“Illustrations stimulate children’s interest in various things”

Matsui Ayaka is an Illustrator / Graphic Designer / Part-time Lecturer at Nagoya Zokei University, Japan. She has worked on package design and illustrations, book covers and illustrations, and exhibited in several group exhibitions. She has also been selected for various awards like Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2024, 18th TIS public competition in 2023 and Silver Award for the JIA illustration award in 2023 etc.

Here, she shares more about her journey as an artist. Excerpts.

Inspiration as an artist…

“I like to research world history, culture, and architecture, and I often get inspiration from them. There are differences in the way of thinking depending on the country, and even if you take one thing, there are differences in the history surrounding it. These differences have shaped the unique landscape of each country, and I’ve found that fascinating,” shares Matsui.

Early start…

“I always loved drawing, and before I recognized it, I was doing what I do now. The tools I use are colored ink and watercolor paper. I can use other tools such as watercolor paints, acrylic paints, and digital paints, but I like colored ink the most, and I mainly use it in my work as an artist,” she adds.

“I majored in design and illustration at university, where I first studied illustration so hard. After graduating, I worked for a company as a graphic designer, when I took a break from illustration, but I wanted to be involved in book illustrations, so I started working again as a graphic designer about two years ago,” she adds.

Importance of illustrations…

“Illustrations are important because they can express and convey beautiful imaginary landscapes to people. Photos and the human eyes can only recognize things that exist in reality, but with illustrations, it is possible to express and convey things that cannot exist in reality, such as imaginary creatures and scenery that cannot be found anywhere. I believe that illustrations have an important role that only illustrations can play,” she says.

Role of illustrations for children…

“I believe that an important role of illustrations for children is to stimulate children’s interest in various things. I think it is important to make them feel that there are so many exciting, interesting, and fascinating things in the world, even if they do not yet fully understand words as adults,” shares Matsui.

Creating a title cover…

“First of all, you need to fully understand the appeal of the book. When I drew the cover of a novel, I first read the whole thing and then scribbled out all the descriptions of the scenery and the characteristics of the characters so that I could definitely express the beauty of the world that the author had in mind,” she shares.

Books illustrated so far…

“I have illustrated about seven books so far and have been involved with three publishers. I still have a long way to go, so I would like to continue and increase my activities. I have met several Japanese publishers, translators, and designers while working on book covers and illustrations. It is very rewarding to work as a team with a common desire to get good books out to the world, and I would like to increase the opportunities to do so in the future,” she adds.

Artist you love…

“For illustration, I like Tove Jansson (author of Moomin) and Tomi Ungerer while for music, I like Indila and “love story” is my favorite song,” she shares.

Advice for new artists/illustrators…

“I think taking action is the most important thing. No matter how great a work you can think of, it’s meaningless if you don’t actually create it and let people know about it. In particular, I learned in my work that you should never give up making an effort to get your work out to the world,” concludes Matsui.