Early March 2021. One image related to the font got a lot of feedback on Twitter.
This image was posted with the post "I'm not particular about it, but the font makes the gag manga sharper, so I made it to show it to the editor." The usage scene is summarized in an easy-to-understand manner along with the actual lines.
Posted by Zenyu Shimabukuro. He is a manga artist who has an intractable disease called "ulcerative colitis" but is serializing the fight against the disease in the form of a gag essay on the manga app "GANMA!".
This time, while touching on the buzzed images, Professor Shimabukuro answered a written interview about his commitment to fonts and how he was involved as a manga artist.
When I was in elementary school, I was drawing on the blackboard in an empty classroom
――Thank you for answering the interview this time! Originally I was watching Mr. Shimabukuro's manga, so I was very surprised to see that Fontworks fonts were used in the example tweets (laugh)
Please tell us about Professor Shimabukuro's profile.
Shimabukuro-sensei: Nice to meet you, I'm Zenyu Shimabukuro. My favorite radical is 阝. At the age of 21, he made his serial debut as a monthly rival with "Uncle of the Frog", and now he is serializing the gag essays "Cho yo Hana yo" and "Accident Produce with De-Yin Ca".
I have been diagnosed with "ulcerative colitis" and have been hospitalized and discharged repeatedly for 10 years, but for the past two years I have been happy without being hospitalized for the first time.
――What made you want to become a manga artist?
Shimabukuro: I've been painting since I was a kindergarten child. I've always wanted to be a manga artist since I knew the profession of a manga artist. I'm glad I got used to it.
Also, when I was in the sixth grade of elementary school, when I was drawing a dragon on the blackboard in an empty classroom, my homeroom teacher found it. The teacher was impressed and said, "Mr. Shimabukuro is good at painting." At that time (I ... I can be a manga artist ...), I decided to become a manga artist.
It's a letter, but I can understand the voice
――As I mentioned at the beginning, the image of "Use of fonts properly" tweeted by Professor Shimabukuro was a big buzz. What made you decide to post here?
Mr. Shimabukuro: The image itself is [How to use fonts that I always pay attention to when drawing gag manga], and I sent it when I asked the person in charge of the serialized work to "use it properly like this". is. I wanted to use different fonts to give momentum to the tension in the manga and the voice played in the brain, so I asked the person in charge to explain it and typeset it.
One day, a friend who read my manga said, "Zenyu's manga uses fonts well. It's a character, but I can understand the voice." At that time, "Oh, be careful of yourself." I'm glad that the reader was able to understand what was happening. ”I thought, and somehow posted it on Twitter. I was surprised because I didn't think I would buzz myself.
You don't know where the demand is.
――I think it's rare to buzz up to this point not only with Fontworks posts but also with font-themed tweets. I think this tweet shook the font industry! (Lol)
Do you remember how you started to be aware of fonts?
Professor Shimabukuro: At first, I used to draw analog paper manuscripts and illustrations, so I don't think I was interested in fonts. After I started drawing my hobby pictures on my PC and started typing the lines, I started to worry a little ... The first thing I became aware of was the font that the person in charge attached to the lines during the first serialization. After seeing the types of.
With that as a starting point, I found my own way to gain momentum with fonts.
――You introduced a lot of Fontworks fonts in the example image. What was your encounter with our fonts?
Professor Shimabukuro: Since I started working at Medibang Paint about 6 years ago, I started using different fonts myself, but Medibang has a lot of Fontworks fonts. I touched various fonts. It was a lot of fun.
After that, I was also taken care of by mojimo.
――You also used mojimo! How was it when you tried it?
Dr. Shimabukuro: I used to use "mojimo-manga" for work and hobbies while I was in the hospital, but I could use it with Medibang Paint or CLIP ST Universal Design IO PAINT without any problems. There are many types of fonts, even just "manga", so it will color the manuscript when you put out the lines. Since there were communication restrictions, it was really helpful to be able to use my favorite fonts even offline.
I can't use all of them, so I can express a lot of emotions with fonts when I make manga, and it's fun for me as a gag manga artist.
If you put characters in the dialogue while changing the font, even graffiti will become a cartoon.
--Next, I'd like to delve deeper into Shimabukuro-sensei's manga production!
Please tell us if there is anything you pay particular attention to when adding text to manga.
Shimabukuro-sensei: I kind of answered that question a little bit earlier, but since it's a comedy manga, I value momentum. Also, I try to limit the number of fonts used in one story to 3-4 at most. I'd like to use a lot of fonts, but having so many different fonts while reading can tire the eyes, so I try to use AnticCezanne for the main lines, NewRodin for the tsukkomi, Matisse for the funny lines, and so on, to avoid tiring the eyes.
--What do you think is the point of including text in casual manga that you might post on Twitter?
Professor Shimabukuro: I think it's about readability. It's not that handwritten characters are bad, but I don't have very neat handwriting, so I think typing the characters makes them easier to read and results in a nicer screen.
Also, if you change the font and add text to the dialogue, even a scribble becomes a manga. That feels good. It's true that it's quite a lot of work to change the font and type text into every frame, but when I first saw the dialogue in the speech bubbles of the manuscript I drew, I felt like it was a manga! I was quite moved.
--I'm very happy to hear you say that! If the manga itself is the "picture," then the dialogue using fonts is the "frame"... I think that the combination of the two improves the quality of the "work."
What is your favorite Fontworks font and why?
Professor Shimabukuro:
・ NewRodin 's bold letters: They have the most energy, make the screen look tighter, and are easy to replay in your mind!
・ Matisse Bold: Sounds like a great voice! Cool! I tend to use it for catchphrases!
・ Skip: I like how it's easy on the eyes and makes you feel happy.
Reggae: I like it when used with intense tsukkomi, as it's easy to play back in my head, and it matches well with Kansai dialect.
I mostly choose and use fonts based on intuition, so I don't know if you'll agree with me (laughs).
--It certainly does have a "nice voice"! (laughs) I can really understand Skip 's excitement.
So this is the last question.
Please give a message to those aspiring to become manga artists!
Shimabukuro-sensei: For those of you aspiring to be manga artists, Ke〇shiro, fonts are great!
The ways of communicating in manga expand in many ways through the form of words, and even if your drawings are a little poor, as long as you have the skill to make the reader read the words, it can still be a successful manga...Fonts really help...I know that sounds like a pun, but seriously, fonts are great.
I also recommend it when posting manga on social media as it looks great on the screen.
--Thank you so much for today, no, for the font! I look forward to seeing more of Shimabukuro-sensei's manga in the future!
Zenyu Shimabukuro
A sickly hospitalized gag manga artist. I had chronic persistent ulcerative colitis. Total colectomy at the age of 23, 5th stoma. Ostomate. The 10th operation was successful. Debuted as a monthly boy rival, "Uncle of the Frog". "Intestinal yo nose yo" is being serialized at GANMA !.
Manga app "GANMA!"
