Born in Russia in 1990, Ilya Kuvshinov is an illustrator and character designer now based in Tokyo. Trained in architecture in Moscow, he first worked in the video game industry before devoting himself fully to animation after moving to Japan around 2015.

He rose to international prominence as character designer for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 and the film The Wonderland (2019). His style, both precise and cinematic, blends delicate figures with compositions inspired by manga and Japanese animation. This visual signature has earned him a massive following on social media, with several million followers on Instagram, as well as the publication of acclaimed illustration collections such as Momentary and Eternal.

Beyond character design, Kuvshinov also works as a key animator and storyboard artist on series such as Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, confirming a cross-disciplinary practice that spans from illustration to animated direction.

From Architecture to Concept Art: A Hands-On Artistic Education

You have a traditional Beaux-Arts education. Could you explain to the French audience how it was design? We don’t really have that kind of special school for Arts. Most of the Arts are taught after high school. Did you have sculpture class or was it only about drawing and painting?

Ilya Kushinov: I studied on Architecture faculty in Art College from 11 to 17 years – there we had not only drawing and painting classes, but also sculpture, architecture, composition and illustration. It’s called college, but it was more like normal middle and highschool + art education, so half of the day we had normal classes like History, Math, English language etc, and other half of the day we were studying art-related disciplines. After that I studied in Art University on Architecture faculty (from 18 till 22 years old) for 4 more years, we also had drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture classes there.

During this period, have you learned to draw on paper only or did the school teach you how to use digital tools (Photoshop, etc.)?

Ilya Kushinov: No, we haven’t any digital tools classes.

You have a training as architecture design. Why have you chosen that path and why did you not follow it?

Ilya Kushinov: I actually decided to go to Architecture classes because people said there were the best teachers on Architecture (laughing). I love architecture, but in Russia right now we don’t need any unique buildings too much, just your normal condos that looked the same, so I decided to try myself in video company as concept artist.

You have work in the video game industry for 10 years in various companies. How have you begun your career in that industry? Why have you chosen to make video games instead of comics in Russia?

Kushinov: Well, I really love games! At the times I got my first job as concept artist for mmo game, I just started learning digital tools, so my first job really helped me with the experience I needed in the field. I actually had offers to work on comics, but at the time I started to work on Motion-Comics as tge director, and I loved that job a lot.

You created a Motion Comics named Chromatiq. Can you explain the story to the French audience? Why have you try this format and not a comic book?

Kushinov: Well, ChromatiQ is just a normal comics. You can simply say, it’s about “what would it be if our world is actually a video game?” haha.

You have started your Instagram account after you were in a video game company. Why have you created this account? Was it a way to be accountable and force yourself to draw?

Kushinov: Well, firstly it was your normal Instagram with food, cats, friends and normal life. But in 2013 I started do illustrations every and upload it to social networks, and instagram was just one of those platformsz

How can you explain your incredible success on social media? Do you have any advice for beginner on these plateform?

Kushinov: I think it’s about consistency. I was doing illustrations every day, so my pages were like entertainment channels, where you can see something everyday.

One of your monikers is KR0NPR1NZ. Could you explain the origin of the name? Why have you abandoned it?

Kushinov: Well, the word (kronprinz – Deutsh) means crown prince, for me it meant my respect to all the awesome artists before me and gratitude for all their experience that helping us to learn faster and with more efficiency. I came up with it when I were young, and someday just decided to use my own name.

Influences, Daily Practice and Visual Signature

How have you learned to draw in “manga/anime” style? Is it by copying manga/anime artists? Is it by doing fan arts?

Kushinov: Both! I love works of great amount of japanese illustrators, animators and directors.

Could you please tell the audience more about them? Who are the illustrators you admire and why (technique, composition, other)? Who are the animators you respect and wish to work with? Who are the directors you enjoy and what are their most valuable artwork according to you?

Kushinov: Some illustrators are Renji Murata (awesome mix of realistic and anime-style, Ao no Rokugo is great), Shigenori Soejima (I love Persona series and his design), Katsuya Terada (all-around cool artist), Yoshitaka Amano, ; animators Masashi Ando, Hiroyuki Okiura, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Yoshifumi Kondou, Tetsuya Nishio, Mutsumi Inomata and many more; directors Keiichi Hara, Hideaki Anno, Hayao Miyazaki, Koji Morimoto, Masaaki Yuasa, Satoshi Kon, Takeshi Koike, Mitsuo Iso, and more-more more.

