2008 [12th] Japan Media Arts Festival Award-winning Works

Manga Division

Cartoon 2008
© Kikuchi Masafumi
Encouragement Prize

Cartoon 2008

Frame Manga

Artist : KIKUCHI Masafumi

(Japan)

Summary

A Single Frame Manga that condenses profound humor, satire, and into one succinct image. The tales are skillfully woven together by title and image, and can be enjoyed irrespective of culture or language. This book is a collection of 19 pieces of the artist’s existing works.

Profiles

KIKUCHI Masafumi

KIKUCHI Masafumi

Born in Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 1941. After retiring from the Mainichi Newspapers Corporate Seibu Head Office, he started to devote himself to drawing one frame manga. He was awarded the Kondo Hidezo Prize at the 15th Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest, Excellence Prize at the 32nd Japan Cartoonists Association Awards, a prize at the 47th Belgium Knokke-Heist International Cartoon Festival, to name a few.

Comment

It has been 40 years since I was first fascinated by one frame manga. It has a profound humor, combining satire with comedy and condensing them into one page. I am very glad and proud that my work has been awarded the Encouragement Prize of the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival. Thank you very much.

Reason for Award

I was surprised by the high level of skill involved in this award-winning work. The artist approaches his subject with a sharp and critical point of view, and has the vision to integrate and express his ideas in one accurate and succinct picture. The illustrations are simple and friendly, which facilitates the conveyance of the topics beyond age or area; a long cultivated insight and skill is perhaps what makes this possible. Although nowadays One Frame Manga (cartoon) is not as popular as it once was, I hope that the artist will continue to keenly perceive potential dangers and convey warnings about them to society in this time of uncertainty.

8 Questions for Award-winners

Q1
What makes you create a work?
A1
I came across the call for applications for this festival on the internet and decided to submit an entry to the Manga Division.
Q2
What tools do you use the most at present?
A2
I am using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop together.
Q3
What do you place greatest value on in your work?
A3
I value economy of expression as a foundation, and then objectivity on top of it.
Q4
What personal concept runs through your creative activities?
A4
It is timeless humor.
Q5
When you create a work, in what way do you think of a presentation using technologies or media as a means to communicate?
A5
Each advancement in the technology of expression has increased my motivation to create. At the same time, I feel a responsibility towards media.
Q6
Could you name a person, a work, or an event that you have been most influenced by?
A6
I have loved drawing ever since I was a child. I was influenced by the painting style of the late AKIYOSHI Kaoru, and his works, Todoroki Sensei or Heino Bontaro; I imitated them many times.
Q7
What kind of work would you like to create in the future?
A7
I am trying to create humorous art from both a Japanese and a worldwide point of view.
Q8
What is the meaning or importance of creating for you?
A8
It is brain training for me.