5. Art For Everyone

Jason, you must find it fascinating to witness at first hand someone like Terasaki-san, who previously had no interest in art, becoming this enthused by it.

Yes, absolutely. But I don’t think it’s true to say that Terasaki-san had no interest in art. It’s just that he assumed he wasn’t capable of creating it himself. If he had absolutely no interest in art, I don’t think he would have got involved in a title like this in the first place.

Yes, I’m sure you’re right. But if he hadn’t been able to draw that green apple, Art Academy may never have appeared. That was the green apple that changed Terasaki-san’s life.

That’s right! (laughs)

When you’re a child, you’ll happily draw pictures without anyone having to make you do it.

Ah, but I hated drawing even as a child... (laughs bitterly)

Well, I think there are a lot of people out there who stop drawing when they are told they aren’t that good at it, that it’s not really something they’re cut out for. That’s why I think there are people for whom encountering software like this will make a big difference.

It’s been a fantastic experience for me to be involved in this series. I’ve been able to see at first hand all these people who had assumed that they weren’t capable of drawing, but who found that by using this software, they were not only becoming absorbed in drawing, but were also making steady improvement.

I hope that we’ll be seeing even more of that with New Art Academy.

Absolutely.

Now, to conclude the interview, I wonder if I could ask each of you to say something to our readers.

As I mentioned at the start of the interview, I joined midway through this project and whenever I managed to come up with a good drawing, I just couldn’t help going ‘Look at this!’ and proudly showing it to Miyachi-san who sat next to me.

So before you knew it, you had become just like Terasaki-san.

That’s right. But with this title, you can do more than showing off to the people sitting near you. We’ve included functions that mean you can now show your work to users even if they’re far away. I hope that everyone will enjoy making use of these.

With this new title, you can also exchange your pictures with friends via Nintendo Letter Box¹⁰. ¹⁰ Nintendo Letter Box: A Nintendo 3DS application that was released in December 2011 and allows users to exchange hand-written messages and images.

That’s right. So there’s plenty of opportunity for showing off! (laughs)

I seem to have become the person that everyone else wants to show their art work to! (laughs)

Yes, what with Terasaki-san and Ichijo-san... (laughs)

But of course I was ‘Student B’, and when I came up with a good picture, I would want to show it to the people around me too. Then, when a picture doesn’t turn out right and you’re wondering how on earth it ended up like that, you also want to show it to other people. So you might have a picture that’s far from great, but you still want to share it with others. I’d like to see people using this New Art Academy as a kind of communication tool. It’s software that also has plenty of scope for making use of other users’ ideas. For instance, you might do a line drawing and send it to a friend who colours it in. You can create pictures in a kind of relay process.

So you can collaborate and come up with pictures together.

Yes, you can, and that’s another way that this software can serve to give people a real sense of connection. I really hope it is used in this way.

Now, over to you, Jason.

Well, I had a tough time coming up with lessons that people who lacked confidence in their artistic abilities would find fulfilling, so I’m basically hoping that people enjoy these lessons. Then once they have completed the lessons, I’d like users to take pictures of their family or their cute pets or whatever they like with the Nintendo 3DS cameras, paint a picture of it, and share it with those around them. I think it becomes a more fun experience when your artwork leaves the confines of the software and enters the outside world.

I think what Jason just said was really interesting. When you come to paint a picture, I sometimes think that what you choose to paint is more important than your technique. So I’d like to see people using the Nintendo 3DS cameras to take pictures of all the things they’d like to paint.

If you see something you’d like to draw, you can get a picture of it and save the actual drawing for later.

Or you could even take a picture, do a draft sketch of it there and then, save it, and finish it later.

And you can save as many drafts as you like. (laughs)

You need to get over some really big hurdles to enter the world of art. This is why it tends to seem inaccessible to ordinary people. But it should be ‘art for everyone’.

‘Art for everyone’...

That’s right. So what I really hope is that a lot of people will have the door to the world of art opened by New Art Academy. To achieve this, we have allowed people who aren’t specialist art teachers to create their own art lessons and exchange them with their friends. I think this will bring the world of art closer to home, and I really hope people will get a lot of enjoyment out of this.

Now, it’s my turn... Perhaps I should speak from a business perspective. (laughs)

Be my guest! (laughs)

This title will not only be available as a regular retail edition, but will also be available to download¹¹ with all the same features. And with the downloaded version, you will always have it stored on your Nintendo 3DS. ¹¹ Available to download: A version of New Art Academy which is identical to the retail version is available to download from the Nintendo eShop. For more information on purchasing software from the Nintendo eShop, please head to our How To Buy Games page.

This means that you can paint a picture whenever the mood takes you.

It also lets you draw a quick sketch and come back later to work on it. I hope that there will be a lot of people who grow to love the download version. Now, I recall something a lot of people said when we released the first Art Academy, which was ‘If I buy this, will I get good at drawing?’

And how did you respond to that?

Well, I would say ‘You’re not going to get good just by buying it!’

Ha! Sure enough, that’s true! (laughs)

Well, it’s often said that the more you enjoy something, the better you’ll get at it. I think that by taking the lessons in this software, you’ll get the hang of painting and drawing, and grow to enjoy it much more.

Well, you’re the perfect example of that, aren’t you? (laughs)

Precisely. (laughs) So I want to see everyone creating lots of pictures and sharing them with lots of people.

I see. Now, everyone who has been kind enough to join me today has always loved video games.

Yes, I love them.

But your backgrounds vary, from those who had art training, to those who couldn’t draw at all. The team has come together from a variety of backgrounds to work on a project in a genre that was completely different from all the games you had worked on before. One of you thought that you couldn’t draw, but you were amazed to find that you could create a picture of a green apple, and you wanted to show it everyone around you. Then those who were able to draw saw this reaction, and then exchanged ideas and discussed ways to teach people how to draw even better pictures. It was this process which produced Art Academy, and it has even gone on to be used in a famous art gallery.

That’s right.

So I really think that this title came about in a fascinating way. I hope that New Art Academy will open even more people’s eyes to the world of art, and that it will help realise the vision Tancred just touched upon: the idea of ‘art for everyone’.

I hope so too.

I look forward to all the new directions this title will take people all around the world, and the inspiration it will bring. Thank you all very much for joining me today.

Thank you!