Tatsuro Kiuchi is a Tokyo-based illustrator, painter and educator. He is one of the most influential illustrators in Japan, having contributed an extraordinary variety to the field and to the visual culture of our time. He creates art that attracts the eye, yet familiar and in total engagement with life and our surroundings; art that trusts the audience to be clear-eyed and capable of enthusiasm. With particular attention to composition, depth, color and light, Tatsuro Kiuchi’s illustrations feel actively, restlessly alive, yet foster a sense of warmth and tranquility. Here he talks to Beneficial Shock! about the artists he recommends to his students, the biggest challenge of illustrating movie posters and about recently tracing the film memories of his teenage years.
Could you define the philosophy or approach of your work?
Considering illustration as client work, the first thing I aim for is to communicate. By communicating, I am not talking about concepts, emotions, and other things that are intangible, but I mean concrete things that most people can immediately understand what is depicted, such as flowers, vases, people, dogs, etc. On top of that, and although I can't say that I can always achieve this myself, I aim to create pictures that no one has ever seen before in terms of compositions, color schemes, shapes, etc., that are breathtaking at first glance. In that sense, I aim to create interesting pictures. What you see visually is essential. No matter how good the concept is, the illustration is not so successful if it is not interesting for your eyes to look at. Designing a good composition with light and dark is key to achieving this.
How much research, how much observation and how much conceptual work does your illustration involve? What matters most?
It is difficult to answer if you ask to what extent. The answer would be to do them as much as possible because they are all equally important. Research, observation, and concept support each other. I collect as much reference material as possible, and it is very important to observe and understand the structure of the object I am trying to draw or paint. I can't draw just from my imagination. In the first question, I said that appearance is essential, but that does not mean the concept is unimportant. The concept is a vital trigger for developing an interesting image. It is impossible to come up with a breathtaking composition, for example, out of nothing.
'The concept is a vital trigger for developing an interesting image. It is impossible to come up with a breathtaking composition, for example, out of nothing.'
Your work unfolds a vast artistic range that reveals the wit of a rich creativity. What feeds your creativity more than anything else? And have there been times when you felt you had to look for inspiration, or to approach your work, in a different way?
This may be a trivial answer, but it is the various images that can be viewed online. Often, it is the work of artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, etc., but it is also very much the images that ordinary people post on their blogs and other places. Of course, I haven't forgotten about the works I see at exhibitions. When I feel I have to look for inspiration, I also go online, or take a walk. Other than that, I check eBay daily for old bric-a-brac. I am sure that the atmosphere of these old odds and ends influences my work. Another important source of inspiration is playing video games.
"Learn to draw.” Do you believe that studying art was exactly what you needed at the time or do you consider it essential in your formation as an artist? Or let me put it this way: Who or what opened up a new world for you as an artist?
I had been studying biology at a university in Japan because I loved living things. Still, at some point, I felt I didn't have the ability to pursue biology, so I decided to change direction to my other favorite thing – drawing/painting. I started showing my illustration portfolio to publishers to promote my work. I received generally positive feedback from the editors, but a well-known art director pointed out that I lacked the basics. Indeed, I had never studied the basics of drawing, so it was only natural. This was the start of my decision to study art seriously. I also thought taking an entrance exam at a Japanese art college would be uninteresting, so I decided to study painting in the USA. That's how I got to where I am today, so in that sense, I think it's essential to learn drawing.
Which illustrator, alive or dead, do you most admire and why?
It is difficult to single out one person, but I will mention N. C. Wyeth. I would say his illustrations are my starting point. I first became aware of his work when I was studying at the ArtCentre College of Design, and one of our class assignments was to reproduce his painting. Of course, I didn't learn directly from him, but I think I learned the fundamentals of how to tell a story through light and dark and composition from his work. However, the important thing to mention is that these things did not immediately hit me at the time I was studying but came to me later in my career as an illustrator.
Do you consider a style of illustration an attitude rather than visual confinement?
It is basically an attitude about how one sees this world. Still, if taken too far, an egotistical style can become a visual confinement and inhibit communication when creating an illustration.
You are an illustrator as well as a painter. Do you see lines first or colour?
I definitely think in colors and planes rather than lines. I am better at painting than drawing.
What’s the first film poster that you recall that made you go to the cinema and watch the movie?
I was in elementary school then, and my mother took me there; it was JAWS.
And what is your favorite film poster and what film do you wish you could have done the poster for?
To be honest, I don't know much about film at all, so I can't come up with a favorite film poster like I can name a favorite illustrator. This means that the number of posters I know is small, but if I had to name one of them from an illustrator's point of view, it would be The Man with the Golden Gun, illustrated by Robert McGinnis. For the same reason, there is no particular film I can think of that I wanted to illustrate a poster for. The work I am asked to do is always the work I want to do.
Then I won’t ask you if there is a film you often recommend to others…
Since I don't watch many movies, I seldom recommend movies to others. I do often recommend painters and illustrators, though.
Then could you tell us which painters and illustrators you recommend most often and why?
