I participated in a Uniqlo commercial as an illustrator.

I had the opportunity to participate in Uniqlo's Golden Week sale commercial as the background illustrator.

・Travel Edition
・Outing Edition
・Outdoor Edition
・Home Time Edition
・Homecoming Edition

There are 5 types in total. I arranged the background motifs like theatrical flats,

・Compatible with both 16:9 widescreen and vertical smartphone screens
・Color schemes that do not interfere with the colors of people or products
・A sense of unity across all 5 editions

I kept these points in mind. The commercials are being shown on digital signage in stores nationwide.

Travel Edition

Outing Edition

Outdoor Edition

Home Time Edition

There were no instructions to include a cat, but I added a stretching cat, thinking it would fit well with a person stretching while relaxing.

Homecoming Edition

Since the products are the main focus, I drew the illustrations as accessories to highlight the products so that the eye is drawn to them at a glance. However, because these videos play repeatedly in stores, I incorporated elements like cats, pigeons, and plants so that even someone watching for the second time might discover something new.

Vertical Layout Version

Instead of simply cropping the horizontal images vertically, I optimized the layout for vertical use to match the filmed footage.

Golden Week is also the season when rice planting begins, so I made the background for the Homecoming Edition a rice field with rows of rice seedlings.

PEACE FOR ALL

Uniqlo has been running a charity T-shirt project called "PEACE FOR ALL" since June 2022. All profits from the T-shirts sold are donated to international humanitarian aid organizations to support people affected by poverty, discrimination, violence, and conflict.

There is also a T-shirt featuring the master Picasso, and since I was moved by Picasso's words before, I immediately went to the nearest store and bought one.

Tadashi Yanai, Chairman and President of Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo, stated at an earnings briefing held on the 9th regarding the situation in Iran, "I want politicians to be more reliable. Politics is just too ugly." and while he said that,

In reality, if the world isn't peaceful, we can't get synthetic fibers, and it's not the time to be selling clothes, so saying "politicians, get your act together!" is a perfectly valid point.

The impact of not being able to get oil or naphtha (a colorless, transparent liquid similar to gasoline made by refining crude oil, and a key petrochemical substance that serves as a raw material for plastic) is casting a shadow over every industry, including construction, food, publishing, and medicine.

The illustration industry is no exception.

Acrylic resin (binder), the main component of acrylic paint, is fundamentally derived from petrochemical products, so when an oil shortage (especially a naphtha shortage) occurs, illustrators who use acrylic paint are hit directly by rising prices and reduced supply.

It's unbearable for art students.

So, digital artists are fine, right?

Well, that's certainly not the case. The main tools for digital illustration (PCs, pen tablets/graphics tablets, monitors, software) use a large amount of plastic, resin, and chemical materials. These are almost 100% petrochemical products (derived from naphtha).

Furthermore, printing pictures drawn digitally requires printers, ink, and paper. Of these, ink uses dispersants and resins in addition to pigments and dyes, many of which are petrochemical products.

Moreover, the printer itself is a mass of precision parts, and naturally, it is supported by plastics, semiconductors, and various resin materials. As for paper, it is also treated with chemical coatings, sizing agents, and chemical processes that help ink adhere, so oil-derived materials are involved here as well.

In other words, whether analog or digital, the modern act of "drawing a picture" and "enjoying a drawn picture" is quite dependent on oil.

Prime Minister Takaichi posted on X that there is no naphtha shortage, but the naphtha shock is actually hitting businesses directly. The painting industry is already facing a crisis, and the immediate focus seems to be on whether they can make it through May.

When Golden Week is over and June arrives, what kind of life will we be living?

Thank you for reading.

If you feel this article might be a good conversation starter with someone, sharing on social media, commenting, following, liking, or tipping would be very encouraging.

🎨 I am accepting requests and consultations for illustration production.

Uraken Volvox is an illustrator who creates visuals tailored to concepts, ranging from books and advertisements to large-scale murals. With the motto "Turning complex themes into stories that can be understood at a glance," I propose the optimal illustrations for any medium or space, regardless of the scale of the media.

For past production achievements and detailed consultations or requests for work, please feel free to contact me from the link below.

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