2月，在涩谷制作公司组织的2023年MAGIC（摩纳哥动漫游戏国际会议）上，我们有机会见到了有史以来最伟大的电子游戏插画师之一，小岛文美，她是《恶魔城》系列的大部分作品背后的艺术家，主要以其最著名的一部《月下夜想曲》而闻名。但将其简单概括成游戏美术职业生涯是远远不够的。
因此在这次极其珍贵的采访中，我们想报道她职业生涯的许多其他方面，而不仅仅是《恶魔城》系列。事实上，这个机会非常宝贵，因为小岛文美女士很少参加大会并接受采访。
我们本应采访她和五十岚孝司，后者是《恶魔城》系列五十岚式风格作品背后的伟大游戏设计师。如果我们这样做了，采访会集中在他们的合作上，我们会错过他们两人职业生涯的有趣细节。以一种非常即兴的方式，我们成功地分别采访了他们两人，为此我们要感谢涩谷制作公司的Sophie Fabrello。
如前所述，小岛文美以其《恶魔城》系列的插图而闻名。更具体地说，包括PS1/世嘉土星上的《月下夜想曲》 、GBA上的《悲伤咏叹调》，《白夜协奏曲》，以及PS2游戏《无罪的叹息》和《暗之咒印》。
但这些工作是在她职业生涯的后期完成的。为了成为一名技艺高超的画家和插画家，她为小说做了许多封面和插图。例如，她为作家菊地秀行（Hideyuki Kikuchi）绘制了插图，菊地秀行以创作日本文化中最著名的吸血鬼之一吸血鬼猎人D的作品而闻名。
在她的艺术书《Santa Lilio Sangre》中，你可以看到她的许多插图，包括《恶魔城系列》，你可以用最好的方式欣赏她的绘画技巧。她是一位以在绘画中使用数十种不同的技术和材料而闻名的画家，对于任何对艺术感兴趣的人来说，她都很善于分析。
小岛文美的另一面是她作为同人志艺术家的多产角色。她出席了Comiket，并以Odile Kuronuma的笔名出售了许多同人志刊物。其中许多与她通常在插图作品中所做的非常不同。他们是她的才华的另一面，展示了小岛雅美是一位多才多艺的艺术家。
这次采访中最令人惊喜的一件事是小岛文美是一个非常善良和热心的人，我希望我们能够在这种情况下尽量描述出来。我们很高兴能坐下来和她一起谈论她的艺术和职业生涯。

（封面和内页来自小岛文美的同人志《Heel Heal》）
A：是的，当然！我也知道你的黑杰克同人志。我有一些问题要问你。
小岛：当然，可以问我任何事。（小岛文美看起来有点害羞，用手掩面）
A：你的作品流露出对绘画的热情。这种激情来自哪里？你能告诉我们你是如何学会如此大量的传统绘画技巧的吗？你是如何学会这一切的，尤其是当你是一个自学成才的人时？
小岛：哦，我只是在学校里开始学习如何画画，在艺术课上，很多其他孩子都在学习基础知识。之后，我去了艺术商店。我想自己测试和实验各种类型的颜料，我特别喜欢你能在颜料中找到的所有不同的颜色名称，比如樱花、紫色、淡紫色和其他……所有这些名称都非常迷人，我试着自己画了很多。
A:你的作品使人想起很多关于艺术史的印象，感觉你对艺术史很感兴趣。你对哪个时期的艺术和古典艺术家研究最多？你试过学习他们的一些绘画技巧吗？
小岛：啊，是的，在古典艺术家中我真的很喜欢弗朗西斯科·何塞·德·戈雅和卡拉瓦乔。我不能把全部的名字都列出来；还有很多其他艺术家激励了我。
A：你可以在法国的博物馆里看到很多这样的东西。
小岛：哦，是的！前几天我去了尼斯博物馆，看到了一位艺术家的画，我不记得他的名字了，但我真的很喜欢！对于学习的部分，我一开始真的不认为绘画是一种职业。这更像是一种爱好，而这并不是我真正的人生目标。我真的没有以学术的方式研究它。我只是在看绘画，比如卡拉瓦乔的，并试图在其中看到和复制我喜欢的东西。它不是为了我的学习或工作；这只是纯粹的热爱。
A：你的艺术也与恐怖有着密切的关系。在你的艺术书中，我们可以看到《诺斯费拉图》或《弗兰肯斯坦》等标志性经典电影的画面。是什么让你对那个宇宙如此热情？你受到恐怖电影和恐怖漫画的影响了吗？
小岛：总的来说，我真的很喜欢恐怖，但比恐怖更吸引我的是科幻小说。如果我没有成为一名插画家，我会想成为一名科学家或研究人员，因为我喜欢画动物和植物。我对《弗兰肯斯坦》、《假面骑士》等作品也很感兴趣，更广泛地说，还有与身体改造有关的东西。恐怖或科幻类型的恐怖作品的美妙之处在于，当你为其添加美感时，它可以作为一幅画产生非常有趣的结果。
A：啊，我想你做了一本《假面骑士》同人志，对吧？
小岛：是的，的确如此！就像黑杰克一样！
