Mitz Vah Volume 8.5 Interview

Mitz Vah Interview (Volume 8.5)
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•	Encountering 「Tensura」

——First I want to ask you about how you become the chief illustrator of 《That time I got reincarnated as a slime》 (「Tensura」 for short).

•	Mitz Vah
The chief editor emailed an invitation to me, which I agreed immediately and replied 「Hope I can be of help」. The series has already gained very high popularity on web novel sites, but it was then that I got the chance to encounter 「Tensura」.

——What did you think when you first read the series?

•	Mitz Vah
The story was very natural, not the type that forces you into the world, but uses the characters and attractions of the world to draw you in instantly. You get the sensation that you just got through a video level alongside Rimuru.

——Could you briefly tell us the process from start to finish of drawing illustration?

•	Mitz Vah
 (Vague, need checking)
First I receive instruction to draw, which I will not only take into considerations of the character impressions discussed by chief editor and Fuse-sensei but adding my own element as an artist into the illustrations. Afterward I submit rough sketch -> Line draft -> complete illustration and that’s about the basic process.

——Please share about what sort of focus do you have on designing and illustrating.

•	Mitz Vah
First of all, I think 「Art Style」 is the most important thing, so i would consider what type of style would attract the readers most. You have to be full of confidence and think 「My choice is the strongest (best)」 and it has been a persistent pursuit of mine to draw with such mindset! Right or wrong doesn’t matter, all it matters is being 「The strongest」 *laugh*.

——You must see most value in that initial idea.

•	Mitz Vah
Yes. But keep in mind that this is all to accommodate the actual work (series), so compromise has to be made when necessary. One must have such tolerance in mind.

——Is there any specific example?

•	Mitz Vah
I would specially keep in mind regarding the design of details to keep them as simple as possible. Also, the characters’ faces on sketches may become blurry because they are too small, so I have to properly prepare to prevent such issues.

——There are many characters in this series, so it must be hard trying to assign unique characteristics to each one of them in drawing?

•	Mitz Vah
There are a lot of things I keep in mind in order to draw out characters with unique features, but I still can’t confidently conclude whether they are perfected, so I will work hard to improve that!

——This series is an another world (isekai) fantasy story, Mitz Vah-sensei usually draws illustrations related to games and movies, or the so called medieval western fantasy style, the two styles seem to have a lot of differences.

•	Mitz Vah
I often receive comments like that, there’s no wonder why I draw those type of illustrations so much since Akira Toriyama-sensei who illustrated 「Dragon Quest」 (same author of dragon ball) and Kamui Fujiwara-sensei (author of the dragon quest spinoff manga) had a deep influence on me.

——「Dragon Quest」 had a medieval European due to the design by Akira Toriyama-sensei, so it also entails it has a manga style. In some other interview, Fuse-sensei mentioned that 「Speaking of equipments in my imagination, it would be the extravagant and cool-looking heavy armors from fantasy MMORPG series.」, Fuse-sensei also used examples that were more akin to 《Wizardry》 ,《Lord of the Ring》 or series heavy with those styles to describe his view of fantasy world setting

•	Mitz Vah
I see, if you are going to compare it (Akira’s design) to those medieval fantasy style games or movies with heavy armor and gears……. Then it is quite unfavorable to drawing and series with heavy manga style. I often get the feeling, that’s why I never made the change (to manga stye), since I think it is a classic and thus more charming way. So I continued drawing with that spirit!

——A very clear-cut and powerful answer, thank you *laugh*. Who was the hardest character to draw then when you were designing with that spirit?

•	Mitz Vah
If I consider the self-doubt I had before moving on with the draft, the slime-form of Rimuru was the most difficult. As soon as I thought of slime, the image of that slime from 「Dragon Quest」 had already become a super difficult obstacle in front of me. I really drained my head trying to battle through it in search of an acceptable design *laugh*.

——Then, which character do you like?

	Mitz Vah
Worry and love are two sides of the same coin, so from an illustrator’s perspective I personally like the slime-form Rimuru the most. As a reader, I really like Karion. I think having this character as the enemy both gives off a straight-forward frankness and pressure at the same time. He is also very chivalrous. A very cool guy.

——There are a lot of characters who haven’t had an illustrated image, is there any character that you want to try to draw the most?

•	Mitz Vah
Even though I sort of drew her back once, I look forward to officially finishing the design of the female chosen hero. Unlike the protagonist, I really want to try drawing the 「Chosen Hero」 type character.

——With the many drawings such as cover page and illustrations to this day, do you have a favorite drawing?

•	Mitz Vah
I already really like drawing picture with an army of Demon Lords, so I really want to try it even if it’s some other fantasy series. Due to this reason, I really enjoy the colored page in volume 6 (2nd colored image)!

——Is there any other memory (you have for the series) apart from drawing illustrations?

•	Mitz Vah
I usually wouldn’t get such an opportunity, so that’s why when all the relevant people working on 「Tensura」 gathered for drinks with the purpose of hosting an encouragement feast (party tradition in Japan to get staff motivated), I was so glad to have the honor of meeting everyone. It was the best memory!

•	Mitz Vah’s road to becoming an illustrator
    ──您是什么时候开始画画，又是从何时开始立志当职业画师呢？
——When did you start to draw, and when did you make up your mind to become a professional drawer?

•	Mitz Vah
I was on the crossroad of life filled with worries, but that simple high-school grade two me was also thinking about where I was heading in the future. I’ve come the conclusion of 「I want to become a mangaka!」 despite not drawing manga before. If I have to give a rough estimate of when my road as an illustrator begins, it would be the moment I started to draw. It was also the moment I made up my mind to become a professional illustrator.

