#uzumaki taiyo

[yuenai]

09/JAN/2024

[kitxkatrp]

Tag Dump 68

[demifiendrsa]

Viz Media has launched its new digital manga service Viz Manga. According to Viz, the new app's catalog now includes simultaneous English releases of ongoing manga from Shogakukan for "the first time," as well as classic manga titles. The service features over 10,000 chapters of both Shogakukan and Shueisha titles.

The simulpub catalog launches with 15 titles, with the three most recent chapters of each series available for free. Some of the titles included in the simulpub catalog are:

Black Lagoon by Rei Hiroe (Web only)

Call of the Night by Kotoyama

How Do We Relationship? by Tamifull

Insomniacs After School by Makoto Ojiro

Komi Can't Communicate by Tomohito Oda

MAO by Rumiko Takahashi

Persona 5 manga by Hisato Murasaki

Queen's Quality by Kyousuke Motomi

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle by Kagiji Kumanomata

The King's Beast by Rei Toma

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon by Takashi Shiina

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead by Haro Aso

Viz Manga also added classic manga titles from legendary manga creators in its catalog such as:

Rumiko Takahashi: Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Mermaid Saga, and others

Junji Ito: GYO, Uzumaki, and others

Yuu Watase: Fushigi Yûgi, Absolute Boyfriend, and others

Inio Asano: Goodnight Punpun (Web only), What a wonderful world!, and others

Taiyo Matsumoto: Sunny, Tekkon Kinkreet, Ping Pong, and others

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed

Ai Yazawa: NANA (chapters 25-80 web only)

Arina Tanemura: Full Moon, The Gentlemen's Alliance†, and others

Viz Manga is only available in the United States and Canada, and subscription costs US$1.99 per month. Viz continues to offer its separate Shonen Jump service.

[natsukisayuriuzumakiuchiha]

(N/A) I'm not very good at coloring my drawings. I'm sorry, but I wanted you to see the new generation of Akatsuki.

It is not found when I will publish the other drawings, but I hope it will be soon; so as not to leave it unfinished.

The Akatsuki were one of the villains that more than anything caught my attention. I wait to see if someone else thinks the same as me. Because flat out a lot has happened that the Naruto Shippuden series is over and then in Boruto there is little or nothing that they mention. I also await comments.

[animedaddymilkers]

ʕ·ᴥ·ʔForest Plantsʕ·ᴥ·ʔ

Hear that? The tranquility of the forest plants engulfs you with its calming atmosphere. Feel at peace here...

Naruto Kinkmas 2020

*~alphabetized by character’s first name~*

My OCs:

1. Taiyo Shiranui: general bio || moodboard || nsfw hcs || 

2. Asami Senju:  general bio || moodboard || moodboard 2 || 

Choji Akimichi:

Gaara:

husband prank || calling them your husband hcs || rating: fluff, crack

thunderstorm emoji || drabble || rating: fluff

Genma Shiranui:

cockwarming || hcs || rating: smut

Guy Might:

my crocs || crackpost || rating: smut

how he ruins the mood || mult. chars. || rating: smut

sugar daddy guy || hcs || rating: smut

guy’s kinks || hcs || rating: smut

Hashirama Senju:

sitting in his lap || fic || rating: fluff

wife prank || calling them your wife hcs || rating: fluff, crack

Hinata Hyuga:

love languages || hcs || rating: fluff

Ino Yamanaka:

wife prank || calling them your wife hcs || rating: fluff, crack

Inoichi Yamanaka:

general stuff || hcs || rating: fluff

Iruka Umino:

yamato x iruka || general hcs || rating: smut

Jiraiya:

domming him || drabble || rating: smut

Kakashi Hatake:

being a dad to team 7 || hcs || rating: fluff

how he ruins the mood || mult. chars. || rating: smut

Kiba Inuzuka:

squishing their cheeks || drabble || rating: fluff

husband prank || calling them your husband hcs || rating: fluff, crack

Kisame Hoshigaki:

filming || drabble || rating: smut

soft touches || drabble || rating: fluff

love language || hcs || rating: fluff

Naruto Uzumaki:

Memories & Mochi || sasuke x naruto x reader || rating: smut

how he ruins the mood || mult. chars. || rating: smut

husband prank || calling them your husband hcs || rating: fluff, crack

pegging naruto || hcs || rating: smut

Neji Hyuga:

neji x reader x tenten || hcs || rating: smut

husband prank || calling them your husband hcs || rating: fluff, crack

Obito Uchiha:

a bad day || comforting obito fic || rating: fluff, comfort

handle it like a good girl || breeding & overstim fic || rating: smut

Orochimaru:

Sasori:

braiding his hair || fic || rating: fluff

when you give a puppet a penis || sex with sasori fic || rating: smut

Sasuke Uchiha:

eating coochie || hcs || rating: smut

Memories & Mochi || sasuke x naruto x reader || rating: smut

dom!fem x brat!sasuke || hcs || rating: smut

how he ruins the mood || mult. chars. || rating: smut

Shikamaru Nara:

spicy sparring || drabble || rating: smut

temari x shikamaru praise kink || hcs || rating: smut

shikamaru’s kinks || hcs || rating: smut

getting his attention || fic || rating: fluff

love languages || hcs || rating: fluff

public fingering || fic || rating: smut

Shisui Uchiha:

love languages || hcs || rating: fluff

Temari:

temari x shikamaru praise kink || hcs || rating: smut

TenTen:

neji x reader x tenten || hcs || rating: smut

Yamato Senju:

yamato x iruka || general hcs || rating: smut

how he ruins the mood || mult. chars. || rating: smut

Kink Night:

cockwarming || tickling || blindfolding || praise || breeding || mirrors || piss kink || cum kink || flogging || rigging || 

©animedaddymilkers ~{2022}~ you do not have permission to modify, copy, or repost my work.

