U.x.l - Graphic Novelists

U•X•L Graphic Novelists U•X•L Graphic Novelists K-R Volume 2 Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Sarah Hermsen, Project Editor Masashi Kishimoto Born 1974 (Okayama Prefecture, Japan) Japanese author, illustrator Masashi Kishimoto catapulted himself to fame with the publication of his first manga series, Naruto, which debuted in Japan in 1999. (In simple terms, manga are Japanese comics. Japanese manga and American comics both tell stories using a combination of drawings and words. However, Japanese manga read from right to left, just the opposite of American comics, and Japanese manga also tend to emphasize mood and characterization more than American comics.) Naruto follows the adventures of a young orphan named Naruto as he trains to become a ninja. Naruto hopes to become the greatest ninja of all time, but he has many obstacles in his way: he is excluded by his village, he has trouble in school, and a ferocious demon is trapped inside him. As Naruto and his classmates, Sasuke and Sakura, are tested by teachers and confronted by villains, they grow as ninjas and mature as people. Kishimoto balances Naruto’s action-packed adventures with endearing insight into his characters. More than simply a good story, Naruto is also noted for its art. Kishimoto created compelling compositions for his pages, altering perspectives and paying close attention to details. By the time Naruto was introduced to the United States in 2002, sales of the manga in Japan had topped forty million copies. Although the market in the United States remained a small fraction of that in Japan, Naruto quickly built a strong fan base in translation. ‘‘Creating manga isn’t just about drawing well, but writing a good story. Keep the art and the story real, and you can’t lose.’’ Drawn to details Masashi Kishimoto was born the oldest of twin boys in 1974 in the Okayama Prefecture, a region of Japan. Kishimoto quickly developed a fascination with the world around him and would stare for long periods with great concentration at anything that 231 Best-Known Works Graphic Novels (With Jo Duffy) Naruto 1: The Tests of the Ninja (2003). Naruto 2: The Worst Client (2003). Naruto 3: Bridge of Courage (2004). (With Jo Duffy) Naruto 4: The Next Level (2004). Naruto 5 (2004). (With Nobuhiro Watsuki and Jo Duffy) Naruto 6 (2005). Naruto 7 (2005). Naruto 8 (2005). interested him, including bugs, rivers, and television. As he stared, he absorbed the smallest details about how these things looked. He soon started translating what he saw into pictures, carrying sketchbooks with him and doodling whenever he had the chance. He even fit drawing into his childhood games, finding great hiding places while playing hide-and-seek so that he could sit and draw in the dirt while everyone else ran around, as he remembered in Naruto 7. He patterned his drawings after his favorite animated characters. Among his favorites were those on the popular anime, or animated manga, television shows Doraemon, Mobile Suit Gundam and Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan. Kishimoto remembered taking his drawings very seriously. With his keen eye for detail, he worked to perfect his pictures. The art of Akira Toriyama (1955–), the creator of Dr. Slump and later Dragonball and Dragonball Z, especially influenced Kishimoto. He strove to copy Toriyama’s unique artistic style. Kishimoto scrutinized his own work but was just as exacting when critiquing the artwork of his friends and classmates. He remembered getting into many fights over the ‘‘right’’ way to draw certain characters. When he noticed an error in the instructions for drawing Doraemon characters in a popular song (there was a Japanese song about drawing Doraemon characters), he grew angry and criticized anyone who drew characters according to the song’s lyrics. He did not, however, take criticism of his own work lightly.