‘Painting by hand is better than creating digital art’
Japanese art director Nizo Yamamoto, who was recently in town for an exhibition, talks to Bulbul Sharma about his hand-painted illustrations in acclaimed animation films, and his future projects.
the viewers can ignore it and just immerse themselves in the world of the movie. If it’s bad, they can’t help noticing it, and lose their concentration.
Q. Most of the illustrations done by you are only visible on the screen for a few seconds. But exhibitions, like the one recently held at Delhi’s Japan Foundation, highlight your work more effectively. So how different is that experience of displaying your work in exhibitions, in contrast to when these illustrations appear fleetingly in animation films? A.
Exhibitions like the one at the Japan Foundation let the audience focus on the background paintings, which usually aren’t focused in the animation film. I hope it’ll be an opportunity for people to notice what kinds of works and efforts are there behind these scenes, which is good to develop a deeper understanding of animation films.
Q. What are your thoughts on the larger debate of digitally-painted versus hand-painted work, with the former lacking in “human touch”? The growing inclination of young animators towards digitallypainted work is known to all. Do you as an animator, who prefers painting by hand, think that his wider digital wave is a cause for concern? A.
I personally feel that painting by hand is better than using some other devices. I’m not good at using the digital devices as such, although I have tried. So that’s it.
Q. Could you take us through some of your upcoming projects? A.
I’m working on GotoHyakkei; Hundred Beautiful Scenes of Goto as a lifetime’s work. Since I left Goto [an island in Japan] after graduating from junior high school at the age of 15, I’ve missed my hometown a lot.
I realised how wonderful the place is.I thought that I need to reacquaint myself with Goto. I wished I could show the world the appeal of Goto through my paintings. There are many such views interweaving into beautiful scenery, and I wish I can relay the culture of Goto to the future generations.
“If a background is really good, the viewers can ignore it and just immerse themselves in the world of the movie. If it’s bad, they can’t help noticing it, and lose their concentration.”