Magic Markers

3/16/10

My weekend was pretty chill. I spent Friday and Saturday revisiting a few places, and Sunday I relaxed at the house before meeting with one of my college professors for dinner (She’s here on sabbatical until June). Monday was another day of revisiting, and today was my second manga lesson with a new teacher: Takarai Saori. She’s done many works for Japanime/Manga University already, including Manga Moods, Manga Tarot, and Manga Sisters, which she made with her own sister. Saori-san’s style is distinctly かわいい, and she has an excellent eye for color, which is what my lesson was about; Specifically pertaining to Copic markers.

For those who don’t know, Copics are God’s markers. They blend beautifully without leaving any streaking, and you can get a wide variety of shades with just one marker. Naturally, they’re ridiculously expensive, but they’re worth every penny. They can be intimidating at first though, because along with the colored markers comes a colorless blender marker. Confusing beyond all means, the colorless blender can produce some really lovely effects if you know how to use it right.

With Saori-san’s guidance, I was able to produce this little number:



Aside from being a very talented artist, Saori-san is the most adorable Japanese person I have ever met, including my professor back at school, and Hiro-san who I interviewed last January. She is a bit soft-spoken, but has a bright smile and a cheerful laugh and can bring a smile to anyone’s face. She is also extremely kind-hearted. After the lesson, she presented me with her collection of Copics and asked if there were any colors that I wanted. “I know they’re expensive,” was her reason. I declined as politely as I could, thanking her profusely and telling her that she was far too kind.

Saori-san stayed around for a little while to sign some bookmarks that Glenn and Mari will be passing out on their tour of American conventions this summer, and we chatted a bit. She asked me what I was studying, where in Japan I had been, where I was going, what manga I liked best, which ones were popular in America, etc. I answered, but found myself a little shy about asking her many questions.

Tomorrow is calling for warmth and sunny skies, so I will likely take a trip to Ueno to see if there are any cherry blossoms in bloom.