Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea)

10th March 2006

Number 51 - "Just like Mr. Miyazaki's pictures aren't they"

In parallel with the creation of the plot,
I mobiliziled all the various resources I has accumulated up to that point, such as the scenes I had thought out and the related materials I had collected, and drew and painted[1] image boards.

Image boards are to show the staff etc. the image of the work through pictures, so I pasted the image boards I had done[1] up on one wall of the preparation room[2].

Then, the people who saw these pictures, done in pencil and watercolour, all said together:
"They're just like Mr (Hayao) Miyazaki, aren't they".

When I heard this,
I didn't feel especially ashamed or angry,
probably, if anything, I felt more embarrassed: "but you can see I painted it so badly".

The reason why,
is that while I wrote before he got "zero points as a father",
I deeply respect Hayao Miyazaki the director from the bottom of my heart.

And, though this wasn't something I was consciously aware of until I tried to do the image boards[1],
aside from whether they were good or bad,
I was unable to draw any pictures other than those like Hayao Miyazaki.

Translator's Notes

[1]: Japanese "egaku" [描 く], used here, refers to both drawing and painting. Unfortunately for this translator, he has both painted with watercolours and drawn with pencils to create these image boards, so I've finessed the translations a little.

[2]: This is "jumbishitsu" [準 備 室], I don't know whether this is actually a work room, and if so, what they prepare there, or if it's just their break room.