is a Japanese
manga artist
A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga.
Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...
. He originally worked as the chief assistant for
Masashi Kishimoto
is a Japanese manga artist. His manga series, ''Naruto'', which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014, has sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 countries as of May 2019. The series has been adapted into two anime and multiple films, vi ...
's
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series ''
Naruto
''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
'' from 1999 to 2014. After its conclusion, Ikemoto was chosen to illustrate the 2016 sequel series, ''
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations'', working alongside writer
Ukyō Kodachi.
Biography and works
As a child Ikemoto was a fan of ''
Bikkuriman'' stickers. However, since he could not afford them, he instead drew his own stickers. Ikemoto's friends enjoyed them so much that they started buying stickers from him. By this point of his life, Ikemoto felt he had the talent for art.
In March 1997, Mikio Ikemoto submitted his first one-shot
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
, titled ''Cosmos'', to the manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump
is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
'', for which he won a Tenkaichi Manga Award. The one-shot was later published in the July 7 issue of the magazine, gaining a small
cult following despite its mature subject matter. ''Cosmos'' was then serialized in ''Monthly Plasma'', an
independent manga magazine, from June 1997 to September 1999, and a sequel one-shot was published in the April 26, 1999 issue of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''.
By this time Ikemoto had become interested in the work of fellow rookie manga artist
Masashi Kishimoto
is a Japanese manga artist. His manga series, ''Naruto'', which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014, has sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 countries as of May 2019. The series has been adapted into two anime and multiple films, vi ...
. Upon hearing that Ikemoto had been contacted by
Shueisha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
to work as an assistant on a comedy series and was moving to Tokyo, Kishimoto felt that his art would be wasted on that genre. With work beginning on the ''Naruto'' serialization, Kishimoto asked his editor, Kosuke Yahagi, to scout Ikemoto and recruit him as an assistant. Ikemoto was grateful for the offer, since he felt that ''Naruto''s genre was what he had originally wanted to work on, and accepted the job, beginning work with the seventh chapter. During the early days of making ''Naruto'', Ikemoto was Kishimoto's youngest assistant, and the latter jokingly said this made him and his other assistants envious.
Ikemoto's responsibilities included drawing crowds and background figures, adding white to speed lines, highlights and characters' eyes, whiting out art that went out of the panels, putting stars in night skies, and adding in half-tones.
He was also occasionally tasked with creating the designs for new characters. Ikemoto recalls how often Kishimoto requested his help with adding more details to the manga chapters, leading him to draw more clones created by
Naruto Uzumaki
() is the title character, titular protagonist of the manga ''Naruto'', created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a ninja from the fictional . As a boy, Naruto is ridiculed and ostracized on account of the Kurama (Naruto), Nine-Tailed Demon Fox—a ...
as well as an unspecified character who could become giant.
When the manga ended in 2014, Shueisha asked Kishimoto to start a sequel. However, Kishimoto rejected the idea and proposed that Ikemoto draw it based on the experience he had. Kishimoto advised Ikemoto not to imitate his art style and instead make his own. While noting long-time fans might be disappointed with the fact that Kishimoto is not drawing
''Boruto'', Ikemoto stated he would do his best in the making of the manga. Ikemoto mentioned he remained optimistic about his art style. Kishimoto also revises the manga's scenario.
Besides illustrating the manga, Ikemoto also provides illustrations for the ''Boruto''
light novels. The manga had one million copies in print as of January 2017 while
Studio Pierrot also produced an
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series based on it.
Style
Aside from ''Naruto'', Ikemoto said his art was influenced by ''
Kinnikuman
is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. ...
'' and particularly ''
Dragon Ball''. He noted that the lack of tone in
Akira Toriyama
was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...
's art makes drawing easier and said he still uses ''Dragon Ball'' as a reference for his own action scenes. Ikemoto admitted he is pretty bad at drawing comedy, but also noted that the way the story of ''Boruto'' has evolved does not lend itself well to comedy. While feeling honored to create the art for ''Boruto'', Ikemoto stated he feels grateful that the series is released monthly rather than weekly due to the stress the latter could bring since the required amount of pages is nearly 20 per chapter. However, Ikemoto still finds the monthly serialization challenging. Regular chapters of ''Boruto'' tend to surpass 40 pages, with one week required to create the thumbnails and 20 days to produce the pages while the rest of the time is used for coloring or giving the chapters other touches.
His drawing methods involve Criterium mechanical pencil on IC's paper for the sketches. He uses ink for finished drawings. Despite the differences between their art styles, Ikemoto uses Copic's markers for the colored pages, similarly to how Kishimoto did with ''Naruto''.
The
''Boruto'' anime's director Hiroyuki Yamashita said he enjoys Ikemoto's style, praising his oblong landscape layout for frames. He found Ikemoto's style more realistic than Kishimoto's due to the former's attention to the character designs' details. He also pointed out that Ikemoto's way of illustrating
Momoshiki Otsutsuki's new appearance after consuming
Kinshiki Otsutsuki surprised him due to how different it was compared to the original design from the
''Boruto'' movie. Amy McNulty of ''
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
'' shared similar comments, particularly regarding the way Ikemoto's art resembles Kishimoto's as well as how well-illustrated his fight scenes are.
Manga author
Yoshihiro Togashi stated he enjoyed Ikemoto's artwork, praising his style.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikemoto, Mikio
Japanese illustrators
Manga artists
1977 births
Living people