(no subject)
I forget if there was a time when I went from freakin' ecstatic to miserable for my life in the span of only 8 months. If there wasn't a time, then now is the first.
'Cuz y'know... it's actually pretty amazing. I had dreamed, DREAMED of experiencing daily life in Japan, and doing the whole manga artist thing. So you all already know how stoked I was when I found out I got accepted into my current school.
And then reality set in. :)
Anyway... Japan's very nice, VERY nice indeed. But I said it before; if you don't come from a developed country like Canada or the States or France, then Japan's right up your alley as the next place to pursue a stable life for your future and your children's future, right after the USA. Otherwise, it's really better just to stay in your home country.
Aaaaaaanyway no.2... after almost two months of slaving over my current manga assignment and feeling utterly miserable about debut AND/OR job prospects, my teacher delivers to me a very small sliver of hope that strangely got my spirits uplifted, at least for a while. No.1, my spring manga project as a 2nd-year removes the page limit that I'm currently forced to work with, meaning I could stretch my next damn assignment out to 40 pages if I need to.
And what caught me by surprise is what my teacher said following that bit of info; "Really, come springtime, you're then free to draw another kind of that furry dojin you made that you showed me. We already get to see what you can do under limits with this assignment, so we'll need to see what happens next when your freedom is more expanded. Once we see something, we'll know what you gotta do to get noticed."
Apparently, he was expecting me to draw something furry for THIS assignment, but when I told him 16 pages wouldn't cut it satisfactorily for anything I had in mind, he kinda went "Hmm... too bad." So I was surprised to see him actively say, "Next assignment, DO IT." (The furry manga thing.)
I dunno if it's cultural differences or what, but it feels awesome to know that something as niche as the furry thing isn't something so niche and odd that it gets the teachers to growl "STOP IT." Like what I heard of *most* art teachers and artists in America. Mmmmmnnnn... well, I gotta get used to drawing humans anyway, but it's nice to know that the furry thing is always an option, so long as I make it interesting to read.
And no.3, he told me that Kodansha puts up an international manga contest every once in a while, and recently an entry from Malaysia won the top prize. What makes that bit of news significant to me, according to him, is the possibility that Kodansha will want to sign that artist up as a contracted manga artist (as opposed to a freelance artist, which is what practically all Japanese nationals are). Contracted as in paid via yearly salary, meaning the Immigration Bureau will recognize the artist as a foreign worker.
Which means if I manage to debut with at least one of the Big Three (Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan), they'll have enough pull to get me a work visa... if they want me to work within Japanese territory. :D I gotta dig into this a little deeper, but thank you sensei for that spark of hope.
'Cuz y'know... it's actually pretty amazing. I had dreamed, DREAMED of experiencing daily life in Japan, and doing the whole manga artist thing. So you all already know how stoked I was when I found out I got accepted into my current school.
And then reality set in. :)
Anyway... Japan's very nice, VERY nice indeed. But I said it before; if you don't come from a developed country like Canada or the States or France, then Japan's right up your alley as the next place to pursue a stable life for your future and your children's future, right after the USA. Otherwise, it's really better just to stay in your home country.
Aaaaaaanyway no.2... after almost two months of slaving over my current manga assignment and feeling utterly miserable about debut AND/OR job prospects, my teacher delivers to me a very small sliver of hope that strangely got my spirits uplifted, at least for a while. No.1, my spring manga project as a 2nd-year removes the page limit that I'm currently forced to work with, meaning I could stretch my next damn assignment out to 40 pages if I need to.
And what caught me by surprise is what my teacher said following that bit of info; "Really, come springtime, you're then free to draw another kind of that furry dojin you made that you showed me. We already get to see what you can do under limits with this assignment, so we'll need to see what happens next when your freedom is more expanded. Once we see something, we'll know what you gotta do to get noticed."
Apparently, he was expecting me to draw something furry for THIS assignment, but when I told him 16 pages wouldn't cut it satisfactorily for anything I had in mind, he kinda went "Hmm... too bad." So I was surprised to see him actively say, "Next assignment, DO IT." (The furry manga thing.)
I dunno if it's cultural differences or what, but it feels awesome to know that something as niche as the furry thing isn't something so niche and odd that it gets the teachers to growl "STOP IT." Like what I heard of *most* art teachers and artists in America. Mmmmmnnnn... well, I gotta get used to drawing humans anyway, but it's nice to know that the furry thing is always an option, so long as I make it interesting to read.
And no.3, he told me that Kodansha puts up an international manga contest every once in a while, and recently an entry from Malaysia won the top prize. What makes that bit of news significant to me, according to him, is the possibility that Kodansha will want to sign that artist up as a contracted manga artist (as opposed to a freelance artist, which is what practically all Japanese nationals are). Contracted as in paid via yearly salary, meaning the Immigration Bureau will recognize the artist as a foreign worker.
Which means if I manage to debut with at least one of the Big Three (Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan), they'll have enough pull to get me a work visa... if they want me to work within Japanese territory. :D I gotta dig into this a little deeper, but thank you sensei for that spark of hope.