"Imagine the people and the world

It breathes life into it.”

Vol.9

Manga artist and illustrator

"Writing tools"

Hisashi Eguchi

Live comfortably. You will shine.
Lineart Charmant 15th Anniversary Special Interview Project

A person who is full of radiance is sure to have the best partner by their side.

When you become one with a wonderful partner, you can shine endlessly.

Line Art Charmant also wants to be a "partner" that is close to people and helps them shine even more.

From the stories of 15 professionals active in various fields

We will unravel the secret of the brilliance that comes from a sense of unity with your partner.

People who are full of brilliance are sure to have the best buddies by their side. When you become one with the perfect partner, you can shine endlessly. That is also the idea behind Line Art. We want to be close to people and increase their brilliance.

We will speak with 15 professionals active in a variety of fields and unravel the miracles that unity brings about and the secret of its brilliance.

Live in comfort. You will shine.
Lineart Charmant 15th Anniversary Special Interview Project

Vol.9

Manga artist and illustrator

"Writing tools"

Hisashi Eguchi

- A childhood obsessed with manga

Born in Kumamoto Prefecture, Eguchi Hisashi has been drawing since he was a child, as long as he was given paper and writing implements.

"Ever since I was old enough to understand, if I was given paper and a pencil, I would always be drawing some kind of picture. My father loved new things, and our house was the first in our town to buy a television, so I was also obsessed with TV. I would watch live-action superhero shows and draw them. Then when the Astro Boy anime started, I was constantly drawing Astro Boy."

From around the third grade of elementary school, I started thinking up stories and drawing comics with panels.

"What I was drawing at that time was a heartwarming tale about brothers. It was a trivial story, but it was fun because it was important to me to 'draw manga' rather than just draw pictures as I had done up until then. After that, my father was transferred and we moved to Chiba Prefecture. Until about the third year of junior high school, I had the idea of becoming a manga artist, but in high school I became obsessed with Yoshida Takuro and became absorbed in songwriting and guitar. However, I think when I was about 19 years old, I realised that I didn't have the talent for that. Then I had this mysterious confidence that I had manga, and that I could do it with manga (laughs)."

In 1977, when he was 21 years old, he spent about three months drawing "Terrifying Children," which was selected for Shueisha's monthly newcomer award. He also won the second prize in the Akatsuka Award, a gateway to success for comedy manga. In the fall of the same year, he began serializing "Go!! Pirates."

"At that time, there were strict standards for how manga should be, and only works drawn with ink and pen would be accepted for submission. I hadn't really drawn anything properly with a pen until I was about 20 years old, and I had no experience as an assistant or working for doujinshi, so it was a struggle after I became a professional."

- Depicting even invisible emotions and the feeling of the times

In 1981, the serialization of the smash hit "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" began. As fans took notice, he began to feel pressured to meet deadlines.

"It's not that I dislike the job, but drawing a manga on a weekly basis is just hard work. Looking back, I think doing a weekly serialization was a good experience, but at the time it was just hard to be chased. With manga, you have to sacrifice your private life to create a world. It's a job you can't do unless you're prepared."

Although he was worried that a week was not enough time to complete the drawings, the characters drawn with beautiful lines were becoming increasingly popular.

"I originally wanted to do comedy, so I wasn't really that interested in drawing when I debuted, but in the weekly survey that Jump runs, if I include a girl in my drawing, my ranking goes up. I began to feel that being able to draw girls was a strong weapon in my arsenal."

Around 1990, he shifted his focus from manga to illustration, and since then has continued to draw in a variety of media, including record and CD jackets, family restaurant menus, and advertising visuals.

"It makes me happy to see my work become a part of people's lives. There is still a lot I have yet to do, and I still have many ideas in mind for the next book I want to publish."

The women who appear in the work all have a universal quality, while still exuding the atmosphere of the times, and are vibrant and charming. Where and how do you capture the images of these attractive women?

"You can feel the mood of the times just by walking down the street and talking to people. I don't think that just getting older means you can't paint young girls. Young people and older people are the same in that they're just living normal modern lives. In Japan, there's a trend that artists should be young, but American bluesmen become cool even after they're over 70, so I'd like to become an artist like that. I'd like to be able to paint more generations, and adult women and men, in the future."

This photo shows Eguchi Hisashi's "partner" writing instrument and the Ginza cityscape, sketched from the second floor of the Charmant store during a break in filming.

The glasses worn this time are the La Campanella Collection XL11011 DB (limited to stores). The authentic round shape is smooth and rounded, hand-polished by a skilled craftsman. The reddish, lustrous brown frame accentuates the sense of luxury.

- Drawing is like sports, you get better with practice

Since I started focusing on illustration work, the tools I use have also changed.

