Captivate People’s Hearts and Minds to Tell Your Tale
The Appeal of Hand-Drawn Illustrations
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Express the dramatic story of the future by visualizing ideas and feelings infused into urban design
In 2018, at a time when computer graphics were at their peak, Nikken Sekkei held exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka to showcase the hand-drawn illustrations—a tradition the firm has long upheld—as a tool for visualizing ideas. We spoke with Masaaki Yamada, head of the Illustration Studio, to find out what Nikken Sekkei hopes to convey through these illustrations.
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——Some design companies have CG studios in-house, but Nikken Sekkei is a rare exception to this rule as it is also furnished with an illustration studio. In this golden age of computer graphics, why is Nikken Sekkei committed to the practice of hand-drawn illustrations for its designs?
As you have mentioned, with the exception of Nikken Sekkei, there are very few companies in the United States, Europe, and other design offices around the world that have their own departments dedicated to hand-drawn illustrations.
Even though they are similar methods of expression, CG and hand-drawn illustrations have different purposes.
The goal of CG is to precisely and accurately convey what can be built in a particular place in a realistic way.
However, the goal of hand-drawn illustrations is to convey images and ideas and visualize how a particular place can be used.
A prominent feature of Nikken Sekkei is that we offer both styles to our clients.
One of the advantages of hand-drawn illustrations is that the designer’s images and ideas can be drawn even if the details of the design have not yet been set.
In addition, regardless of actual scale, the attractiveness of a building or the ambience of people enjoying themselves can be conveyed at a glance by, for example, drawing the figures of people around the city in an exaggerated or enlarged way with the use of text elements, such as speech bubbles or sound effects, like those used in manga. For example, letters in text-heavy presentation materials that are drawn by hand by Americans who are studying Japanese are strikingly effective and become messages that resonate with people even more than letter fonts in any design. Drawing by hand is a method that elicits an impact that cannot be captured with CG alone.
——How does Nikken Sekkei handle hand-drawn illustrations?
As you have mentioned, with the exception of Nikken Sekkei, there are very few companies in the United States, Europe, and other design offices around the world that have their own departments dedicated to hand-drawn illustrations.
Even though they are similar methods of expression, CG and hand-drawn illustrations have different purposes.
The goal of CG is to precisely and accurately convey what can be built in a particular place in a realistic way.
However, the goal of hand-drawn illustrations is to convey images and ideas and visualize how a particular place can be used.
A prominent feature of Nikken Sekkei is that we offer both styles to our clients.
One of the advantages of hand-drawn illustrations is that the designer’s images and ideas can be drawn even if the details of the design have not yet been set.
In addition, regardless of actual scale, the attractiveness of a building or the ambience of people enjoying themselves can be conveyed at a glance by, for example, drawing the figures of people around the city in an exaggerated or enlarged way with the use of text elements, such as speech bubbles or sound effects, like those used in manga. For example, letters in text-heavy presentation materials that are drawn by hand by Americans who are studying Japanese are strikingly effective and become messages that resonate with people even more than letter fonts in any design. Drawing by hand is a method that elicits an impact that cannot be captured with CG alone.
——How does Nikken Sekkei handle hand-drawn illustrations?
Nikken Sekkei’s origins are found in the Sumitomo Temporary Architecture Department, which opened its doors in 1900. Watercolors for hand-drawn illustrations have been passed down since that time as a “unique taste of Nikken Sekkei”. One of the oldest hand-drawn illustrations in existence is one that depicts the Sumitomo Building, which was completed in 1930. This was an era when there were no computers or copy machines to speak of and original drawings were mostly provided to customers, so it is a real treasure that the original drawing of this building has remained in the hands of Nikken Sekkei. In addition, cross-sectional perspective drawings of Nakano Sun Plaza created in 1973 are all hand-drawn, including diagrams, and the activities of people in the building are also in fine detail.
Since that time, CG has become more commonly used in the architectural field with the rise of CAD in design around 2000. In such circumstances, Nikken Sekkei has honored its hand-drawn illustration techniques and skills as a communication tool used with customers to convey the purposefulness and significance of design in more depth. Currently, Nikken Sekkei’s Illustration Studio is home to 10 illustrators from diverse fields, including Japanese paining, oil painting, design, fine arts, and architecture and is a brightly colored mosaic of international colors including members with citizenships and educational experiences in the Americas, Macedonia, Great Britain, Pakistan, Spain and other countries. At the height of today’s digital world, there is retroactive demand for things that have a homemade feel. All members in the studio are working at full steam as we are starting to accept orders for hand-drawn illustrations other than for architecture.
——Do you have an example of a presentation with hand-drawn illustrations that was successful in beating the competition and has ultimately been constructed?
Since that time, CG has become more commonly used in the architectural field with the rise of CAD in design around 2000. In such circumstances, Nikken Sekkei has honored its hand-drawn illustration techniques and skills as a communication tool used with customers to convey the purposefulness and significance of design in more depth. Currently, Nikken Sekkei’s Illustration Studio is home to 10 illustrators from diverse fields, including Japanese paining, oil painting, design, fine arts, and architecture and is a brightly colored mosaic of international colors including members with citizenships and educational experiences in the Americas, Macedonia, Great Britain, Pakistan, Spain and other countries. At the height of today’s digital world, there is retroactive demand for things that have a homemade feel. All members in the studio are working at full steam as we are starting to accept orders for hand-drawn illustrations other than for architecture.
