WE ASKED SORACHI SENSEI! HOW TO DRAW MANGA
Q & A 1
ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE TOOLS!
Q. How many types of pens do you normally use?
A. The g-pen and maru-pen, the brush pen and the multiliner.
Q. Which ones do you use to draw the main strokes of the characters?
A. G-pen and maru-pen.
Q. And which ones for the borders of the vignettes?
A. A 0.8 multiliner.
Q. What is your favourite screen, or the one you use most often?
A. I prefer to use them as little as possible.
Q. Do you have a specific technique for applying screens?
A. I can’t answer that… without asking my assistants.
Q. Is there any secret tool that only you use, which is not usually used for drawing manga?
A. No, nothing specific…
ON FINISHING THE BOARDS!
Q. Is there anything you always check in the boards, or any points you pay special attention to?
A. Because I always cut down to the last, my editor takes them away before I can check them.
ON IDEAS FOR THE WORK!
Q. Where do you usually find inspiration?
A. In my room. When I can’t think of anything, I wander up and down the room.
Q. Do you have a method of refreshing your mind when you are struggling?
A. I twirl a pen between my fingers, wash the dishes or take a bath.
AND FINALLY…
Q. Give some advice to aspiring mangaka.
A. I too am still searching for the right path to take, but I always tell myself that you should never forget the playful spirit. I think the best way to draw a fun manga is to draw while having fun…
But then I soon forget… Let’s do it together!
Published on Jump’s special sample book of original illustrations.
Thank you for purchasing the 3rd volume of Gintama. How time flies… We’re already at three! Maybe the time that has passed is comparable to the period of fatigue for a married couple, when every behaviour of your partner strikes your nerves and you let phrases like: “Why do you always leave the light on in the bathroom? Turn it off, you wench!’ In short, it’s a dangerous time… people quarrel over trifles and even risk divorce!
But I believe that by talking frankly you can overcome the crisis.
That said, I want to create a space for questions.
Any topic is fine, as long as I can fill the extra pages, so if you have any doubts… Actually, they don’t have to be questions, you can also send long texts that can fill seven pages! Free theme!
Subject: “It’s not that I consider the creation of the extra pages to be a hassle, I simply want to establish contact with readers”.
GINTAMA COMPLETELY NAKED
Um… We’re out of illustrations to put in the extra pages… Since I have nothing to put in them, I’m stripping again because there’s nothing else to do. I’d urge those of you who are thinking “That’s enough!” to fill this void yourself! Does it bother you? Or do you not care if they remain white? I don’t believe you! When I think back to the Bikkuriman snack stickers… They were a huge success! Some even threw away the snacks to keep only the stickers. Freebies are important… Huh?! We’re running out of space…!
GINTAMA COMPLETELY NAKED
I apologize if I lost my temper earlier. But I wanted you all to understand how hard it is to make extra pages… Huh?! What? Did the title characters get bigger? That’s not true at all! It’s an optical illusion! What are you saying? Are you insinuating that I’m sneakily trying to fill as much space as possible or something?! Stop it! I wouldn’t do something so dishonest! Huh?! The space is used up again…!
GINTAMA COMPLETELY NAKED
I’ve got about three pages left…
How long is the road…
No matter how hard I run, I can’t see the finish line. Will I have to repeat this hard work every time there’s a single issue? Not a chance! After all, I’m writing these pages by giving up my holidays for the Buddhist festival of the dead. While everyone is having fun dancing, I am compiling these pages locked up in my room. I pretend to converse with the readers, even though I am alone and already twenty-five years old! There is no one in front of me! I am alone and writing! Is this good?
Or have I gone mad?
GINTAMA COMPLETELY NAKED
First of all, I’m working without taking a day off, while my editor will surely have gone to the seaside to enjoy himself! Once the holidays are over, if when he tells me “Hey! You’re behind on your storyboard! What the hell did you do?” he’ll be tanned, I’ll break his glasses with the Jump magazine’s rib!
At the high school baseball club, all the students were forced to shave their hair to zero, but the coach did the same….
Maybe the situation is different since it’s work… but at least I’d like him to add “I was having fun at the beach anyway” at the end of his sentence, a bit like Korosuke who in Kiteretsu Daihyakka always ended his sentence with “…nari”.
GINTAMA COMPLETELY NAKED
So, from one complaint to another, I somehow managed to get to the last page. I apologize if I’ve written long nonsense! Since I’ll be creating a question corner from volume 4 onwards, I think things will improve a bit. Sorry again for everything! This will be the last time…
Bye and see you in volume 4!
-Sorachi
Yorozuya Shinigami 