A：说到同人志，你当时在Comilet做了很多精彩的同人作品。它们包含了制作精良的漫画作品，你还为《月下夜想曲》的发行制作了宣传漫画。你当时有没有想过要成为一名漫画家？
小岛：哦，不是真的。那时我还没有想过要成为一名职业漫画家。这真的只是我出于热情而做的一个爱好。我真的很喜欢用漫画笔画画；使用起来真的很愉快。此外，我去Comiket主要是为了结识其他和我一样热情的艺术家并交朋友！
A：你能告诉我们一些你在漫画店卖同人志时结交的艺术家的名字吗？
小岛：有很多人……例如，有《地狱之歌》的作者平野耕太。还有小林智美。她为《浪漫沙加》游戏系列制作插画。当时我遇到了很多有才华的人，他们中的许多人都成为了职业艺术家。
A：你有一部分同人志在BL贩售区。你认为这种经历给你的插画艺术增添了某种色情色彩吗？你喜欢给恐怖主题的艺术增添色情感吗？
小岛：呼…BL的那些并不是故意的（笑）（小岛脸红了）。对我来说，这并不是真正的BL，因为在BL中，通常会以一个爱情故事为核心，而且它并没有考虑到这一点。它更注重幽默和插科打诨，让男女读者都开怀大笑。比如，你提到了黑杰克同人志，当时日本发生了大地震（编者按：可能是指1995年的阪神大地震）。我的一些朋友深受其害，我认为人们需要开怀大笑来放松气氛。起初，我更喜欢恐怖，但那段经历促使我去做一些以插科打诨和幽默为导向的事情。在Comiket，不认识我的人买了我的同人志，我看到他们边读边开心大笑。这真的让我很高兴。
A：我们终于要谈谈《恶魔城》了。1997年，你作为主要插画师和角色设计师为两款电子游戏工作，《恶魔城：月下夜想曲》
小岛：那时候，我因为我画的小说封面而有点出名。当时互联网还不是很普及，所以游戏公司打电话给我的出版商，他们通过它联系了我。
A：它与你的其他插画作品有什么不同？你在为《恶魔城》系列工作的时候遇到过一些困难吗？
小岛：游戏插画和小说插画的区别在于，你通常会从书中为小说画一个场景。但对于游戏来说，它实际上是以一个特定的角色为中心的。这有点困难，因为这与我平时做的不同。我想知道他们为什么选择我，但他们说他们想要我插画的风格和氛围。另一件事是，我被要求画一些与我习惯的截然不同的东西，比如可爱的女孩和年轻的男孩。
A：说到这里，《恶魔城：月下夜想曲》是《恶魔城：血之轮回》的续作，它有一种非常宅男的艺术风格。你是如何按照自己的风格重新设计角色的，比如玛丽亚？
小岛：由于五十岚想要改变整个游戏，我们决定对恶魔城世界的风格和氛围进行一些剧烈的改变。玛丽亚是一个非常可爱的小女孩，但我们想把她变成一个更像女士的成年女性。但显然，宅男并不喜欢这种变化…
A:哦，真的吗？就我个人而言，我非常喜欢它——而且我是一个超级宅男（笑）。
小岛：是吗？非常感谢！
A：你的角色也有精心设计的服装。你是如何设计服装的，有没有你特别喜欢的时装设计师？
小岛：哦，我想我对时装设计了解不多，真的。但是的，当时，我真的很喜欢意大利的时尚。我看了很多Gucci杂志。但我不认识任何特定的设计师。我不是专家。
A：你有什么个人计划吗？将来想做什么？你是否有兴趣参与和担任五十岚孝司另一个大型游戏项目的主要插画师和角色设计师？
小岛：我现在没有任何计划，但我正在为MAGIC绘制卡牌，总的来说，我可能会继续完成它。我现在没有和五十岚孝司有任何项目合作，我不喜欢同时做太多事情。
（我没想到修正机翻也相当耗时间，不过终于弄完了。有机会真想去Comiket偶遇啊，我很好奇BL本的那部分（捂脸逃走.gif），视频就无法搬过来了，下面贴原文供好奇宝宝捉虫）
In February, at the 2023 edition of the MAGIC (Monaco Anime Game International Conference), organized by Shibuya Productions, we had the chance to meet one of the greatest video game illustrators of all time, none other than Ayami Kojima, the artist behind a huge part of the Castlevania series, mainly known for its most famous episode, Symphony of The Night. But to summarize it as a video game career would only be reductive.
