Welcome :D

Let me show you some of my 4koma (about my life with cats).
Nao-p is my nick name my friend Mami Tachibana gave me. And I call her Mami-p. Of course it comes from Wedding Peach "Momo-p". No one calls me by the name except for her, but I love the 4 koma cartoon "Go Go Momo-pi (Gan-bare Momo-p)"(In the paperbacks) so I use it. :)
Oh, I'm a manga artist Nao Yazawa, and author of Wedding Peach, by the way. :)

These "comic strips" come from my 4-koma blog (in Japanese). You can see all of them in original here. If you have a request which 4koma will be next, tell me. :D
http://yazawanao.blog97.fc2.com/
Other Japanese blog

2014/12/23

4koma Kindle manga(English) free campaign

Because Go Go Nao-p! Vol.2 English edition has been released (at last!), I set vol.1 free. From today 23th to 27th, the book is free on Amazon.

Although the 4koma which vol.2 has less than vol.1 has, it has some extra illustrations/sketches, from my other works. (Mizuki, Nozomi, Moon and Blood etc.)
I hope you enjoy! 

2014/12/21

Webcamera-test

I had a class in this morning. I was planning to run a test with a new web camera in the school and brought my note PC.  (for an online class)

I bought my PC more than 3 years ago, it doesn't work well sometimes now, but the school have no PC for web camera.

I wanted to have a skype test with USA, but it was canceled. Still, I need to check if I can operate the camera with my note.

For some reason, when I the PC on, "updat 200 of 125057..." WHAT? I had to wait 30 min. until the boot up.

it was the first time I used web camera, but there was no help (The school has a big problem with English and PC >_<;) There was no manual, just only one paper, it explained you need to DL software with drawings.

Find the exact file and DL .... slow. Because it was very slow, I turned off Mcafee's realtime scan, but it didn't work.

Anyway, connect the camera and took some video of my hand, adjusting the height and the angle.

Done somehow.

I tried to upload it on Youtube to see how it looks like, but it says more than 20 min. for upload. I gave it up and tried to Google hangout, but I couldn't change the setting of camera, it fixed on the PC's camera. I thought about "record Video" of G+. Then - "No camera is connected" ??? Seems my note's USB didn't work well...

I was working till evening, but went nowhere. I took the camera home to check with my desktop, it's a high end machine.

Came back home and I found some poo outside of a cat litter. One put it out when she use the pooed toilet ! >_<

I uploaded the video on youtube at home, this time it took just a few minutes. Come to think about it, the video which took with a web camera  can't be large. :( My note work well (not fast, but not slow) Oh well...


If you have any good idea to take a video at your hand with a webcamera, let me know! :)


2014/12/19

NOZOMI is free on Kindle now.

I'd forgotten that I set a free campaign from 18th - 22th! ^^;

NOZOMI is English one-shot manga (all colored) . 

A shy young girl whose life changes the day she wishes on a falling star. Her wish is unexpectedly granted but not in the way she expected. A playful demon comes to Earth to teach her about love… the hard way. Full color, 59pages Cute, sweet shojyomanga like Wedding Peach.

The title free on Amazon.


2014/12/16

Kittens are not well..

I took my kittens to my vet (Moko's vet) the second preventive injection. They got the first one at the different vet from their former home, so this is the first meeting.

Kuro snivels green snot often, I asked about it. It's because of her mother (she was a stray cat), she has a chronic sinus problem, the vet said. It could be better as she grows up, I hope so. She had a clod badly when she was found, it might be the cause.
Kuro is a cat,  so she licks, not sniffs it.

Then, they passed a midnight athletic festival and just sleep. Looks languid. Kittens got fever because of preventive injection often, there is nothing worried about people said on the web. 
May is getting better till this night, but Kuro is still sleeping, don't play.Both of them ate some food (less than usual) and peed, so I think they are OK. Waite and see...

2014/11/22

Meet me at Kaigai Mang Festa

Although it's rather a short notice, I'm going to have a table at Artist Alley of Kaigai Manga Festa 2014 (23th). The space is Artist Alley C-05 "CoffeeParty"

I'll sell some Dojinshi and Books, In Search of Lost Coffee vol.3, for instance. I wanted to bring The Isolated Zone/Shinku Chitai, but it's too heavy and I gave up.

I don't take a panel in this time, but I'll bring a file (has some original drawings) for extra space of my table. (maybe I have...) Come to my table and see them! If you like manga, it would be interesting.



After then, I joined Special exhibition of Artist Alley at Ichigaya, from 24th to 28th.
(Dainippon Insatu Ichigaya Show room)
大日本印刷市ヶ谷ショールム

I'll sell books there, same books which I sell at Kaigai Manga Festa. I have a pabel here, so I did some drawings for display. I'll sell them as well book.

