Jimbō-chō Bookshop - Mixing Reference and Imagination

Hey everyone,

I’ve just wrapped up the outlines for the scribbled scene I shared on Monday. Today, I’ll be sharing insights about the inspirations and decisions that shaped this new work.

The idea

My street scenes often begin with real-life references (like my Japan Days series that also inspired this new work). For this one, I was inspired by Tokyo’s Jimbō-chō district, known for its cozy, maze-like streets full of bookshops and antiquaries. I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (you might have seen it—I think it's been popular lately). The book was a lighthearted dive into a unique corner of Tokyo, and its illustrated cover sparked an idea: I felt like doing a similar scene in my style, and remembered a photo I saved on one of my Pinterest boards:

The building in the reference image had an interesting asymmetry and a slightly quirky charm—it felt like it could be a hidden gem somewhere in Tokyo, even though it’s actually from South Korea (I couldn't find the original photographer, but there's Korean signs). I took the freedom to make it a Japanese place. Here's some more impressions from Jimbō-chō:

Transforming the reference into something unique

I liked the layout of the building and the perspective a lot, so I wanted to keep it as the heart of the illustration. However, I made some changes to surrounding parts and added a few things to make the composition more exciting.

First of all, I imagined a top view of the scene. With the buildings not being perfectly rectangular, it helped figuring out the perspective. Here's a scribble:

And here's some of the changes and additions to the scene I decided to add:

A: I made the stairs much steeper and go round the corner, allowing me to align the buildings along the stairs to a bent alley as well. It gives the composition much more drama and viewers may wonder where this narrow path may lead to.

B: I changed the wall to follow another focal point compared to the original, so we can see more of it. Then I added a lush and overgrown wall (much better than that construction site, but that was not too difficult to improve 😄).

C: In addition to the sunblind, I added a roof, to give the building a touch of traditional Japanese house fronts. Same with the air conditioner. I also added a character sitting in front of the shop. I don't like to add too many people to my artworks. But I think adding one person here creates a subtle story—maybe he’s the young shop owner, closing up for the day, lost in a new book with a beer at his side. It creates an emotional connection with the viewer that I think is important for this scene.

D: Talking about focus: the pavement tiles now lead toward the shop entrance and the seated character, giving a subtle nudge to the viewer’s eye without overcrowding the scene.

Even if you stick super close to a reference (which is great for learning composition and perspective without worrying about them too much), there's always parts that you can put your personal stamp on. It's your own reality with your own rules, that's the beauty of making art! 😊

The perspective

I wanted to do this with just a single 1-point-perspective (the green lines in the image below), but quickly realized that this could only apply to the main building and everything that happens in front of the building. So I set up another two focal points: the blue one for the row of buildings on the left, and the red one for the first part of the building on the right. The rest of the buildings on the right (the stair alley) were just eyeballed afterwards.

For more complex perspectives, to me it's important to remember that everything has a focal point that you should pay attention to, but not everything needs to be perfect. If the main frame of the composition works, you can add little imperfect parts and eyeball lots of details. However for this one I needed to get into the perspective groove and understand what's happening here first, and I took my time for that.

As usual, what helps a lot is constructing the elements as very simple objects first, and then work in the details. Like the stairs on the right: start with a box that represents the room the stair takes, then work in the single steps. This way, more and more details come together to the final outlines.

I'm going to color the scene next (this is a commission, and I'm discussing that with the client right now) and then add light/shadows, as usual. I hope you're interested in a walkthrough for these steps as well, as I'd love to write that up again for you. And of course, if you have any questions about the process or anything I didn’t cover, feel free to ask. 😊

Cheers
Stefan