Free! Creation Notebook: Voice of Creative Staff (Matsuoka Rin)
He cries a lot…
I like his fashion sense!
He’s the character I find the most enjoyable drawing the hair of. When the wind blows and his hair sways in the air, it’s really fun!! and I think the finer strands of his front bangs are really cute.
Whenever I draw his swimming scenes, Haruka would also be there pretty much every time, so every cut scene is at least two persons’ job… but I think at the very least, I have become a lot better at drawing goggles.
Together with Rei, he ranks no.1 in The Hardest Character to Draw. Beautiful boys are so diffcult to draw. He has become a lot more expressive in “Free!ES”, so it made my job easier.
During his entrance scene in episode 1 of “Free!” , it was really cool how he stepped out from the dark accompanied by really cool music! At that time, I absolutely cannot imagine what a crybaby he actually is, but the fact that he didn’t become angry even when Nagisa got quite touchy feely, I think it showed a gentle side of him.
It was exhilarating drawing his bottom eyelashes. I didn’t get much of a chance to draw Tiny Rin.
“Free!ES” really showed the side of him being caring to his friends and I fell in love with the character. Especially the part where he gives Rei special training. I was moved by the line “Even though we’re the in different teams, we’re friends.” I really feel that both Haruka and Sousuke are saved by Rin. And I like the discordance between his pretty face and comical face.
In episode 12 of “Free!”, I like the part in the relay where he watches Haruka from the last leg. So good looking!
The first time I saw him, I was all TEETH!! SO SHARP!! HIS TEETH! THEY ARE SO SHARP!!!
Personally I see him as the one ‘in charge of delivering the punchline,’ so I just really want to tease him nonstop, and I want to make him cry, and I want to meddle with him. (and I want him to get absolutely sick of me.) I even thought that I wanted to humiliate him (I say this with all the love in the world) in canon if possible. I am so sorry.
I love his teeth. They are so cute. But he’s really popular in my animation team, so Rin’s cut scenes are usually taken and I didn’t get to draw him much.
Rin is very expressive and his face shows a lot of emotions, but among them my favorite is his boyish smile. I laughed at the “Perfect Body” in the next episode preview.
Back when it was still “Kyoto Animation corporation CM ~swimming edition~”, we didn’t have a design of his hair without swimming goggles, so how we came up with many different styles really left an impression in me. When I saw the version that’s used now, with some front bangs hanging, I said “No way!!” out loud back then. I’m sorry about that. (lol)
I HAVE NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR HIM. I took deliberate care to give him angry eyes in “Free!”, and gentle eyes in “Free!ES”. And I made sure his front bangs are pretty.
Because he’s so pretty, I was really nervous when drawing him.
I didn’t give it much thought at first, but the way he’s worried about Haruka and Makoto and the others in episode 5 and 6 really tugged at my heartstrings. I also really like how snappy he was at the beginning and how much more relaxed and calm he is after.
I was so happy I got to draw Rin in a butler costume.
In episode 2 of “Free!”, in the scene where he was looking at a photo of his father. Because of the lighting from the sunset and what he’s wearing, the staff had lots of fun joking about how he looked exactly like a soldier in a battlefield looking at a photo of his family back in his home country.
Scans courtesy of @aliasanonyme