[recentanimenews]

VIZ Announces Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Manga and More

VIZ Media hopped on Twitter for one of its semi-regular license reveals, announcing everything from an Uzumaki Coloring Book to more horror delights from Kazuo Umezz, the Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai manga, and much more. Read on for a roundup of everything that's on the way this time. 

  Unless otherwise noted, everything below is due out in spring 2022. 

    Uzumaki Coloring Book 

  Announcement: For those drawn-in by the hypnotic spirals of Uzumaki, this is your moment! The bizarre masterpiece of horror manga from Junji Ito, has been transformed into the Uzumaki Coloring Book. Hurrah! Releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/xSxQ8Tc3Gp

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Kazuo Umezz's Orochi: The Perfect Edition

  Announcement: The classic manga from horror master Kazuo Umezz gets a whole new format! The deluxe hardcover series Orochi: The Perfect Edition, featuring nine of his classic interconnected short stories, is out Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/dV080XMe4R

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Pokémon Adventures: X•Y 

  Announcement: Awesome Pokémon adventures inspired by the best-selling Pokémon X and Y video games! The reclusive child prodigy Pokémon Trainer, X, is stirred out of hiding after a surprise attack! Pokémon Adventures: X•Y drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/Y18gWG78Qm

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Deadpool: Samurai

  Announcement: Deadpool moves to Tokyo and encounters just about every kind of shonen trope you can think of! Chaos and humor collide in Deadpool: Samurai, out Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/jnLF6nkCf6

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Star Wars: Tribute to Star Wars

Featuring Akira Himekawa, Taiyo Matsumoto, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and more

  Announcement: Explore the galaxy through the beautiful artwork of 45 outstanding Japanese manga artists and illustrators, including Akira Himekawa, Taiyo Matsumoto, and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Star Wars: Tribute to Star Wars drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/wyFCZ6IZSb

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Onigiri (Cookbook)

  Announcement: Japanese rice balls are about to get really fun! A variety of recipes for these convenient little snacks, curated by popular Parisian onigiri restaurant Gili-Gili, are packed into this cookbook! Onigiri drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/UvLTsPjEAQ

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Ima Koi: Now I'm in Love

  Announcement: After years of missing out on love and dating for fear of rejection, Satomi decisively blurts out her feelings, but now the hard part comes: dating! This refreshing take on shojo, Ima Koi: Now I’m In Love drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/FMBMEPGcUY

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Rumiko Takahashi's Came the Mirror & Other Tales

  Announcement: Rumiko Takahashi, beloved creator of Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, and Urusei Yatsura, is back with an eclectic collection of short stories--Came the Mirror & Other Tales! Plus, a rare, autobiographical tale about the mangaka’s lifelong love for manga! Releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/gBNK4Xlk1Q

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

  Announcement: With the help of his friends, Dai will set out on a grand adventure to become the hero he was meant to be in the first arc of the legendary adventure series set in the world of Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is coming to bookshelves Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/Dt5PyrzNpS

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Demon Slayer: The Official Coloring Book

  Announcement: Now THIS is a coloring book! Add color to over seventy illustrations featuring your favorite characters from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, with art by manga artist Koyoharu Gotouge! Demon Slayer: The Official Coloring Book drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/Ljf4Dmh2l7

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Picture Book

  Announcement: Based on the masterpiece film from Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata, this is the untold story of Princess Kaguya. Includes scene-by-scene illustrations and character dialogue from the film. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Picture Book releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/7aBcnSZH9n

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  The Art of the Tale of the Princess Kaguya 

  Announcement: The art and words of Isao Takahata’s gorgeous adaptation of the classic tale come to life! This book captures the breathtaking art of the Studio Ghibli film from conception to production. The Art of the Tale of the Princess Kaguya releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/aXkiXZzJZZ

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  JoJo 6251: The World of Hirohiko Araki

  Announcement: The electrifying world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is unveiled in this print-bound art compendium that’s a must for any fan of Araki-Sensei! JoJo 6251: The World of Hirohiko Araki releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/Q4OhMHAgvY

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Alice in Borderland

  Announcement: The manga source material for the hit @netflix series, Alice in Borderland, comes to bookshelves Spring 2022! Ryohei’s sick of the world, but his new world has a sick joke in store for him: it’s a game, and the only way to survive is to play. pic.twitter.com/kGBmuCJssb