——What type of activity (drawing) do you participate usually?

•	Mitz Vah
I’ve posted original work on twitter of PIXIV, at the same time I mainly take part in taking commissions for drawing book covers or illustrations.

——What is your favorite genre of drawing and the best at?
    みっつばー
•	Mitz Vah
I like drawing with themes of shonen or seinen.

——Here’s some of my personal view, after seeing your work on PIXIV, I feel like that you really like the world view of punk with spikes…… Or should I call it that the atmosphere of them feels like playing visual or rock music.

•	Mitz Vah
The comment from bystanders calling them 「It’s just like doing music!」 makes me happy. But it is not my intent to emphasize on the music elements. In fact I haven’t done a lot of drawings with those themes. My drawing can have a punk or rock vibe no matter what style (direction) it goes with. In other words, I’m very good inserting this spirit of 「ROCK Drawing」! Pardon me for this complicated explanation!


——In your past interview, you mentioned that 「In the current age of drawings of cute and beautiful girls everywhere, I adhere to the principle of “Drawing male characters”」. Has that principle remained the same still?

•	Mitz Vah
Yes, that hasn’t changed yet and has always been my focus (strength). I just want to spend all my energy in 「Wanting to draw cool pic」, but I believe in order to have high-standard performance in that regards, 「There’s no other way than having a male character」. For instance, the feeling of 「How cute!」 would downgrade the feeling of 「Handsome/cool」, so I draw with the intent of avoiding that to be the case.

——I see, it makes a lot of sense. And in contrast, do you have any insistence when drawing heroine and bishoujo (beautiful girl)?

•	Mitz Vah
I want fashion then! Just now I said a lot about male characters being cool and all, but I actually really enjoy designing costumes for girls *laugh*. I don’t go the route of 「Cool even though it is a girl!」, that’s why I would keep in mind to make it the priority to make them cute to the point that they move me with the feeling.

——Let’s talk about any writer/artist you like the most.

•	Mitz Vah
There are too many to count, for mangaka I will give the examples of Kamui Fujiwara-sensei, Eiichiro Oda-sensei (author of one piece), Masashi Kishimoto-sensei (author of naruto)! Every single character from the work of these artists no matter their gender or age are all drawn with great charm. That is a truly challenging thing to pull off. For illustrator, I particularly like Yoshitaka Amano-sensei (illustrator of final fantasy series). I can never replicate/learn how he draws his female characters, they have the characters of beauty and cuteness combined, I think those illustrations are the highest form of 「Coolness」......

——Have you considered yourself always under the influence of these artists?

•	Mitz Vah
Yes. I get the feeling that I will draw like them too, directly influencing me from liking their work to making them my target to reach.

——Let’s talk about the working environment when you draw.

•	Mitz Vah
All of my linear drafts are drawn on paper with mechanical pencil. Then I will color them with Photoshop, but lately I feel it’s about time to switch to CLIP STUDIO!

——Have you been having any hobby other than drawing illustration and manga? Any way to relax your mind and body?

•	Mitz Vah
Disregarding whether I can afford or not, I’ve been browsing famous brands of clothings I like online and going shopping at second-hand clothes stores with my friends. Theres are all very effective methods.

——By the way if you may enlighten us, do you often read light novel?

•	Mitz Vah
Honestly, I haven’t read any light novel all my life, nowadays unless it is my hand-drawn work I seldom actively read them…… And that’s just that!

——Then 「Tensura」 must have provided you a quite valuable reading experience. From the point of view of a reader, what is the most memorable scene or story that you have read up to volume eight?

•	Mitz Vah
In overall I think it is the whole arc of fighting against Clayman, especially the preparations before the war type feeling is particularly charming to me. The execution plots were very straight-forward and feel-good, but since I actually quite like the character Clayman, I feel quite conflicted throughout the arc *laugh*.

•	Hopes for the future

——Do you have any hope or request for instance the future direction for 「Tensura」 in the future?

•	Mitz Vah
Storywise, Rimuru has made it clear how he hopes the world and nations to develop, so I hope his wishes come true. I want the feeling of someone watching alongside him as he continues to adventure. Basically I love happy ending! And if it ever gets animated one day, I would be super high, so I look forward to that day!

——It will be quite the arrangement if become true, what do you think of the manga version of the series being released on monthly-shonen?

•	Mitz Vah
It’s quite worthy of celebrations. Progressing towards that direction will certainly attract more readers to the series, and that would be the happiest thing in the world.

——Since Mitz Vah-sensei has created the original image of the characters, how exactly would you help modify for the manga version?

•	Mitz Vah
The already designed characters can just be used right away, if the original work don’t have the image, the manga will then have to submit the design draft of this character and then the character sheet for the manga would be made. As for minor characters who don’t even have name, I’ll leave it to the care of the author of the manage version Taiki Kawakami-sensei.

——What other endeavors would Mitz Vah-sensei want to attempt in the future?

•	Mitz Vah
I want to try to publish doujin (normal ones) in events such as Comic Market! Because I won’t get my identity exposed in those type of events, my willingness to participate on those events has honestly become very high.

——That would be something to look forward to for the book fans as well! And lastly, let’s have you say something to the readers.

•	Mitz Vah
It is honestly the happiest and most reassuring thing for me that I can putting out my drawings for everyone to see. I genuinely thank everyone who has been supporting this series, and those who we will encounter in the future and become a supporting pillar of my heart.