——Do you have an example of a presentation with hand-drawn illustrations that was successful in beating the competition and has ultimately been constructed?
We have many, but this here is an example of the design for the Suzhou Modern Media Plaza that I was involved in. It is a multi-use complex that houses the offices that make up the headquarters of China’s Suzhou Broadcasting System, as well as a hotel and shops. The illustration also features a futuristic twin tower and media plaza surrounded by two buildings, which has been delicately colored in a style against the background of the sun setting on this ancient city. This hand-drawn illustration imaginatively expresses the view of a world created by this building, such as the strikingly curved glass roof in Media Plaza that resembles traditional silk fabric and the sunlight and the appearance of people reflected through the glass. In reality, the building stands almost as illustrated.
Hand-drawn illustrations are more highly regarded n overseas projects and competitions, including China, than they are in Japan. One of the reasons for its high appeal is that China, which has achieved rapid economic growth in recent years, has not been through this architectural era of drawing by hand and only uses CG for architectural illustrations, which most likely makes this a valuable opportunity to view these hand-drawn illustrations. I am often fascinated and marvel at the richness of the lines and colors. Also, younger clients in their 30s and 40s are actually part of the generation that grew up watching Japanese anime. For them, the “lines” drawn in Japanese anime and manga are familiar and inspiring. For this reason, they are attracted to and captivated by the bustling cityscapes drawn with hand-painted lines shown in presentations. This is not only in China, but in other areas in Asia, as well as Europe and the Americas.
Hand-drawn illustrations are more highly regarded n overseas projects and competitions, including China, than they are in Japan. One of the reasons for its high appeal is that China, which has achieved rapid economic growth in recent years, has not been through this architectural era of drawing by hand and only uses CG for architectural illustrations, which most likely makes this a valuable opportunity to view these hand-drawn illustrations. I am often fascinated and marvel at the richness of the lines and colors. Also, younger clients in their 30s and 40s are actually part of the generation that grew up watching Japanese anime. For them, the “lines” drawn in Japanese anime and manga are familiar and inspiring. For this reason, they are attracted to and captivated by the bustling cityscapes drawn with hand-painted lines shown in presentations. This is not only in China, but in other areas in Asia, as well as Europe and the Americas.
What attracts people to the use of color and the taste of hand-drawn illustrations is also true for the younger generations in Japan. We has more than 100 hand-drawn illustrations, mainly original drawings, on display at the “Illustration Studio Exhibition: DRAWN TO ARCHITECTURE” held at our Tokyo office in the spring of 2018, which attracted an unceasing stream of younger people, such as students, eliciting a response that has exceeded our imaginations. This generation grew up surrounded by digital devices from an early age and have no experience with analog-type drawings by hand, even though they have experience in using 3D software in architectural classes at university. This exhibit has become an opportunity to spark an interest in students in hand-drawn illustrations and there are some who have started to work part-time at our studio. As hand-drawn illustrations are being reassessed, this is becoming a time when that homemade feeling is starting to gain worth.
——How can Nikken Sekkei contribute to the world as its hand-drawn illustrations captivate people’s attention in this way?
The strength of a hand-drawn illustration is its “ability to convey inspiration” by intuitively conveying the appeal and warmth and feelings of people to spark imagination, and as the “fastest tool to visualize thoughts and feelings” to create an image with minimal information without the need for drawings and to also show the process. The point is that it is possible to exaggerate expressions and make the design easier to understand by purposely magnifying people or expressing their activities using speech bubbles. Of course, CG is an important part of the drawing process, but Nikken Sekkei hopes to be able to draw illustrations from the customer’s point of view to touch the hearts of those who see our drawings and inspire them to select a Nikken Sekkei design.
The idea that we want to convey through our hand-drawn illustrations is how architecture can improve the environment in which people live, their way of life and way of working.
When the Illustration Studio receives a request for consultation from the Architectural Design Department, we earnestly discuss the significance and meaning of the design and express this through hand-drawn lines and colors to reach our customers. This means that the parts that can respond to a customers’ business challenges can be expressed with a richly imaginative, hand-drawn illustration. If this can be conveyed to the customer and then constructed, it will measure up to the illustrated world we have created.
When the Illustration Studio receives a request for consultation from the Architectural Design Department, we earnestly discuss the significance and meaning of the design and express this through hand-drawn lines and colors to reach our customers. This means that the parts that can respond to a customers’ business challenges can be expressed with a richly imaginative, hand-drawn illustration. If this can be conveyed to the customer and then constructed, it will measure up to the illustrated world we have created.
Nikken Sekkei believes that its involvement does not end with construction, but goes beyond that, as its designs are only completed when people start using them. Again, we believe one of the strengths of Nikken Sekkei that cannot be found in other companies is the ability to freely use both CG and hand-drawn illustrations as a shorter route to realizing our customers’ demands, and that, in addition to CG, hand-drawn illustrations can be used to visualize and suggest how buildings will be used in the future and how they will thrive.
“Art is a lie that enables us to tell the truth.”
—Pablo Picasso
“Art is a lie that enables us to tell the truth.”
—Pablo Picasso
Even in text-only presentation materials, handwritten letters by an American studying Japanese are incredibly impressive, conveying a more impactful message than any designed font.
