Haiga and the Art of Digital Rendering:
Haiga and the Art of Digital Rendering:
An Interview with Kuniharu Shimizu
by Jeanne Emrich
In the year 2000, Kuniharu Shimizu added a small haiga gallery to his web site, “see haiku here,” featuring digitally rendered haiga. Since then, the site has grown to more than eight hundred haiga featuring the poet-painter’s art with verses from over 200 haijins. Shimizu, who lives in Tenri, Japan and is an ordained minister of the Tenrikyo Church, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hawaii and is an award-winning artist. His ground breaking work in combining haiku with digital rendering has shown how the aesthetics of the traditional haiga masters can both inform contemporary art and be informed by it.
You are accomplished both in art and poetry. Which of these forms of expression came first in your life, and what inspired you to combine them in haiga?
Art came first. I was one of those children who always draw and paint. As I grew older, my interests shifted to other fields like machines and architecture. During my college years, however, I realized that I was basically an art guy so I started studying fine art seriously.
Ben Shahn (American Social Realist painter, 1898-1969) said, “Art is the shape of content.” At some point in my life, I found myself without content. What I mean by that is I could no longer find things to paint. With my technical experience in painting, I could paint, say roses, yes, but I could not find the right idea or inspiration—the content—to pick up the brush and start painting them. That was really frustrating. I had this urge and energy to paint and there was nothing to paint. Then I encountered haiku. Haiku gave me the content I so much longed for. Roses alone do not give me inspiration but a haiku about roses does. It is the poetic content of the haiku that evokes inspiration for me.
Why have you chosen digital rendering for your haiga creations as opposed to the more traditional ink brush painting or even photography? What appeals to you about digital rendering?
I have been a graphic designer and am accustomed to computer software. When I decided to make haiga, the computer happened to be the nearest tool available to me. Haiga is a small art. A 20-inch computer monitor is large enough to make a haiga. I can work a little at the office and bring the data home to finish, or vice versa. With many years of experience with the mouse, I can use it like a pencil or brush. When I find it necessary to have an ink-brush stroke for some haiga, I paint the stroke on paper and use the scanner to digitize it. So, I do use the traditional means from time to time. I use the
scanner to digitize the photographs I take, too.
Adobe Illustrator, the software I use mainly, enables me to print out haiga in various sizes with the same definition. I can easily use the same data for a postcard to a full size poster. Copies can be made infinitely. Changes in color and shapes can be done instantly. A computer is such a handy tool.
What traditional or contemporary haiga masters have influenced your work?
Not much influence from either traditional or contemporary haiga masters. Haiga is basically an informal art. I look at Yosa Buson not as a haiga master, but as a formal artist. I enjoy his formal paintings. As for sumi-e painters, I admire Sesshu and Hasagawa Tohaku. I love the decorative paintings by Ogata Korin. I like Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, too. As for western painters, I like Matisse the best. Ben Shahn, the artist I referred to earlier, is another. He did nice line drawings. His lines are simple and uneven which give a rather warm appearance to his drawings. I do not know what kind of pen he used, but I like the effect very much. This type of line seems to go well with haiku. If he had written haiku verses with the same lines and added them to his drawings, he would have been the first western artist to create haiga in a purely western manner.
When I make a haiga, I read the haiku and sometimes search in my memory for formal artworks that go well with the content of the poem. In my haiga, I employ various styles that formal artworks from all ages offer. For instance, some of Cor van den Heuvel’s haiku remind me of paintings done by Edward Hopper, an American painter of the 1920’s. The filling station haiku (on my see haiku here website, haiga 6) was done with Hopper’s style in mind.
What aspects of the haiga aesthetic are most important to you as you create your digital haiga? In what ways to do you think digital rendering is compatible with the spirit of haiga? In what ways is it incompatible, if at all?
Haiga is miniature artwork, and I feel that its aesthetic is basically similar to that of formal art. A difference is that most haiga include haiku verse. Japanese verse written with brush is seen more as image than text so the verse and picture can exist on the same picture plane happily. On the other hand, verses written in alphabets necessitate special consideration. I have been exploring it and trying many ways ever since I started making haiga. I have not come to the best way yet. I am beginning to feel that inclusion of a haiku verse in haiga is not necessary all the time. Verse and picture can be placed side by side and still can maintain the same effect.
Haiku always contain some words that mention certain concrete objects. Not only that, haiku create a scene of the poetic moment. To me, these elements are enough to create visual images that are compatible with the content of the verse. Since the verse is so short, the image may be simple. Rendering of the object should be kept simple. The object should not be rendered to the level of a formal painting. If rendered too elaborately, the image would overwhelm the poetic content of the haiku. By making the image simple, you can balance the picture and the verse. For instance, when I make haiga with a human face or figure, I normally use just a few lines. I do not go into thorough 3D illusional rendering. That would be too elaborate in my view.
