Episode 5:

Episode 5 was a really special one for all of us. This was Artifact3's first multilingual Spaces (Jap-Eng), and we were extremely fortunate to have translator Denjin repeat almost everything we said in both languages. Not only is Yuka's art meaningful, in bridging communities and transcending language barriers, she is also an amazing person with an inspirational story.

Introduction: Sights And Sounds Around Kyoto

B: Can you tell us more about yourself? About Kyoto, where you are based?

D: Yeah, basically, so she's been, you know, working with the Azuki and CloneX communities, but she's a traditional artist. She was born and raised in Osaka, but after living in Tokyo, she moved over to Kyoto, because she just loved the city. Kyoto is a big mix of, like, the old and the new. So she really likes the temples and shrines that are there that have been around for thousands of years. And there's a lot of nature. Great coffee shops, really great atmosphere. 

She lives in an area that's called Hanamachi, so there's actually multiple Hanamachis within Kyoto. But Hanamachi is where the geisha, or maiko, lives. So she'll see a lot of maiko just going about their daily lives every day. And the culture in Kyoto is really strong there. And at night, you know, you can see them in their white makeup, and as they head to, like, the tea houses and things like that, or go shopping and all that. 

B: What are some things she might recommend when we visit Kyoto? Her favorite parts of Kyoto, where does she go to on the weekend, or where should we go to?

Y:  [In Jap] I've been in Kyoto for about 10 years, and I have a lot of recommendations. So, in the summer, it's a little hot in Japan right now, but there's a restaurant near Kamugawa called Kawazani. It's on the terrace. And it's pretty fancy, and it's really nice. That's one thing I recommend. And if you like sweet things, I really recommend matcha sweets. You should definitely try them. 

There's a restaurant called Issen Yoshoku in the area of Gion. It's a very unique-looking restaurant. They are famous for their okonomiyaki. On a pillar, there are stickers of CloneX Tokyo and Azuki.

D: She really loves Noryo Yuka especially in the summer because they have a terrace. It's got a nice view that you can overlook, and it's a very cool place. You can chill out there even if it's hot. And along the Kamugawa River, which I think is where she drives her name from, it's actually a really popular spot in Kyoto, and it flows throughout all of Kyoto. There are a lot of really nice, cool, elegant areas and shops and things like that in that area. She also really recommends matcha sweets. 

Throughout Kyoto, it's known to have a lot of sweet treats, not only for gift-giving, like omiyage, for people who go there and go back for business trips and things like that, but just to visit, there are all kinds of different cafes that serve really good matcha. So if you're a tea lover, it's heaven. And there's another restaurant in Gion called Issen Yoshoku. Yoshoku in Japan, it sort of refers to Western food, so things like omurice, stuff like that. If you've never had omurice, it's a really popular dish here in Japan.

From Beginner Artist To Commissioned Works

B: I want to ask more about Yuka and her art. How long has she been doing art? What has she been doing before? Was she working full-time? And how is she doing art now? How did she get to this stage of doing art?

D: So, she grew up in an unfortunately fatherless family, but even in nursery school, she was drawing, and she immediately took note that her teachers and her mother were really complimentary and pleased with the drawings she was creating, even at that age. And then from there, she was just really happy to know that she was able to please someone and make people happy with her art and her paintings. 

Eventually, she started learning in a class how to paint traditional artwork, and throughout school, she was inspired by different kinds of manga and anime and things like that. And she studied on her own as well because she really wanted to become a manga artist. She started working at a design office and learnt how to use more illustration software and do digital artwork and illustrations on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. 

Throughout her life, there have been a bunch of different situations that have made it hard for her to always be painting and be creative. But over time, she's always continued to paint and find her own kind of way and style. And in the process, she's been able to work with a lot of different people, and she really appreciates all the different opportunities she's had. It led to her current style, how she approaches art, and who she is today.

B: There are plenty of artists who can draw in Japan. So, how does one get to that level of a manga artist?

Y: [In Jap] Oh that's a difficult question. It was difficult to become a mangaka. At that time, I had to submit my work to a manga magazine or get approval from a publisher. But before I could do that, I found it difficult to make stories, or to finish a manga, or to make characters.

D:  I think answering the question of how is a little bit hard to touch on. But for her, obviously, there are a lot of different ways you can become a manga artist. But she had a really hard time creating a story and multiple characters for manga. So that was a specific pain point for her.

B: So now that you're doing commissioned artwork full-time, how does it work? How do you not get overwhelmed and how many active commissions do you do? How long do you take to do each one?

D: She's usually working on about three at a time. So she'll start with one, and when she's ready to hear from the client on their inputs, she'll start on another piece. Then depending if the person from her first contact gets back to her or not, that decides whether she starts working on another piece or vice versa. And then pricing, I think it's kind of a difficult question. I don't know that she really wants to address that one. But yeah, she's usually working on about three at a time.

B: Do NFT projects make your life as an artist different compared to before NFTs? Do you feel like your artwork or your life has changed because of it?

