Tokyo, everyone is drawing comics, who still wants to fall in love?.

Chapter 645 CLAMP "Saint Legend"

"Saint Seiya" is a work created 36 years ago. It is a fantasy girl manga created by the Japanese manga group CLAMP.

Speaking of CLAMP, in Oda Shingo's previous life on Earth, the early anime fans in China would definitely know about it.

Initially, it was the exquisite pictures of "Saints of the Assassins" and "X-Men" that amazed countless Chinese comic fans, and at the same time exclaimed that this guy's eyes are so big!

But the story is also very cruel. Often a super popular character is killed in a snap, making countless fans spit out blood...

At that time, few comic fans had such strong psychological resistance and could withstand such torture from the author.

In the comic world of CLAMP, every character takes promises very seriously. For a promise, they would not hesitate to do anything, even if it means the destruction of the world and the collapse of the heavens and the earth.

This is very much appreciated by female comic fans and is also an important reason why CLAMP has a huge audience in the Japanese comics industry in the last century.

Shingo Oda chose CLAMP's works because he attached great importance to this point. The appeal of CLAMP's works to girls, even after 36 years, is in line with their psychological needs.

Moreover, CLAMP's painting style is gorgeous, which is the opposite direction that Oda Shingo wants to go after "Puella Magi Madoka Magica". This will have a very good market effect.

Now is the era of print media, and it is also an era when industries such as comics are suppressed by emerging entertainment methods such as short videos. Springfield Books opened a new journal of women's comics, which is simply going against the market. It needs a huge market gimmick to seek the first hot meal.

"This time, the draft took such a long time to be drawn in the later process!" Namikaze Youhe looked at the new draft and exclaimed in surprise.

She has a very calm personality and doesn't talk much. The reason she can sigh like this is that the post-production process of "Saint Legend" is quite complicated.

"That's right! My eyes are blurry." Fujido Kaoru responded with a complaint.

She is the best computer operator in the studio, and the lamination of dot paper is now done with the help of a computer. However, it still takes up about 60% of the time for production.

This is a pretty terrifying proportion.

The average time taken by a comic studio to produce a manuscript is about 3% for the line drawing, 4% for the detailed drawing, 1% for the dialogue box, 1% for the background, and 1% for the proofreading. However, this ratio will vary greatly depending on the comic style.

For example, the most time-consuming part of Puella Magi Madoka Magica was storyboarding, and Shingo Oda almost taught Reiko how to draw storyboards remotely. Even in the early stages of the collaboration, Shingo Oda had to draw simple line drawings first to lay the foundation for the storyboards.

The time spent on "The Legend" was mainly spent on rendering the atmosphere of the dot paper.

CLAMP was not the best in the Japanese comics industry in terms of the use of halftone paper, but it was definitely the studio that was most likely to put in the most effort. Many of its works also achieved excellent visual effects by making extensive use of halftone paper.

That was the era when dot paper was cut and pasted manually. Many dot papers were not made with single-sided tape, but were pasted in the form of white paper copies, which required extremely high patience and meticulousness from the operators.

Akiyama, who was born in Clamp, once lamented that when she worked at Clamp, she had to deal with various dot papers every day. There were many types of dot papers, and if she used the wrong one accidentally, the entire manuscript might be ruined. She was ready to complete the work with a life-threatening attitude, and even the clouds in her dreams were made of dot paper...

However, even so, after Akiyama left CLAMP, he launched "Amakuya Kai", a manga with a gorgeous style that still used a lot of halftone paper, even more than Clamp.

The reason is simple: beauty! The atmosphere is beautiful! The image of the dot paper is really suitable for women's aesthetics!

Therefore, Shingo Oda further developed the atmosphere effect of the dot paper on the basis of fully respecting the design of the master clamp. Together with Yukaze Namikaze, with the help of computers, they worked hard to bring the beauty of the dot paper to the extreme with the painting skills exceeding 90 points. With the help of the system, the painting skills of the two people, whether in terms of speed, efficiency or performance level, have been able to reproduce the original paintings of CAMP. In addition, Shingo Oda also added the understanding of the painting style of the new era, integrating the retro feeling with the trend of the new era.

"This, this comic is actually..." The new publication is currently supervised by Takano Ran. When she saw the finished draft, she was so shocked that her mouth couldn't close.

Saburo Mikami was also amazed: "It's quite different from my previous works. It doesn't look like the work of a male cartoonist at all!"

Kono Ran and Mikami Saburo came to Oda Shingo's studio together because they attached great importance to Oda Shingo's new work. They didn't expect that this work would have such a big impact on them.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a near-perfect display of details, but the characters were not drawn with much skill. However, this "Saint Seiya" uses all the dot paper setting techniques to the fullest, bringing the atmosphere of the entire work to a new level.

"The atmosphere is great! It fits the theme very well!" Takano Lan's eyes were glowing green.

She felt that not only when she was a teenager, but even if she saw such comics now, she would buy them and collect them.

"I can just imagine what kind of shock this kind of drawing would cause when it is announced in advance!" Saburo Mikami held the drawing with great care, as if he was afraid of damaging the work of art, and spoke excitedly.

He was very experienced in the industry, and thought back to the fact that no cartoonist in the past decade or so had been able to develop the dot paper technique to this degree.

And most importantly, the main plot of this work is a fusion of some legends such as Buddhism, and the painting characteristics of the dot paper perfectly set off the atmosphere of the story.

"If we don't make it public, it may have a greater market effect," Oda Shingo suddenly said.

"Hey?"

"Not public?"

Oda Shingo smiled and said, "Yes, let's make the market out of stock in the first phase, how about that?"

"Out of stock?" Saburo Mikami was stunned.

Can a new journal be out of stock? Impossible. The first print run of a comprehensive comic journal needs to reach 50 copies in order to distribute the goods. Because if the printing is reduced, the channel fee will not be reduced.

However, due to the lack of an established readership, most people buy it on a whim. There are definitely very few comic fans who can really follow the cartoonists who change their positions. Therefore, it takes several months for new magazines to be distributed before most of the initial issues are digested.

Even if it was because of Oda Shingo's great reputation, there wouldn't be too many fans following him. After all, the former god of comics in the Japanese comics industry also encountered a cold snap when he switched to other magazines. After all, the buying habits of comic fans are difficult to correct.

Oda Shingo saw the hesitation of the two and explained, "What I mean is that my work will be kept completely confidential. But I believe that it will definitely create a market atmosphere of shortage after it goes on the market!"

"We reduce circulation? But online subscriptions..."

"Believe me, 'Saint Legend' is a comic that only physical copies can be used! The electronic version won't quench your thirst at all!" Oda Shingo was full of confidence and raised his head and said, "Reduce the shipment volume! I know that the normal shipment volume is 50 copies, right? We will only ship 30 copies, and the rest... we will hold back for a week! Hehehe."

Oda Shingo laughed wickedly.

(End of this chapter)