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Ninamo is an illustrator from Spain whose work is well loved on TOM for its clean, expressive quality. As a freelance illustrator, her works have been used in a variety of games, a Kickstarter page to which is currently accepting pledges. We sat down with this talented Spanish otaku to find out more about why she began drawing, what inspires her, and how she got to where she is today.
Creator Introduction
Name: Ninamo
TOM Portfolio Page: http://otakumode.com/Ninamo/posts
TOM: Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Ninamo: I'm a graphic designer from Barcelona, Spain who currently works as a freelance illustrator. I'm working for several companies providing key visual image illustrations for different games and I'm also in charge of the doujin circle Cyclic★Redundancy (http://cyclic-redundancy.com), which produces different goods, attends events, and has a small online store. I’m devoted to drawing!
TOM: When and why did you start drawing?
Ninamo: I have been drawing for as long as I can remember; I couldn’t say a specific age. I always liked to draw.
I started to take it seriously as a result of a small anecdote from when I was 12. I remember watching the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime on TV and being fascinated by the strength the main character’s eyes transmitted. I drew her (I think it was my first fanart, haha), but I was disappointed because my drawing didn’t have the same feeling. Back then I swore to myself I wouldn’t stop practicing until I could make my drawings as intense… and that’s what I am working on right now!
TOM: How did you become interested in Japanese manga and anime?
Ninamo: At some point when I was a kid and I watched those cartoons on TV, I realized some of them had a different “feel” to them, which fascinated me, but I didn’t know why. I did some research and found their common ground was they all came from Japan. As a result, I started to look into it more, especially on the Internet (the information reaching my country was scarce back then), and I started getting more and more into it.
TOM: How has Japanese anime and manga influenced you and your style?
Ninamo: The unique philosophy and way of seeing things of the Japanese is always present in their works, and I really like that. I know that manga has a lot of styles and trends, but I particularly like that feeling of ethereal beauty, melancholy, subtlety, and expressivity.
Lately I’m really interested in their mythology. The legends regarding youkai and everything about the mysticism around Japanese religions. It’s an important source of inspiration, but I still haven’t gotten the chance to work much on it.
TOM: We've heard that you're working on a game project. Could you please tell us about it?
Ninamo: I’m one of the artists on the “HuniePop Project,” a video game that is currently being developed for PC, Mac, and Linux.
HuniePop is an independent effort by a western developer (though our team is all around the world) for a western audience with the goal of breathing some new life into a genre that is greatly underrepresented both in the western market and the independent games scene: dating sims. It's a gameplay first approach that's part dating sim and part puzzle game with RPG-like systems and a visual novel style presentation.
Currently we have a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to be able to continue the project. It will end Nov. 1. I invite you to take a look!
TOM: What kind of work do you want to do as an illustrator from here on?
Ninamo: Right now I really enjoy my work creating visual key image illustrations for video games. I would like to keep working in this line, and even to spread to other fields as illustrations for novels or children’s tales. I would like to potentiate my personal creative side and work on my own publication with original works only.
TOM: Lastly, could you please give a message to your fans?
Ninamo: I feel like a newbie in the illustration world; I still have a lot to learn and improve. But I feel really lucky to have so many people following my work and telling me how much they like it. Please, don’t stop supporting me! Without you, drawing would be pointless!
Check out our gallery of the talented Ninamo, and don’t forget to SUKI her! If you would like to contribute to the “HuniePop Project,” you can do so here. Keep it here for even more interviews with some of the most prominent creators in the otaku world!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
