Your illustrations have much speediness and presence as if we are actually there. Is there any concepts or personal principles you follow in your creation? And where do you get ideas and inspirations from?

I think the reason why my illustrations have a speediness and presence is because the process of my work that doesn’t limit the image at the beginning of the work and my interest in such speediness. My personal principal is to weave some affection that can approach to others and impression that surprise others into one work. Though it doesn’t always go well.

We would like to ask you about the process from the beginning to the finishing through one work. How much time does it usually take to create a design?

For example in illustration, I usually draw an image rough in pencil and finish it as a line drawing in pen and ink. Then scan it and color it on Mac. Some are done within 30 minutes, and others take three days.

When you made the cover design for Shift this month, what did you imagine and how did you work on it?

I used the leading character of ‘SPIDEAD’ series. ‘SPIDEAD’ is short for ‘SPIRITUAL DEAD’. In the year 2000, I imagined that we can start again if our bodies and spirits are dead and everything come to nothing, we can start again if only we can feel the ‘warmth’ that was actually there, the hopeful end just before we go into a new world, or something like that.

Please tell us about the exhibition held in Sapporo at the beginning of 2000. What will it be like?

The title of the exhibition is ‘WEARSWEAPONS’. There’s something in common between the action that justifies oneself by wrapping oneself in too much fashion and the action that threatens others having weapons in one’s hand for self-defense. They perform those actions in order to make up for their weakness, and at the same time, they are displaying their weakness. Four new works that represent such feeling like a dilemma and cycling shirts made with another vector as ‘wears to attack’ will be exhibited. Other works I have done until now will also be exhibited.

What are you interested in most now? And please tell us about your future projects. Is there anything you would like to do in the future?

Making efforts to have lots of output that represent myself over a wide range of genres. And I want to make a manga. I want to make fragments sticking to the surface of my brains for many years into real shape. In the future, I want to produce clothes as a brand name ‘WEARSWEAPONS’.

Imaitoonz