Hikaru Yajima and The Art of Manga

Manga artist Hikaru Yajima and Baton no Hoshi

Today in Tokyo manga artist  Hikaru Yajima introduced the art of manga, an art form she adopted after leaving her corporate career. 

Manga forms much of the source material for Japanese anime, part of what gives Japanese animation its unique character and flavour.  

In today's workshop students had the opportunity to draw their own manga panels, with a theme set by Hikaru Yajima. 

About Hikaru Yajima

Manga by by Hikaru Yajima

Born in Tokyo in 1988, Hikaru Yajima began her career as an office worker, working as a graphic artist for a big corporation.  

Eventually she got fed up with being asked to "whip up a quick re-do for next week", and left to begin a new career as an independent manga artist. 

Baton no Hoshi

Among Hikaru Yajima's manga works is the series Baton no Hoshi ("Star of The Baton") - first published in 2018. 

Manga Workshop

The theme for today's manga workshop was to draw "a memorable phrase inside a manga panel".  The students were given a manga template to work from, as well as pencil and paper. 

Story, Story, Story

All the animation students in the audience got a chance to show their work.  Among Hikaru Yajima's comments were that drawing skills - while undoubtedly important - are actually secondary to the ability to tell a story.  In manga, it is the story that is king. 

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