Interest
Lychee Light Club's Usamaru Furuya Draws Portraits for Hire
posted on by Eric Stimson
PocoPoco, a Japanese manga reading website, is offering manga fans a valuable opportunity to have their portraits drawn by professional artists. The site's supervisor, Usamaru Furuya (Lychee Light Club, Genkaku Picasso), is offering his services, along with Shintaro Kago (Punctures, Super Conductive Brains Parataxis), Kana Ohtsuki (an illustrator who specializes in high school girls), and Suehiro Maruo (Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show, The Laughing Vampire).
Applicants must fill out an application form and send several photos of themselves, along with the artist they are commissioning and (optionally) a request for how they would like to be portrayed. If their application is accepted, the artists will create the portrait within 2-3 months of receiving payment.
Since the portrait service's launch early last year, several clients have had their portraits drawn. Furuya wished to meet this client to hand her her portrait face-to-face. She had requested a portrait of herself on a merry-go-round; when Furuya failed to find one he liked in Japan, he settled for a merry-go-round in a shopping center while on vacation in Guam.
KAGO drew this portrait for a doctor who enjoyed his "terrifying" and "grossly awesome" style.
Ohtsuki drew this portrait for Aya Morita, a 26-year-old woman.
The portraits cost 300,000 yen (or $2,543) and are size A3 (11.7'' x 16.5'', although Ohtsuki is willing to draw them 17.9'' x 13.1''). They are available for Japanese applicants only. If you'd like to see other artwork by these artists, see our previous article on the portrait service.
[Via Comic Natalie and Pocopoco]
