Continuing our series of artist interviews, we bring your part two of our interview with Ryo Azumi, illustrator of this month’s “A Desperate Woman,” among other Waypoints stories. Today, she tells us a little about her artistic influences and her experience as a Waypoints artist. (Click here to read part one if you missed it).
Who are some of your favorite artists, or biggest influences?
Looking back, one day when I was in my second year of junior high, I was really impacted by seeing “The Poe Clan” by Moto Hagio on display at a bookstore. The style was totally different from any of the girls manga I was familiar with at that time. If not for that encounter, I would have stopped reading manga around junior high, and would not have become a manga artist. I think it was the same with many others of my generation.
Outside of manga, I love Caspar David Friedrich, a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, and Henry Patrick Clarke, an Irish book illustrator.
What else inspires you artistically?
I like historical themes, and since high school have been really into Scandinavian Viking history — the culture, mythology and history. I have worked on creating manga adaptations of the Old Testament, and feel like it is a magnificent historical drama about God and humanity.
What has your experience working on Waypoints been like?
I really enjoy getting to draw for Waypoints. I’d already been thinking that it would be interesting to create manga that turns the spotlight on minor characters who only appear in a few lines, instead of the main characters in the Bible. So when I receive a script for Waypoints, I excitedly think, “Who is it this time?”
Who indeed…? Click HERE to read more manga about these minor characters and their life-changing encounters.