from Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda, Kirby’s Dream Land, and Super Mario (especially Yoshi).

I used to draw by starting with the outline, adding in layers, etc., what you would call “traditional” digital drawing technique.

But I was really shocked and impressed when I saw the atsunuri (thick color lacquering) technique on drawings on the internet, such as Kawayoo-san (an illustrator).

It seemed so much fun, drawing without separating layers like you would when drawing analog (using a physical paintbrush).

So from about age 18, I started applying atsunuri technique into my drawings.

Atsunuri is fast, it’s fun, like drawing on a canvas. It’s fun… but it’s still difficult…

If you think about how long it takes to complete one drawing, in terms of days I guess its somewhere from 2 days to one week.

You start by drawing some “swish!” on the canvas. If the first “swish!” goes well, things move along quickly.

I also choose colors based on how I feel at that time, however I try to change the colors purposefully on occasion so that I don’t get the same colors across each of my drawings.

The first sokubakai (art exhibition and sales event) I attended was when I was a first year student at art school, at an event called Comic Site in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The first large-scale sokubaikai I attended was one year later, at COMITIA, held at Tokyo Big Site.

To tell the truth, the scale of that event surprised me. The number of people and the amount of goods that people pick up are a lot more, as a matter of course.

And another thing, being able to feel the presence of some amazing artists you desire right next to you, that’s something that you can only feel at a sokubaikai. Those creators are just so adorable on the internet society, very difficult to meet.

The reason why I keep joining sokubaikai is, it’s really fun. Every time I join it once every few months, I am motivated by caught up in the big crowds.

When people recognize me and call out my name, or when I see fans that show up from time to time to see my works – that really encourages me to do my best and draw!

It makes me try something new that will surprise all those who came to see me at the sokubaikai.

For me, one of the best parts of attending a sokubaikai is hearing my fans’ voice for my works. The reviews are even more important for me than my arts to be sold.

I also feel pleasure when people who have followed my work for a long time give their thoughts about my new works, or when someone who saw my works for the first time tells me that s/he loves them.

There’s a game you might know called Yume Nikki. That game left a huge impression on me, especially the very unique world perspective.

I knew I wanted to draw like this! I wanted to be able to create my own marvelous little worlds.

The above picture is the first one I had an emotional affinity for, after acquiring my current “personal touch,”

Before drawing the above, I was very concerned with the small details of each picture. The above picture represents the point where I didn’t worried about these little details and started caring more about the overall obscurity of each picture as a whole.

At the end of the day, I realized that my desire is to have fun while drawing. It’s much more important for me to enjoy drawing than drawing well.

Taking this feeling as a final analysis, I reached the drawing style that I have now.

Continuously, I want to enjoy drawing. There’s no point to draw if it doesn’t make you happy. You gotta have fun.

From our Editor

Interviewed month: March, 2014.

The unique worlds that Kamin creates really blow your mind, don’t they?

He had told us that doing something fun besides drawing gives you an intense motivation for drawing in the end.

More about Kamin…

Favorite manga：	Yotsuba&!, LIAR GAME, Mushishi, One Piece, etc.
Favorite game：	League of Legends, Fire Emblem, Minecraft, etc.
Creators he respects：	Waka, 100cca, others
Sokubaikai he attends：	Design Festa, COMITIA, Fukuoka Comic City