Describing the transportive power of art, 27-year-old Nakajima told The Epoch Times that she began looking at photos of buildings as a child. Her restlessness to discover foreign lands led half-Japanese, half-Thai Nakajima to start detailed architectural drawing as a high-school student. Incredibly, she’s never taken an art class.
“I fell in love with their grandeur—especially the gothic and baroque ones. They are highly unique and stylish,” she said. “As a kid, I used to say to my dad, ‘Let’s go travel the world when I grow up!’
“I never studied art. I started by drawing small pictures and found out that I was good at sketching. I learn something new and make development every time I draw a picture, because I always challenge myself by drawing bigger, more detailed pictures.”
Ten years on, Nakajima has a collection of wonderful works under her belt, including the Wat Rong Khun temple in Thailand, and Notre Dame de Paris. The talented artist has also gathered tens of thousands of Instagram fans.
Nakajima shared that the Wat Rong Khun temple, designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, was one place she could go and visit. After going in person to observe details, Nakajima started sketching with pencils. Then, she began using ink pens to add detailed lines, developing her signature style.
“The white and silver chapel is otherworldly beautiful,“ she said. ”At first, I was worried that it wouldn’t come out right.”
Being employed at a company as a chief overseas coordinator, the budding artist was limited to drawing only on evenings and at weekends. It took her six months to complete the Wat Rong Khun temple picture, but Nakajima says it was completely worth the time and effort.
“I got a lot of positive feedback. Because of it, I had much more exposure and more people became interested in drawings that are more than sketches,” she recalled.
While it may seem as though artistry and her corporate job are at odds, Nakajima says that’s not the case. “Although my two jobs seem different, I’m a highly focused person and I pay a lot of attention to details,“ she said. ”This may be what enables me to draw highly detailed pictures.”
By applying different weights, pressures, and speeds of wrist movements, Nakajima creates lines with different thicknesses, adding dimensionality to her work. Breaking from architect norms, Nakajima does not abide by the standard principle of putting more detail into close objects than farther ones.
“I want to collect all the details. I want my drawing to present all the alluring details of my architectural subject,” she said. “In this way, I may not seem as professional as those educated in architectural drawings; I do what’s shunned by many others.”
Nakajima says it takes “unwavering determination and a will strong enough” to draw in this way. She constantly challenges herself to improve her techniques. Her goal is to amaze the viewer with all the details.
In one stunning depiction of Notre Dame de Paris, Nakajima used pencils to add shadows. She said she began with the rose window in the middle of the picture, and then drew the left and right buildings along with the surrounding plantations. “One of my followers said that my drawing looked more realistic than a monochrome photograph,” she said.
Sitting in a coffee shop on a Sunday, or at home with music playing in the background, Nakajima gets lost in her art.
The 2020 illustration “Dream Traveler” features the artist herself. “I felt like drawing myself in this picture,“ she said. ”All the places are my dream destinations. I felt like drawing my dreams in this work.”
From the beautifully colored depiction of St. Peter’s Basilica to capturing London’s Big Ben, Nakajima is, in her own way, fulfilling that childhood wish to travel and see the world. As a young, busy professional, she hasn’t yet made it to many of the places she dreams of going for real.
Drawing is also a challenge at this stage in her life, as she has a full-time job. “I need to be very disciplined with time management,” she said. “If you knew that I had only a little time each week to draw, you might think that I could draw very fast.”
Clear about what she wants, Nakajima’s plan is to retire from her company and become a full-time artist in the next few years. This would give her more freedom, she says. Also exploring creating a line of products based on her works and different online platforms for showcasing her talent, it seems that the possibilities for imagining are limitless.