"Dip pens may have been suitable for the manga of the printed version era, but it is a hassle and time-consuming to have to dip the pen in ink every time. They are not suitable for coloring either, so I have a collection of pens in various sizes called "mili-pens", which can draw lines in millimeters. The tip of brush pens gets crushed after a few drawings, so I mark the pens in good condition with the Hattifattener I got from Moomin Cafe. I try out milli-pens and brush pens from various manufacturers and from each category to choose the best ones, but I only choose what is easy for me to use. Different people have different compatibility with stationery, so I don't recommend any particular stationery to people. I have been using the same brush pen for over 20 years, so I do worry about what I would do if it were discontinued, but ultimately, as long as you have a good eye and hand, you can draw with any writing instrument."

During the live sketching that takes place at the exhibition event, I started off drawing with a ballpoint pen without any preliminary sketches.

"It was for practicing how quickly I could grasp things. I'm not the type of person who can draw as easily as breathing, and even though I didn't think I was that good at drawing, I hated steady practice and effort. However, after I became a professional, I realised that, like sports, you can get better at drawing through steady training (laughs)."

Just as he uses his favorite brush pen or millimeter pen to create unique lines, he used to use glasses with different strengths depending on the process.

"My eyesight started to deteriorate around the third year of junior high school, so I started wearing glasses during class. I only started wearing them all the time after I became a manga artist."

Girls wearing glasses sometimes appear in the illustrations he draws.

"I like girls who wear glasses. I want to draw even the thickness of the lenses properly. With glasses for myopia, the outline of the character through the lenses becomes distorted, but I enjoy drawing them that realistically. When drawing the profile of a person wearing glasses, some manga artists omit the temples because they don't want to cover the eyes, but I can't accept that. I want to draw the glasses properly."

- Stress-free glasses make your work more comfortable

Eguchi Hisashi, whose glasses are a trademark among his fans, has a collection of over 50 pairs of glasses.

"My face looks different when I take them off, so every time my prescription changes, I end up buying a similar pair again. But in the end, I only use two or three pairs on a regular basis. If I'm going to be working for long periods of time, I can't use pairs that make me tired or hurt. It's important that they are comfortable to wear and stress-free."

Line Art Charmant uses "Excellence Titanium," a material that was developed over a period of eight years. This unique springy material allows for a flexible fit.

What was your impression of the timeless glasses that Eguchi Hisashi came across this time?

"They're very comfortable to wear. The temples are curved and feel like they wrap around your head. If the glasses don't fit properly, they can leave marks on your nose, but with these you don't have to worry about that. Glasses are a part of fashion, just like changing clothes, and you can never have too many. When you add in the stress-free fit, it seems like you could have a lot of fun with them."

The year 2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of his career as an artist.

"If someone suggested I do something, I'd consider it, but I'm not really thinking about it that much myself. Rather, right now I feel like I want to draw manga while I can still move around. I got too lazy in my 40s and 50s, and after I turned 60, I started to feel like I didn't have much time left. The work of drawing manga is hard, and it uses up both physical and mental energy, so it's tough, but I hope to continue enjoying it.

What does writing instrument mean to Hisashi Eguchi?

Just as Eguchi Hisashi's carefully selected pens are his "partners" that help him realize his ideas, Line Art Charmant will continue to aim to be a partner that is close to everyone and makes their lives brighter.

Photos: Yoshihito Sasaguchi (SIGNO)

Realization: Tomoko Shimizu

INFORMATION

"COVER ART COLLECTION OF EGUCHI HISASH"
(Published by Shogakukan in 2023)

This art book brings together the frontispieces of almost all of Eguchi Hisashi's manga, from "Go!! Pirates," "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" and "Age," to "Paparinko Monogatari," "Sho Trilogy Short Stories," and "Irregular," and offers a comprehensive look at the history of Eguchi Hisashi's manga drawings.

PROFILE

Born in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1956. He made his debut as a manga artist in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1977. Since then, he has published works such as "Go!! Pirates" and "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" in the same magazine. His innovative pop sense and unique drawings have had a huge impact on the manga world. He also began working as an illustrator in 1983. He has worked on a wide range of projects, including menu illustrations for the family restaurant "Denny's" (which he was in charge of for five years from 1992, and will be revived in 2023), magazines, advertisements, novel book covers, CD jackets, and character designs for anime movies, and his works, which incorporate the fashion and culture of the time, are supported by a wide range of people. In 1992, he won the 38th Bungeishunju Manga Award for his short story collection "Explosion Dinner Show." Since 2015, he has held many exhibitions of his works at art museums across the country, including the "KING OF POP Exhibition" and "Her Exhibition." All of his manga original drawings will be housed at the Yokote City Manga Museum in Akita Prefecture from 2022.