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Sakamoto Days

  Announcement: Things are about to get super INconvenient for convenience store owner Taro Sakamoto when his past as a legendary assassin catches up to him! Sakamoto Days drops Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/cXGVGrlehe

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba—Stories of Water and Flame

  Announcement: The Flame Hashira and the Water Hashira star in two back-to-back tales set in the world of Demon Slayer! Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba--Stories of Water and Flame releases Spring 2022! pic.twitter.com/9edRJuxSmd

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Digital Exclusives

Fall 2021

  Bone Collection

  Announcement: A VIZ digital exclusive! Grow a backbone and tap into your inner exorcist powers with both volumes of Bone Collection! Releasing Fall 2021! pic.twitter.com/Og1W2WIQc8

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Me & Roboco

  Announcement: A VIZ digital exclusive! In a world where most families own a cute maid robot, average elementary kid Bondo hopes for one of his own. But the wacky robot who shows up is anything but average! Me & Roboco releases Fall 2021! pic.twitter.com/Y1fcC86xbr

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin

  Announcement: A VIZ digital exclusive! Ryuhei Tamura brings you the fishiest cop manga to ever hit Shonen Jump! A missing cult, a mysterious little girl, and his new partner--a dolphin! Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin releases Fall 2021! pic.twitter.com/iqYupLP9pe

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Mitama Security: Spirit Busters

  Announcement: A VIZ Digital Exclusive! Rena's haunted by spirits, but when a strange guy comes to bust them, he may be more of a hindrance than a help! All 5 volumes of Mitama Security: Spirit Busters are releasing in Fall 2021! pic.twitter.com/VtkCmsu51A

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

  Magu-chan: God of Destruction

  Announcement: A VIZ digital exclusive! The reign of Mag, the God of Destruction, ends and he washes up on shore in a cute new form. Magu-chan: God of Destruction drops Fall 2021! pic.twitter.com/XRpk7BBoed

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) July 9, 2021

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his comics at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

  By: Joseph Luster

[moontheoretist]

In the third post about episode 10th of Hoshiai no Sora I want to highlight everything else portrayed, cute and sad alike. So let’s start from GREAT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAKI AND HIS MUM. Because this is precious thing we get in every episode and I cannot stress how much I love that! Also the fact that they actually talk like normal people is stunning. I want to have a parent like that, who listens to me and tells me why she cannot be somewhere where it would be nice if she was, because I will perform there. If I had Maki’s mum as my parent my life would be so much better, just saying. We stan Maki’s mum!

Below the cut you will find:

1. Oji Arashi and his detachment from real life. (Pretty obvious stuff, sorry).

2. Rintaro’s meeting with his mum foreshadowing.

3. Praising the relationship between Rintaro and Itsuki.

4. Takada Kei as rare female role model for boy’s club.

5. Touma and Student Council President meeting.

6. Kasuga Kaori’s quick analyze.

7. Toxicity of fans vs Mitsue.

Another thing shown in the episode was Arashi’s complete obliviousness of the life of the people in the world around him. I mean there wasn’t much about him other than establishing him as someone who doesn’t know how real world works and that people don’t usually drag made at home food with them around, and that he can be easily persuaded to talk when he gets the food he wants, but also there was something else there to him. We all know that Arashi is self-centered prince like character, who thinks he is awesome in everything, but it looks like not everybody thinks in the same way about his behavior. 

The twins Arashi met today definitely think of him as if he was the dumbest person on earth. Though important thing here is that Arashi's business with the twins sounded either as if they thought he chose bad school or as if Misaki school got tough route through tournament. For both of them it is very funny that Arashi thinks he is this one person who can ensure his school victory and twins just couldn't take it without laughing it off as a good joke. They are also the only people whose strength Arashi not only acknowledges but also explicitly points out that they are more awesome than he is in general. If I was to call him anything I would say he is Naruto Uzumaki type of character, just without emotional trauma of being the most hated orphan in the village attached.

I feel a little bad for him though, mostly because he is being treated like animal to feed and get information from by Maki. Maki, that’s not cool! But to be fair, Arashi isn’t without blame here too, because he literally treats Maki as the free food supply and didn’t even give him money back for everything he ate. He is a rich boy after all, he thinks everything should be handed to him on silver plate. It was his life all those years, so he isn’t even able to consider it’s not normal.

Next thing is Rintaro’s meeting with mum. There is not much to say about that to be honest, because it’s just a short scene put out here in order to establish future storyline in regard to Rintaro’s life. It didn’t even manage to affect the game he played. Just like Nao’s problems with his mum didn’t show up too. Everybody were so focused on the match that nobody really thought about their real life problems, too preoccupied with actually trying to win the games. 