Y: [In Jap] I've been an illustrator in Japan for a long time, but I only knew Japanese. But when I started NFT, I had no choice but to speak English. And while I was working on my English, I got a lot of requests from people overseas. And that's when I realized that I could draw a lot more. And as I said, I wanted to be a manga artist, so I think the anime art that is in demand is very appropriate. And also, I'm glad my work brings people joy.

D: So for her in particular, she's always wanted to have a bigger audience. And obviously, the mangaka was one way of approaching it. But for her, the NFT has really allowed her to expand her world and her reach. And obviously, NFTs were, I don't think she touched on this part, but basically having these other communities that she really feels like her style and her work speaks to was great. And obviously, she wants to share Japanese culture and her style with the rest of the world, so NFTs really acted as a gateway for that.

B: So since we are on the topic of styles, we have two questions. The first one is, what is her art style inspired by? And secondly, besides Clones and Azukis, are there other NFT projects that she feels inspired to draw?

Y: [In Jap]  I was greatly influenced by Yoshitaka Amano, the manga artist CLAMP, and the ukiyoe artists Hokusai and Kuniyoshi Utagawa.

D: Hokusai, yeah, he did the great wave and the Fujisan, a lot of very famous, even internationally, artworks in Ukiyo-e. And then also Amano Yoshitaka, who is an illustrator for Final Fantasy and is also actually starting up his own NFT as well. I've seen his work at a lot of different shows recently and NFT-related events here in Japan. In terms of NFT collection inspiration, outside of Azuki and clones, she couldn't name one in particular, but obviously, when she sees something she likes, she'll remember it. But she doesn't have a specific collection to call out. Those previous artists are definitely where she pulls a lot of her inspiration from.

Yuka's Journey With The CloneX Community

B: Yuka has also drawn quite a lot of clones, including Benito's Clone. So I wanted to ask her, how did she get started drawing Clones? And what's her favourite Clone that she's drawn so far? 

D: About a year and a half ago, when she was trying to figure out how to sell her original NFT artwork, Benoit started tweeting, which is Benito, a.k.a. also Bento-san. He's also called Bento-san here in Japan, particularly on Twitter, because his name is just really close to "bento," which is a boxed lunch in Japan here. 

Anyway, so Benito started paying attention to a bunch of different Japanese artworks and artists and retweeting them. And obviously, a lot of Japanese artists were super happy about that, and it became a bit of a trend at the time for artists in Japan to start drawing fan art of Benito's Clone. So around then, Yuka was getting support for her art through Zenryoku, which is another well-known Japanese collector and also a clone holder. I've actually met him personally at a bunch of different events. 

Through Zenryoku's help and his reaching out to Yuka, she started to paint some fan art for Benito, and then obviously Benito saw it and really enjoyed it. And then further on, Yuka was asked by Benito to create that cover that we were just talking about, which was the Highsnobiety interview article of the RTFKT founders. Through that, she was able to gain a huge following from the CloneX community

B: So besides Benito, she did a few others, right? Like Regis. My question to her is, so let's say someone runs to you for commission work and say, Okay, draw me a commission of my clone or your Clone. How do you start? What goes into the artwork? 

Y: [In Jap] I used to get commissions via DM, but thankfully there were too many, and now I've run out of space, so I can't do commissions for new holders. So I've temporarily stopped accepting commissions. I'm talking to people via DM on Twitter, and I'm writing to the person who's waiting on the spreadsheet. 

On Organising The Kyoto Event

B: One thing I wanted to find out about Yuka is the recent event she organized in Kyoto. I'd love to find out more from her what the event was like. And Denjin, you also went down to the event yourself, right? So feel free to tell us your experience.

D: I was there, I do have a bunch of Azuki stuff, like Bobu and a couple of jackets. I got to wear my Bobu and things like that too, so obviously we'll get to that. I did get to go to all those events, and Yuka graciously invited me to one of their dinners as well. Just because we've interacted a lot, not just in the Clone community, but also in the Azuki community. And out here in Japan, we've had a lot of chances to see each other at a bunch of different NFT events. Yuka, how did you find the Azuki event, and how did you feel about it?

Y: [In Jap] Thank you for asking, Denjin. This was my third Azuki community event in Japan, and the people who came to the event, and even people who couldn't come, they all cheered for me. I was so happy and grateful. 

Previous events were mainly run by Mr. Yu Ayato, and I was only there as an artist. This time, I got to work with him from the sourcing of the venue, and we discussed how to sell the tickets and NFTs, and how to design the souvenirs and goods for the event. I was a little worried on the day itself when the founder of Azuki Japan, Mr. Kuro, couldn't make it as he welcomed a newborn that very day. But he supported me until the day of the event, and I was so grateful. 

I was a little busy preparing for the commission work and the event, but being able to do it in my hometown of Kyoto, I wanted to give my best. On that day, more than 100 people came to the event, and I was happy to see that there were so many people who were interested in Azuki.

