Artists that I'm Inspired By: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru
This post will also be on my WordPress blog scheduled to post on July 15th since I rarely use my Blogger because as mentioned in one of my posts... botted views mostly coming from Singapore. It might have more words and stuff than this post and some corrections. This post on this blog might not be updated much since I'm rarely using my Blogger.
When my WordPress post drops on Saturday, I will link it here.
https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2023/07/15/artists-that-im-inspired-by-katsuyoshi-nakatsuru/
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Artists that I'm Inspired By: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru
I found this man because I was curious on who did the Digimon human designs and ran across this image.
(Source: Facebook/Universo Digimon)
This translation - it is a bit poor due to the post being in Portuguese:
Now, uh... this one was tricky because I'm not sure if he did the human designs for the Digimon anime. There's seems to be not that much information, except when I checked MyAnimeList. He has done character design for Digimon Adventure up to Frontier. When I looked him up, Nakatsuru didn't just do Digimon, but Dragon Ball as well. Maybe I can confirm that he did the human designs for Digimon, and there is some evidence. Joe and Izzy's eye designs look a bit Toriyama like, this Wikipedia page of the first Digimon movie mentions him, and this interview mentioning one of his old (and early) character designs and Hiromi Seki bringing up that he did the designs but that's all I got.
(Source: The Digi-Lab)
But I'm not focusing on his Dragon Ball designs. I'm only gonna focus on the Digimon human character designs only in Adventure/Adventure 02 and why does it inspire (maybe partially inspire) my art style. His style used in Tamers and Frontier is alright, but I prefer his designs used in the original Adventure series. This post won't be as long like the Ken Sugimori one.
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(Source: Vande @ With The Will Digimon Forum Stuffs/Tumblr)
I'm not sure if this is Nakatsuru's drawing here, but I love this Sora line art. I love the different expressions... the bottom right one where she looks very shocked is my favorite; the position of her teeth, how skinny her eyeballs looks and how raised her eyebrows and eyes are. I love how expressive that is.
(Source: Zerochan)
I also love her pose on the left. On the right, it looks like she's gonna fall or she tripped on something!
Probably my favorite part of Mimi's design is the extra eye shine in her eyes. It makes her design more cuter along with her dress and hat.
(Source: Danbooru)
And here's her hair in a ponytail. The expression/pose on the left is adorable. It's like she's hiding a laugh or a small giggle.
I would talk about Mimi's designs more, but I'm gonna focus on more designs besides her.
(Source: @grimcatician/Twitter)
Heck yes, Tai!
The pose on the left really strikes out. His shoes are closer to the camera, making it look like he's leaping or jumping in the action! As for the pose on the right, I might've seen colored, but his pose looks like he's ready to battle.
(Source: @grimcatician/Twitter)
This looks like his design used in the movies (by the way, I am excited for the upcoming 02 movie). I do like the style that's used in the movies better than the anime's.
This is Davis from the 02 series. This is similar to Sora's sheet I showed above. I just adore these expressions. The expression on the bottom left, it looks like whenever Davis is shocked at something, he gains some pupils to show that shock. The face on the bottom right (next to the eye), I love the rosy cheeks and his warm smile that's moved to the bottom of his face. It's also shaped like a moon.
(Source: Sakugabooru)
(Source: Danbooru)
Something that you might notice with Nakatsuru's designs is that these humans are drawn with giant hands and feet! I guess the second image I found is a "how to draw like Nakatsuru", lol. But the way their hands, legs, arms, and feet are drawn reminds me of those old rubbery hose cartoons - especially when some characters have gloves on.
I'm gonna find one more piece of concept/character art/model sheet and then I will wrap up this post.
Okay, so it was hard to find me a good one but this will have to do. Like I said, there isn't much good Digimon Nakatsuru art for me to find unless you guys send me a link or image.
(Source: Land of Animes/Tumblr)
Not much to say about this one, but, I'm only focused on the top. I like the hair on Matt and Sora. It does give them that older, teenager look as well as how tall they are.
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Conclusion - why is my art style inspired by his?
Although there is lack of Digimon images and more Dragon Ball designs from him, the reason why his style inspires my style is because of three things: the eye design, pose, and body shape.
Just like I said in my Sugimori post, the eye design might be applied to some of my own original characters. The pose is what gives me inspiration to create some of my own poses, and body shape, well, I rarely draw giant feet like Nakatsuru (XD), but some of my characters might have giant hands and a rubbery hose like body, similar to the Digidestined designs shown in the model sheets.
If I were to say what percent of his style is in mine, I could say the same thing just like Sugimori's. About 5%.
Well, that's about it. If there are any good Nakatsuru Digimon images, please let me know! I could do a follow up, if possible.
Next week, there may (or may not) be an honorable mentions post. The week after will be the finale to my Artists that I'm Inspired By series! Stay tuned! ;)
(Source: @JP_Excelsior/Twitter)
One more thing: the watercolored backgrounds in Digimon Adventure, mostly when they travel to the Digital World - I love those.
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