One of the things I really enjoyed about my last trip to Japan was, in the Tezuka Museum, getting to see original art (manuscript) pages by Osamu Tezuka. I feel like I have a new perspective on his work, seeing the paste-downs, white paint, pencil marks, and changes that each page went through before going to print. I feel like I’ve learned something about his process, and maybe I understand his work a little better. Maybe I’m full of shit too, but it’s still a nice feeling. (Image from Tezuka Museum to left, click for larger.
I also got to see originals at the Kyoto International Manga Museum in Kyoto Japan, although surprisingly very few Japanese original pages as the installations that were up while I was there were primarily from other countries. Still, I do like me some original art, and it was pretty great. Unfortunately the Museum’s photo policy was incredibly strict, and so it wasn’t possible to get any photos for the blog. Them’s the breaks…
Perhaps the biggest “score” in terms of diversity of material was Nakano Broadway Mall, which had lots of “auctions” going on for original artwork, with many manga pages and anime cels on display. I actually didn’t see much “finished” work when it came to the manga–lots of sketches and autographed books–but it’s still a bit of a treasure-trove of process work. (Image from Nakano Broadway up-top).
For my upcoming trip (one week! eeee!) I do plan on, if possible, hitting the Tezuka Museum and the Kyoto Manga Museum again, but I’m wondering if there’s anywhere else I can go in Japan (we’re travelling A LOT this time) that I’d have access to Japanese original art? Whether temporary shows/exhibits, or permanent ones.
If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, particularly if there’s a website attached so I can parse it out and find the place, I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!
– Christopher
It’s not exactly original art… But most Japanese book stores tend to hang very faithful copies of original art in their manga sections. You can make out the text paste ups, the blueline, the cuts of the screen tone (Assuming the artist is still using tone and not Photoshop) and if the copy is really good, you can see the blue pencil under the art.
But yeah, nothing is as good as original art. You can look at it and go, “Wow! Even Tezuka screwed up drawing hands occasionally. I feel much better about my own mess-ups now.”
Iunno if you’d find this interesting.
comparisons between the viz and vertical versions of some pages from blackjack, compared to the original page by tezuka.
http://meanwhilecomics.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-jack.html
Interesting.
I have many french friends going to Japan to work for animation. They are all excited about the work, but foreigners are not very well accepted in the japanese society if you plan to stay a while.