Alright, so:
This is Urasawa and Eguchi talking about Otomo, which, you know, is a legendary mangaka and stuff. What do they mention? The art and pacing (visual pacing, that is) (
https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/201...-about-manga-in-the-70s-and-80s-mostly-otomo/)
Urasawa: I think I’d probably seen Otomo’s work somewhere before then, but it was after he started drawing with that linework in “Fireball” that I started remembering him.
Eguchi: To be honest, I didn’t think much of the story in “Fireball”. It’s all in the art. The visual intensity.
Urasawa: That, plus the way “Fireball” just goes on plunking down scene after scene without narration. It was different from the conventional rhythm in Japanese manga and more like something lifted from Kubrick or Peckinpah — the stuff that we considered hip, right there in a manga.
Eguchi: Otomo really did draw manga totally unlike anyone before him. Where manga artists back in the day would draw action lines, he wouldn’t. Or, like, the way he’d draw things under shadows. There were a ton of discoveries for me in terms of how to draw things to make them look a certain way.
This is Kishimoto talking about Hiroaki Samura, who he idolizes. What does he mention? Art. (
https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/201...with-fawning-fanboy-masashi-kishimoto-naruto/)
Kishimoto: Anyway, I was blown away in university in a way I hadn’t been since
Akira. I mean, that
artwork! It felt so far away from anything I was capable of. The arms and legs especially.
Afternoon had this section where artists were given a page to themselves, and I still remember being just floored by this character sitting in a chair that you drew there.
Samura is also praising Kishimoto's drawing ability, but it must mean he didn't think of anything else, right?
Samura: You know, though: I only started reading
Naruto midway through the series, but you struck me as someone with a really high basic drawing ability.
Taiyo Matsumoto talking to Daisuke Igarashi, and the focus is, again, on drawings:
Taiyo Matsumoto: I feel like you kind of came out of nowhere. I’ve been drawing manga for about 25 years, but you really blew me away. I first heard your name around the time
Witches came out, and at first I thought you were still new to the scene. This guy is just incredible, I thought—it was so polished and everything. I was a little worried for myself.
Daisuke Igarashi: I found out about you when I was a student. Your work was being featured in a magazine or something, and seeing your manga cover designs I thought to myself, “This is really good, this is my kind of art”, but I figured I would probably be influenced by it if I read it, though. That fear kind of trumped everything else, so I avoided your work for a long time. (laugh) Nowadays I actually read your work just to steal from it, though.
Matsumoto: I find I can’t tell who you’ve been influenced by when I look at your work. With most manga artists you can see that, Oh, this artist’s a Katsuhiro Otomo fan, this one’s a Yumi Tada fan. With your art, though, I can’t tell; you leave me wondering, “What artist is this guy into?” You’re
original, I guess is what I’m saying. Hmmm… it feels kind of like you’ve come to manga via painting.
I could go on, but anyway. Mangaka are focused on art and drawing ability, they are artists and they think of what they do differently than us. Kubo praising Horikoshi art is not a bad thing, just the opposite. It's what they tend to look for.