I usually just doing my best trying to analyze their works and the way of thinking, learning a lot in process. It’s usually really hard to say what exactly I love in their works and point that out, so, uhh, that’s it haha.

Do you have advice for beginners who want to learn to draw in that style? Do you think that they need a class or dedication, self-education and hard work are enough?

In modern days we have all the resources to self-educate ourselves without paying tons of money to go to the colleges. Just use all that awesome resources, have a goal, and practice a lot!

You have said that you spent 2 hours each day to train. Can you explain why you chose that kind of rhythm for your personal work? How did you find the energy to draw after a day of work?

Hmm. Not sure about why I chose the 2-hours rule actually, it just made sense to use all my free tome before going to bed on self-improving. About the energy – I think it’s more about motivation than energy – I just REALLY wanted to work in Japan haha. Thinking back about these days – 10 hours of work, then 2 hours of practice drawing and 2 hours to draw an illustration – that was kind of tight schedule.

What is the more important to improve: theory/knowledge or practice?

Both. First you learn something new, than you practice it till you do it automatically.

What are your favourite tools for drawing?

Nothing better than paper and pencil, honestly.

Oh, I’m surprised because you almost never show your paper and pencil draw. I was expecting fancy tools and digital stuff. Do you have a favorite brand or special type of paper or is it really just whatever pencil and paper you can have?

Deleter paper, Mitsubishi UNI 2B pencil.

One of your trademarks is a vivid short haired girl with bright eyes. Why do you love short hair so much?

For me, short hair is a symbol of strength, energy, courage and independence.

You always make an emphasis on the eyes. Other artist prefers to highlight other body parts. Why the eyes?

Eyes is the soul’s mirror. Well, the face overall as well.

Do you use real model to get inspiration?

My wife sometimes helping me out with references for difficult gestures.

You’ve said that you’ve seen GITS at 6 years old. How did you see it? Internet? Other media?

I believe somebody brought VHS ordered from America.

Was it difficult at that time to have VHS back then?

-More than! I believe the friend of a family maybe bought it on a trip or something.

Did you understand English to appreciate the VHS or did you only see the images and guess the storyline?

Yes, didn’t understood a word, haha.

Where did you get the info about the anime and manga? Did you have fanzines in Russia?

When I moved to Moscow, in age 13 I found Anime fan-club where there were people with connections to order magazines and DVDs from US and Japan.

When did you get your first manga in Japanese?

It was actually in official store in Russia. It was Tenjo Tenge.

Do Russia have a strong manga/anime market?

I am not really sure about market, but there’s a lot of people who love anime and manga in Russia.

Oh god! Did you have a Russian version of it? It hasn’t been translated in French.

I believe we had US version on English!

What is your favourite GITS? The original manga? The first movie? The 1rst GITS SAC? Arise?

First movie is the main favourite I think. Other than animations I also love PS1 game one.

What is so special in anime that you don’t find in other country’s animation style? Is it about the graphics, the limited animation, the storytelling?

It’s about the stories, yes. I am big fan of japanese literature as well, there’s just something unique in the way the characters develops and main ideas that deeply resonates with me.

I think that most of Japanese stories are about responsibilities and dedication. They also depict hardship and dramatic events that are never shown in Western anime (death, etc.). Why do you think that kind of scenes can’t be found in Western comics and animated movie?

It’s hard to say, I love a lot of western movies, TV-series, game and literature as well, and recently there’s more and more really good stories there as well, like SUITS.

What are your favourite anime of all time? What are your favourite mangas?

Anime:

1 Ghost in the Shell (1995)

2 Paprika

3 Urusei Yatsura – Beautiful Dreamer

(That’s actually a good example of which stories I am into, from previous question)

Manga:

1 Sing “Yesterday” For Me

2 Oyasumi Pun Pun

3 Ranma 1/2

For mainstream audience, anime is only about Miyazaki. You seem to value limited animation and its creative tricks to craft story and motion. Do you think that make Japanese better in weird way?

I would not categorize Japanese animation as whole – there’s a lot of approaches, different creators, different ideas and goals. There’s something for everyone.

Paprika and Urusei Yatsura are about finding balance between dreams and reality: Have you achieve that in your life?

