{"id":1706,"date":"2022-09-18T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:03:21","slug":"artist-interview-mukai-makito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/artist-interview-mukai-makito\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Interview: Mukai Makito"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_section et_pb_section_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_section_regular et_block_section\" >\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_row et_pb_row_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_block_row\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et-last-child et_block_column\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>Continuing our artist interview series, today\u2019s interview is with <b>Mukai Makito,<\/b> who has illustrated two Waypoints manga so far: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/project\/what-do-you-want-episode-1\/\">\u201cWhat do You Want?\u201d<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/?post_type=project&amp;p=1581\">\u201cWilling and Able.\u201d<\/a><\/strong> This interview was conducted by email, and has been translated from Japanese.<\/p>\n<h4><b>First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?<\/b><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>I was born and raised in a pastor\u2019s family, the first of three sons. I like reading \u2014 I read all kinds of books. I always carry several books in my back pack and read them on the train. I also like coffee, and make coffee every morning for myself.<\/p>\n<h4><b><br \/>When did you first become interested in manga and illustration, and how did you get started as a professional?<\/b>\u00a0<\/h4>\n<p>I have liked drawing ever since I was a kid, but it was when I was a junior high student that I started drawing manga.\u00a0I studied animation at a vocational school, so I practiced drawing there. Shortly after graduation I was invited to work on Waypoints, so that was my first professional illustration work.<\/p>\n<h4><b><br \/>Who are some of your favourite artists, or biggest influences?<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>One manga artist I really like is Daisuke Igarashi. I especially I love \u201cUmwelt,<i>\u201d<\/i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>his short story collection. His work has a mysterious and poetic atmosphere to it that makes me feel comfortable when I read it. His artwork has simple and elegant touch that is really beautiful. Both the story and the illustration resonate with each other<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>and interweave in a really beautiful way.<\/p>\n<p>When I\u2019m drawing I look at various animator\u2019s art books for hints and reference.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a Christian, so I hope somehow to be able to tell Bible- or faith-based stories. This is what motivates me.<\/p>\n<h4><b>What has your experience working on Waypoints been like?<\/b><b><\/b><\/h4>\n<p>I\u2019m always excited about being involved in sharing these Bible stories. I believe that there must be something only I can draw, and enjoy this challenge.<\/p>\n<p>In order to help the reader see the world of the Bible even a little more clearly, first of all I try to imagine things from the characters\u2019 point of view, and then begin the work. Doing this, I discover new perspectives and messages I never noticed before. So I feel like rather than my faith influencing my work, working on this project has deepened my faith.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_divider et_pb_divider_0 et_pb_divider_position_center et_pb_space\"><div class=\"et_pb_divider_internal\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_post_nav_0 et_pb_posts_nav nav-single et_block_module\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3639,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions\/3639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waypoints.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}