Nina Matsumoto Interview

Photo courtesy of Nina Matusmoto

Nina Matsumoto is a cartoonist whose work I became interested in when I came across her book Yokaiden in a bookstore. I've followed her work online and her blog since then. Recently she posted a piece about some of the things an artist might deal with when working for a major book publisher. I thought this piece was interesting and important as the issues she brings up affect not just her but any artist who is looking to be published and is being published currently. Nina was kind enough to talk more about some of the points that she brought up in the article.


Nina Matsumoto's website can be found at http://www.spacecoyote.com/

CC: Can you talk a little about yourself and your work?


Matsumoto: My name is Nina Matsumoto, better known as "space coyote" online. I'm a Japanese-Canadian comic artist who's still pretty new to the comics industry -- only 3 years. But somehow, I've managed to have three books published (Yokaiden 1 & 2, my own series; The Last Airbender Prequel, a movie tie-in) and done some work for Bongo Comics; one of their stories I worked on won me an Eisner last year.


CC: Would you talk about your history as a comics reader?


Matsumoto: I've been reading comics since I was very young. I read manga growing up -- classic ones such as Doraemon. I also read a lot of manga magazines sent from my relatives in Japan, so I was exposed to many different genres. When I was in grade school I became more acquainted with American comic books and comic strips (Spider-Man, Bone, Simpsons Comics, Strangers in Paradise, Calvin & Hobbes), but my main love was always manga.


CC: You've recently written a post on your blog about the struggles you face as a cartoonist, in particular to the style you work in at the moment. Could you talk a little about your development as a cartoonist, talk about how you started out, what artists influenced you originally, how your work differs now than say 5-10 years ago, and what choices your making artistically now maybe versus when you were younger?


Matsumoto: I've been drawing since I was a toddler. I copied what I saw, so my work had a lot of manga-isms to it. However, in grade school, I wanted to be a newspaper comic strip artist like Bill Watterson or Gary Larson. The older I grew, the more interested I became in doing longer, more dramatic storylines, with more realism to the artwork. During this time, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball were big on TV, so whenever I expressed interest in drawing and doing comics, people expected me to "draw Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball" just because I was Japanese. This was when I was getting into American comics and desperately wanted to draw in an American style (I loved Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, John Romita Jr., Adam Hughes), so it was frustrating that no matter what I drew, the other kids in school would say "that looks so anime". I always disliked living up to other people's expectations of me based on my race, and I didn't want to be a stereotypical Japanese girl who drew anime. But no matter how much I tried to draw in an American style, I couldn't do it. I liked the little "mangaisms" in Japanese comics too much. I couldn't betray what I liked doing best. I now don't mind being the "typical" manga-drawing Japanese artist at all. It doesn't matter what I draw, as long as it's what I truly love and comes to me most naturally.

Stylistically, my comicking has gotten more grown up in recent years. Fewer manga-isms such as sweatdrops and anger marks, and leaning more and more toward realism. This is not because I'm forcing my style to be more mature -- my style is evolving on its own.


CC: You also point out in your post is that you are in fact of Japanese decent. I thought this was an interesting point because many Western artists who have been influenced by manga and anime in the last 20 or so years are people who are not of Japanese decent, myself included. How much of your drawing style do think is just an extension of the melding of both your Japanese and Canadian heritage? How important to you as individual and a creator is your cultural heritage?


Matsumoto: I whole-heartedly believe that had I not been surrounded by manga and other Japanese media, my style would be very different today. I was greatly influenced by those things as a child. I did not grow up watching animated Disney features like many of my friends have, but if I had, my style may have been more western.


I wouldn't mind having a western style at all. I like both. But there is something nice about having a style that is tied to my heritage. I actively rejected manga style when younger, so it feels nice embracing it now. I don't think hanging onto your cultural identity is necessarily a mandatory thing and I don't have pride in my heritage (I don't believe in having pride in something you didn't work to achieve), but it is important to me, because it says a lot about my artistic background.


CC: Another point you brought up that I thought was important is talking to your editors and them talking about from what I'm interpreting is marketability. How important is it for you working with a major book publisher to make work that they know how to market? Is this something you have to consider when working for a major book publisher?


Matsumoto: I don't blame publishers at all for basing their publishing decisions on what's marketable and what isn't. Unless the artist is particularly well known, publishing their work is always a big risk. To make sure the one's work will find an audience is of benefit to the publisher and artist. That's why I'm open to adjusting my style if need be -- besides, I enjoy trying different things. I'm still a growing, inexperienced artist, and I'm still trying to find what works best in the industry.


CC: Another thing that you bring up are issues of style. How important do you think style is to marketing yourself as a cartoonist? Do you think that the way you draw and the stories you tell as a cartoonist were a factor in getting your books published?


Matsumoto: Style is important -- your style needs to have a specific audience, should you attempt to market it. It also needs to have something in it that is unique to you. There needs to be something there that only you can bring to the artwork. And I'm confident that no matter what style I draw in, my artwork has "me" in it. That is my main selling point.


CC: This is a little off topic but I think it's a tangent to the subject were talking about here, you recently worked on a prequel book for the live-action Avatar the Last Airbender movie. I remember you talking about how you had to adjust things a little stylistically. Can you talk a little about the experience of working on that book and the differences between working on that and working on your own work?


Matsumoto: Time was a big issue in this project. The schedule was very, very tight, and so I decided to do a completely black and white "sketchy" style to save time. Had I drawn cleaner lines and used lots of toning, it would've taken twice as long. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made in order to make deadlines -- I believe it's part of being a professional.


CC: Something I picked up between the lines and I might be reading a little too much into things here, is that as an artist you don't feel that your style nor growth as an artist has really solidified, that you're still trying to figure things out. How true is this? How important is it for you to not get locked down into one particular mode of working?



Matsumoto: I would agree to that, but I don't believe any artist is truly ever finished finding themselves.


CC: On a final note, can you give any advice to young cartoonist based on what you've learned from this experience?

Matsumoto: Whatever you do, do what you like best.