That’s why for this extremely precious interview, we wanted to cover many other aspects of her career, not only Castlevania. And this opportunity was quite precious indeed, as it is uncommon for Ayami Kojima to participate in conventions and be open for interviews.
We were supposed to interview her alongside Koji Igarashi, the great game designer behind the Igavania-styled opus of the Castlevania series. If we had done that, the interview would have focused on their collaboration, and we would have missed interesting details of both their careers. In a very improvised way, we succeeded interviewing them both separately, and we would like to thank Sophie Fabrello from Shibuya Productions for that.
As previously stated, Ayami Kojima is very famous for her illustrations of the Castlevania series. More specifically, the cult Play Station 1/SEGA Saturn Symphony of the Night, the Game Boy Advance Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance, and the Play Station 2 games Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness.
But those works were done late in her career. To become such a skillful painter and illustrator, she has done numerous covers and illustrations for novels. For example, she illustrated for author Hideyuki Kikuchi, known for one of the most famous vampires of Japanese culture, Vampire Hunter D.
In her artbook Santa Lilio Sangre, in which you can see many of her illustrations, including Castlevania, it is possible to admire her painting skills in the best way possible. She is a painter known for using dozens of different techniques and materials in her paintings, and she is fascinating to analyze for anyone interested in art.
Another side of Ayami Kojima is her prolific role as a doujinshi artist. She was very present at the Comiket and sold numerous doujinshi under the pen name Odile Kuronuma. Many of them are very different from what she usually does in her illustration works. They are another side of her talent and show what a versatile artist Ayami Kojima is.
One of the most pleasantly surprising things from this interview, which I hope we were able to portray despite the format, is how much of a kind and warm-hearted person Ayami Kojima is. We were delighted to sit down and talk about her art and career with her.
Your career started by making illustration works for novels, notably for Hideyuki Kikuchi, who made Vampire Hunter D. Could you tell us what made you want to work for literature illustration and how you approached authors like Hideyuki Kikuchi at the time?
Ayami Kojima: It wasn’t me at first that contacted authors like Hideyuki Kikuchi. Initially, I was simply an office lady, drawing and painting in my free time. I was making doujinshi and selling them at Comiket, and I was contacted by a novel publisher that asked to participate in those novel illustrations. Oh, do you know what a doujinshi is?
Yes, of course! I also know about your Black Jack doujinshi. I have some questions about it that I’ll ask you after.
Ayami Kojima: Sure, ask me anything. [Ayami Kojima looks a bit embarrassed and hides her face with her hands.]
Your work exudes passion for painting. Where does that passion come from? Could you tell us how you learned such a vast amount of traditional painting techniques? And how did you learn it all, especially since you were an autodidact?
Ayami Kojima: Oh, I simply started learning how to paint in school, in art classes where many other children learn the basics. After that, I went to art shops. I wanted to test and experiment with various types of paint on my own, and I particularly loved all the different color names you could find in paints, like sakura, purple, mauve, and others… All those names were really fascinating, and I tried painting a lot by myself.
Your work evokes a lot of art history, and it feels like you’re really interested in art history in general. What period of art and classical artists have you studied the most? Have you tried to learn some of their painting techniques?
Ayami Kojima: Ah yes indeed, I really like Francisco de Goya and Caravaggio as classical artists. I cannot list all of them; there are tons of other artists that inspired me.
You can see a lot of those in museums around here in France.
Ayami Kojima: Oh yes! I went to the Nice museum the other day and saw paintings by an artist, which I don’t remember the name of, but I really loved it! For the studying part, I really didn’t think of painting as a profession at first. It was more like a hobby, and this wasn’t really my goal in life. I really didn’t study it in an academic way. I was just looking at paintings, for example, Caravaggio’s, and tried to see and reproduce what I liked in them. It wasn’t studying or working for me; it was simply passion.
