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In the manga industry in Japan, especially for those manga artists who require weekly serialization work, hiring assistants has become a common practice. Without the assistance of assistants, especially in drawing backgrounds and other details, it is almost impossible to produce a complete manga story every week.
However, for those who dream of becoming a professional cartoonist, taking on an assistant role is definitely a position full of opportunities for exercise and learning. However, to truly adapt and be competent in this job, it is far more than just having painting skills.
Echizen, who belongs to the manga duo “Falling in Love with Lu,” recently shared a story of his experience, revealing a little-known but crucial assistant skill. To establish a foothold in this industry, sometimes learning to “hide one’s personality” may be more crucial than simply improving one’s drawing skills. Let’s explore this interesting story together below.
When Echizen first started working as a manga assistant, he was asked to do a simple copying assignment, which left him puzzled: what was the intention behind such simple copying? After many twists and turns, he finally learned the truth behind it:In this way, it is to determine whether the new assistant knows how to hide their personality in their work.
Because some assistants, even when asked to imitate, unconsciously stand out with their unique art style.
Through this method, cartoonists can quickly identify assistants who cannot hide their personalities.
As mentioned by Echizen, the original intention of hiring assistants by manga artists is not to explore their personal styles, but to require them to be able to harmonize their own styles to serve manga artists.
Is “drawing skill” the most important requirement for serving as a comic book assistant?
The direction and core creativity of manga are still controlled by the employer, namely the manga artist. If an assistant finds it difficult to suppress and showcase their personality when copying other works, such a person clearly does not possess the basic qualities to become a qualified assistant.
Echizen continued to share, “In the work ‘Shadow Basketball Player’, it is also mentioned that being a good shadow character requires a high degree of concentration, otherwise one will inadvertently highlight their own existence like character Dai
Some netizens pointed out that although they do not have painting skills, as consumers of the works, they can perceive that the style of the characters in the works is significantly different from other characters, which naturally makes them look strange.
Therefore, they strongly agree with this approach of testing new assistant skills through copying. Echizen added that indeed, for readers, the coordination of the visuals is very important.
Although assistants do not necessarily have to follow the style of the manga artist completely, they should at least be able to avoid abruptness in the image. For example, in the manga “Blade Teeth” or “The First Fist”, as long as the passerby looks to have the style they should have, it is already enough.
The ability to freely adjust the art style to adapt to different works is truly admirable. And hiding one’s own personality and demonstrating the ability to be consistent with the original style of the manga is the key for assistants to establish themselves in this industry. Understanding the style that employers want to present and actively adjusting it is a necessary skill for every professional assistant.
In the world of comic creation, becoming an unknown hero behind it is not an easy task. This requires not only painting skills, but also a deep understanding of the inner meaning and the overall performance of the team. Therefore, those who can achieve this are truly worthy of our sincere admiration.