Charming Motion Animation

Anime Supernova.

This time, we're introducing you to Ishidate Namiko, a creator who forms stories based on her own experiences.

You're finally home.

No!

I don't want to eat this!

I love this game!

Her works vividly portray the unseen internal changes of the characters.

Anime Supernova: Close-up on Ishidate Namiko.

Ishidate is currently active as a freelance animator.

Animation can appeal to all five senses
because it contains so many elements.

That's what makes it so enticing.

Media fit for self-expression.

One element of Ishidate's artistry is "pursuing beautiful contours."

That pursuit began when she was a young girl.

In elementary school,
I went around creating illustrations.

I took requests,
and people enjoyed my art.

Seeing their joy was really fulfilling.

Young Ishidate was greatly influenced by the work of graphic artist Alphonse Mucha.

My parents bought me a Mucha-themed notebook
where I tried to copy Mucha's style.

The sophisticated look of the contours
was so incredibly gorgeous.

There was something truly pleasurable
when it came to contours.

It just felt so good.

Ishidate went on to attend Tama Art University, where she studied animation.

For her first school production, Ishidate aimed for beautiful, contoured lines reminiscent of Mucha.

This piece is made of mostly soft objects
like cloth, hair, and skin.

I thought about the way soft things look
when the wind blows.

They look their softest
while fluttering in the air.

That's why I wanted to add
a floating-like feel to the work.

Ishidate uses soft lines for everything: the characters, the backgrounds, props, and more.

What can be expressed in a single line?

Things like softness,
momentum, and speed.

Move the viewer with beautiful contours.

This piece is about a girl who wishes to become a bird and fly about freely.

After graduating, Ishidate began her career at an animation studio.

This is where she began to focus on expressing real-life experiences.

I wanted to study animated movement.

I needed to know how to create
truly high-quality animation.

Ishidate spent her time on projects learning different artistic techniques and ways to animate movement with care.

For example, before people start moving,
there's preliminary action.

This is common knowledge
in the animation industry.

I could efficiently gain
the wisdom I needed while working.

Soon, Ishidate took on more significant roles, such as animation director for a feature-length animated film.

After five years of working as an animator, Ishidate decided to attend the Tokyo University of the Arts graduate school.

Her goal was to go independent.

Independent artists don't have to fit a mold.
Creativity like unique movement is valued.

Things like unique movement are valued.

Producing highly creative animated works
soon became one of my goals.

Pupa is an original work Ishidate created in college.

In her late teens, Ishidate dealt with health problems that left her unable to be active like she wanted.

She decided to try and express her genuine emotions from back then.

Until that work, I was
never very good at expressing myself.

But I knew to create authentic work,
I needed to at least try to be honest.

This work is also full of realistic movement found in everyday life - an aspect of animation Ishidate has mastered.

She films herself moving and uses those videos as reference for animating movement.

This is another technique she picked up at work.

Just tracing the movements
isn't very effective as animation.

I make sure to add things like
giving movements a languid feel.

Convey emotion through movement,
not facial expression.

Ishidate's goal grew even bigger - she now wanted to turn real stories into fables.

The first fable-like story she worked on was based on a high school experience.

Although she was head of the school's illustration and manga club, she never met anyone who shared her passion for drawing.

We spoke the same language, but it felt
like they couldn't understand my words.

I felt so far from my friends,
even though they were right next to me.

Ishidate decided to take these personal experiences and turn them into a fable-like story.

The main character cannot live life without a diving suit and air tanks they must carry around.

I didn't want to express that bleak time
in a realistic or graphic way.

Instead, I wanted it to be more abstract,
like a fairy tale or fable from long ago.

Ishidate expressed her difficulty in communicating with others through the diving suit conversations.

It was like being separated
by an invisible barrier.

To me, it felt like
being inside of a diving suit.

Ishidate continued to take various real-life situations and add them to the fable.

The only place the main character can breathe and rest freely is their home base on the ground.

School, a sometimes-suffocating place, is at the ocean's bottom.

She also used transparency to express levels of friendship.

The stronger the relationship, the less transparent the character becomes, and the opposite when interest becomes low.

I don't try to recreate real life.

I do things like use transparency level
to show personality differences.

It's important to make changes
in my own way.

Illustrate the world
in ways only illustration can.

This is Ishidate's latest work, which took her two years to complete.

- Good morning!
- Hi Scuba.

Morning.

Hi Sheer!

Here.

You said you want to try it.

Thanks.

So last night, Patch shows up...

out of the blue and tells me to tag along.

I went, out of curiosity, to this weird club...

and he offers me some kind of substance.

I refused, of course.

And you won't believe what he said.

That it makes him feel good if I'm unhappy- Sheer?

Oh, sorry...

What were you saying?

"It's lonelier to be with someone than to be alone."
Um.

"That..."
Nothing.

"That is hopeless."
Sorry, I have to run.

More than anything, I want to
continue creating animated shorts.

Create works
evocative of their era.