Your art also has a strong relationship with horror. In your artbook, we can see drawings of iconic classic movies like Nosferatu or Frankenstein. What made you so passionate about that universe? Were you influenced by horror movies and horror manga?
Ayami Kojima: I really loved horror in general, but more than horror, it’s really science fiction that fascinated me. If I didn’t become an illustrator, I would have wanted to become a scientist or a researcher since I loved drawing animals and plants. I was also really interested in works such as Frankenstein, Kamen Rider, and, more generally, things related to body modification. What is nice with frightening things of the horror or SF genre is that when you add beauty to it, it can give a very interesting result as a drawing.
Ah, and I think you made a Kamen Rider doujinshi, right?
Ayami Kojima: Yes, indeed! Just like Black Jack!
Speaking about doujinshi, you made a lot of splendid doujinshi at Comiket at the time. They contained very well-made manga works, and you also made a promotional manga for the release of Symphony of the Night. Have you thought, at the time, of becoming a mangaka?
Ayami Kojima: Oh, not really. I hadn’t thought about becoming a professional mangaka at that time. It was really just a hobby I did out of passion. I just really loved drawing with manga pens; it was really pleasant to use. Also, I was going to Comiket mainly to meet other artists that were as passionate as me and make friends!
Can you give some names of artists you made friends with at the time you were selling doujinshi at the Comiket?
Ayami Kojima: There were a lot of them… For example, there was Kouta Hirano, the author of Hellsing. Also, Tomomi Kobayashi. She made illustrations for the Romancing Saga video game series. I met a lot of talented people at the time, and many of them became professional artists.
Some of your doujinshi were part of the BL scene. Do you think that experience added some kind of eroticism to
your illustrative art, and what do you like about adding an erotic feel to horror-themed art?
Ayami Kojima: Huuuh… the BL ones weren’t really made on purpose *laughs* [Ayami Kojima is blushing]. To me, it wasn’t really BL since, in BL, there is usually a love story at the center of it, and it wasn’t made with that in mind. It was more focused on humor and gags to make both men and women laugh. For example, you mentioned the Black Jack doujinshi, and at that time, there was a huge earthquake in Japan [Editor’s Note: probably referencing the 1995 great Hanshin earthquake]. Some of my friends suffered from it, and I thought people needed to have a laugh to relax the atmosphere. At first, I was more into horror, but that experience pushed me to gag- and humor-oriented things. At the Comiket, people who didn’t know who I was bought my doujinshi, and I saw them happy and laughing while reading them. That really filled me with joy.
We’re finally going to talk about Castlevania. In 1997 you worked for two video games as the main illustrator and character designer, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Söldnerschild. How were you approached by video game companies?
Ayami Kojima: At that time, I became a bit famous thanks to the covers of the novels I illustrated. The Internet wasn’t the standard at the time, so video game companies called my publisher, and they contacted me through it.
And how different was it from your other illustrative works? Have you faced some difficulties at the time when you were working on Castlevania?
Ayami Kojima: The difference between game illustrations and novel illustrations is that you usually draw a scene from the book for novels. But for video games, it’s really centered on a particular character. It was a bit difficult because it was different from what I was usually doing. I was wondering why they chose me, but they said they wanted my illustrations’ style and atmosphere. Another thing is that I was asked to draw certain things that were really different from what I was used to, for example, cute girls and young boys.
Speaking about that, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, which has a very otaku-ish art style. How did you approach redesigning its characters in your style, like Maria?
Ayami Kojima: Since Kôji Igarashi wanted to change the whole game, we decided to make some drastic changes to the style and atmosphere of the world of Castlevania. Maria was a very cute little girl, but we wanted to change her into a more lady-like adult woman, for example. But apparently, male otakus did not really like that change…
Oh really? Personally, I like it a lot – and I’m a huge otaku (laughs).
Ayami Kojima: Ooh! Thanks a lot!
Your characters also have extremely well-designed outfits. How do you approach designing outfits, and are there some fashion designers that you like in particular?
Ayami Kojima: Oooh, I don’t think I know a lot about fashion design, really. But yes, at the time, I was really into Italian fashion in general. I was looking at a lot of Gucci magazines. But I don’t know any particular designers. I’m not a specialist.
Do you have any personal projects in mind? What would you like to do in the future? Would you be interested in working on another big game project with Kôji Igarashi as the main illustrator and character designer?
Ayami Kojima: I don’t have any plans in mind right now, but I drew cards for Magic: The Gathering, so I might continue doing that. I don’t have any projects with Kôji Igarashi at the moment, but at my age, I don’t want to do too many things at the time.