Though I wonder what this whole thing with Rintaro’s knee is supposed to foreshadow as well, because it like appeared out of nowhere, but also it seemed that whole club knew about that before, outside Maki who noticed it during the match. Is it some drama-related injury or just regular thing which Rintaro dealt with all his life? It really made me wonder if the two situations, his knee condition and his mother’s sudden wish to meet him aren’t by any chance related. I am also worried what losing a match because of a knee can do to Rintaro, considering he feels as much responsible for the club as Shinjo does, but just shows it in different way, by self-blaming himself for “being useless”. It like screams drama to me. Rintaro really wanted to win this! Rintaro! ToT

Also once again I want to point out another great dynamic between the pair shown. Just like in the cases of Shingo/Tsubasa and Taiyo/Nao, here we also can see how great companions Rintaro and Itsuki are to each other. They do not blame one another for mistakes and Itsuki really tried to make Rintaro as relaxed as it’s possible by bringing up Takada. To be honest I loved the fact that he actually mentioned her, because it’s not only a sweet and tasty female character praise based on the fact that female soft tennis club is really a big deal, which is rare in sports anime, but also that they both look up to Takada as a player.

It’s also worth pointing out, that when Rintaro’s leg starts giving up Touma isn’t really mad because of that. It’s one from probably two situations in the whole episode when Shinjo is actually calm and at peace with what is happening.

Second time when he is calm and collected happens in the most unforeseeable circumstances for him as a character, meaning when Student Council President comes to the soft tennis courts to inspect the clubs. I was really surprised that Touma wasn’t at all angry, but it just speaks a lot about how quickly he can get over something bad if he finds a way to reforge it into something good. In this case he reforged Student Council President’s decision to disband his club into motivation and necessary pressure which his teammates needed to become better at soft tennis. He also acknowledges that they were slacking off before.

Speaking of which I loved that we also got another glimpse into Student Council President personality with this one worried “Am I a bully?”, which speaks volumes about how insecure she feels about herself. We knew that she comes from a rich house and didn’t really want to go to the school, which she goes now and that her mother and grandmother both use different names to address her, because both see Kaori as someone else and enforce that by using those names and treating Kaori in different ways to be sure that she grows the way they want her to grow. But Kaori also isn’t stupid, and plays their game by allowing herself to act as they wish her to act, while in truth she has her own vision of herself which she realizes outside her mother and grandmother influence. Part of that vision is probably making school run better than it did before, hence why she was so adamant about closing clubs which waste funds. It doesn’t though mean that she doesn’t doubt herself, because of authority she has and the way she acts, which this one glimpse of anxiety expresses so well. Also the fact that Touma is the one who assures her she is fine and right about what she says was so heartwarming OMG! He is such a good person! ToT

The last and probably the most important thing for me as an artist was the mention of world reaction to Mitsue’s art style and theme change on her artistic twitter account. Her fans literally bashed her over that, which not only shows how internet pressure looks like from the perspective of the creators, but also highlights the toxic fandom practices of pushing creators to change back to what they were before, because “they liked them more that way, and they hate the new them”. This practice can be powerful when it’s about social justice and ensuring that big companies won't leave out or misrepresent minority groups, but it has also the darker side which always presents itself as bunch of people being shitty and disrespectful to their favorite creators in hope their abuse will change them back to the image they are the most accustomed to and prefer to see. Yes, that’s abuse, the worst kind of abuse to be honest, which can make artist quit.  The second those fans do not get what they want they start acting like entitled fans and white male gamers combined. I do not want to draw a line between gender here, because I believe some of those nasty people were girls as well, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this behavior was the exact same which I saw in every “white male gamer” who made a drama of every game in which female character is treated as she should be, as a person instead of an object. And I think it’s important to point out here due to the fact that Natsuko is known mostly from drawing goth stuff, probably mostly young women, and we knew before that her fans were all squealing over the so called “knee-skirt�� gap, which all on it own was already sexist and disgusting for me to be honest.

And this is what I want to tell all of them! SCREW YOU! Also I am happy that the hate she got didn’t discourage Mitsue, and she still posted the last picture.

[part1]

who r ur ocs O____O

its apart of le boruto but better rewrite...........gaalee daughter nd sns daughter...please clap. their names r taiyo lee and kushina uzumaki-uchiha

[houseofvans]

Sketchy Behavior | Hellen Jo 

Never afraid to speak and/or draw her mind, Los Angeles based artist and illustrator, Hellen Jo and her characters can be described as rough, vulgar, tough, jaded, powerful, bratty and bad-ass - AKA her own brand of femininity. Known for her comic Jin & Jam, and her work as an illustrator and storyboard artist for shows such as Steven Universe and Regular Show, Hellen’s rebellious, and sometimes grotesque artwork and illustrations are redefining Asian American women and women of color in comics. In fact, that’s why Hellen Jo was a must-interviewee for our latest Sketchy Behavior where we talk to her about her love of comics and zines, her antiheroines, and redefining what Asian American women identity is or can be; and what her ultimate dream project realized would be.  

Tell folks a little about yourself.  So is it Helllen with three “l”’s? Mainly because your IG handle and website has a whole lot of extra “l”’s? 

Haha my actual name is Hellen with two L’s.  All my emails and urls contain a different number of L’s to confuse everyone. My grandfather took my American name from the Catholic saint, but he spelled it wrong, and now I share the same name as the mythological progenitor of the Greek people. But I like it better than my Korean name, which literally means, “graceful water lily” HAHAHA. I am an illustrator-slash-painter-slash-I-don’t-know-what living and working in Los Angeles.