Digital rendering seems to have unique textures of its own. Especially the software I use that tends to produce rather sharp-edged, flat, slick images. For certain haiku, such texture is effective. For some others, I have to minimize the texture by blurring the edges and bringing in other textures like dots and splashes of ink. So, I am not always happy with the digital rendering.
The reason why I use the computer to make haiga is that a computer can digitize various things and once things are digitized, they can be manipulated and assembled in any way you like. The various things include my own ink painting and drawings on paper, photographs, actual objects like my hands, leaves, crumpled aluminum foil, among other things.
You have written that you apply an “art director approach” to haiga making. Please explain your methodology.
In commercial advertising, the role of an art director is first to study and understand what the client has in mind. Based on the understanding, the director forms a concept for the particular advertisement. The director then creates a production group staffed with illustrators, photographers, copy writers, and designers who best can materialize the concept. I apply this art director approach to haiga making.
A haiku is a client. It expresses a certain idea. I try to appreciate the idea. Many of the haiku I work with have a self-apparent idea; the appreciation comes to me quite quickly. In some cases, however, the appreciation is slow to come. I let the haiku sit for a while, do some research about the poet and also try to find any background information that might exist about the haiku. I read the poet’s own comments on the verse, too. Once I have the appreciation, I try to visualize the haiku. I make decisions as to how I can best visualize it. I need to decide what way or ways might be suitable to depict the content of the haiku. This process is like choosing the right photographer, illustrator, and designer. Unlike the actual art director, I do all the production by myself, and this is the part I enjoy the most.
Digital rendering is a mystery to those of us who have yet to use the computer as a creative tool. Please explain how you create your haiga. What software do you use? What steps do you take, including preparatory work that may be non-digital, such as creating thumbnail sketches to work out a design concept?
In most of the haiga I make, I start out with studying the key object that appears in the haiku. If the key object is roses, I try to find real roses, which is not a difficult thing to do; a nearby flower shop always carries some roses. But, if the object is some unknown foreign bird, like the kokako in Australia, I do a web search and find photographs of it. Then I do preliminary drawings of the object with a pencil as I consider the composition
key object is roses, I try to find real roses, which is not a difficult thing to do; a nearby flower shop always carries some roses. But, if the object is some unknown foreign bird, like the kokako in Australia, I do a web search and find photographs of it. Then I do preliminary drawings of the object with a pencil as I consider the composition of the final haiga. I then scan the drawing and send it to the computer. When I need just the outlines or silhouettes, I use Adobe Streamline, an outline-making software and let it do the tracing automatically. When I need more than just outlines, like a human face, I start another software program, Adobe Illustrator, to trace the scanned image. This software enables me to work almost as if with virtual tracing paper. I use a pen tool in the program to trace. The traced lines and shapes are important to me because with the Illustrator data thus made, I can manipulate them anyway I like, giving me great freedom in haiga making. Other than tracing, I often draw directly with the drawing tools of Adobe Illustrator. Which way to choose depends on the content of the haiku. The words can give me hints of the final composition scheme.
I use Adobe Illustrator for preparing and assembling parts. The newer version of Illustrator can do transparency effects, which I use a lot. Adobe Photoshop is just for scanning, adjusting the final images, and preparing the image for web use. Many people seem to use various effects (so called “plug in” effects) that Photoshop offers. I try not to go into that because it is too simple, and not much creativity is involved.
One aspect of traditional ink-brushed haiga is spontaneity and simplicity of presentation. Haiga often have been described as sketch-like. Are these values sacrificed in digital rendering, due the more deliberate and mechanical nature of the medium? If so, how do you compensate in order to keep simplicity and spontaneity in your haiga?
The haiga master, Yosa Buson, was well trained in the use of the ink brush. His haiga look simple and spontaneous only because they are done by his trained hand. Viewers with trained eyes can tell if the lines and strokes of the haiga are by a trained or an amateur hand. The same is true in western art. Just look at the drawings down by masters like Michelangelo, Delacroix, Matisse, and others. These artists are very good draftsmen. Their art appears simple and spontaneous, but it is the result of sheet after sheet of the drawing pad.
I do not have formal training in Chinese and Japanese sumi-e painting, though, as a priest, I use sumi brushes often to write Japanese. As for Western drawing, I have many years of experience. I am very conscious of lines and strokes, and I make an effort to be economical using them, meaning I avoid unnecessary lines and strokes. I try to be deliberate and bold at the same time. What I achieve in the drawing determines the quality of the final haiga. I think my drawings show a certain level of simplicity and spontaneity.
Digital rendering to me is the secondary element. I do things like adding colors, adjusting composition, and typing in haiku words. Drawing is the primary element. In both elements, I try to keep things as simple as possible. Digital rendering sounds rather deliberate and time consuming, but I am familiar with the software so well that I can instantly reflect my feelings with it. I do not feel that I am sacrificing anything.
You have said the haiga you create may give the impression that you do not have a style of your own. Please explain.