As an illustration instructor, I recommend painters and illustrators to my students from time to time. I often recommend Goro Sasaki to my students. He is a senpai at the ArtCenter and an illustrator specializing in transparent watercolor. I have always had a few students who painted with watercolor, and I encourage them to watch his YouTube channel. I find his craftsmanship, work process, and use of brushes are worth a look for my students. Many people in Japan still use traditional media instead of digital for their illustration work. Conceptual illustration is a category that is not very familiar in Japan, and I mention Alex Nabaum and Emiliano Ponzi when I discuss it. I think their work is very clever and of high quality when it comes to explaining what conceptual illustration is all about. For drawing lessons, I recommend looking at Egon Schiele's work for guidance on what kind of lines to draw. His simple, clean lines without shading are very helpful for practicing drawing as an illustrator by carefully observing the shapes of objects and figures.
Your cover art for the Criterion edition of Ozu’s Good Morning, where two boys initiate a silent protest against their father because he won’t buy them a television set and so they are reduced to pantomiming when they need to communicate, subtly informs on some of the film’s themes. Your poster, with the geometrically arranged interior, also prohibits our sight line from venturing into the scenery and focuses on the characters, just as many characters in Ozu’s films rarely fix their gaze on things far in the distance. How important is it for a film poster to be true to the film’s content and to its intent?
Posters are one of my most favorite jobs, but I consider movie posters to be quite challenging. This is because the film itself is a visual work of the film director, so it is as difficult as painting someone else's picture as my own. For example, I would say that it is like illustrating a Picasso exhibition poster. A Picasso exhibition poster should feature Picasso's paintings. In the same way, if a movie is the director's work, it would make more sense to cut out a main character or scene from the movie and use it on the poster. However, I prefer movie posters with illustrations and graphics to photographs. Perhaps this is because I am an illustrator. When illustrating a movie poster, deciding how much of the illustrator’s interpretation to include can be difficult. One criterion I set for myself to be true to the movie is to include as little of my own interpretation as possible. This includes the intention of the film as I think I understand it. For example, I try to compose visuals based only on the information I can see, rather than trying to express information that I cannot see, such as imagining the main character's feelings or reading the meaning behind the scenes. That said, the problem remains that it is not interesting to illustrate a scene from a movie as it is. I think that I have to reconstruct the picture in some way. However, the director has a clear intention in composing the screen, and I am concerned that my reconstruction will destroy the work. This is the difficulty of
illustrating movie posters.
'When illustrating a movie poster, deciding how much of the illustrator’s interpretation to include can be difficult. One criterion I set for myself to be true to the movie is to include as little of my own interpretation as possible.'
With that in mind, what do you think makes a good film poster?
The poster should catch the eye at first glance and make the viewer want to see the film. To achieve this, I think it is important that the posters be simple, strong, and bold. This is true not only for movie posters but for posters in general.
You also illustrate children’s books. Were you more drawn to words or to visuals as a child?
I was not a kid who liked to read. So, it is no exaggeration to say that only visuals attracted me.
What is the biggest challenge in illustrating a book written by someone else? Do you, as in film poster design, let the story lead your drawing? And yet, with books it’s different. Isn’t it equally important to create an imaginative space in the book for the reader, that goes beyond the written word?
The difference between a poster and a picture book is that the former is a single picture, while the latter requires nearly twenty consecutive illustrations. I am unsure if it is the same for others, but I prefer to concentrate all my energy on a single picture, so I find it challenging to create many consecutive pictures. On top of that, when I make illustrations for a story written by someone else, I always encounter a scene that is difficult for me to illustrate. Overcoming this is also tricky. It is very important to go beyond the written word and create an imaginative space in the book for the reader, but I am not sure if I am capable of doing that because I am a realist and pursuing realism. I don't think I can create highly original and imaginative pictures, so I try to leave room for the reader's imagination without fully explaining everything in the picture. This is true for all my illustrations, not just picture books.
An image can speak a thousand words. I’m thinking of your portrait of Alain Delon and how so many times words are useless to express emotion or feelings, just like some memorable roles of the actor. Could you share a few thoughts on Alain Delon?
I watched a lot of movies on TV when I was a teenager. My parents used to watch those programs, so they influenced me. At that time, the movie stars for me were Alain Delon, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, and Steve McQueen. Alain Delon was perceived as the most handsome actor of them all. His most memorable film was Purple Noon. I liked Paul Newman the best, though. When I was in junior high school, collecting movie flyers was very popular in Japan. They were distributed free of charge at movie theaters to promote upcoming new releases. Since they were collectible, you could also find them sold at used bookstores. Flyers for new movies were 20 yen at the time, so even junior high school students could buy them. On the other hand, flyers of old movies were naturally rare, and the prices ranged from several hundred yen to tens of thousands of yen. The flyer of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry was drool-worthy. Of course, it was too expensive for me to buy. I remember I had a flyer for a revival release of a movie starring Alain Delon, which I could obtain at a relatively low price. I painted the portrait of ‘my’ Alain Delon by tracing my memories of those days. Getting a good likeness of him was challenging because he was so handsome. Movie flyers and posters were basically the same design, so in that sense, you could say that I have seen a lot of movie posters since I was young.
Interview by Ada Pîrvu / www.classiq.me