Kiyoshi Takahase Segundo

KTS Design

The world of

KTS Design

Discover the incredible world of Kiyoshi Takahase Segundo, known as KTS Design, who’s been working closely with us for a number of years and whose creativity we greatly admire.

At what age did you first realize you had a creative interest?

According to my mother, at the age of 1, I built a plane on the floor of my house using matchsticks. When my mom saw the plane, she couldn’t believe it. She messed up all the matchsticks and watched if I could remake the plane. And then I designed another plane. Of course, I don’t remember that time, but I have memories of my 8 year old self being already interested in creating things.

At this time, instead of asking for toys, I started to create my own toys. So, I began to create and assemble objects and characters from films like the sword of the ‘Thundercats’ that increased in size, The DeLorean of ‘Back to the Future’ with the wheels that turned down, the cyborg of the film ‘Robocop’ with the gun that comes out of the inside of the leg.

Everything I did was functional as in the movies and cartoons. Over time, I stopped copying the things I saw on TV, and started to create toys that didn’t exist. The interest in creating things has become part of my life since then.

What attracted you to the field of computer illustration?

The interest in computer illustration came by chance. At the beginning of my adolescence I had doubts choosing my professional career. I thought of being an architect, civil engineer, product designer and several other professions that involved creation, except being an illustrator.

I ended up graduating in Mechatronics, a branch of engineering combining electrical and mechanical systems. I worked in it for 3 years but feeling it was not what I really wanted to do. I abandoned it and started a product design course, because I always liked the idea of creating something with shape and volume, something you can hold and look at in your hands. During the course I discovered the image market, and that was when my interest in computer illustration came to the fore.

With computer illustration, more precisely 3D, I saw the possibility of creating everything I wanted, without having to go through all the slow and bureaucratic processes of industrial production and without the physical limitations of the real world. Of course, with illustration, I don’t have the possibility of getting my hands on what I create, but still, I can see the shapes and volume in the illustration.

What interests me most in computer illustration is the possibility of creating something, quickly, which in a way would be impossible to do in the real world.

Where do you find inspiration to illustrate your ideas?

My inspiration comes from everything.

All the things I see are inspirations. This can be a science fiction film, a 3D cartoon, a cool drawing of a sticker stuck on a car that passed on the street, there is no single source. It just needs to be cool and interesting, and some ideas come up.

What ideas do you like to communicate?

I’ve always loved science and technology.

I have always been driven by the origin, explanation and creation of things. Science in its essence, besides being curious, is extremely important and necessary for our lives.

I’m not a scientist and I don’t even dare to explain anything. I’m just part of the audience. I just try to convey an artistic idea or an abstract and conceptual version of something scientific and technological.

Who are your artistic influencers?

I have no single artistic influence.

Everything that catches my attention becomes an artistic influence at that moment, because everything in life has shapes and colors. And all shapes and colors give rise to art that is based on something that exists or has existed.

One of my images about Covid-19 (image where the virus is all beveled), was inspired by the F-117 Nighthawk fighter, whose striking feature is its flat, beveled, straight shape.

The virus is invisible to the naked eye, just like the F-117 fighter is invisible to radar.

When did you first realise your work was well received?

When I started making money with a photo that I took.

The photo was terrible, very bad because the digital camera at the time (mid 2007) was bad and my knowledge of photography was not the best. In an attempt not to lose the photo, I edited it in Photoshop.

From what was 100% photography, it became 90% illustration and 10% photography. I realized that with a little dedication, you can give life to something that was supposed to be thrown in the trash.

The public recognition of this image was very important for the evolution of my work.

How challenging and time consuming is the process of creating?

My biggest challenge is time.

I am very motivated by the inspiration of the moment and I try to create and execute the work as quickly as possible, before the motivation and interest in that idea or theme runs out.

I have already abandoned work in the middle when the execution time extends for more than two or three days. So most of my work is created and executed almost on the same day.

What do you consider your best/favourite image in your collection?

This question is very interesting, because normally the images I like the most are not necessarily the best ones.

I’ve had images I almost didn’t post because I didn’t think they were cool or there wouldn’t be a demand. However, to my surprise, many of these images were well accepted, even though I thought they were not good.

But one of the images that I think is cool is this digital printing with binary codes.

How easy is it to move between still images and motion production?

There are basically three difficulties in moving a still image to a motion graphic.

The first difficulty is to animate what was still; the second is post-production or editing and the third, is the execution time of the whole process.

Editing a still image is easier because it is a single image and it is still. In motion graphics, if we talk about 30 frames per second (30fps), 10 seconds of animation becomes 300 different images to be edited and processed.

Of course, in this case, the editing will not be image by image but the execution time is multiplied by nearly 300 times.

How do you see the development of technology influencing the direction of your work in the future?

The development of technology basically gave rise to my work.

Digital photography, 2D and 3D computer graphics, global communication and commerce over the internet, all of this aroused my interest in creating and developing my work.

Technology has given me the privilege of fast feedback. An example is Science Photo Library, I am always exchanging ideas with Rose (Creative Director) about the direction of my work.

About the future going forward? I don’t know. I just know that the world is very dynamic and everything changes very fast and faster and faster.

How do you see the image market developing in the future?

The digital image market has changed a lot since it began. The changes were not only in the way of commercialization.

The market became broader and more diversified, giving space to everyone, even enthusiastic amateurs, lovers of photography and illustrators.

Professional photographers with years of experience and cameras of exorbitant value share space with people who are not even in the field of photography.

Today anyone can buy images of the most varied types from anywhere in the world. The image market has already matured a lot, but I see that the creation of content will always have room for innovation.