Each haiku has a different idea and mood—the content which deserves suitable depiction. Therefore, I encourage myself to use every way of depiction available. Other than the traditional styles, there are a whole palette of artistic styles explored in the 19th and 20th centuries, from impressionism through pop art and other contemporary styles. Why not use this legacy? In this way, I can stay away from falling into so-called “mannerism,” which only makes the viewers and myself bored.
Many people have the idea that consistent appearance is synonymous with style. My haiga may give an impression that I do not have a style of my own because the appearances differ from one haiga to the next. I am not concerned whether I am maintaining consistency. What concerns me is whether my art succeeds in showing the content of each haiku, and at the same time, showing my own aesthetics. I believe that whatever aesthetics I have runs through all my haiga works, however diverse their styles are.
Collaborations with other poets appear to be your primary way of working in haiga. When you create haiga using verses from other poets, do these poets have input to your creative process or do you prefer to work entirely on your own in creating your art? Also, when you include translations of verses (whether from Japanese to English or vice versa), do you do the translations yourself or does someone else do them?
In collaboration, what makes me happy are such comments as: “Your haiga image is just right for my haiku.” Many haijin are satisfied with what I make. I am quite surprised that my haiga can give satisfaction to so many people. I work with very limited information. I have only words in a few lines. I do not know the haijin. I have never seen the actual scene of the haiku moment. However, poetic content somehow seeps out from the words, between the words and lines. That is what I take up, and that is enough to make haiga. It is at such times that I reaffirm the notion that we are all human after all, and despite the differences in many aspects, the poetic mind is borderless.
Most of the time, I work entirely on my own, and no objections come. As for the translations, I try to use the published versions as much as possible. When I cannot find them, I do it myself. Translating keeps my brain cells active. I read many paperback novels in English to enrich my vocabulary.
In your collaborations, it appears that you normally first select a poet’s verse and then use that verse as an inspiration for your art. Have you ever created art first and then sought other’s haiku to go with it or created your own verses for the art?
I have not tried that process yet, but I think I could. I have written verses from photographs, though. Up to now, I had many submissions to work with, and I find many inspiring haiku in books. They have kept me busy, and I think the situation will last for a while.
Recently, you have been linking haiga—that is, combining two or more haiga in one unified work. What principles of aesthetics do you keep in mind when you are creating these works?
One summer, I went through all the haiga I had made. In the process, I felt that certain haiga could be put together. One way is to put together haiga with similar subject matters and similar representational styles. When they are combined and appropriate adjustments are made, they can be a single coherent art work. In painting, coherence and consistency is most important for a work to be appreciated as a piece of art. The same rule applies to haiga.
I also consider the haiku. In my linked haiga, haiku verses do not work like in renku, but I feel that they somehow resonate and produce interesting effects. This is something I need to explore more.
Another way of combining haiga is seen in Bashō’s Narrow Road to Oku. The “Warrior” haiku and the “Hall of Gold” haiku (see pages 62–63) convey two contrasting ideas, something lost and something that remains. I think that showing these two haiku in the same picture plane makes Bashō’s intention clearer. The two haiku about the Mogami River (see pages 80–81) are put together in the same manner as in the former case. A good thing about combining haiga is that the finished artwork becomes big enough to be framed and exhibited like a formal artwork. As for the Mogami River haiga, I had it printed out about two yards wide and it still looked good.
Where do you see your work in digital haiga going from here? I understand you are creating “haibunga,” (haibun+haiga). Please tell us about it.
Buson did a byobu painting (six-fold screen) on which he wrote the entire words of Bashō’s Narrow Road to Oku and added his illustrations to it. The illustrations are done in the same manner as Buson’s other haiga. He admired Bashō so much that he simply wanted to illustrate the poet’s travel essay. I like what Buson did and that is the reason I do some haibunga. Most of the haibun carry light contents and are pleasant to read. Adding artwork to it makes it more pleasant, I think.
Have you considered making haiga that are interactive with images imbedded in image maps (first done with haiga on my website, Haiga Online, in 1998). Also, have you considered computer animation? Why or why not?
Anything that has some action, be it interactive or animation, may be an interesting approach to haiga. If I were to make one of those, I think I would be very careful with the action so that the action itself becomes the indispensable element in conveying the mood and idea of the verse. At this moment, I just do not know how I can do that. Something to explore.
Finally, you have said you create your haiga in the spirit of Hinokishin. Please explain.
Hinokishin means literally “day to day contribution.” Why contribute day to day? It is because I have tremendous gratitude to God (God the Parent in my faith) whose day to day blessings and workings extend from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. God sustains my whole life. I am very grateful for that. When I express the gratitude, I do not just pray and give thanks. I express it through actions, using this splendid body for other people, making them happy. Body to me includes talents, too. I have more than average facility in art. Why not use it to express my gratitude? Making haiga for others’ haiku is one such expression. I call it “art hinokishin.” Making haiga is, at the same time, a great pastime for me, too. What I do for the others makes them happy, and it becomes also a joy and fun for me. Isn’t Hinokishin a great way to live?
This interview first appeared in Reeds: Contemporary Haiga, Vol. 3, 2005.