Even a Monkey�n Draw Manga v01 p037

M A N G

V I C E

Judgement

O

Misusing Idens?

There are a lot of manga artists who go around screaming, as a way to make excuses tor themselves. “There's just no good matenal out there!" Then they try to fmd a way not to work by fleeing from their editors or by masturbating. They’re not really running out of materiał, though. They just don t have any ideas. Let s put it this way: as long as you have the methods down (i.e.. the “cooking" technique). you can apply it to anythmg. whether a tea kettle. penis skin. or whatever

Your supply of materiał, actually. is infinite. but you must choose the appropnate materiał. How do manga artists decide what materiał is appropnate. though⁷ You could cali it a matter of sensibility. but before we get metaphysical by bringing in terms like that, here's some tricks that even monkeys can understand. Once you learn these. you ll save yourself a lot of troubłe.

First, take a look at the diagram. Ali materiał can be divided roughly mto two types.

A) “Popular Materiał”—doesn’t need explanation

B) “Marginal Materiał”—needs explanation

Now then. let s consider ^uElvis" as (A) and “Katsuya Shirai" (editor-in-chief of Shogakukan. Inc.) as (B). Even an old woman living in the boonies knows (A), but when if comes to (B). you have to explain to the reader. "He's the scary editor of the manga magazine Big Comics Spirits." So it's useless materiał (unless the manga was created for Katsuya Shirai Monthly)

(A) might be morę appropriate for the generał reader. but we have to be careful.

With popular materiał, there’s current (A1) and permanent (A2) matenal. While current matenal is often effectrve in its immediate application, and can provide you with wonderful results, it degrades rapidly—so the danger of ‘food poisomng" is high. For instance. Jimi Harada was (A) in August of ‘89. but by September he was (B). and anyone using him now would be considered a moron.

The best materiał is (C). But like crude oil. there s only a limited supply. So we conclude that the safest. most reliable materiał is (D). But merely regurgitating this permanent materiał with the reassurance that “lt’s always been around and sbll works" will bring about a rapid demise to your career.

If you're going to compete in a begmners’ Elvis-impersonator contest. you should at least be willmg to train yourself to “imitate a fan impersonating Elvis while watching a Professional Elvis impersonator"

* This text page is here to wake up all you illiterate young readers out there! 37