Love ♡ Idols
In this exclusive interview, we sit down with merukuro, the artist behind Love ♡ Idols, a captivating NFT collection that blends anime art with the nostalgia of early internet culture. We reveal the inspirations, the creative journey, and the impact of NFTs on their artistic career.
Q: Your website contains references to older internet culture. Can you discuss the influence the '90s/'00s internet has had on Love ♡ Idols and more broadly you as a creative? What websites or communities from that era do you look back on with fondness or admiration?
A: I am French, so I have been mourning the loss of Skyblogs, which you might have never heard of before if you aren't French yourself. These blogs remained a real time machine toward 2000s internet until the website that hosted them was taken down last year, I believe. I had a few in the past myself, and they introduced me to all sorts of things like anime or Japanese fashion. Otherwise, I used to be really into these dress-up games with a community where you had to buy various items and save up in-game to customize a doll. It has always appeared evident to me that the type of NFTs I draw is similar to online dress-up dolls. These websites really introduced me to the concept of yearning badly for a specific JPG outfit; I think about these feelings when I draw for Love ♡ Idols because I want people to feel this way about the traits I make ideally.
Q: Which other sources influenced your Love ♡ Idols collection the most?
A: What I see on the internet every day. There is a term called ryousangata that describes abstractly the fast fashion trends that are so widely spread that everyone ends up looking the same. You get that feeling when you look at internet communities and fashion trends online—for sure, it could be almost generated. It’s an interesting idea to play with when making generative art of anime girls where the same items are going to appear multiple times. I think I am interested in the idea of an army of mass-produced anime e-girls who wear mass-produced fashion and end up all looking vaguely similar inevitably.
Q: Who in your life has been your biggest inspiration?
A: Xinxin!
Q: How can you describe the creative journey this far with Love ♡ Idols?
A: It took me about one year, working here and there on the project. I wanted to make enough items for the collection to be fun and desirable to collect. It was great, though; it creates a sense of purpose and routine. It can be repetitive to draw for an NFT project like this, but you can make it more fun by working with dynamic poses, etc. Actually, it's incredible the things you can do using the same base every time.
Q: How do you stay current with your art?
A: I have no idea, but I spend many hours on the internet. I like looking at pictures and taking inspiration from anything that has my attention, whether it's music, comics, fashion, movies, or even perfume.
Q: Your partners for collaboration are interesting. What led you to choose each?
A: Yeah! The main thing for us was to collaborate with a small number of collections that we love first and foremost. Loving a collection was enough of a criterion for a collaboration, but we also looked for projects that would be open to a real collaboration, as we have added items directly referencing their collection in our own, as well as projects that could be linked to Love ♡ Idols aesthetically. I like referencing art I personally find moving in my drawings; even outside of NFTs, I do it a lot. You'll find some other references in Love ♡ Idols, but I wanted to reference Terraforms for that reason. Love ♡ Idols is voluntarily very naive and two-dimensional, though, so it was a little bit of a challenge. Then, around the time we made the Twitter-X account, Kemonokaki was about to get released. I found the designs very cute and colorful, particularly ghost-type Kemonokaki. As for Aeon, I have been liking SPX/Aeon for a while too. It's another good call from my collaborator ultimately, but I remember some people came to say that Aeons looked like Love ♡ Idols early on, so it all made sense visually. We wanted around three or four collections at most... We are happy with our collaborations and very thankful for everyone who helped.
Q: Back to the art, which specific art style describes the art in your collection the best?
A: I'm happy with "anime art" if you want to call it that. It's very honest anime art that I draw as well as I can, so it looks cute and a bit funny too. Generative art is good for that.
Q: Why did you decide to upload with Scatter.art, and how has the process of creating your collection on our launchpad gone? Has Scatter been helpful to the project?
A: Tremendously. At first, we planned to use our own website for mint and looked for a dev. We went for Scatter instead for safety reasons, as some reasonable concerns were brought to us if the collection minted on our own website. We're two people on the project; I draw, and Xinxin takes care of the rest, so I'm not the one who did that part, but Xinxin says that Scatter is very easy to use, well-made, and that he gets lots of support from the team very fast.
Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out on their art collection?
A: If you have a specific concept you want to materialize (immaterially), you should go and do it. There is a lot to do that hasn't been done yet. I would advise taking the time to realize your vision in a way that is meaningful to you and think about your collection as something that is meant to stay as much as possible during your creative process.
Q: Can you share a memorable experience or story related to your collection?
A: Everything is memorable, but nothing stands out much; it's like a mosaic. Working on a collection like this deprives you of instant gratification. I like a good routine; I like building things slowly, and I like it.
Q: Did you at any stage struggle with creative blocks, and if so, how did you push through?
A: I didn't very much; it was pretty fun, and I was thankful to be able to draw this. If there is struggle drawing an NFT collection like this one, it's probably because of how repetitive it can get. If that happens, it's good to draw something else entirely, or just do something else, or go outside. Sometimes you need a break because you need a break. For general inspiration, just looking at pictures endlessly will do it. There is always something that will attract your attention and inspire you, so you need to look for it. Internet is so good for that because you don't have to leave your room. In fact, it doesn’t have to be pictures at all; it’s good to look at different mediums for inspiration.
Q: What’s a significant challenge you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it?
A: The biggest challenge was anything that isn't drawing. Anything that isn't drawing is so hard for me. I'm so thankful for my perfect collaborator who does everything that isn't drawing and Scatter too; that's how I was able to overcome the issue.
Q: What has been the most surprising thing in the process of creating your collection?
A: I like somewhat monochromatic pictures in general, but I forced myself to use a wider color palette and brighter colors to make the collection more visually interesting. It still works reasonably well, surprisingly.
Q: What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken, and how did it play out?
A: Not a big one, but there are two different types of outfits and hairstyles. Some outfits that go with a separate hand layer, some that are dynamic and don't work with hands. Some hairstyles go on top of the outfit; some hairstyles need to go behind. Certain outfits can't go with certain hairstyles, etc. It's pretty boring to explain, but yes, there is also no set base for the body, and we had to make sure that everything would still work together after being generated.
Q: What does the name Love ♡ Idols mean to you?
A: I love idols, we love idols, let's all love idols.
Q: Merch is clearly a focus for the project. What can minters expect in that regard? Do you have plans to make merch available from your designs?
A: Yes, sure. So far, we made shirts, stickers, and pins—no online shop yet, but it will happen after mint. Beyond that point, we would like to collaborate with people/brands whose work we admire eventually. The question for us is how to make interesting merch in the future because we realized that there is already a lot of cool merch around, and we'd like to propose something different from what is already out there, of course. We have some ideas, but so far the collection has been what we have been thinking about most. We're gonna start working on rewards for holders and merch next month.
Q: What’s your favorite collection or collections which have launched on Scatter?
A: There are a few, including the ones we are collaborating with that I talked about earlier. Scatter seems to be very closely linked to Remilia and has hosted a few cute derivatives. When I first learned about NFTs, Milady was minting and caught my attention like many other people I'm sure. It's the epitome of naive-cute, funny, and very likable; it encapsulates a specific type of internet culture I could recognize. I feel like it gave a space to many project to exist after, my favorite amongst them has to be Molady, a very well hand drawn collection inspired by Milady Maker using digital screentones, from which result a very pretty monochromatic collection.
Q: How have NFTs made an impact on your life as an artist?
A: Honestly, it has very positively impacted my life, in the sense that it opened a world of possibilities, and not relying on already existing institutions is just great for me. Lots of freedom here and space for me to experiment. I get to do what I like, and I feel excited about it. What is a clear disadvantage in the IRL art world also appears to be a strength when making NFTs most of the time. I am really online, which is something I used to dislike but not much anymore; it's probably inevitable to gravitate toward what feels most natural to you.
The Love ♡ Idols collection represents a unique blend of nostalgia, art, and modern digital culture. If you're as excited as we are about this project, don't miss your chance to mint your own idol in Love ♡ Idols. Join us in celebrating this captivating collection!
Mint Love ♡ Idols on Scatter.art!