2184 symbolizes the start of Japan's school season. The details on the cherry
blossom trees could have been done a little better, but I wanted a floating, soft feel, so this is the style l
used. When I did this drawing I drew a brown school bag (instead of the normal black color) because it seemed like
a novel idea to me. The character reminded me of one in a computer game that I was then playing endlessly, so I
put her name on the character's name tag. Of course, if I had rendered the character exactly the same as the one
in the game, it would have been a copyright infringement-so it's important to note here that there is no similarity
in these characters in terms of clothes, personal effects, or anything else!
For some reason, in Japan, dynamic search-and-shoot games and search/action games have never really caught on.
I personally find this a bit disappointing, but there's nothing that can be done about it if this is some sort
of Japanese national trait. It's interesting to note that-in this age of global focus on the individual-markets
in different countries still differ, apparently because of culture. I hope the IMF is taking this into account
(why am I dragging the IMF into this?).
The "cloth" in the character's hat and pants was created using a texturizing process. When the image
was actually printed as a magazine cover, I was amazed to see how close the printed green and the green on my computer
monitor matched. This means that if readers are dissatisfied with the colors in my work, there's a higher-than-ever
probability that the cause lies not with the printing, but with my original selection of colors!
