Hidetsugu Yoshioka Special Interview at eHOBBY, 8/17 - Volume 3 Up! Options

[Powered Convoy]

http://www.e-hobbymagazine.com/english/inf...on_en/4599.html

[Sprocket]

That was a fantastic interview, and Hydra's a fantastic interviewer. It felt so complete that I'm honestly surprised there's still two parts to go.

Japanese artists were also publishing their own adaptations of titles like Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, and Moon Knight.

...Moon Knight?

[DrSpengler]

He's bald! I wonder how old his TFWiki headshot must be.

Yoshioka's my favorite Transformers artist, so this was great to read (and can't wait for the rest). I mean, it was always clear that he took a lot of influence from Western comics, but it's interesting to hear it from the horse's mouth, partiularly precisely where his influences came.

And even more fascinating to hear about the ready availability of the Marvel G1 comics in Japanese book stores in the 80s:

Looking at your unused works in particular, it seems like you centered a lot of them on characters from the Marvel Transformers comics. Did you have much knowledge of those, as well?

Yoshioka: If you can call it knowledge, during the 90′s a lot of imported US Transformers comics were sold in shops around here. You could pick them up at Manga Forest or the Parco Book Center. These days, you have to go to specialty shops. They had all the issues of G2 at a shop right near here.

I thought that was interesting to hear. Books like Generations always made it seem like the existence of Marvel's comics were totally unknown to Japanese fans (until said guide came along), so it's fascinating to know that they were importing and selling them. For those unable to read them, I often wonder how they felt about the art and layout? Being so story, dialogue and character driven, the Marvel books were far less dynamic and action-oriented than their domestic manga (at least, a lot of the time) and maybe not so much fun to just look at.


Too bad Yoshioka's so dismissive of his own work and doesn't really want to talk about stories and pieces specifically because they "embarass" him. I know that's not an unusual attitude for artist's to have, but it is kind of a shame that he only sees the flaws in his art. The guy really is superb and deserving of longer form storytelling than the 3-4 page bonus pack-in minicomics that Takara and ehobby have been having him do for the past few decades. Bad tlansration and all, those extended comics for the Masterpiece Black Optimus Prime and Ghost of Starscream were great. I've been dying to see him do a proper full-length comic.

[Blot]

I'm not too surprised. Yojiveaka Amano also cites Western comics as a big influence on him. His biggest peeve was that you had to buy off what the cover showed, and sometimes the cover artist wasn't the interior artist.

Edit: Seriously? We're swear filtering it when it's in the middle of a word? Oh come on now. Just know that the Jive you see is not actual jive, folks.

This post has been edited by Blot: Aug 2 2012, 11:39 AM

[NightViper]

I'm not too surprised. Yojiveaka Amano also cites Western comics as a big influence on him. His biggest peeve was that you had to buy off what the cover showed, and sometimes the cover artist wasn't the interior artist.

Edit: Seriously? We're swear filtering it when it's in the middle of a word? Oh come on now. Just know that the Jive you see is not actual jive, folks.

That's just how the swear filter software works.

Remember when it wouldn't let us type Bill Fagerbakke back during Animated?

[Sabrblade]

What's the source of those Thunderwing and Megatron art pieces?

[Powered Convoy]

Yeah I read the interview immediately and it's nice to finally get some info about and from Hidetsugu. I've always been a huge fan of his work.

I really liked how candid and natural the interview seemed.

[Hydra]

Glad you guys liked the first installment of the interview. This is something I'd wanted to do for quite a while. The first part is kind of a warm-up establishing his background and interests, and we really get into in-depth discussion of Transformers and other series in the 2nd and 3rd parts.

It kind of sums up Yoshioka to say he's like the Shattered Glass Pat Lee. He's incredibly modest and laid-back, and flat-out refuses to boast about his own work, but produces art that is, in my opinion, among the best. Fitting that his quote in the Visual Works interview was, "It's not all about Pat Lee. Don't forget the artists like Herb Trimpe."

The Thunderwing, Megatron, and Stranglehold were from a big binder of his art that he drew for fun and just brought to a meeting one day.
I thought the stuff was so great that I wanted to use it for something.

Spengler, I think you're likely to enjoy some of the contents of the third part. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-silverbolt.gif)

-Hydra

[DrSpengler]

Spengler, I think you're likely to enjoy some of the contents of the third part. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-silverbolt.gif)

-Hydra

Ooooooooooh. No fair teasing!

[Hydra]

And, part two is up!

http://www.e-hobbymagazine.com/english/inf...on_en/4726.html

Loved Yoshioka's sly comment about movie Optimus.

-Hydra

[Powered Convoy]

Another fantastic interview. I'm really enjoying these.

Also glad to know that was Waverider and not Diver in the comic (even though he was killed by Unicron).

[Sabrblade]

The comment about it being Waverider instead of Diver in the e-HOBBY manga almost makes it sound like he sees that manga being tied to the Marvel Comics continuity instead of the JG1 cartoon continuity.

[DrSpengler]

Man, he is REALLY well-versed in his Marvel Transformers. Impressive.

And that Webworld and Only Human art is great. It has Tomy's copyright on it, so I guess it's official. What did he do it for?

Also, my question! Woohoo! It's good that he knows he has a strong fanbase in other countries around the world; that his art is appreciated by a diverse array of Transformers fans.

But they don't have Transformers conventions in Japan? I thought they had BotCons over there? Or was that a flop and they only did it a couple of times?

[Sprocket]

I don't think there's been a Botcon Japan since 1999 or 2000. I don't think specialized conventions are all that popular in Japan anyway.

Maybe he could be a guest at CybertronCon, since it's the official Asian convention.

[Hydra]

To answer a few questions, all the e-HOBBY fiction for that period was written based on the Japanese animated series, but Yoshioka does like to put nods to the comic in his work. I was convinced that it wasn't Diver before I confirmed this with him, as Diver would presumably be a lot smaller in his Pretender shell.

None of his work shown in these articles has ever been revealed before, as they're mostly characters that he drew for his own enjoyment. The Tomy logo was inserted at their request.

An official TF-only convention hasn't been held in Japan since 2000. I'm one of the people who would love to see the return of BotCon Japan.

-Hydra

[Sprocket]

Knowing Yoshioka does art in his spare time has me wishing he had a pixiv account. As it is, more new Yoshioka art is always welcome.

Thanks, Hydra!

[MrBlud]

Yoshioka: I wouldn’t have Optimus go that far. That’s what Cliffjumper is for. Him or Warpath. They’d shoot Decepticons in the back.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-silverbolt.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-silverbolt.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-silverbolt.gif)

[The Phazer]

Aww man, I'd love big copies of some of that artwork. It's lovely.

[Sabrblade]

Not trying to steal Hydra's thunder, but Part 3 is up.

http://www.e-hobbymagazine.com/english/inf...on_en/4847.html

Covers TMNT, G-2, and Beast Wars.

Also, DUDE, ReBoot aired in Japan! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-ironhide.gif)

[Hydra]

Well, that wraps up the 3-parter. I was excited to hear him talk so enthusiastically about TMNT.

The Crossblades package art pic doesn't seem to to be showing up right, so I'll have to fix that on Monday.

-Hydra