Figure Sculptor Hiromi Hayashi Talks about "The Meaning of Aiming for Figures with a Story"! Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 34

Figurines tend to be immediately associated with "three-dimensional versions of anime and game characters," but there are professional prototype designers who patiently continue to create realistic-looking figures that look as if they are alive. Hiroki Hayashi is one of the few veteran prototype artists who specialize in "realistic-looking figures.
Why does he stick to realistic figures?　Can you make a business only with realistic figures?　How has he made a living?　Mr. Hayashi gave us clear answers to these questions that would be difficult to answer.

Tamiya doll modification contest, "Batman", and then becoming a professional prototype modeler: ......

─ ─ The figures of beautiful women and girls prototyped by Mr. Hayashi can be purchased on the official "Atelier It" website, can't they? The fact that you have such a wide variety of figures means that there is a demand for them, right?

Hayashi: For a long time, non-character figure products have not attracted much interest, so I make and sell them because I like them. At least, I don't make them because they sell well. I have managed to maintain my personal brand Atelier It thanks to the support of a few ardent fans.


─ ─ As I recall, you have been working with figures since the 1980s, right?

Hayashi: My first job was a pilot figure for "Metalskin Panic MADOX-01," which was published in Hobby Japan magazine. After that, I made Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger for "Batman," and after that, I was published several times as examples of characters from live-action movies. I was allowed to make a prototype of a product for the first time.

─ ─ Was that product a character from a live-action movie?

Hayashi: No, it was a character from the OVA "Battle! Ixer 1". At that time, the only figure prototyping work I could do was anime-related. So, I won the trust of my clients by faithfully modeling anime figures.

─ ─ In the 1990s, a soft vinyl kit of a high school girl was released by a manufacturer called Reds, wasn't it? Your name was listed as the prototype sculptor, and I thought, "I knew you were good at realistic models.

Hayashi: Most of the prototypes I've made as work have been anime characters, and Reds's giving me the opportunity to work on high school girl figures allowed me to work in a field a little closer to my own interests. My personal interest has always been how to make a figure look exactly like a real person, such as Hiroko Yakushimaru or Mick Jagger (......).


─ What are the roots of your desire for realism?

Hayashi: First of all, it was the "Tamiya Doll Remodeling Contest" that I learned about when I was in elementary school. I admired Mr. Takuji Yamada, and although I did not enter the contest, I modified Tamiya 1/35 figures myself. After that, in junior high and high school, I left figures behind and became absorbed in sports-related club activities. But when I became a sophomore in high school, I thought seriously about my future. At the time, I was drawing portraits of idols, so I thought, "I like drawing, I want to be an illustrator," and moved to the art club in the summer of my second year of high school. Eventually, I entered a graphic design school and got a job at a design office, but the work was so strenuous that I realized, "This is not a job I will do for the rest of my life. ......" (laugh).
At that time, I was making figures at home with found (stone clay), and I had been reading Hobby Japan since junior high school. I realized that I wanted to make realistic figures as my work.