Faces and bodies alike. Everyone is different, and everyone is good | Friend Interview #2

The "Jidai no Hazama Exhibition vol. 4" was held last month.
We are publishing the artist interview conducted during the exhibition.
This time, it is an interview with Tomodachi.
In a dialogue format with the organizer, we delved into the origins of their creative work and body positivity.

The previous interview can be found here👇

The origin is "portraiture"

───Speaking of your illustrations, Tomodachi, they are characterized by plump bodies, simple lines, and retro color schemes. When did you start drawing in this style?

Tomodachi (omitting honorifics hereafter): I have been drawing since I was three years old, and I adopted this current style in 2023. I had been drawing and posting in various styles before that. However, I felt that it was difficult to draw portraits with the styles I used to use. I wanted to make them look more like the subjects. Rather than being realistic, I thought about making them simple, exaggerating the things I like, and also adding a sense of stylishness, and that is how I settled on the current style.

───This time, you are doing the "Tomodachi's Smiling Portrait Shop" at the Jidai no Hazama Exhibition, but you wanted to draw portraits, didn't you? What attracted you to portraiture?

Tomodachi: When I decided to give drawings to friends as gifts, I would draw portraits. Everyone's face is completely different, and that is interesting. Since I am going to draw them, I wanted to draw them in a way that is true to them.

───Portraiture doesn't work unless you successfully balance the elements of "making it look like the subject" and "deforming it." I think it is amazing that you capture the features of the face while deforming them in your own style.

Moving between text and pictures

───How did you incorporate the theme of this exhibition, "Our Companions," into your work?

Tomodachi: Many of them started from the text I added to the side. I drew the work on the top row after being inspired first. I included the meaning that there is myself, and within me, there are companions like friends and family, and because they are connected, we are all companions. The red person on the left represents myself. For the right side, I wanted to make myself white as well to express that I am also a part of someone else.

───So the left side is subjective, and the right side is an objective work.

Tomodachi: The next thing I thought about was that companions you meet face-to-face are the most reassuring. So, for the work in the middle row on the right, I had them physically face each other.
The work in the middle row on the left was drawn after I realized that when people wear the same uniform, a sense of camaraderie is born, even if they are complete strangers, thinking, "They are from the same school" or "They are from the same workplace." Even if they have no direct connection, I think they can become companions just by wearing the same thing.
Furthermore, the final work captures people related to adhesive bandages as companions in a broader sense. There is someone somewhere who makes and carries adhesive bandages, meaning someone who is trying to heal wounds. And in the past, there was someone who taught me how to apply an adhesive bandage. I tried to express that even if there is no direct connection, we are all companions in a broad sense.

───You expanded the concept of "companions" not just to friends and family, but to people wearing the same things or connected through adhesive bandages. Your work also has wonderful text. When you create, do you think of the text or the picture first?

Tomodachi: For the work I always post on Instagram and elsewhere, there are many patterns where I draw the picture first. When it is an exhibition with a theme, I often start creating after writing it down as text first, or at least thinking in my head about what kind of related themes there are, even if I don't write it down. But in the end, when I start drawing, the style is often completely different, so there are many cases where the entrance and exit are completely different (laughs). I also change the text midway to make it more aligned with the picture. So I think there is a part where they influence each other as I create.

I want to convey the beauty of the curves of the human body

---Tomodachi-san, your depictions of the body are very distinctive. I would like to hear about your thoughts on the body.

Tomodachi: My absolute favorite part is the thighs. I could go on forever about them (laughs). I really love the line of the thigh; I think it's the most beautiful part of the human body. In today's world, I get the impression that people who are thin and have a model-like figure are the ones being highlighted. But I want to say that I love these thighs. I want people to know their beauty, so I place a lot of importance on how I depict thighs and legs. I love the soft feeling of the flesh, so I hope I can convey that just as it is.

---It's a plump, curvaceous beauty. Its charm really comes across. By the way, since this was your first time making three-dimensional works, could you tell me what you enjoyed and, conversely, what you found difficult?

Tomodachi: I created the piece called "Ideal" because I wanted to express the roundness of the thighs. I was just stroking it the whole time, and it was so much fun (laughs). For the piece "Kissing the Sun," I used red clay, but I was so clumsy that it didn't go well... it mixed strangely and splattered everywhere, so it was really tough. I want to get a little more comfortable working with clay.

---The joy of turning the shape of the thighs you truly love into a three-dimensional form really came across. I'm looking forward to your future three-dimensional works. Thank you very much.

Interviewer: Yuma Kawaguchi


Click here for Tomodachi-san's note👇

Click here for Tomodachi-san's Instagram👇

Click here for the Tomodachi-san interview extra edition👇