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[Comments on the prize-winning work]
I am currently a student. My school has a department of lacquer art. I have had occasions to enjoy looking at the works done by the students of this department. Their works, as well as the production process, are very different from mine, which is, for instance, processing image data, or producing web contents, using my computer. The works I've seen seemed to have inherited properties from Japanese tradition, and I could sense the wonderful Japanese beauty from them.
As for my own work, I tried to express the various thoughts and feelings that led to my imagination, by integrating them all together. Part of my imagination came from how I felt about the lacquer-ware itself, and the process of producing it. My imagination was also stimulated by my own opinions on what currently is expressed nowadays by digital tools, and even the fact that digital tools are actually used. |
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Around when did you begin creating CG work?
I purchased my computer in spring of 2000, and that was when I started it. Previously, I had been an "analog" type person who never even touched a computer. |
What was your primary motivation to start creating CG art?
I entered college and started learning DTP. During the process of learning DTP, what I first learned was the tasks of editing images, such as image correction. I incorporated the computer techniques I was learning into my creative activities. |
Tell us what motivated you to enter the DCA contest.
To put it plainly, I was looking for the opportunity to present my work. When you create something, I think it's important to not only enjoy it yourself, but also to let other people take a look at the work and feel something from it. This time around, the process of finding the opportunity for the presentation led me to the DCA, so I entered my work. |
For the award winning work "Lacquer and symbolism," which parts did you want to be most unique, or did you go through special efforts to create?
I picked the theme of [Harmony/Tranquility/Japaneseness], and my way of interpreting it was "Japanese tradition." Well, expressing "tradition" while using CG was challenging. It was difficult to balance well the expression of tradition, and expressing something by a new type of technology (which is CG). |
 The screening committee members highly praised your work. They commented that the theme of Harmony/Tranquility/Japaneseness was very well incorporated into it, which made it to be of quite a high level. Did you have any specific theme while you were working on it?
Among the various parts of the creation process, I always try to put priority on concept building. When I was given the theme of Harmony, etc., I took time asking myself questions such as "what is Japaneseness?" and "what is tradition?" Then, based on my way of understanding/interpretation of such concepts, I thought over the following: "how should I express it?" and "how do I want to express my individual character within it?" |
Has anything changed in your life since you won the DCA Excellence Award?(e.g., your friends told you they saw the work; you feel more motivated than ever)
A local newspaper and magazines reported my winning of the award, and I received many email messages. It has given me a lot of confidence in my work. |
What is your dream or goal for your future in your creative activities?
I would like to keep looking for a new way of expression. At the same time, I hope I can express my own uniqueness. |
We will soon announce the winners of DCA 2003. Now, could you offer any words of encouragement to those who are planning to enter their work in the next DCA competition?
I believe every single work entered will make the DCA even better. I hope that many artists will enter their work so that the contest will gather momentum! |
The 7th -- Winner of the Grand Prize, 2003
Name: Ryusuke Ikeda
Sex: Male
Occupation: Student
E-mail : e1ri@yahoo.co.jp |
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| Click on each picture to enlarge it. |
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1. Producing Raw Materials <1>Creating patterns using Illustrator
First, I created the base material, one of the expressions to be used later on. The patterned design shown here is one of my unique styles in the process of creation. Though it is a time-consuming task, I patiently kept working on it.
(a) Producing objects using Illustrator
(b) Filling the screen while trying not to throw off the balance of each design
(c) I made the structure so that eventually it turned out to be that the entire screen was filled up with the objects |
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2.Producing Raw Materials <2>Imagineering concepts of lacquer art (lacquer-ware) and gold leaf
I usually save up materials by taking pictures on a routine basis. As chance would have it, however, nothing befitting such images as lacquer or gold leaf came in handy. So, I created some by processing ones that were in stock.
(d) I also drew a picture of a tree with pens, which I was going to add when combining pictures at the end of the work process.
(e) I printed out a few pictures of the sky, which came in handy, and intentionally smudged and made scratches on them. The reason why I used pictures of the "sky" is because I thought the hue relationship between the sky and shades of clouds was similar to the complementary colors of lacquer and gold leaf images.
(f) I picked some of the images, scanned them, and inverted the color tone, using Photoshop. |
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3.Combining Images with Photoshop
Using Photoshop, I combined each of the base material that I had made. I carried on this task by using functions such as layering effect, while paying close attention to the balance of all the materials.
(g) I rasterized vector graphics I made at Raw Materials <1> above.
(h) I combined each image with Photoshop. |
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4.Correcting Color Tone
I was not happy with the lightness and contrast as they came out, so I made some corrections.
(i) To obtain extra contrast, I added another layer with partially lowered lightness.
(j) After some fine-tuning, by coordinating color saturation among others, the final image turned out to be like this.
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