Studio Trigger's Shigeto Koyama Design Work on Display in Manhattan

Anime-themed art exhibits tend to pop up in Manhattan around the time of Anime NYC. This year, the NowHere gallery is displaying an exhibit centered around the work of Shigeto Koyama. Half of the gallery showcases Koyama's design work for animated projects such as Heroman, Promare, and Disney's Big Hero 6 (these pieces are off-limits for photography). In contrast, the other half features Koyama's collaborations with Tsuyoshi Kusano and Ai Nonaka as part of the doujinshi group CCMS.

CCMS' mascot is Obake-chan, a sheet-wearing ghost girl. She's the subject of picture books, a short from 2014's Japan Animator's Exhibition, and lots of merchandise up for purchase or auction. Speaking to ANN via an interpreter, Koyama and Kusano explained they were inspired by Dutch artist Dick Bruna and his Miffy children's book character: "[We] were influenced by the fact Duck Bruna's main job was doing graphic design, the cover designs for books, and then on the side he created Miffy, so for [us], it's kind of the same thing where during the day, [we] can be an illustrator or character designer for animation, and then we can make a children's book."

The giant wall of doujinshi in the exhibition contains several of the Obake-chan books (which just so happen to be bilingual for extra easy reading) and volumes showcasing Koyama's art of both his own characters and fan art. I was happy to find some outstanding pictures of my husband, Lio Fotia, as well as a cute little book of Squirtles (Koyama's favored starter Pokémon). Koyama and Kusano tend to develop their doujin ideas together before splitting up who does what. Koyama typically does the character illustrations, Kusano handles the overall visual direction, and Nonaka edits.

From the animation-centric half of the exhibit, I wish I could have taken photos of Koyama's Big Hero 6 design work. There are a lot of different concepts for Baymax's mecha armor on display, and reading all of Koyama's notes on the different mechanical details is fascinating. When asked about the most significant differences between doing design work for a Disney film versus his anime projects, Koyama answered, "When working with an American studio, there is no base or something to draw from; it was more just kind of like a prompt of, like, 'It's a kid that rides a robot, and the robot is a partner and a friend.' And so from there, [I have to] come up with something… [I] worked with the director and was hired to do a specific job, whereas for [an anime like] Promare, for example, [I] was responsible for doing the concept up to the final [appearance]."

Another unphotographable exhibit highlight was one of Koyama's first published works: a cover for Newtype magazine painted on an animation cel. This was at the turn of the millennium when anime studios were phasing out the cel painting process. Koyama wanted the specific cel animation look and, at the time, was able to get materials from Production I.G following the production of Jin-Roh. Today, the companies that made cel materials don't even exist anymore, so Koyama couldn't continue pursuing cel artwork after that cover.

Because I couldn't help myself, I asked Koyama if he could tell me anything about NEW PANTY & STOCKING, but any comments from him on that topic will have to wait for Anime NYC. As for the Koyama/CCMS exhibit, you can check it out for free at 40 Wooster Street from now until November 22. Visitors can also look forward to a talk event on November 20 with Shigeto Koyama, Hiromi Wakabayashi, and Hiroyuki Imaishi. Details here.