Interview: Pondering Fashion in Virtual Humans Through 3D CG High School Student 'Saya': TELYUKA

For the fourth installment of our series, 'The age of digital fashion', we interviewed the 3D CG artist unit, 'TELYUKA', and discussed the relationship between virtual humans and fashion.

TELYUKA is a unit composed of a married couple, TEL (Teruyuki Ishikawa) and YUKA (Yuka Ishikawa). In 2015, they drew a lot of attention when they announced the photorealistic virtual human, 3D CG high school student 'Saya'.

Since then, TELYUKA has continued to update Saya's body and clothes, while exploring the potential of virtual humans through various events and media appearances, as well as collaborations with companies and organizations.

What kind of thoughts do the two members of TELYUKA have when creating Saya's clothes? From their commitment in making clothes to the potential of virtual humans, as well as their future goals, we'll be sharing it all.

The Difficulty of Creating Clothes for a Virtual Human with No Fashion Experience

First, what kind of tool is used to create the clothes of the virtual human, 'Saya'?

TELFor producing Saya's clothing, we mainly use 'Marvelous Designer'. The opportunity to use this tool came from when we were involved in the production of 'KINGSGLAIVE FINAL FANTASY XV' (2016), and since then, it has greatly expanded our ability to express clothing.

Initially, I was the one creating the clothes for Saya, but recently, YUKA has taken over the role.

YUKAWhen I first started using 'Marvelous Designer', I used to create clothes in CG with the intention of making them fit the silhouette. Because it was easier to do it this way, we ended up with a lot of body-conscious clothes.

In making Saya's clothes, our drive to pursue beauty from the silhouette was very strong. However, we are after all specialists in 3D CG, and we didn't have any experience or academic knowledge in fashion, so we were lost on what defines beauty in clothing.

The costume Saya wore when she appeared in 'Miss iD 2018'

TELSo, at first, YUKA bought books that had patterns and traced those patterns in 'Marvelous Designer' to recreate the clothes in CG.

However, even using these patterns didn't always lead to successful results. It was difficult to achieve the same results as in the books.

Of course, you can adjust parameters in 'Marvelous Designer', but to really express what you want, it's important not just to follow instincts, but also to understand the logic behind why things are the way they are.

YUKAIf we don't understand the theory, even if we create based on patterns, it eventually becomes no different from making it up as we go along, and the finished clothes end up looking cheap.

I think this is the same with real clothes. For example, even for an amateur like me, jackets by Alexander McQueen look very beautiful. But the things I made somehow gave off an impression of a 'homemade jacket by mom'.

So, you thought you needed to learn about fashion from scratch?

YUKAYes. I wanted to know how professionals like designers and pattern makers think and what kind of standards they set when creating clothes, so I started learning from the basics of clothes making, such as the question of "What is a pattern?"

Through this, I started to have questions like "What is clothing in the first place?", "What is the beauty of materials?", and "What is the feel of the space between the clothing and the body?" I began to ask various people these questions and try to hear their stories whenever I get a chance.