Let’s talk about your early childhood / background. I read you’re from San Jose, CA and both your folks were professors, which is really cool!!   How did you end up making art instead of teaching a room full of students about Hotel Management or Medieval History? Just curious where you got your “creative bug” and what early comics, arts, and/or influences led you down the road to becoming an artist?

I grew up in South San Jose, and yes, both of my parents are professors, of finance and of applied linguistics.  A lot of my extended family are professors too, so I grew up parroting their desire for academia, but really, I started drawing when I was a wee babe, and I’ve always wanted to be a cartoonist. When I was really young, my parents drew for fun, really rarely; my dad could draw the shit out of fish and dogs, and my mom painted these really beautiful watercolor still lifes.  I was fascinated, and I’d spend all my time drawing on stacks and stacks of dot matrix paper by myself.  My parents also had a few art books around the house, and I remember staring so hard at a book of Modigliani nudes that my eyes burned holes through the pages.

What was the first comics you came across?

The first comics I ever got were translated mangas that were given to me by relatives when we’d visit Korea.  I remember getting Candy Candy, a flowery glittery shojo manga for girls, and I was mesmerized by all the sparkly romance and starry huge eyes.  I was also enthralled by Ranma ½, a gender bending teen manga that was equal parts cute art, cuss words, and shit too sexy for a kid my age.  However, I was mostly thrilled that I could understand the stories with really minimal Korean reading skills, thus cementing a forever love of comics.  In junior high and high school, I read a mix of newspaper strips and some limited manga, and I was enthralled with MTV cartoons “Daria” and “Aeon Flux”, but I wasn’t exposed to zines or graphic novels until I moved to Berkeley for college.

Did you have a first comic shop you haunted? What did you fill your comic art hunger with?

Being a super sheltered teen with not-great social skills, I was lonely my first semester, so I would lurk at Cody’s Books and Comic Relief every single day after classes.  I read the entirety of Xaime Hernandez’s Love & Rockets volume, The Death of Speedy one afternoon at Cody’s, and it literally made me high; I was so hooked.  I amassed some massive credit card debt buying and reading as many amazing comics as I could those first (and only) couple years of school: all of Los Bros Hernandez’s Love & Rockets, Dan Clowes’ Eightball, Julie Doucet’s Dirty Plotte comics, Peter Bagge’s Hate series, Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, Charles Burns’ Black Hole, Taiyo Matsumoto’s Black and White, Junji Ito’s Tomie and Uzumaki volumes… I could not believe the scope and breadth of the alternative comics genre, and the stories were so insanely good; they literally mesmerized me. I was so obsessed; I even skulked around the tiny comics section at UC Berkeley’s Moffitt Library in search of books I hadn’t read, and amid the fifty volumes of Doonesbury strips, some sick university librarian had included an early English translation of the Suehiro Maruo collection, Ultra Gash Inferno.  That book blew my tiny mind about a hundred times; it’s totally fucked up erotic-grotesque horror porn, but the art is unbelievably beautiful.  I read that entire thing sitting on the floor in the aisle, feverishly praying to God to forgive my sins after I finished the book, because I was way too ashamed to check it out of the library.

How about zines? I imagine a comic devouring ….

I devoured zines at a nearly equally fervent pace, including those by Aaron Cometbus, Al Burian (Burn Collector), Doris, John Pham, Jason Shiga, Lark Pien, Mimi Thi Nguyen, etc. I had never seen a zine before in my life, and suddenly, I was living in a town full of zinesters.  I was drowning in inspiration.  I tried to copy the art and writing of everything I read, and I spent a lot of my time making band flyers, trying to pass off zines as suitable replacements for term papers (this worked just once), and making monthly auto-bio comics for a few student publications. Eventually, I dropped out of school, then dropped out of school again, and I made my first published comic, Jin & Jam; then it all became real.

What was your early works like? and how did these become fodder for your self-published stuff later?  What about your own experiences did you feel needed to be expressed in your own comics and artwork?

As a kid I was mostly copying sparkly girl manga and Sailor Moon stickers, and I don’t think I’ve really strayed all that far from that. My first few zines were cutesy autobiographical comics about crushes and falling asleep at the library; incredibly dull stuff.  I made a super fun split comic/ep with this band I loved, The Clarendon Hills, but after that point, I was tired of drawing cute, goofy shit.

I had also really been obsessed with Korean ghost horror movies in high school, and I wanted to make comics that reflected more of that kind of coming-of-age violence and rage, so I made a couple standalone horror comics, Paralysis and Blister.  These were longer than anything I’d ever done (forty to fifty pages each), and I felt like I was finally figuring out how to write interesting stories.  I eventually dropped out of school and made Jin & Jam, based a bit on growing up in San Jose and on other kids I had grown up with. 

At the time, there were still relatively few Asian American women in comics, and I was tired of whatever hyper-cute, yellow-fever, Japanified shit we were being pigeon-holed into, so I reacted by writing and drawing vulgar girls who started fights and didn’t give a fuck.  I went to art school for a few semesters, got better at drawing people, and went on to draw nothing but mean bad girl ne'erdowells.  I’d never been a very strong or defiant personality outwardly, but I’ve always been a pretty big fuckin bitch on the inside, and I just wanted to draw how I feel, in the most sincere way possible. And naturally, over the years, as I continued to develop this attitude in my art, I was able to express it better in person as well.  Self-actualization through making comics!

