Ippongi
Bang's trip to Sakura Con with husband Hiroaki Yabunaka and a group of
Japanese costumers was a double homecoming. It marked Bang's first
appearance at a U.S. anime convention in six years, and it also saw the
artist return to the area where she lived for a year. Bang's father is
a noted physician in Japan, and for a year he was a guest professor at
the University of Washington, whose main campus is on the north side of
Seattle. Bang spent a year as a student at what was then called Mercer
Crest Elementary School, and she still says she learned all of her
English at that school. Bang's chosen profession as an artists still
has her parents confounded, but understanding about their
unconventional daughter. "I'm 40 years old and a manga artist, but he
still says Bang do you want to study (medicine)? I didn't become a
doctor like my father but, I wrote manga about doctors (the "Doctor"
series, published in English, which is an homage to Osama Tezuka's
"Black Jack"). "My dad is a great doctor, but I just don't want to do
the same thing he does. My parents are proud of me as a manga artist,
but I've never shown them anything sexy."
Bang
compares the work of a manga artist to that of a motion picture
director, because manga creators usually need to come up with their own
stories and art. Sometimes in American comics creation, art will be
drawn first and then a story written to match the art, with the word
balloons added later. There's an old phrase that go "I don't care what
you say about me, as long as you spell my name right." Bang feels that
way about the opinions people express toward her art and stories. A
standard feature of manga publications is a survey form where readers
can say whether they dislike or like the stories in each issue. Some
creators get upset if the readers criticize their work, but Bang said
she's most upset if the readers have no opinion. "The reason that a bad
opinion is good is that readers are paying attention and
publishers are paying attention as well," she said. "Some people
criticize me on the Internet and I like that. I thank them for
advertising my work." Bang has spent her career also as a singer, an
actor and a costume designer, and also teaches manga drawing. but she
still prefers to be called a manga artist.
Ippongi
Bang's trip to Sakura Con with husband Hiroaki Yabunaka and a group of
Japanese costumers was a double homecoming. It marked Bang's first
appearance at a U.S. anime convention in six years, and it also saw the
artist return to the area where she lived for a year. Bang's father is
a noted physician in Japan, and for a year he was a guest professor at
the University of Washington, whose main campus is on the north side of
Seattle. Bang spent a year as a student at what was then called Mercer
Crest Elementary School, and she still says she learned all of her
English at that school. Bang's chosen profession as an artists still
has her parents confounded, but understanding about their
unconventional daughter. "I'm 40 years old and a manga artist, but he
still says Bang do you want to study (medicine)? I didn't become a
doctor like my father but, I wrote manga about doctors (the "Doctor"
series, published in English, which is an homage to Osama Tezuka's
"Black Jack"). "My dad is a great doctor, but I just don't want to do
the same thing he does. My parents are proud of me as a manga artist,
but I've never shown them anything sexy."
Bang
compares the work of a manga artist to that of a motion picture
director, because manga creators usually need to come up with their own
stories and art. Sometimes in American comics creation, art will be
drawn first and then a story written to match the art, with the word
balloons added later. There's an old phrase that go "I don't care what
you say about me, as long as you spell my name right." Bang feels that
way about the opinions people express toward her art and stories. A
standard feature of manga publications is a survey form where readers
can say whether they dislike or like the stories in each issue. Some
creators get upset if the readers criticize their work, but Bang said
she's most upset if the readers have no opinion. "The reason that a bad
opinion is good is that readers are paying attention and
publishers are paying attention as well," she said. "Some people
criticize me on the Internet and I like that. I thank them for
advertising my work." Bang has spent her career also as a singer, an
actor and a costume designer, and also teaches manga drawing. but she
still prefers to be called a manga artist.
