Art Block Post #7

Konichiwa! Going away from painting media to enjoy some info on one of my favorite Mangaka (Manga artist) Hiro Mashima!

Hiro Mashima was born on May 3.1977 and grew up in Nagano, Japan. For as long as Mashima can remember he wanted to be a manga artist, so his grandfather would find discarded manga for him to read and trace.  His two main insperation manga are Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Yudetamago's Ultimate Muscle. Mashima wanted to go to art school after high school to refine his manga drawing skills, but he detested the idea and self taught himself the style instead. He has also never served as an artist's assistant. In 1998 Hiro created a 60 page manga called Magician, which won him the Amateur Manga Artist's competition. Then in 1999 he made his debut with his popular manga Rave Master, which he finished in 2005. Hiro's next big series FairyTail, is a spin-off in a way of Rave Master. His other works include Monster Soul and Monster Hunter Orange. Mashima was the notable guest at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con. Mashima's assistants often refer to him as Superman for his work habits. He is one of the fastest Mangaka in the field. The typical work for a weekly Shonen magazine artist is roughly about 20 pages of completed draft, 20 pages of rough, and maybe a colored page. Mashima's record is 65 completed pages, three of which were colored, within a week! Many Mangakas envy him for this and the fact that he still manages to get in seven hours of sleep a day! A fun trivia fact is that his main characters have been named after the seasons:
Rave Master: Haru= spring
FairyTail: Natsu= summer
Monster Soul: Aki= autumn
Monster Hunter Orange: Shiki= four seasons