作家へのインタビュー&イラスト・ギャラリー Special Stage 01 紫のあ [季刊エス 65号 2019 Mar]

Profile: The artist primarily depicts yuri across a range of characters from young girls to adult women, weaving beautiful and ephemeral tales of their delicate emotional shifts. Her coloring style, with its sense of transparency, enhances the fantastical atmosphere of their worlds. She made her event debut at Comitia 126, where she released her first manga, and regularly shares her work on social media platforms like Twitter and Pixiv.
Twitter ID=@sinoa_ster  Pixiv ID=16939390

Gallery


If It Rains Next Week (Cover Illustration)

Story: If It Rains Next Week(『来週、雨が降ったら』)

A woman shelters from the rain at a station. Startled by a sudden clap of thunder, she turns to find a black-haired girl. The story begins as the woman, six months from her wedding day, borrows an umbrella from this mysterious girl who laughs freely, and yet has an enigmatic air about her.

Panel Commentary 1


On the first page, we see a ring on the woman’s finger. On the next, her hand is enveloped, hiding the ring from view—an effect only a two-page spread can achieve. This startling hint at their relationship is enough to make one's heart skip a beat.


Panel Commentary 2


A scene depicting their conflicting feelings. The back-to-back composition intensifies the feeling that they are longing for each other, each from their own separate place.


Panel Commentary 3


The rendering of the black hair is striking. Meticulously layered lines create hair that is both feminine and beautiful.


Hydrangea(紫陽花)


The illustration that inspired If It Rains Next Week. Her rain-dampened hair is alluring, as is the faint blush of her cheeks and lips, which stands out vividly against her pale, translucent skin.


The Tale of the Princess and the Mermaid Cover Illustration (「お姫と人魚姫のお話」表紙イラスト)


A manga about a princess and a mermaid, first released on Twitter. The fairytale-like story is dramatic; the devoted mermaid is beautiful, and the princess's kindness is bittersweet, making for a poignant tale. Their expressions, as if capturing a special moment, are unforgettable.


In the Garden(花園にて)


Clad in pure-white wings and outfits, the young girls hold the forbidden fruit. In this single piece, one can feel a separate story for each of the girls holding hands.


eyes


Two figures hold hands, their bodies drawn close. The use of soft light and wind conveys a sense of both their location and their relationship. The rendering of the sheer clothing and their expressions, full of unsaid words, is powerful and moving.


Sunflower(ひまわり)


An illustration that spins a single story across three images. A straw hat is swept away by the wind, and beyond it, a girl is enveloped in a light so beautiful it's dazzling. A feeling of poignancy wells up from her eyes as she gazes back at the viewer.


Interview

Interviewer:
I'd like to ask you about If It Rains Next Week, which you published at Comitia 126. First, could you tell us about the two main characters?

Shinoa:
The two characters in this story are the very first ones I created when I started making art. You could say they're my two ideal characters, packed with everything I love. I've always enjoyed imagining the settings, personalities, and relationships of my characters as I draw, so with these two, I developed their character concepts by drawing them in all sorts of illustrations. Also, if I’m left to my own devices, I tend to write pretty dark stories, so first and foremost, I planned the concept around the firm rule that, "These two will have a happy ending!"

Interviewer:
I see. Next, could you tell us how If It Rains Next Week was created?

Shinoa:
It all started when I was drawing my piece, "Hydrangea," and began to think about the situation behind the image. At that point, I pictured it as a story about a bride, right before her marriage, and the girl who runs away with her. From there, I kept the core elements of <rain>, <hydrangeas>, and <marriage>, but I felt the story would be easier to develop if I had a motif to work with. So I decided to use an <umbrella> as the key symbol connecting the two of them and built the story out from there.

Interviewer:
When it came to depicting their relationship, what did you pay special attention to?

Shinoa:
To ensure the reader could understand the characters' feelings during the emotional high points in the middle and later parts of the story, I felt it was crucial to carefully depict the beginning—how they meet and build a relationship from scratch as complete strangers. So, I paid close attention to conveying the passage of time since they met and how their relationship evolved, using subtle changes in the way they spoke to one another and their behavior to communicate that to the reader.

Interviewer:
It definitely came through! Next, could you tell us about the kind of characters and relationships you personally enjoy drawing?

Shinoa:
In stories, I like characters who are always smiling and free-spirited—the kind who seem like they might just wander off somewhere. In If It Rains Next Week, the girl with black hair is that type of character. Even when there's another protagonist, characters like her tend to be at the center of the story, and I enjoy exploring how the other characters change and what emotions they develop in response to her. As for appearances, I prefer feminine characters over androgynous ones, and long hair over short hair. My absolute favorite character, just as you'd expect from someone I've packed all my ideals into, is the black-haired girl I drew in If It Rains Next Week.

Interviewer:
The way you draw black hair is so striking. Could you tell us about the appeal and motivation behind using lines instead of solid color?

Shinoa:
I draw my manga digitally, but I love the look of analog art, so one reason is that I felt drawing with lines rather than using tones would produce a more analog-like atmosphere. Since hair is my favorite part to draw, I took extra care to draw it in fine detail to make it look especially beautiful. The other reason is simply that my skills with screen tones were still clumsy and I couldn't get them to look the way I wanted, so I tried to avoid using them as much as possible. Honestly, I think that's the biggest reason.

Interviewer:
Your fantastical and romantic color illustrations are incredibly captivating, evoking entire stories and the relationships between the characters. What do you keep in mind or consciously focus on when you draw your illustrations?

Shinoa:
Overall, I'm drawn to a color palette that's low in saturation with a soft, glowing light, and I'm drawn to art that feels fantastical or nostalgic. The first time I consciously tried to capture that kind of atmospheric charm was in my piece, "eyes." I haven't really studied art much, so I can only use vague terms like "atmosphere" and "mood," but ever since then, when I create illustrations that tell a story, like "Himawari" or "In the Garden," I try to imagine them as a single photograph and focus on conveying that specific atmosphere.

Interviewer:
Finally, what are your plans for your art in the future, and what themes would you like to draw? Also, please let us know if you have anything to announce.

Shinoa:
I still have so much to learn about both art and manga, but I hope to continue participating in events and have as many people as possible see my work. In terms of doujinshi, I'd love to release a full art book someday, not just manga. As for themes, I've done stories about the sea and about flowers, so next, I’d like to create a story about the sky.

Edit

Pub: 15 Jun 2025 02:48 UTC

Edit: 29 Jun 2025 14:08 UTC

Views: 30