When
an Otakon fan asked artist Makoto Tateno why she "...decided to join
the dark sexy and delicious side of yaoi," the artist replied "I've
always liked the genre - I'm a closet fan." Tateno was known for
creating series in the shojo girls' comics style until she moved into
yaoi work, That includes Yellow, the series about two male thieves
turned police distributed in English by June Manga, an imprint of
Digital Manga. "A few of my fans were iffy about my going to yaoi, but
then I'm puzzled because there are some people who can't take the yaoi
stuff. But a lot of my yaoi fans went over and read my shojo titles,
too, so it all worked out." Tateno would like some of her earlier shojo
and action titles to be released in English, but that hasn't happened
yet - even though she mentioned that there's interest in doing that.
There's definitely interest in Tateno's works, to the point that
Digital Manga set up two California autograph sessions for her in the
days leading up to Otakon.
Because
Yellow has been accepted by American fans, it's become Tateno's
favorite series favorite series, although she's enjoyed creating all of
her many series. As with most major manga artists, Tateno is as much a
director as a creator. She first creates what would be called a
storyboard of page layouts, then draws the main characters in each
panel. Waiting to finish each page are two or three assistants (two of
which traveled with Tateno to Otakon). The group process takes eight to
ten days to finish a 40-page installment, something that impressed fans
when she told them how quickly those pages are created. The work of
Japanese comic artists has inspired a growing number of Americans to
create work in the same visual style, and some of those artists have
found what seems to come naturally to Japanese artists is hard to
master. "Even though you might not be that good, draw a lot and keep
drawing," she advised. "There's no way you'll stay a bad artist if you
keep drawing a lot."
When
an Otakon fan asked artist Makoto Tateno why she "...decided to join
the dark sexy and delicious side of yaoi," the artist replied "I've
always liked the genre - I'm a closet fan." Tateno was known for
creating series in the shojo girls' comics style until she moved into
yaoi work, That includes Yellow, the series about two male thieves
turned police distributed in English by June Manga, an imprint of
Digital Manga. "A few of my fans were iffy about my going to yaoi, but
then I'm puzzled because there are some people who can't take the yaoi
stuff. But a lot of my yaoi fans went over and read my shojo titles,
too, so it all worked out." Tateno would like some of her earlier shojo
and action titles to be released in English, but that hasn't happened
yet - even though she mentioned that there's interest in doing that.
There's definitely interest in Tateno's works, to the point that
Digital Manga set up two California autograph sessions for her in the
days leading up to Otakon.
Because
Yellow has been accepted by American fans, it's become Tateno's
favorite series favorite series, although she's enjoyed creating all of
her many series. As with most major manga artists, Tateno is as much a
director as a creator. She first creates what would be called a
storyboard of page layouts, then draws the main characters in each
panel. Waiting to finish each page are two or three assistants (two of
which traveled with Tateno to Otakon). The group process takes eight to
ten days to finish a 40-page installment, something that impressed fans
when she told them how quickly those pages are created. The work of
Japanese comic artists has inspired a growing number of Americans to
create work in the same visual style, and some of those artists have
found what seems to come naturally to Japanese artists is hard to
master. "Even though you might not be that good, draw a lot and keep
drawing," she advised. "There's no way you'll stay a bad artist if you
keep drawing a lot."