It's held from Monday to Friday. I won't be there all the time, and have not decided when I go and don't. Ff you are planing to come, let me know!


I hope to see you at the venue and the exhibition showroom!

2014/11/19

kittens have come.

Kuro( tortoiseshell)and Mei (calico) came to my home today!
They stayed under a big chair at first.

But play a lot.

Cat walk

Ate food and peed in the new cat litter. 

Have been settled on the chair now. 

2014/10/18

If I keep my cats inside?

...but now, I agreed to adopt 2 cats from a local shelter - they want me keep cats inside. 

I asked my vet (Moko's vet) I was thinking to have one or 2 kittens, so if he had any idea. Then he gave me a phone number, it's a lady's from the local cat's shelter. (These shelters don't allow you to adopt cats/dogs if you were single, so I hesitated to contact them...)

The lady from the shelter asked me if I could take cats, although they were not kittens. (They were not in the shelter, too) They were stray cats, the guys from animal shelter caught them  for spay surgeries. She said if I didn't take them, she had to let them go - and she was worried that they might not thorough the winter.  

She said she let me borrow her cage for the cats, means - they are so wild enough I need a cage to keep them my home... ? Of course I won't let them out, they would go straight back home once they get free. I have to keep them inside whatever my thought is - actually, I still think it would be nice for cats being free, run field, hunt little creatures, have fights sometimes - even it makes their life short. 

I'll keep them inside, anyway. I just hope they'll get used to the new home soon.  (I've not seem them yet, so I have no idea if they are big and strong or not. I don't now when they come to me, too. Maybe soon. )

2014/10/15

Keeping cats inside.


Since Mi-ke had hardly become friendly(still she comes to my place and eats some food), I'm, thinking about animal shelters. If I take someone, it should be now. Because I have no plan to go to abroad so far, I can stay home until new one get used to the new place.

 But the condition says you need to keep cats from the shelter inside the house. And...what if it makes Mi-ke keep away? What if I caught her after I adopted someone? Mmm-!

2014/10/12

Printing Doujinshi in West

...is complicated!

*Aww, not "past" but "paste"!! ...never mind!
The book was printed very nicely. but...



Related articles

Print shops in Europe

Typesetting of Moon&Blood German edition.

2014/10/05

When do you start reading manga?

I had 3 things to do during my Europe Tour this summer.

One: Having 4 days intensive lessons at Toulouse Manga
Two: Having a meeting with Saeko in Paris for Kaigai Manga Festa.
Three: Attending a convention in Austria. (AniNite)

I've had manga-workshop sometimes, at museums, conventions, high schools etc. But it was the first time I had intense lessons at Manga School in overseas. 4 days, from morning to evening... I had time to know my students and talk with them.   
C-chan, the school director think manga means panel work (manga-style illustration is not manga. I agree with her) So we put "making storyboard" in the program. The time was too short to learn storyboard, the concept is very Japanese, it's very difficult subject. but C-chan wanted student learn the idea of Manga Composing and we thought listening what the artist try to show with composing was good, even the student couldn't understand everything,

After a short lecture, I asked students to make 2 spread pages storyboard based on a scenario I wrote. (I used some part from my work Moon and Blood) The students nodded during the lecture, they understood what I was talking, but still, when they compose the storyboard, the storyboard was not like manga, something between comic/BD and Manga.

In the students panel-works, the characters were still, something flat, they didn't have manga-dynamism. The (imaginary) camera didn't move as well.

If you ask me "Can Japanese students compose a storyboard with dynamism, even if they are beginners ?" - the answer is "No, they can't." Still, the kind of clumsiness is something different from Japanese one.

During the classes, I asked to students when they started to reading manga. The answer was around 12, rather late than I thought. I knew they watched anime since they were little kids, but not manga. Why? Someone explained because there were not so many translated manga for kids, the main stream was for teens, that's the reason.
The students

I said "we Japanese start to reading manga at a very young age, so Japanese learn manga grammar(manga rule, in other word. Knowing how to read manga is the first step knowing how manga should be composed) without knowing. In that point, you got a late start than Japanese, this might be a huge disadvantage. You need to learn harder than Japanese." (hahaha, what do you think you are? - a teacher! )

After back to Japan - I read a story on twitter, it was about some manga expressions were rejected by an editor because the reader (kids) can't understand the style. WHAT? Japanese kids can't understand manga expression??

I've drawn manga for little kids at some magazines such as "Korokoro Comic" "PyonPyon", and my editor asked change some words because he thought it was too difficult for kids, but I've never asked to change the manga expressions. It was ages ago, (nearly 20 years) so the situation has been changed?