D: If people aren't familiar, there was an NFT that Yuka and many other artists in Japan contributed to their own artwork, and that's what went into the NFT ticket design. Also, she was designing different productions and things for the event. Kuro, who's a founder of Azuki Japan, wasn't able to come out to Kyoto because his second child was being born, and it was right on the date of the event, so unfortunately he couldn't come out to Kyoto for the event. But he was also supporting in his capacities online.

I'll say for my part, I got to meet some people from the Azuki community that I'd never even met in person, and was really surprised to meet a lot of people also online who thought I'm Japanese because I happen to be in Japan and I don't put too many pictures up. So it was pretty funny when someone met me for the first time, they were like, "Oh wait, you're not a Japanese guy? What?"

B: So personally, I found that it was very, very smart the way the event was run, and I love how it's very, very ground-up, community-initiated. There were entry ticket sales, and there were also booths that sponsors could buy and display their stuff. So I think in terms of having this event localized and funded, it's very well thought out.

D: Yeah, so she's really happy to hear that, and she thinks it was great that she was able to do it in this way, and I'm fully in agreement with you as well. I think it's a really smart way to do it. It's a great way to help promote and reward the community as well, like the artists that participated in it, and just a great way to use NFTs as one of their inherent utilities to help token gate things and stuff like that. So yeah, definitely a smart way to start getting funds for an event.

B:  I think the event itself came at a time that's very close to the Elementors reveal, which received some negative comments online. I would love to hear from Yuka, what are her thoughts on the in-real-life vibes that you get from the event, and tell us what people don't see at the in-person event.

Y: [In Jap] I feel like it was a really great opportunity to do an event. You can hear negative comments on Twitter and stuff, but I think it was really great to actually see the faces of the people and talk to them, right? Meeting them at the event, even if there were negative comments during the conversation, by talking to them face to face, we could naturally have a calm conversation while looking at each other's faces. 

D: As we know, there's a Las Vegas event that was happening around the same time, and as you mentioned, there are different comments and things online about Elementals and that whole launch and everything. And while you can hear some negative comments on the Internet, it was great to actually talk face to face and meet in person. Even though there's negative stuff out there, when you're in person, you're generally seeing everyone's expressions and you're conversing a lot more naturally. It's a lot less toxic and just a much more peaceful atmosphere and environment. 

She really loves the Azuki community, and she wants to continue to participate and move forward with that community. So despite the kind of things that we're hearing online, she's here to build and create and continue celebrating both the Azuki and Clone communities.

As Yuka says, I think a lot of these in-person meetings are a lot more preferable. I mean, obviously, people can still vent any frustrations and things like that, but people are a lot more down to earth. I think on the net there's definitely a trend for people to be way more toxic and use anonymity to their full advantage and stuff. So it's good when you're actually in front of people. And generally, I feel like when you're at these events, you're meeting people that are the real people that are part of the communities and really want to be there and just hanging out and contributing with other people in the community. 

So yeah, I think it was a great vibe. It was a really good event. And like I said, I was really also happy to meet people that I haven't met in person before either, but have interacted with positively online. And yeah, it was a really awesome event. I was super happy to go.

On AI Art

B: How do you feel about AI art? Do you like it? Do you use it?

Y: [In Jap] Well, I actually like watching AI art, and I know that there are many people in the Clone and Azuki communities who draw really nice fan art with AI. But to make AI art so beautiful, you need to be really good at directing and giving instructions. You need to have a good sense of it.  I try to come up with ideas for poses and colors, but I'm not good at giving instructions. I can't do it well. 

D: So obviously with AI and the boom that's happened with it, she actually really enjoys looking at it, especially from works that are coming in from the Clonex and the Azuki communities. She's really in awe of the amount of talent and really amazing artworks, even in AI, that are coming out from both communities. And for her as an artist, it's really easy for her to tell when AI is done well or poorly. She can really easily spot, "Oh, this is done with AI." So she actually really respects people that can manage to get AI to look realistic or look maybe not quite like AI. 

She's tested it out herself even, just with different poses and things like that, and she has run into trouble herself just trying to get it to come out the way that she envisions. So AI, if you've ever used it, can be difficult to art direct. So for her, too, it's just one of those things where it's been a bit troublesome to try and get it to kind of match up with what she's envisioning in her mind. So that's why she, I think, primarily likes to continue drawing and making art herself manually versus going with AI.

B: Lastly, which is your favourite Animus?

D: So yeah, obviously we haven't seen a whole bunch of the Animus yet, but of the ones that we've been able to see so far, she really likes the first one that was introduced, it's short and has the really long, sort of devil-horn. the purple one.

B: Thank you Yuka for sharing all these with us today. So help me thank Yuka for what she's done, and I think it's really amazing, and I hope to see more of her work.

And thank you so much Danjin for helping us with the translation work today. So hopefully we managed to make Yuka comfortable with her first English spaces and really thank you so much Danjin for helping us with this.

D: No problem. Thanks for having me and I also want to thank Yuka as well. I really appreciate her as an artist and an amazing community member and you know, I've been inspired by her artwork for a long time as well. And I'm really bummed that Martin didn't get to get to all of his questions.