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▼ Startlingly Real Sketches Draw Big Response
- Category:Souvenir
TOYAMA — Celebrities sketched with pencils by Shinichi Furuya, a 54-year-old company employee in Toyama, have become extremely popular among users of video- and photo-sharing websites.
His works have been introduced on TV programs and in other media.
“I figured I’d just give it a try; I never dreamed the response would be like this,” Furuya said.
Furuya draws young actresses and female idols, including Kasumi Arimura and Rino Sashihara.
His sketches are so detailed and sophisticated that people who look at them from a distance can be fooled into thinking they’re photos.
First, he searches for images of whomever he wants to draw, then he prints and copies them using his pencils.
The tools he uses include pencils with core hardness levels from 2H to 10B, several types of rubber erasers and cotton swabs.
He uses pencils with five or six different levels of core hardness. For example, he draws thin and precise lines with pencils that possess harder cores, and rough lines with pencils that have softer cores. He usually spends about a month completing one sketch.
Furuya began drawing portraits in earnest when he was 25, shortly after he became a working adult. He copied “gravure” female pictures from magazines using pencils, because he “just felt like it one day.”
As he was able to draw more skillfully than he had thought he could, he continued.
His works have been introduced on TV programs and in other media.
“I figured I’d just give it a try; I never dreamed the response would be like this,” Furuya said.
Furuya draws young actresses and female idols, including Kasumi Arimura and Rino Sashihara.
His sketches are so detailed and sophisticated that people who look at them from a distance can be fooled into thinking they’re photos.
First, he searches for images of whomever he wants to draw, then he prints and copies them using his pencils.
The tools he uses include pencils with core hardness levels from 2H to 10B, several types of rubber erasers and cotton swabs.
He uses pencils with five or six different levels of core hardness. For example, he draws thin and precise lines with pencils that possess harder cores, and rough lines with pencils that have softer cores. He usually spends about a month completing one sketch.
Furuya began drawing portraits in earnest when he was 25, shortly after he became a working adult. He copied “gravure” female pictures from magazines using pencils, because he “just felt like it one day.”
As he was able to draw more skillfully than he had thought he could, he continued.
When he submitted his works to an art exhibition organized by a labor union at his workplace, his colleagues highly praised them. Since then, he has been asked to draw many figures. On one occasion, he was asked to draw a bride for her wedding ceremony.
At one point, Furuya stopped drawing because he became busy at work, but he resumed in the autumn of 2013.
“I saw a video clip posted on a video-sharing website that showed the whole process of drawing a very realistic picture from the beginning to the end, and I thought I could do the same,” he said.
He shot the entire process of himself drawing actresses and female entertainers from start to finish and posted it, sped up to condense the time.
So far, the most feedback was for a drawing he did of actress Satomi Ishihara, which Furuya created in 2016. After he posted it on the websites, the video clip was viewed about 260,000 times in one day.
When he drew actress Erika Toda based on an advertisement that featured her and posted it online, the advertiser asked Furuya to present the drawing to the actress. It was presented to her via the company.
On Feb. 7, Toda posted the drawing on Instagram, a photo- and video-sharing website. About 180,000 people “liked” it.
“The responses motivated me to make more,” Furuya said. “I’m happy.”
With his works receiving such attention, he has gotten requests to serve as a drawing instructor, and in May, a drawing class event will be held in Tokyo with Furuya as the instructor. It is the second time for Furuya to serve as an instructor.
“As I don’t expect I can earn a living only from sketching, I am happy if my sketches can serve as my moral support after I retire from my current job,” Furuya said.
At one point, Furuya stopped drawing because he became busy at work, but he resumed in the autumn of 2013.
“I saw a video clip posted on a video-sharing website that showed the whole process of drawing a very realistic picture from the beginning to the end, and I thought I could do the same,” he said.
He shot the entire process of himself drawing actresses and female entertainers from start to finish and posted it, sped up to condense the time.
So far, the most feedback was for a drawing he did of actress Satomi Ishihara, which Furuya created in 2016. After he posted it on the websites, the video clip was viewed about 260,000 times in one day.
When he drew actress Erika Toda based on an advertisement that featured her and posted it online, the advertiser asked Furuya to present the drawing to the actress. It was presented to her via the company.
On Feb. 7, Toda posted the drawing on Instagram, a photo- and video-sharing website. About 180,000 people “liked” it.
“The responses motivated me to make more,” Furuya said. “I’m happy.”
With his works receiving such attention, he has gotten requests to serve as a drawing instructor, and in May, a drawing class event will be held in Tokyo with Furuya as the instructor. It is the second time for Furuya to serve as an instructor.
“As I don’t expect I can earn a living only from sketching, I am happy if my sketches can serve as my moral support after I retire from my current job,” Furuya said.
- April 21, 2018
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