We're lucky enough to have Taitotu with us in our
Discord Server, so I figured we'd ask him a few questions about his experience with entering and winning Capcom's "Get Equipped" art contest last month.
The winning artwork
First off, check out his awesome submission and comments by the game character designers that got him a win in the contest.
Sword Man was a popular choice and had a number of entries, but Taitotu’s design stood out for many of the reasons outlined above. Retaining Mega Man’s recognizable appearance while adding Robot Master details to the design, it’s a great blend of Sword Man’s appearance combined with Mega Man’s recognizable style.
Yuji Ishihara: That’s the pose! The fact that the back of his helmet is rounded shows that Mega Man, not Sword Man, is the base of your design.
Ryuji Higurashi: Mega Man is in the exact same angle as he was in Mega Man 8. I really like this design!
Q & A with Taitotu
MMW : Tell us a little about yourself to get us started.
Taitotu : Well, I'm an Artist who likes to draw MegaMan fan art, and other things.
MMW : How long have you been drawing for? What media do you use?
Taitotu : I've been drawing almost my whole life, but I think I started to draw more seriously about from High School onwards. I've been mostly traditional artist up till 2008 when I got my first graphics Tablet. Now a days I switch back and forth occasionally.
MMW : What was your first experience with Mega Man?
Taitotu : My first exposure to the MegaMan franchise is most likely the 90s cartoon and the first game I played was MegaMan X1.
MMW : What's your favorite Mega Man game series, and why?
Taitotu : My favorite series is a toss up between the Battle Network Series and the MegaMan Zero series. Mostly due to the fact that I spent most of my gaming youth playing on the Game Boy Advance. The Battle Network Series especially since I felt a connection with the characters when I played, and also Virus Busting was fun.
MMW : What is it about Mega Man that makes you draw so much from the series?
Taitotu : I love robots and to an extent the Net Navi designs as well. I love how ridiculous some of them can be when they take the most mundane object and turn them into a robot or Net Navi.
MMW : What was it about Sword Man that made you choose him for your submission?
Taitotu : Flame Sword was a very cool weapon, and the pose MegaMan made when he attacks with it. Also seeing it in action in 3D in the Smash Bros game was satisfying. It had that "oomph" factor.
MMW : Of all the art you've ever done, what is your favorite piece? Can we see it?
Taitotu : Let's see.. My favorite piece that I've done would probably be this:
I've spent an ungodly long time on this piece and I learned a lot about color and shading.
MMW : Any advice for the aspiring artists out there?
Taitotu : I'll repeat what my old art teacher told me, "draw what you see and not what you think it should look like." Also, lots of practice, and don't be afraid to use references. The most powerful tool for any artist are references! Whenever you are unsure of something, don't hesitate to look up references online because we live in an age where we can google almost anything.
MMW : Anything you want to say to the Mega Man fans out there?
Taitotu : I love MegaMan, It has been a big part of my life, and I'm looking forward to playing MegaMan 11 this fall!
MMW : Do you do commission work? If so, please tell us about how people can reach you.
Taitotu : I do take some commissions on the side. (Please keep the requests PG though. No nudity or gore, thanks.) Feel free to message me on my twitter
@taitotu, my deviantart :
Scarletreisen, or my tumblr :
@taitotu.
MMW : Awesome, thanks for answering all of these questions for us!
Taitotu : Thanks for the interview. I'm still surprised they picked mine.
And last but not least being the collector that I am... I had to get the details of his prize! Here it is in all of it's beautiful signed (in Japanese no less!) glory along with the letter he recieved from Capcom.
