Small S Vol. 82 – “Drawing Wafuu (Japanese-style) Art” (September 2025 Issue)

Celebrate 20 years of Small S with this jam-packed anniversary issue featuring over 1,000 reader submissions on 190 pages, exclusive artist interviews, and a full special on drawing traditional Japanese-style illustrations!

Cover artist Karin brings us a stunning retro maid girl surrounded by goldfish and summer festival goodies — and even shares a full step-by-step tutorial of the piece. There’s also a special interview with VTuber Sukoya Kana (NIJISANJI)!

Want to master different tools? This issue has a fantastic range of analog and digital illustration techniques, including:

• Copic marker rendering
• Gansai tambi (traditional watercolors)
• Acrylic painting with Amsterdam and acrylic gouache
• Clip Studio Paint beginner lessons
• Digital tone screen application
• ...even a bonus music production (DTM) crash course for the Hatsune Miku x Small S contest!

Also inside:

• The SS Academy special with original collab illustrations
• Themed feature: Kemono (animal-eared) characters
• All-new “Boys Club” & “Girls Club” corner artists
• Beautiful illustrations by artists like Tomokazuko, NanaKami Mana, _grumpypotato, HamanoShun, and more!