For folks who don’t read comics, can you explain why they are SO AMAZING and moving to you!  What about the format, art and overall genre makes them so great and not just your typical “funnies.”

I truly believe that comics are the greatest narrative format and art medium of all time!  They are completely full of potential; you can draw and write whatever the hell you can think of, there are no real rules, and you as author and artist can create a deep and intimate experience for your reader.  You can bare your vulnerabilities or yell at the world or create a visual masterpiece or inform people, visually and narratively.  I don’t even believe that good art makes good comics; writing is king, and the art should really serve to further the story.  Some of the worst comics I’ve ever seen had the most amazing art, and some of the greatest comics I’ve loved have the plainest, most naive, even ugly visuals, but those authors were able to finesse a symbiotic relationship between the text and the images to tell a compelling story.  People are already so drawn to images, so it makes sense to me that they can enhance a reader’s literary experience so much.

I read that Taiyo Matsumoto is one of your all time inspirations.  Most folks probably don’t know much about this master of comics, heck my knowledge is limited, so what makes his work speak to you so much?  Perhaps it’ll encourage folks to venture into a new world of art exploration through visual comics.

Taiyo Matsumoto is the all time master of coming-of-age comics. I worship at his altar, for real. He is a Japanese artist, so technically his work is manga, but his masterful storytelling and singular visuals are so different from most manga, beyond categorization.  He writes quiet, powerful stories about boys, girls, and teens who live in uncaring worlds surrounded by unfeeling adults, but they rise to these challenges and thrive in spite of themselves.  The characters feel deeply, and the reader can’t help but ache and rage and celebrate just as fully. The drawings are beautiful and sensitive, with rough, loose artwork consisting of scratchy lines and cinematically composed shots.

What were some of your first memories with his work?  

I remember buying the first two Pulp volumes of Black and White (also published as Tekkonkinkreet) at Comic Relief, reading them both at home that day, and then, covered in tears, literally *running* back that evening to buy the last volume before the store closed.  I probably cried a dozen times while reading it; it’s a story about two orphan boys who protect each other in a neo-Vegas-like city of vice, but the characters were so brutal and brilliant and poignant.  I had never read anything like that before, and it literally made me sick that, at the time, none of his other works were available in English.  Eventually, I figured out that he was more widely published in Korea, so on every family trip, I’d run away from my folks for a day and buy as many of his books as I could carry back to the US. I made my way, slowly, through the Korean translations of Hana-otoko, Ping Pong (another incredible favorite!), and Zero. A beautiful collection of short stories, Blue Spring, was published in English, and then VIZ began translating the series No. 5, but they abruptly stopped mid-series due to low book sales.  I was so starved for his work that at that point, I’d ebay his art books and comics only available in Japanese and just stare at them. Eventually, Black and White was made into the anime film, Tekkonkinkreet, and Ping Pong was made into an anime mini-series, and his rise in popularity ensured a wider English availability of his work.  His current series, Sunny, is being translated and published here, and every volume breaks my heart a million times.  

I’m sorry, this just turned into a gushy, gross fan fest, but Matsumoto’s books really changed my entire perspective on how comics can be written and paced, how characters can be developed fully, and how important comics really are to me.  I love them so much!!!!!

You’ve worked in so many cool fields such as a storyboard artist and designer, and on various cartoons, such as Steven Universe.  For folks who are interested in those fields, what can you tell folks about that?  I’m sure like most artists, you’d rather be spending those long hours working on your own personal art, so how do you balance them? How did you move from a comic artist to working as a storyboarding artist?

I stopped working in animation about a year and a half ago, but the transition from indie comics to storyboarding was rough one, for me.  I got into storyboarding at a time when a lot of kids’ animation networks were starting to hire outside the pool of animation school graduates and reach into the scummy ponds of comics.  In my case, the creator of Regular Show, JG Quintel, had bought some of my comics at San Diego Comic-Con from my publisher, and he offered me a storyboard revisionist test.  

Some cartoonists, like my partner Calvin Wong, were able to transition wonderfully; cartoonists and board artists are both visual storytellers, and once they’d learn the ropes, many of them thrived and succeeded.  I can’t say the same for myself; I have major time management issues, I draw and write incredibly slowly, and going from working completely alone to pitching and revising stories with directors and showrunners was just a real shock to my system.  For most of my time at Cartoon Network and FOX ADHD, I wasn’t able to do much personal work, but I crammed it in where I could.  

Storyboarding also requires a lot of late nights and crazy work hours, to meet pitch deadlines and to rewrite and redraw large portions of your board. I just couldn’t deal. I lost a lot of weight, more of my hair fell out, and the extreme stress of the job put my undiagnosed diabetes into overdrive (stress makes your liver pump out sugar like crazy, look it up, people!)  I realized that this industry was not meant for lard lads like me, and when the opportunity came to stop, I did. I could never figure out the balance between my job and my personal work, and I finally chose the latter.  Now I’m trying to figure out the balance between making personal work and surviving, but I’ve yet to crack that nut either!

