Anime1

Japanese artists reveal their imaginative flair by drawing each other’s pictures from memory.

What happens when an accomplished artist is asked to draw the work of another artist? That’s what Surutto KANSAI, the company behind the Kansai region’s PiTaPa ticketing smart card set out to discover, as part of their latest campaign to promote the features of the touch-and-pay system.

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After creating the initial image above, featuring commuters using the smart card, along with a train, a bus, some stores, and Pitamaru, the card’s ninja mascot, they asked a total of ten illustrators to recreate the picture.

However, to make things interesting, they implemented a “Memory Illustration Relay” system, where only the first artist gets to see the original drawing, followed by the next artist, who draws the first artist’s picture from memory, and so on, in a continual chain until it reaches the final artist at the end.

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To challenge the artists, they’re given only one minute to view the picture. From there, they have to recreate the image from memory. And because these are great artists, you know they’re going to add their own unique style to the drawings!

▼ Some of the artists involved in the project include: Shiriagari Kotobuki, who has been producing manga since 1985 and currently teaches at Kobe Design University.

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▼ Masanori Morita, known for creating the manga series Rokudenashi Blues and Rookies.

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▼ And Katsuya Terada, the character-designer for the animated film Blood: The Last Vampire.

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The behind-the-scenes video shows just how much each image changes as it goes through the chain, and also provides a sneak-peek into the creative process. To see how the picture changes from a regular train station to a group of bears and penguins gathering around a pond, take a look at the clip below!

Source: ITmedia
Top Image: YouTube/PiTaPa (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert Images: YouTube/PiTaPa