Introduction

As with all forms Japanese art, Japanese digital art has a distinct and dynamic style. Much like manga, the artists use the extent of their imagination to create heros, villains, monsters, and everything in between.  The themes featured are usually in grand scale: life, death, love, happiness, perception of reality, just to name a few. The characters are often exaggerated in dress, and physical features and abilities. It is not uncommon to see alien creatures large and small or two combatants engaging in fierce battle while flying through the air. This is where the supernatural is natural, and there is no real and unreal.

Many examples of 3D Japanese animations not only break the mold in style, but also in medium. Many feature what many of us can only fathom in dreams, or nightmares. Although full length digital feature films such as "toy story" are rare in Japan, many Japanese artists found that their artistic capabilities can be conveyed through other venues. The result is beautiful, imaginitive works of art, sometimes hauntingly so.

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Japanese Digital Art in Video Games

The video game marketplace has, historically, been an enticing prospect for japanese game designers and producers, as well as Japanese artists. Sega, Nintendo, and Sony's Playstation are all japanese born brands, as are many of the games produced for them, and, subsequently, the art in those games. In the past 15 years, advancing computer technology has helped facilitate increasingly intricate and well produced 3-D digital pieces.  Since video games have become increasingly cinematic, with better graphics and more involved thematic plot lines, many game designers and CGI artists have found them to be perfect venues to express their wild and beautiful artistic ideas.

 This is a wedding cutscene from Final Fantasy X

As well as the art itself, Japanese game developers have raised the bar in terms of action and character development through the use of intricate CGI cutscenes. Since it is all animation, the limit of creativity is only the artists imagination. Incredibly fast-paced, beautifully choreographed supernatural action sequences are possible to accomplish now. And a certain cinematic quality is acheived through lifelike environments, lighting capabilities, intricate character and set models, and amazingly natural character movements.

A battle sequence from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

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The Strange Side of Japanese Digital Art

Although the design and style of some Japanese digital pieces exudes complex and beautiful shapes, vectors, and colors, some pieces express their beauty in a more subtle and perhaps disturbing way. Just as in all arts of Japanese culture, there is always room for something new, even if it may be bizarre and depraved. The style and composition in these stills, however, is obviously extremely premeditated and deliberate.

Here are some interesting horror pieces by Yoshitaka Kawakami

Out of these graphic images the themes of death, vulnerability, pain, joy, and sadness are all expressed. The pieces, while all containing quite esoteric themes, are all very tastefully done and all evoke different emotions from the viewer.

Japanese Digital Art School Video

Although the characters in these pieces do not speak, the emotion they are conveying is clear and distinct in each piece. Both subtle and obvious elements hint to the emotion of the piece. In the end, abstract art such as this is always going to be open to interpretation and subject to differing opinions. Some will think it is disgustin, others may find it to be beautiful.

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Technological Innovations In Japanese Digital Art

Not only is the style and design of Japanese digital art original and unique, but many mediums through which it is expressed are simply unprecedented. As with all aspects of Japanese culture, innovations in the field of art have allowed visual designers to take their projects to extremely sophisticated levels.

Sony software publicly displayed one of their new imaging technologies by creating a giant holographic monster designed to terrorize the skyline of tokyo.Using an intricate water and laser holographic system, Sony was able to project an image of a giant monster into thin air that rivals in size the buildings around it. The scale of this project alone is impressive. This Loch Ness monster was a novel idea that took real creativity and technological talent.

 Holographic Monster 

Projects so grand in scale are not the only ones that are being produced by Japanese artists. Here, motion capture technology is being used to simulate and alter a live person's appearance. This technology will be made available on the Playstation 3, and seems to have quite applicable capabilites.

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Conclusion

As you can see, larger than life, supernatural, fantasy driven pieces is what these Japanese artists are producing. If it isn't strange, then it is cutting-edge. Digital Art in Japan is a constantly evolving movement. New technologies are constantly being developed and new methods are making it easier than ever to design and animate creative works that are becoming increasingly limitless. The venue for this seems to be mostly video games or still pieces, as the Japanese CGI movie market has not yet taken flight to the extent that the one in the U.S. has. There doesn't seem to be a prevalent "pixar" type company that develops movies wholly in 3D. For now, much of our enjoyment of these beautiful, imaginative works of art must come on the internet, in galleries, or in between levels of many of our favorite video games.