From your art I get a sense of rebellion and angst, how did this morph into an outlet through comics, cartoons, and illustration?  Some aspects of your work that are so cool is the fact that your characters are female and women of color and in a completely new way.  Asian characters definitely get stereotype in art and comics, so when did you consciously start to create these awesome antiheroines and redefine what Asian/Asian American women/girl identity is or can be?

A lot of the seething rage bubbling behind my eyes has been simmering there since childhood, and a very large portion of that anger comes directly from all the racism and sexism I’ve experienced as a child and adult. I’ve been treated patronizingly by boys and men who expect an Asian girl to be frail, demure, receptive, and soft-spoken. I’ve experienced yellow fever from dudes who are clearly more interested in my slanted eyes and sideways cunt than in whatever it is I have to say.  Even in comics and illustration, people constantly tell me I must be influenced by Japanese woodblock print (pray tell, where in the holy fuck does that come from???), or they’ll look at a painting I’ve done of a girl bleeding from her mouth and dismiss my work as “cute”.  I despise this complete lack of respect, for me and for Asian American women in general, and I’ve made it my life mission to depict my girls as I would prefer to be seen: fucking angry, violent, mean, dirty and gross, unapproachable, tough, jaded, ugly, powerful, and completely apathetic to you and your shit.  Any rebellion and angst in my work comes directly from my own anger, and in my opinion, it makes that shit way better.  Girls and women of color get so little respect in real life, so why not “be the change I want to see” in my drawings?  

I think I was always aware of this lack of respect, and the “othering” of Asian American women, but once I got to college and learned to put a name to the racism and xenophobia and sexism and fetishism that we experience, my heart burst into angry flames, and it exploded into all of my art.  I’ve never been able to hold that back, and I’m not interested in doing so, ever.

Talk about your process and mediums and process.  Are you a night owl or an early bird artist?  Do you have stacks of in-progress works or are you a one and down drawing person?  Do you jot down notes or are you a sketch book person.

I am a paper and pencil artist all the way; I do work digitally sometimes, to make gifs or to storyboard, but I hate drawing and coloring on the computer. I’m terrible at it!  I draw everything in pencil first, erasing a hundred thousand times along the way toward a good drawing. For my paintings, I’ll then ink with brush pen and paint with watercolor, all on coldpress Arches.  For comics, I ink with whatever, brush pen or fountain pen, or leave the pencil, usually on bristol board.  I’ve also been keeping sketchbooks more recently (never really maintained the habit before), where I like to doodle fountain pen and color with Copic markers.  In sketchbooks, I’ll slap post-its on mistakes, a trick I learned from paper storyboarding on Regular Show.

I am a total night owl and a hermit; I have to be really isolated to get anything done, but at the same time, being so alone makes me crave social interaction in quick, fiery bursts.  I’ll go on social rampages for a week at a time, and then jump back into my hidey hole and stay hidden for months, avoiding everyone.  It’s not a very productive or healthy way to be, but it’s how I’ve always been.

I have great difficulty trying to juggle multiple tasks; I tend to devote all my mental energy and focus into whatever I’m working on at the time, so I need to complete each piece before I can do anything else.  It’s an incredibly inefficient, time-wasting way of making art, but it’s also the only way I can produce drawings that I am satisfied with.

If we were to bust into your workspace or studio, what would we find? and what would you not want us to find?

You’d find an unshowered me, drawing in my underwear, which coincidentally is also what I do not want you to find!

You’d also find a room half made into workspace (more below), and half taken over by boxes of t-shirts and sweatshirts (I do all my own mailorder fulfillment, like an idiot!)  I also like to surround myself with junk I find inspiring, so the walls are covered in prints and originals by some of my favorite artists, a bookshelf along the back wall is filled with about a third of my favorite comics and books and zines, and every available non-work surface (including desk, wall shelves, and bulletin boards) are covered in vintage toys, dice, tchotchkes, bottles, lighters and folding knives, weird dolls and figurines, a variety of fake cigarettes (I have a collection…)

Work-space wise, I have two long desks placed along a wall; the left desk has my computer and Cintiq, as well as my ancient laptop. Underneath and to the side of this desk are my large-format Epson scanner, fancy-ass Epson giclee printer, and a Brother double-sided laser printer.  The right desk has a cutting mat, an adjustable drawing surface, and a hundred million pens and half my supplies/crafts hoard.  I have a giant guillotine paper cutter for zines underneath this desk.  I’ve got two closets filled with button making supplies, additional supplies/crafts hoard, and all kinds of watercolor paper, bristol paper, and mailing envelopes are crammed into every shelf, alcove, gap.  This room has five lamps because I need my eyes to burn when I’m working.  Also, everything is covered in stickers because I am obsessed with stickers.

What is something you’d like to see happen more often if at all in the contemporary art world?  How’s the LA art scene holding up? Whaddya think?

