Report

The first session in Seoul was followed by a second in Tokyo, which took place in the week 16-21 September. It attended 21 visitors from Italy and South Korea, who tackled workshop assignments with Japanese participants. They also participated in the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival (which commenced on Saturday 16 September), among other things, attending the symposium for the award winners.

Four groups were engaged in a production based on the Italian masterpiece Orlando furioso (The Frenzy of Orland). They strove to complete it by mid-October, using storyboards that had been done in Seoul. It was pursued in a range of media formats, including webtoonaimation, panoramic VR picture book, and e-book. It was carried over in the final session in Tuscany in the period 27 October-1 November, with each group striving to come up with a manga version.

Two master classes were also held in Tokyo. One, instructed by the manga artist Mitsuru Sugaya, was about the unique nature of the manga medium in Japan, focusing on the current state of a comics sector that has followed its own path of development. The other, instructed by the artist (and Japan Media Arts Festival Award winner) Ryo Hirano, focused on media for creation, looking at the importance of realizing ideas without being bound to individual media domains.

The Tokyo session involved Back 2 Back (B2B) work where the drawings were done by pairs of artists taking their cue from the manner in which drawings are linked together in Japan. One artist was responsible for the left half of the drawing, while the other was responsible for the remainder. Completion entailed consideration of the other artist’s intent and feel for the material, bringing forth a creativity and talent for storytelling irrespective of the skills of the individual drawer.

The B2B works

Back 2 back(B2B) works >

The Japan Media Arts Festival is organizing exhibitions, workshops and symposia for COMIKS, a project being pursued in collaboration with the Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF) and Lucca Comics & Games.

Overview