Midaregami

Here’s the last part of the interview. I plan to do more translation of stuff like this in the future.

Now let’s track down Ai Yazawa, the artist! What’s that, you say? I’m persistent! Naturally! Misato’s policy is to learn all there is to know!—Misato

Q20: When did you first want to become a comic artist?

*Y:* Maybe in high school? The first time I did an actual story manuscript was seventh grade. Before that it was just doodling.

Q21: When it comes to drawing comics, what artists influenced you?

*Y:* Ryou IKUEMI, Satosumi TAKAGUCHI, Taku SUMUGI—the people I looked up to around the time I was working toward my own debut.

Q22: What comics do you like now?

*Y:* “20th Century Boy,” “Berserk,” “Azumi.” Also Takehiko INOUE’S work. Nothing but men’s comics, really.

Q23: What’s your favorite job in the comic creation process?

*Y:* Writing. I wish I could just write all the time. Be a psychic, and just write! (laugh) I think the art would be more fun if I had just a little bit more time. Yeah, I want more time.

Q24: What kind of art supplies do you use in your drawing?

*Y:* For lines, a drafting pen. For inking (aside from hair) and shading, I basically finish it up on my Mac. Coloring is also done on the Mac. I do small preview cuts by hand, and use Copic markers for coloring.

Q25: How many hours a day do you work?

*Y:* All day! The only time I’m not working is when I’m sleeping. I can sleep for about 6 hours, which means I average about 3 hours of sleep a night?! [That’s what she said. I don’t get it either—trans.]

Q26: What do you do for snacks?

*Y:* I love Maisen’s cutlet sandwich!

Q27: What’s your strategy for artistic block?

*Y:* Pretty much just crying, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it!”

Q28: When do you think, “I’m really glad I became a comic artist?”

*Y:* When I can do nothing but draw comics all day, and nobody gets mad at me. On the contrary, I get praised for it! (laugh)

Q29: What do you think you’ve gained from it?

*Y:* Being able to make a living doing what I love—I feel like I’ve gained a lot from that.

Q30: If you were able to take a long vacation, what would you want to do?

*Y:* I’d want to go abroad and see my friends overseas—go see people I normally don’t get to.

I find translating prose far more rewarding than lyrics, at this point. The key is to find prose that is both interesting enough to warrant translation and easy enough for a relative amateur like me to do. I’m fairly confident that I could do a novel now, though. Any suggestions?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2004 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Translations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.