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Shigoto shigoto shigoto!
12/10/05 01:47Yes, it's after midnight and yet I'm wide awake and working hard on the job. ^^ I'm still amazed I was so incredibly lucky to have found this job at Viz. It allowed me to escape the torment that was Blockbuster, add some excellent stuff to my artistic resume, and I get paid to read manga. Heehee!
Today, I finished through page 72 of Nana vol 5, at my current rate of 7 pages a day. I'm ahead of my personal Nana schedule, which is good since I want to take a day (or 3/4ths of a day...) off so I can see Kioko-chan this weekend. ^^ I'm doing this a bit differently this time, since my old computer (given to me in 1999) has been officially retired and replaced with a lovely new one. Speaking of which, I have named her (yes, her) Utena. My work computer is Tsukushi. *nods* But now that I have two super-fast and lovely computers, I can change up my work style. ^^
Originally, I would open an original Viz tiff on Tsukushi, white out the Japanese, place the English test and sfx on the page, and then save the final version. But while I was waiting for the script (the translation) for Nana vol 5, I had no other work on my plate. I had already finished my 2nd series (the final 2 volumes of Tuxedo Gin), so I was working on fun/portfolio artwork. (It's been a while, too!) I decided since I already had the original tiffs for Nana vol 5, I might as well prepare the pics for lettering. So I opened them on Tsukushi, whited out the Japanese, did any sfx whose translation I was sure of, and lettered in some of the text. (Stuff that isn't going to change, like "...." or just someone's name. Etc etc.) When the script from vol 5 did arrive, I had whited out about 45 pages ahead of time. ^^ As I began lettering the pages with the script, I realized how much faster it was to just open a prepared file and immediately start on the dialogue. So once I had Utena up and running, I would continue whiting out on her while waiting for Tsukushi to open/save/print/process, and letter as usual on Tsukushi. The system works great! Plus I get to see what happens ahead of time. ^^ The only drawback is that I don't have a drawing tablet to connect to Utena, so I have to do everything with the old trackball mouse. I've become accustomed to it, though. ^^ And since I can read Japanese (with varying levels of comprehension, true) I can at least get the GIST of what's happening on those pages. ^^
Ah. As a side note, my Nana lettering is very very far ahead of where the series is at in the Magazine. The October issue (Shojo Beat #5) will contain Nana Chapter 5. I'm currently working on Chapter 14! Chapter 14 should appear in July '06's issue. Whoa! It hasn't really happened yet, but I know I'll have to be careful not to spoil any future Nana events for those who are reading Nana in the SB monthly installments. Only my friends and family know I work for Viz. I don't rub shoulders much with anime fans who aren't good friends, so it doesn't come up. I went to one convention this year, AKon, but I kept my mouth shut. Viz didn't have a booth there anyway. Almost none of the American licensing companies did. >< Gas prices, I suppose...
So to sum up, I've lettered to page 72, and whited out to page 100. (And there is some NICE eye-candy in those later pages, I can assure you!! Woohoo!! Bring on the BISHOUNEN!!)
But now, I am finally able to begin work on my 3rd Viz title, the brand-new shoujo series "Skip Beat", by Nakamura Yoshiki. The tiff files are not nearly as large as the Nana pages. (Nana is scanned at 1800 dpi, Ship Beat is scanned "only" at 1200 dpi, though my 2nd book, Tuxedo Gin is scanned "only" at 800.) Perhaps this difference is because Nana is printed in the monthly magazine Shojo Beat first, whereas TuxGin and now Skip Beat are direct-to-graphic-novel titles. I keep meaning to ask one of my editors if my guess is right, but I always forget. *waves hand* Anyway!
The art of Skip Beat reminds me dramatically of my beloved Ozaki Minami-sama, the mangaka of Zetsuai. Nakamura's men look very very similar to Ozaki-sama's style! I was quite surprised to see the similarity. ^^ Sugoi! Skip Beat is my first title to use different fonts for everyday dialogue. With Nana, I have one font for everything spoken, thought, narrated, whispered, etc etc. All the same font! The only exceptions to this are a fun font I use for shouts in comedic situations, and a fancy font for flashback dialogue. Everything else is the same font. Why? Because the editor wanted it that way. ^^ Now, with Tuxedo Gin, I used the same font for everything except whispered comments, which were done in Comic Sans. Remember, I only took over the final 2 books of this series, the previous 13 had been done by other letterers, whose style I had to match. Anyway, what I'm slowly getting around to saying is that with Skip Beat, I have a different font for dialogue, thoughts (okay, it's the dialogue font in italics, but still) the whispered asides, a "scary" font, and I'm also using the same "funny shouts" font as I use in Nana. I know switching back and forth and making sure I have the right font for the right words will be more time consuming, but it makes the official English version that much more like the original Japanese one. That's always a good thing!
*blinks* I think I've proven that I can still talk with the best of them! Perhaps beginning this Live Journal thing and joining the ranks of the bloggers will allow me to clear my mind at the end of the day.
