fukuchitsubasa

A series of tweets by Japanese manga artist Tsubasa Fukuchi, who’s best known for his work The Law of Ueki and is currently penning Psyche Once Again, has given his followers a glimpse into the manga production process. He recently shared a series of eight tweets which detail the creation of one of his manga covers from its sketch stages to completion, along with his amusing comments thrown in. If you have a penchant for manga or if illustration fascinates you in general, his tweets are well worth the look!

Take it away, Fukuchi-sensei!

▼ “Today (8/18), the third volume of Psyche Once Again goes on sale. Just like with the first two volumes, I’m confident in the quality of the front cover, the inner cover, the extras, and of course the main manga contents. I’ll be waiting in kneeled seiza-position for you all to say that you’ve bought the volume and to hear your thoughts on it.”

▼ “In commemoration of the third volume of Psyche Once Again going on sale, I’d like to share with you my typical process for making the front cover. It’s just for a short time, but let me borrow your [Twitter] time lines!”

▼ “A rough sketch. It’s an image of Saike being pushed up by the vortex of clocks. Yup. At this point it gives you nothing but a bad premonition.”

▼ “This time I’ll have to draw a large number of clocks, so I’ve penned in Saike first. In order to make it look like he’s drifting, I’ve drawn his hair floating around a bit. In the background I’ll draw in the clocks radiating out from the blue lines.”

▼ “Clocks clocks clocks clocks clocks clocks clocks clocks…!!! I’m drawing nothing but clocks along the blue lines. ‘If you give up, the game is already over?’ ‘Coach Anzai…!’ [Fukuchi is referencing the legendary quote spoken by basketball manga Slam Dunk’s Coach Anzai]”

▼ “I’m coloring in the clocks one by one in the background as if there were a light shining from the center. Once I’ve gotten this far I feel like I’m on the home stretch. I really gave it my all!”

▼ “I color in Saike. I’m trying to make it seem like there’s an unseen force emanating from beneath which is forcing him upwards. His coloration complements that of the clocks.”

▼ “I finish it up by adding some depth to the clocks and Saike using Sakura Mat Water Colors as well as a reddish tinge to the background. The whole thing took me a day and a half to complete. Even though I was supposed to have learned my lesson after the flowers on Volume 2’s cover, I was stupid to draw this kind of complex picture again…The End. (I’m sorry for polluting your eyes.)”

Reading Fukuchi quote Coach Anzai’s mantra of “If you give up, the game’s already over” particularly tickled our funny bones. It’s easy to forget just how tedious it is to illustrate the same things over and over again!

Source: My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@fukuchi_tsubasa