I can lucid dream! I practiced it a lot. I can totally say if I am in reality or dreaming in any given moment.

Both movies are also about exiting a kind of weird dream matrice. Do you think that we are living in a Matrix and we need to find the exit?

Sometimes happiness and freedom can’t live together.

Do you play Japanese video game? Why one? Did they inspire you as well?

Sure! Back in university times I was really into Persona series (3 and 4). Those games made me treasure my time and take responsibility for my decisions.

About Persona, do you know that the West can only access censored version? What do you think about that kind of self censorship from Japanese company?

Well, there’s not so many Persona fans in the west comparably to Japan, and it’s a LOT of money to localize the game for the western audiences, so sometimes publishers just need to lower the game’s age rating so it could sell better.

Do you think it is because Western audiences are more « fragile » and easily upset?

Of course not. There’s a lot of buzz in the western internet because of censorship – western fans want to experience the game as it was intended by creator.

Do you think that Japanese company are going to have more self-censorship in order to please the Western audience?

I hope not.

Inside Japanese Animation: Collaborations, Techniques and Transmission

Why have you decided to live in Japan? Why haven’t you chosen another country to make animation series?

All my favourite creators live there. I wanted to work with them, learn from them, be of any help.

How have you been in touch with animation studio? Did you contact them for work?

Yes, producer of The Wonderland contacted me via company which published my art book called MOMENTARY.

You have published several art book. Is it difficult to have the same image in print and in digital media? Do you check and validate the print version in the printing plant?

Yes, the difference is really big. I originally paint my illustrations in pretty big size, so usually when I upload it to internet you can see much less details on your phone screen. In the book however, there’s full-size prints as they were intended. And yes, we carefully check the prints for colors to be as closer to original as we can.

You have also a exhibition of your work in Tokyo. How do you show what to exhibit? How do you choose the material in which your art is displayed?

We talk with exhibition’s producer a lot and decide where to put this and that, so it’s a teamwork mostly. 

How steep is the learning curve in Japanese Animation? How did you get help? What were the major difficulties?

I was really worried at first, but I talked to the animators and directors and they said “If you can draw, that means you already half-way there.”, so I calmed down.

How different are the process between 2D and 3D animation? What are the major difference in making character design sheets for 2D and 3D animation?

There’s big differences, yes. For example, two many details on the character for 2d animation, and it would be really difficult to animate. On the other hand, you can put a lot of details and textures on a character for 3d animation, but there’s a lot of things that would be really difficult to animate – like kimono, long hair, etc.

Do you give texture sample in your design for the 3D animation? Do you discuss with them about the rendering?

I usually just show the photos of clothes to let modellers to know what kind of texture I am looking for.

Was it more difficult to work with one director (Hara) or 2 directors (Kamiyama and Aramaki) at the same time?

Actually I worked on The Wonderland and GITS:SAC_2045 at the same period of time, so you can say I worked with 3 directors at the same time (laughs). All 3 of them are really great, and I enjoyed every minute of my time working with them.

Have you been able to discuss with them about their intentions for the movie or did they give you “carte blanche”?

Sure, we talked a lot about how they want it to see. And yes, there were moments in both The Wonderland and GITS:SAC_2045 where I was given complete freedom, that’s why there Purin in GITS and Mayuko in Wonderland.

How have you created these characters? 

Directors was: “Design this character as you want!” so I was “Sure, short haircut and glasses, here we go!”

Do you plan to expand their presence in other media?

Well, it’s not my characters in case of copyrights, I was just hired to design them; but sure, I would love to have more Purin everywhere.

What are the major difficulties in translating your character design sheets in 2D and 3D animation?

Character design is a static pictures, and even if those are in different angles, different poses and with different emotions, it was still hard to imagine how character should move and act, so for The Wonderland director Hara showed us movie My Girl to get the idea of how Akane should move.

 On the other hand, GITS’s animation is motion captured, so it all depends on the actors.

What are your main lesson working in the Japanese anime industry?

Teamwork and communication is the most important.

There was a lot of pessimistic views about the anime industry these recent years. Do you think that people should try to emulate you and go to Japan to take their chance?

We really need help now, there’s just not enough hands. If you love anime and want to be a part of industry, please come here to learn a language and work with us!

A last word for your fan?

We live in exciting times! If you passionate about something and have a dreams about working on it, you are totally needed. Believe in yourself and never give up!