Amiyumidas Interview: Rodney Greenblat

Hey Puffy fans! A fun treat today! Rodney Greenblat who created Puffy's iconic art took some time to talk to Amiyumidas. His art for Puffy I think is one of the most lasting impressions I have of Ami and Yumi and was something I immediately noticed when I started buying Puffy albums. He is also a seriously nice guy and one of the easiest interviews I have done.

There is some really great stuff here, so let's get on with it!

Wes J: Hi Rodney, how are you today?

Rodney G: Great!


WJ: Starting with the single “Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi” through “Atarashii hibi” your cover art for Puffy’s singles and the "An Illustrated History" compilation album gave Puffy a cohesive look and feel I have rarely seen in other acts. What was your process for doing these singles and how did the story telling for them come to be?

RG: It was so fun doing those mini CD singles in those cool packages. I don't even know if they still make those little CD single packages. The process was that Puffy's ultra cool manager and producer would send me some basic direction like "snow scene" or "beach" or "city" and then I would send a few sketches. From there the Puffy team would choose and I would get to work. Sometimes I would send them a completely different idea.


WJ: Which cover was your favorite?

RG: I think PUFFY DE RUNNBA was my favorite, with Puffy ice fishing. I thought the Aurora in the background looked cool.



WJ: After reading Andie Airfix’s blog about designing album covers it sounds like cover design can be a long drawn out process. What were the challenges of designing the single covers for Puffy?

RG: I'm such an easy person to work with there were few problems. Ami and Yumi are fans of my work, so they usually liked what I sent. The hardest part of all the art I did for them was getting their HAIR right. Their styles changed from tour to tour, and I had to keep up. Puffy's management would send me photos and I would try to get it right.


WJ: You did the set design for Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy which I always thought really tied all of Puffy’s imagry together, what was that like to work on. How was that different than doing cover art for Puffy?

RG: It was SO GREAT working on that set. Maybe you know I am a gifted sculptor and designer, so it was wonderful to have a chance to work in 3 dimensions for a big audience. I made two different designs over the course of the show. There were puppets and all kinds of stuff in that set.


WJ: What are the challenges of designing a set versus an album cover?

I had to make much more detailed sketches. Detailed enough for the set craft people to make the stuff. Totally different than making flat art. It was a collaborative process to design the set.


WJ: Your art still remains part of the pantheon of Puffy and it was great to see your artwork coming back via a towel in the merchandise in support of Puffy’s 15th anniversary tour “A Time For ACTION.” How was it doing a piece for Puffy after what I think is a long break?

RG: I was really glad to hear from them again. They are big stars in Japan, so it is a great honor to be able to supply new stuff for their many fans.


WJ: Your art has appeared in all sorts of Puffy related products, like the skull and cross bones on a tour shirt I have in my collection. What of these smaller scale illustrations have been your favorite in regards to Puffy?

RG: I designed many plastic figure Puffy keychains. Some of these were my fastest selling products. They must all be collector's items now.


WJ: Over the course of fifteen years how would you sum up your working experience with Puffy?

I've benefited greatly from knowing Ami and Yumi. They are big stars, but have always treated me with respect and patience. Their enthusiasm for my artwork has allowed my work to be seen by millions of people.


WJ: Anything about your work with Puffy I might have missed or your would like to pass along to fans of Ami and Yumi?

RG: Did you know that Ami has written the translation for my Thunder Bunny picture books? Of course I can not read Japanese so I don't know what she wrote, but all the fans thought it was great. Ami helped me promote my books to an audience that might not have discovered my picture books.


WJ: That is an amazing bit of trivia I have never come across! Thank you for taking the time to talk to me and fans of Puffy. I have enjoyed the imagery you created for them and wish you all the best.

RG: You are welcome! Thank You!


Check out Rodney's website Whimsyload
Also check out Rodney's Japanese site RodneyFun

Puffy To Appear In Usagi Drop

Amiyumidas commenter hareonna20 found this bit of Puffy goodness and I have been meaning to post up. Looks like Ami and Yumi will be appearing in episode 9 of the Usagi Drop anime. Not a whole lot to go on, but the fun bit is the character designs:


A nice distraction and maybe I was wrong that it would be painfully slow for Puffy things between albums this go around!

For the full article (in Japanese) click here....


(h/t hareonna20 for the find)

(Image is of course copyright its original creators, etc. etc.)

SWEET DROPS PV

We have been waiting for SWEET DROPS for a while now and been treated to snippets of the studio version. Over all I am very happy with the video and its production values are very high.

The production values snap me back to Hiyori Hime and the story arch reminds me of that as their relationship is adversarial with Yumi playing an angel and Ami taking on a devil. What I think ties the video together better is adding in the playfulness of Joining a Fan Club. It is also an interesting take to not have Ami or Yumi star in the video and rather tell the story of young love being supported or thwarted by Ami and Yumi. I am not sure if I entirely get the creepy robot guy at the end, maybe there is some sort of context or reference that went over my head.

The general sound of SWEET DROPS very much stays within the songs found on Thank You. It is tight and well produced. In my mind it sort of feels like an homage to Matthew Sweet whose throwback power pop resonates in the song. Probably not the case, but that has been how the single feels.



Overall Thank You and now SWEET DROPS makes me feel a lot more comfortable with the direction Puffy is taking and I am curious to see how that arcs into the next studio album.


P.S. One fun thing to noice in SWEET DROPS is that when Ami and Yumi are sitting back-to-back is that Ami is sitting on a cushion so it looks like she is slightly taller than Yumi (who is a slight bit taller in actuality)


(h/t to commenter hareonna20 for the find!)

Time For Action Concert

As promised I did some digging around and found the entire concert uploaded to Youku. Watch, enjoy and comment away.

I am not sure how I feel about the concert as a whole, touching back to the previous tour vids, there are times I feel that the tempo of the songs are being toned down. As you all can guess, I like more energetic performances and something is falling short here. I will add more comments and thoughts later but I wanted to get this up ASAP.

Time For Action Concert Clips

Not much to report, the Time For Action Tour is over and thus we enter the fugue state that is between Puffy albums. I will skim for Puffy news and while I hope Ami and Yumi will be doing news, erm blogging worthy things... Beyond maybe some summer festival appearances I am not sure what that might be.

Anyways here are a few videos from the 2011 Time For Action Tour. Hopefully more will crop up as it was broadcast on WOWOW. It doesn't look as polished a performance as Tour 10 Final, but then again it looks like Ami is hale and the weather is agreeable. Yumi looks great. I have no idea what Ami is thinking...


P.S. Back from Singapore. Only cool Puffy thing I encountered was Singapore Airlines on their entertainment system had both "Bring it!" and "Thank You" for on demand music selections. However the translation for the song titles I deeply suspect was Japanese to Chinese to Romanji... they were really, really odd.