Yuya Nagai Character Designing & NieR Automata Interview
What are the main points when you work on a character’s design?
I don’t start from the lineart; I directly paint my character with colors to decide on the perfect silhouette. Once ’m done with colors, I draw the lineart right on top.
When starting from a lineart on a white canvas, it is difficult to understand the weight and shape of the objects. So I would strongly recommend to start from the silhouette first.
What is the best way to study in order to become a character designer?
I think it’s important to take a look at different things in order to broaden your range of design. For example, if you have only seen anime until now, you may want to watch live-action movies or overseas dramas. To hone your sense, it might be useful to take an interest in fashion too. Try to get passionate about different things, even if your knowledge about them is shallow. If you stick to only one genre, you’ll end up becoming a flat character designer.
I think young people might have trouble finding their own style. What would you recommend them to do?
Don’t try to create something original at all costs. In order to create a character that the world will love, you’ll have to use some fixed elements. However, even if only one of those elements reflects what you like… That’s just perfect.
Also, I think that it is better not to compare yourself with others. You’ll end up getting stressed and sick. Don’t care about others, develop your own style and treasure it!
You have worked on several characters in NieR Automata, such as the commander of the YoRHa troops, Adam and Eve and Anemone. Would you mind telling us something about it? Is there anything you found hard?
Working for NieR:Automata was a pretty smooth job. I was the one to ask the client if everything was good, for the most part.
However, only the robots character called Pascal has been repainted many times. I like high-tech mechanics, but I had never drawn retro robots before, and that’s why Mr. Yoshida’s retake was amazing. I think he fixed it about 20 times.
Did you receive precise indications on how to design the characters?
Not really. For Adan and Eve, all I got was “leather trousers & shirts”, “long hair and short hair” and “silver hair”. It would have been hard to create a memorable character with only leather pants and a shirt, so I added some fish scales and other details to make them look stronger and more mischievous.
I wasn’t forced to give them tattoos, so I created different patterns: no tattoos, only on their arms, only on the upper part of their body and so on. Those who played this game probably noticed, but you know how Eve’s tattoos get bigger and bigger? That’s to show all parts of my design in a limited space.
Please tell us what you focused on when designing the characters for NieR:Automata!
I wanted to make the commander similar to 2B, so I decided to make her just as voluptuous.
For Adam and Eve I aimed to a design that might appeal to girls. I wanted to make those characters attractive for girls! (laughs)
I gave Anemone a basic face. I thought once all the characters were finished there was the risk that they would end up very similar. However, since the camera doesn’t get too close, it’s quite hard to understand from a distance.
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