Drawing Inspiration

It should be noted that in my last article for OzComics, written what must be more than a year and a half ago now, I wrote about my limited successes here in Japan and the huge hurdles we as expats face abroad looking for creative work. Therein lies my excuse for not having written an article for so long; it is HARD to find the work.

I don’t know why I feel guilty whenever I play a game or watch a movie or lay down to relax but soon enough I am back in my home studio working or sitting about with friends sketching or jotting down ideas in the middle of a dinner party. This statement is either proof of my creative drive or of my antisocial nature. Most likely, it’s both.

It should be noted that in my last article for OzComics, written what must be more than a year and a half ago now, I wrote about my limited successes here in Japan and the huge hurdles we as expats face abroad looking for creative work. Therein lies my excuse for not having written an article for so long; it is HARD to find the work.

But now I sit here at 11pm in the office of the game company I work for, thinking about where I was, where I am and where I could go from here. Well, I have a job. I make games. I design characters and worlds and illustrate and animate - but one minute, my previous article was titled ‘Making Comics in Japan,’ right? Does that mean I have failed? How does my situation now relate to Comics at all? Have I achieved any of my goals?

Yes and no. But I would have to lean toward the ‘yes’ portion here. As I said, I have a job making games in Tokyo. I also remain the Art Director for Gestalt Publishing - overseeing some pretty damned cool projects if you don’t mind my saying: Flinch, Eldritch Kid and Changing Ways being the three you will see first.  I am however, yet to crack the Japanese comic market (or become a well known name in ANY comic market for that matter).

So how can I say yes? Well, Here in Japan the lines between film, animation and manga (comics) are blurred in many ways. It all started with Tezuka Osamu The Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney, the ‘father of Anime’ (Cartoons). Tezuka advanced the comic medium by using cinematic camera angles and panning in his early works which also earned him the title the ‘father of Manga’ (Comics).

More recently we have seen talented individuals like Yoshitaka Amano, who started as an animator bringing us titles like Speed Racer and the character designs of Gatchaman (G-Force), to later become a freelance artist and eventually find his way into comics. Western comics at that. He still freelances - perhaps most notably for the Square Enix Final Fantasy series and continues to work on and push the boundaries of his fine art.

So, given these two examples, we can see that Animation and Manga are inextricably linked in a number of ways. Let’s look at the two biggest megastars on Comicdom in Japan today; Naoki Urasawa and Inoue Takehiko.

Urasawa, despite having a degree in Economics, started his career in comics soon after graduation and has shot to the top of Manga-kas in Japan. His works include 20th Century boy, Pluto and Monster which will be receiving the Hollywood treatment in the not too distant future.

Now, in the West, Comics are written by teams of people, A writer, illustrator, inker, colorist and Editor to name a few positions. And for the most part, it is the same here. Uruasawa is more of a Director, sitting at the head of the room, writing on the spot (which is admittedly, not like a Director) and laying out panels, Illustrating key art and perhaps most importantly, controlling the selection of Bob Dylan music.

Little more than two years ago I was lucky enough to have lived within stalking distance of the man. That’s all. I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.

Then there’s Inoue Takahiko. Who is, and there’s no other way to put this, Amazing. He started his career illustrating comics in magazines and soon after the weekly Shonen Jump (arguably the biggest weekly comic in terms of regard and size - it’s roughly the same proportions of a brick) writing and Illustrating Slam Dunk and more recently Vagabond - the historical tale of Musashi Miyamoto wandering Ronin (Samurai) warrior. In Takahikos case it’s all him. Writer Illustrator. Just him. Which in many ways reminds me of Musashi, his work on Vagabond is also based in traditional techniques, resorting to using fude-brushes, those used by artists to write beautiful kanji letterforms.

I feel that the one thing that all of these people have in common is determination. All have various skills and hone them as best they can, infusing their work with something more, something special. I can also now see that culture plays a large role here too. In Japan they have a word for ‘Die from working too much’ which is ‘Karoushi’ which definitely says something about the determination of the Japanese people’s working spirit (The Japanese also have a word for ‘fart in your sleep’ which is ‘neppe’. read into that what you will).

Having worked here full time for more than a year and a half I can say that finishing work at 10pm or later is not unusual; men in business suits are still making their way home in droves at 12pm and 1am. Creative work is even more unrelenting as I have been working at home most weekends for months now, accepting and adjusting to cultural difficulties, overcoming language barriers (there’s no study time when you are really busy), nursing the will to keep on, to continue, to keep at it. Determination.

There were many times when I felt like I couldn’t continue, when the hours were to long, communicating was too difficult and I felt as though I just wasn’t good enough to be doing the kind of work I was doing. Looking back, all I can feel is glad for enduring all the hardships. Without determination, I couldn’t have worked on Square Enix games or directed my first animation, a video clip based on my first book, “Vowels.”

In 2008 I completed no more than 40 or so comics pages, but achieved many more creative tasks outside of comics. I am just now returning to an ongoing project of mine and I have found that my speed as well as the quality of work has somehow reached a higher level, without me having done much comic work at all. The only logical explanation for this is that I have been cross training. The work I had done in animation, illustration, for games and other places have all been a boon for my comics writing and illustration skills. So, even though I have very little to show for it, I have to say that Yes, I am achieving my goals.

And when it all comes down to it, It doesn’t matter where you are or where you are from be it San Diego, Tokyo or Melbourne, it doesn’t matter if you are achieving all your goals the way you had planned to, it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes or end up somewhere unexpected. What matter is that you try. What matters is that you enjoy what you do.

Skye is art director for Gestalt Publishing and works as a Game designer in Tokyo, Japan. You can follow his activities at his site or blog.