What does it mean to write? Writing is a very simple task one can do with only a pen and paper. And yet, the possibilities are endless. This popular series from last year comes back with a new lineup of interviewees. To everyone who is involved in writing on a daily basis, what does it mean to write?

What does it mean to write?

Kamentotsu【１】

SEASON2 vol.3

Kamentotsu

I draw while experimenting
in the hope people will play with it.

Manga artist Kamentotsu worked in various fields before debuting as a manga artist when he was 27. Although he was good at going undercover and the pieces he uploaded as a report manga artist was often talked about, he struggled as an artist. However, the views on him changed after his piece Koguma’s Cake Shop (koguma meaning “bear cub” in Japanese) that he uploaded on Twitter became a hit in 2017. We’ll be looking into how Kamentotsu continues to experiment ways to draw that’s only possible because he publishes his pieces for free on the Internet and not on paper. Look out for the video of Kamentotsu drawing store manager Koguma towards the end of this interview!

ProfileKamentotsu

Born 1986 in Aichi prefecture. Manga artist who mainly publishes pieces online. His manga Koguma’s Cake Shop was uploaded to his social media in 2017. It was later published and sold 500,000 copies in just a year.

Homepage
Twitter@Computerozi

Table of Contents

My ideal artistic style is of an overseas artist

ーー: Today’s theme is “to write,” and I’ve heard you draw the Koguma’s Cake Shop (koguma meaning “bear cub” in Japanese) using a Posca pen?

Kamentotsu: Yes, I draw using a Posca pen. When I started to draw mangas, I bought a bunch of black pens at a stationery shop and experimented by drawing a line for each one. There was one pen that “looked” analogue, and that happened to be the Posca pen that was warmed up in the sunlight.

ーー: Was it important for it to be warmed up?

Kamentotsu: The ink in Posca pens often comes out unevenly, so it’s important that the pen is at a stage where its ink comes out smoothly. I instantly knew this was the one as I drew a line. So I currently use the extra-thin Posca and Tombow’s Fudenosuke brush pen.

ーー: I have the image of Posca pens being brightly-colored with a thick pen tip, so it came to me as a surprise that someone would use it for a manga with a delicate touch. Do you know any other manga artists who use a Posca?

Kamentotsu: No, I've never heard of anyone using a Posca. This little guy is a bit inconsistent. I did a live painting once, and perhaps it was something to do with the air pressure for having done it in a high altitude, but the way the ink came out changed. It’s not something to worry about when you use it normally, but it’s probably a bit too inconsistent to use it for a manga. So it’s important to have a hair dryer in hand when I use it, to keep it consistent with when I warm it up in the sunlight. That means a hair dryer is one of my drawing tools, too.

ーー: Even a hair dryer! When I see your drawings, I feel this sense of kindness and sorrow at the same time, but has anything affected the worldview of it?

Kamentotsu: My favorite book as a child was The Robber Hotzenplotz, and the illustrations by the author, Preussler, are so stylish. I liked pieces drawn overseas, like Tove Jansson, so I always wondered whether I can draw like that in my mangas. I’m still not able to do so.

ーー: Now that you say it, I see similarities. I think the way you color in black is characteristic to your drawings.

Kamentotsu: The blacks I draw uses a technique called cross hatching. Because it wasn’t normally used for Internet comics, the way I used white may have appeared unusual.

ーー: Did you have picture books by overseas artists as a goal as you searched for your own characteristics in drawing?

Kamentotsu: Five years before I debuted, it was a time when readers got used to lines drawn digitally and were able to read comics drawn digitally with ease. Because it was a timing like this, I knew that if I drew lines digitally it would never stand out, but at the same time, it was too late to start drawing with a comic g nib. I knew I needed to have a strong characteristic because I debuted later than everyone else, at the age 27. I don’t know what went through my mind, but I even tried to draw using Shachihata stamps.

ーー: What? You mean that personal seal people stamp on documents?

Kamentotsu: I used the edge of the Shachihata stamp to draw and occasionally used it as a normal stamp, so it was a drawing that overflowed with people’s surnames. (Laughs) I thought it would make people happy to see their own name featured in a drawing, but I decided not to show it to anyone when I realized I couldn’t draw anything interesting.

ーー: Maybe you could have gone for a commercial for Shachihata though. (Laughs) You said you debuted late, but did you think about being a manga artist from a younger age?

Kamentotsu: I used to switch jobs quite frequently before becoming a manga artist. But being a cameraman or a designer didn’t really go well, and I tried out being a designer for general goods and also an illustrator, but things didn’t really go as I had hoped. I soon gave up and started to work in a car manufacturing factory. As I worked there for two years, I once again start to think about what to do next. That’s when I realized I’d never drawn a manga before, even though I love it so much. It sounds like I’m showing off when I say this, but that’s when the dots connected.

ーー: All your previous experiences drew a line.

Kamentotsu: I loved children’s literature, I loved to read mangas, and I’d done a lot creative work. I’ve taken videos, photos, and have worked with children. I did draw a tiny bit at university, but never aimed to become a manga artist seriously. I decided to try drawing a manga seeing I love it so much, and the first piece I drew was Tengu-ko.

ーー: Is it unusual for a manga artist to have experienced various jobs and debut at 27?

Kamentotsu: Maybe there aren’t that many people who started to aim to become a manga artist at 27 like me, but there are a lot of people who finally debuted at 27. Even when I attend parties held by publication companies, I’m still considered young at 33. I think this is the same with other fields of work too, but the veterans are so talented that there simply isn’t enough space for the young ones to come in.

ーー: I first saw your piece when you drew as a report manga artist. The way it seemed as if you were stepping into somewhere suspicious and seemed as if your motive was to purposefully screw things up, I had the impression you carried this sense of “dangerous-ness” with you.

Kamentotsu: One of the regrets I have with the manga’s I drew is that I was unable to step out of the frame of the Internet. This doesn’t mean that I wanted to be on TV or hoped that my piece would turn into a movie. It’s more that I couldn’t step out of the frame that was the norm. When I wrote report comics, it wasn’t a content, but it was the news.

ーー: By news, you mean?

Kamentotsu: The news is finished once its consumed. Like no one buys old newspaper, no one is interested in old news. No matter how much it’s talked about on the Internet, I’ve self-evaluated that it will be forgotten once its consumed. By hoping too much that my piece will go viral, I regret that I couldn’t go any further than that. Of course, I do think publishing report mangas in itself was an interesting activity.

ーー: You also had that series where you interviewed famous manga artists. I was always awaiting the next piece to come out because of all the risky questions you asked, but that was also exciting because it was more of a news.

Kamentotsu: Exactly, exactly. The whole “famous artist visits a small manga artist like me” was something done on purpose, too. But these days, those well-known artists don’t come around to talk with me anymore. That’s actually something I’m happy about, because I think they saw me as a rival as I took my first steps as a professional.

ーー: Because your Koguma’s Cake Shop became a hit.

Kamentotsu: Because I managed to take my first steps as a manga artist, it’s their message to me that “you’re not my junior nor my fan anymore.” This might be my imagination, but this is what I felt.

ーー: From which point can you say that you’re a manga artist?

Kamentotsu: Well, you can say that you’re a manga artist when you say so yourself, but I think your first step as a manga artist would be when you make profits for the company. I think if your action moves the economy, that’s your job. It’s sad when you feel your book is a burden to the company. So, I think it’s when you can see it in your eyes that you can say you’re an artist.

(To be continued)

Share

SEASON 2

SEASON 1