Speaking of which, my mind just shut down. Heh. Okay then, guess entry #1 is all about work. ^^ Oyasumi....
Today, I finished through page 72 of Nana vol 5, at my current rate of 7 pages a day. I'm ahead of my personal Nana schedule, which is good since I want to take a day (or 3/4ths of a day...) off so I can see Kioko-chan this weekend. ^^ I'm doing this a bit differently this time, since my old computer (given to me in 1999) has been officially retired and replaced with a lovely new one. Speaking of which, I have named her (yes, her) Utena. My work computer is Tsukushi. *nods* But now that I have two super-fast and lovely computers, I can change up my work style. ^^
Originally, I would open an original Viz tiff on Tsukushi, white out the Japanese, place the English test and sfx on the page, and then save the final version. But while I was waiting for the script (the translation) for Nana vol 5, I had no other work on my plate. I had already finished my 2nd series (the final 2 volumes of Tuxedo Gin), so I was working on fun/portfolio artwork. (It's been a while, too!) I decided since I already had the original tiffs for Nana vol 5, I might as well prepare the pics for lettering. So I opened them on Tsukushi, whited out the Japanese, did any sfx whose translation I was sure of, and lettered in some of the text. (Stuff that isn't going to change, like "...." or just someone's name. Etc etc.) When the script from vol 5 did arrive, I had whited out about 45 pages ahead of time. ^^ As I began lettering the pages with the script, I realized how much faster it was to just open a prepared file and immediately start on the dialogue. So once I had Utena up and running, I would continue whiting out on her while waiting for Tsukushi to open/save/print/process, and letter as usual on Tsukushi. The system works great! Plus I get to see what happens ahead of time. ^^ The only drawback is that I don't have a drawing tablet to connect to Utena, so I have to do everything with the old trackball mouse. I've become accustomed to it, though. ^^ And since I can read Japanese (with varying levels of comprehension, true) I can at least get the GIST of what's happening on those pages. ^^
Ah. As a side note, my Nana lettering is very very far ahead of where the series is at in the Magazine. The October issue (Shojo Beat #5) will contain Nana Chapter 5. I'm currently working on Chapter 14! Chapter 14 should appear in July '06's issue. Whoa! It hasn't really happened yet, but I know I'll have to be careful not to spoil any future Nana events for those who are reading Nana in the SB monthly installments. Only my friends and family know I work for Viz. I don't rub shoulders much with anime fans who aren't good friends, so it doesn't come up. I went to one convention this year, AKon, but I kept my mouth shut. Viz didn't have a booth there anyway. Almost none of the American licensing companies did. >< Gas prices, I suppose...
So to sum up, I've lettered to page 72, and whited out to page 100. (And there is some NICE eye-candy in those later pages, I can assure you!! Woohoo!! Bring on the BISHOUNEN!!)
But now, I am finally able to begin work on my 3rd Viz title, the brand-new shoujo series "Skip Beat", by Nakamura Yoshiki. The tiff files are not nearly as large as the Nana pages. (Nana is scanned at 1800 dpi, Ship Beat is scanned "only" at 1200 dpi, though my 2nd book, Tuxedo Gin is scanned "only" at 800.) Perhaps this difference is because Nana is printed in the monthly magazine Shojo Beat first, whereas TuxGin and now Skip Beat are direct-to-graphic-novel titles. I keep meaning to ask one of my editors if my guess is right, but I always forget. *waves hand* Anyway!
The art of Skip Beat reminds me dramatically of my beloved Ozaki Minami-sama, the mangaka of Zetsuai. Nakamura's men look very very similar to Ozaki-sama's style! I was quite surprised to see the similarity. ^^ Sugoi! Skip Beat is my first title to use different fonts for everyday dialogue. With Nana, I have one font for everything spoken, thought, narrated, whispered, etc etc. All the same font! The only exceptions to this are a fun font I use for shouts in comedic situations, and a fancy font for flashback dialogue. Everything else is the same font. Why? Because the editor wanted it that way. ^^ Now, with Tuxedo Gin, I used the same font for everything except whispered comments, which were done in Comic Sans. Remember, I only took over the final 2 books of this series, the previous 13 had been done by other letterers, whose style I had to match. Anyway, what I'm slowly getting around to saying is that with Skip Beat, I have a different font for dialogue, thoughts (okay, it's the dialogue font in italics, but still) the whispered asides, a "scary" font, and I'm also using the same "funny shouts" font as I use in Nana. I know switching back and forth and making sure I have the right font for the right words will be more time consuming, but it makes the official English version that much more like the original Japanese one. That's always a good thing!
*blinks* I think I've proven that I can still talk with the best of them! Perhaps beginning this Live Journal thing and joining the ranks of the bloggers will allow me to clear my mind at the end of the day.
Speaking of which, my mind just shut down. Heh. Okay then, guess entry #1 is all about work. ^^ Oyasumi....