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'Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure' creator shares manga-making secrets, Hemingway influences in new book

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By Casey Baseel, RocketNews24

You won’t find many manga authors who’ve achieved more success than Hirohiko Araki. In 1986, Araki put the finishing touches on the first chapter of supernatural brawling saga "Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure," and the series has just kept going from there.

With over 100 collected volumes of "Jojo" already published, and who knows how many more until its seemingly tireless creator runs out of steam, Araki is undoubtedly a font of knowledge about crafting a successful comic series. As a matter of fact, you could say he wrote the book on how to make a successful manga, and you’d be right both figuratively and literally, thanks to the soon to be published "Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Techniques."

Shueisha, which also serves as publisher for the collected editions of "Jojo" and the "Ultra Jump" anthology the manga’s monthly installments run in, is set to release the book on April 17. Divided into seven major sections, "Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Techniques" covers topics such as how to create characters and plot a story, as well as the importance of maintaining a clear world view, tying all elements to a theme, and expressing as much as possible through the art itself.

Araki is more than just a manga fanboy made good, as the book details his adherence to the golden ratio in visual design, as well as the way his storytelling methods have been influenced by American author Ernest Hemingway. And as proof that Araki has put in genuine effort honing his craft, as opposed to just skating by on his natural talents, compare these two pieces of "Jojo" artwork, one from Volume 1, and one from Volume 113, to see how much his style has evolved over the last three decades.

While the main draw of the book is, of course, Araki’s words, there’s also a bit of artwork to look forward to. Most books in Japan are displayed and sold with a paper wrapper around the cover, and the one for "Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Techniques" features a self-portrait of the author, posing with "Jojo" character Rohan Kishibe.

"Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Techniques" can be ordered here from Amazon Japan for 842 yen.

Source: Comic Natalie

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Jojo’s bizarre coffee – Anime characters to grace cans of java in Japan -- Quiz: Can you guess which hugely popular manga artists these desks belong to? -- JoJo’s All-Star Battle Train to promote Jojo’s bizarre new fighting game

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