As an artist who adores comics, I have a deep affection for low-brow mediums getting high-art and high-literary respect.  Not that a comic needs to be shown in a gallery to be a valid art form, but I am so excited that comics that used to be considered fringe or underground are gaining traction as important works of art and literature.  I wish this upward trajectory would continue forever, until everyone understands the love I feel for comics, but who knows what the future holds: the New York Times just recently stopped publishing their Graphic Novel Best Seller lists, and I think it’s a damn shame.

The LA art scene is really interesting to me, because it embraces both hi and lo brow work so readily; fancy pants galleries that make catalogues and sell to art dealers have openings right alongside pop-art stores that sell zines and comics, and I enjoy having access to both.  I will say that I think LA galleries are a bit oversaturated with art shows devoted to television and pop culture fan art; yeah, I get that you loooooooove that crazy 70s cult classic sci-fi series and you want to draw Mulder and Scully and Boba Fett in sexual repose for the rest of your life, but I’m more excited about seeing new and original work from everyone. I know you have something to say, and I want to see it.

Mostly, I’d obviously love to see more women of color making art and making comics; we’ve come a long way since I started making zines in 2002, and there are some incredible WOC cartoonists making amazing work right now, but we need more more MORE!  

What would be your ultimate dream project?  What is something you haven’t tried and would love to give it a go at?  Dream collaborations?

My ultimate dream project is the Great American Graphic Novel, but I am so shit at finishing anything that I have not been able to even approach this terrifying prospect.  But I figure I have until the day of my death to make something, so … one step at a time?

As far as something I’ve never tried, I’ve been recently interested in site-specific installation; I’ve always been a drawer for print, confined to the desk, and I’m in awe of cartoonists and illustrators who have transitioned to other forms of visual media, whether it be video, sculpture, performance, whatever.  I know my personality tends toward repeating the same motions forever and ever, and I hope I can break out of that and make something really different and challenging for myself.  I also secretly want to make music but I am the shittiest guitarist ever so maybe it’s better for the world that I don’t!

The dreamiest collaboration I can think of is to illustrate a skate deck for any sick-ass teen girl or woman skater.  Seriously, if any board companies wanna make this happen, EMAIL ME

Give us your top 5 of your current favorite comic artists as well as your top 5 artists in general.

Top 5 Current Favorite Comic Artists:

1. Jonny Negron 2. Jillian Tamaki 3. Michael DeForge 4. Ines Estrada 5. Anna Haifisch

Top 5 Artists of All Time

1. Taiyo Matsumoto 2. Xaime Hernandez 3. David Shrigley 4. Julie Doucet 5. Daniel Clowes

What are your favorite style of VANS?  And how would you describe your own personal style?

My favorite VANS are the all-black Authentic Lo Pros, although I have a soft spot for my first pair of Cara Beth Burnsides in high school (they were so ugly and I never skated, but I loved them).  

My personal style can be described as aging colorblind tomboy who dresses herself in the dark; my favorite outfit is a black hoodie with black denim shorts and black socks and black sneakers.

What do you have planned for this 2017? New shows? New published works?

I’ve got two group shows with some of my favorite artists in the works; I’m so excited but I can’t share any details yet. I’ve also been writing a new comic, but don’t believe it til ya see it!

Best bit of advice and worse advice in regards to art?

Best Advice: Never be satisfied; always challenge yourself to make your art better than everything you’ve done previously.

Worst Advice: Make comics as a stepping stone towards getting a job in animation.  When people do this, you can smell the stink of insincerity a mile away.  Fuck you, comics are a beautiful medium, and every shitty asshole who does this, I hate your guts!

Follow Hellen Jo

Website: http://helllllen.org Shop: http://helllllen.bigcartel.com Instagram: @helllllenjjjjjo 

Images courtesy of the artist

[yuenai]

Taiyo and Tsuki Uzumaki are twins and fanchilds of #borumitsu Their birthday is on October 2nd. Taiyo born before Tsuki just for a few seconds so she considers herself like the oldes twin. Their names mean Sun(Taiyo) and Moon(Tsuki) They have another little sibling :D

Tsuki is the youngest twin of BoruMitsu, loves to read and play videogames with his papa Boruto. He has freckles!!

One thing about Tsuki, is that he is very shy with people he doesn't know, but with his friends and family he is very confident.

He doesn't like sweets.

Taiyo is the oldes twin of BoruMitsu, she is daddy's girl (Boruto), very energetic but also she can be calm when she is focus

She make fun of his brother Tsuki bc she's taller than him

Loves to play cards with Mitsuki bc Boruto always loses to her

[yuenai]

[yuenai]

Little babies 🥺✨💙💛

Pequeños bebés 🥺✨💙💛

(10/09/22)(09/10/22)

[yuenai]

Little sun ☀️

Pequeño sol ☀️

(13/09/22)(09/13/22)

[yuenai]

The little twins are dancing✨✨

Los gemelos chiquitos estan bailando✨✨

(08/08/22)

[yuenai]

No se dibujar a personas de cuerpo completo, pero se hizo lo que se pudo...

I can't draw full-body people, but I did what I could...

(13/05/22)

[yuenai]

Hermanos Uzumaki

Uzumaki siblings

(09/05/22)