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Kanon/Clannad Designer Itaru Hinoue Leaves Visual Art's to Work Freelance

Itaru Hinoue, the illustrator behind the character designs and original art for such games as Kanon, Air, and Clannad, has announced on Tuesday that she is leaving the company Visual Art's to work as a freelancer. Her latest work is Harmonia, which Visual Art's/Key will release on Steam on Friday.

Hinoue explained that when she works on games at a company, there are times when her artwork has not been made public. She particularly noted Key's long development time, so throughout the entire process she would worry that her art would not come out or be forgotten. As a result, she has been inclined to expand her career horizons a little bit and has actually submitted letters of resignation many times. Nevertheless, she always came back, but this time, she is leaving for real.

When asked what she would like to do, she noted that her games have had anime adaptations, but she has not worked on original anime yet. She aims to make characters for original anime works. She added she wants to make works in genres such as horror. She said with a laugh that she wants to make Shin Godzilla dōjinshi and four-panel manga.

Hinoue worked as an illustrator and character designer at Key, of which she is a founding member. Key is a brand of the Osaka-based game publisher VisualArt's. She provided original character designs for visual novels such as Kanon, Air, Clannad, and Little Busters!. All four of these games received multiple anime adaptations. Hinoue also planned, provided character designs, and served as art director for Key's ninth game, Rewrite — which inspired the ongoing anime.

Thanks to Kougeru for the news tip.

Source: Animate Times