Personally, I think you don't need to change both expressions and words, because readers learn from new things. It's ok as long as the whole manga was fun.
BTW, this is Wedding Peach anime-manga which was on a magazine for kids from Shogakukan. This magazine is for preschool children. They don't know how to read manga yet, so it has the number in every panel. (this image hasn't because I put off the number cell when I scanned the image) you know, the first panel has (1), the second does (2)...

I regret that I didn't ask student if kids had chance to read manga belonging to elder brother/sister or friends. I'll do next time. 

2014/10/02

Sparkling Eye step-by-step Tutorial

When I posted a shojo style drawing on Manga Bangaichi , the comment "beautiful eyes!" amused me. It reminds me the drawing I was asked for a kind of "How to draw syojyo manga" book. The editor said "the eyes should be SPARKLING". I thought it's funny, I'd never thought "sparkling" is important.



But my experience keeps telling me that "Sparkling eye idea" is important for people who draw shojyo style manga in West. And again, this time. So I just drew and recorded it.

This is a simple way to draw manga-style eye.

BTW, The Isolated Zone vol.5 had joined to free manga line-up today! It's end on 6th Oct.
 真空地帯 The Isolated Zone Japanese edition vol.1 & vol.2+ vol.6  These titles is free now.  Kindle direct publishing. (The link goes to Amazon.com) Till 2nd Oct.
  

2014/10/01

Back home and...

Back home and realized 
The AniNite  T shirts of AniNite 2014 has the mascots on it (front), and they are... Wedding Peach!

And it has VIP on the back! Wow, I was a VIP!?
My lost luggage came home on the next day. The day I went back, I got a phone call from Lufthansa Japan and they sent it to my home. 

The luggage seemed to be treated very hard.
The bath salts I bout in Toulouse. It was very hard and I scooped out with a slapstick spoon to use it. But it came back in this shape, crushed completely. Must be shaken very hard. and little hotel soap and a mug was broken...and the little broken pieces was all over inside of luggage. :( 
There is a cup-sake inside of the mug, with newspapers. It was safe, thankfully!
(I gargle with it, it's good for your throat.) 
My absence was more than 15 days, but Mi-ke comes to me on the day I was back home. Guys who live downstairs feed her, so she isn't hungry. She left some food recently... :(

Her leftover is cleansed by a crow.

By the way... 真空地帯 The Isolated Zone Japanese edition vol.1 & vol.2+ vol.6  These titles is free now.  Kindle direct publishing. (The link goes to Amazon.com)
  

2014/09/30

AniNite (2)

On the third day, we have interview by Sascha Sierk, Acme.Nipp-on-Air 

It was the third time, AniNite 2012, Animuch 2014, and AniNite 2014. 

The program is in German of course, but I spoke in English and other guests spoke in Japanese (With German translation) 


After the con was over, we took some group photos.

After party at a Heuriger. :p

Although it has no musicians ( Schrammelmusik), it was real Heuriger and we had a lot of fun with younger wine(Sturm)!
 
The Hueriger we went to the last time, AniNite 2012, had musicians. 
From Manga Report of AniNite (extra manga of Moon&Blood1 KDP edition

The next day - the day I was going to fly to Japan. I and E-chan (AniNite) went to airport earlier, to ask about my lost luggage. Then I was told  "You said you were in Japan on Monday, we sent your luggage back to Narita" WHAT?

I was sure I said "I'm leaving on Monday". Yet, if the luggage came to me on Sunday, I had to bring the heavy luggage which I didn't use at all with me on my back flight. If it sent back directly my home, it was much better than that. 

(My friend gave me a bottle of nice wine at the last night and I had to give it up. Because I have no cabin case, it was BIG shame, though) 

The back flight (Austria airline) was nice, I was lucky. 
2 ladies in my next seat moved to other row, so I occupied 3 seats. 

The monitor was nice, not the latest but new one.


The head set plug is "one " type so I can listen The Hitchhikers Guide with my iPhone during the flight. (my headset was in the lost luggage) The triangular airline food of Austrian Airline was as well, ...why triangle?
Austrian Airline doesn't offer Oshibori (wet towel) , Lufthansa does. 

By the way...
 真空地帯vol.1 & vol.2+ vol.6  These titles is free now.  Kindle direct publishing. 
(The link goes to Amazon.com)

  

2014/09/28

Free Manga

All the "free manga" I'm talking about are Japanese edition, so just for your information...

The Isolated Zone vol.7 Japanese edition has been released via KDP. So I put some other titles on Free Campaign. The Isolated Zone vol.1 vol.2 and vol.6.

In English version is available till vol.2, at eManga.com. Because it's(Japanese edition) is free, why don't you get both version and compare them? (the quality, such as resolutions, Japanese version is better I think) 
The latest volume is "7"

And Moon and Blood 1 &2 are free as well. (The link goes to Amazon.com)
真空地帯vol.1 & vol.2+ vol.6