General Miura art questions

I was wanting to ask, Berserk has amazing detail, has a great ink style to it. Its very impressive.

So what I'm wondering is, when Miura is sitting there, how big are the original layouts, and art pieces? Are they much bigger than what comes out on the manga? Do they scan them down? I would think they would be much bigger to allow him to get the incredible detail in the panels. Does any know the default size of medium he uses?

Pen wise, does he use a "tech pen" ? Thats what we called them in our commercial arts courses. I'm not sure what the professional pen definition is.

I hear he has a team thats kinda with him, what do they do, edit the original by adding/messing with contrast between the light and dark? Do they shade? Do they add the quote boxes? Or they there to help simply publish the art? Does Miura do all the story boarding or what not?

Death May Die said:

So what I'm wondering is, when Miura is sitting there, how big are the original layouts, and art pieces? Are they much bigger than what comes out on the manga?

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Yes, obviously they're much bigger. I don't have the exact dimensions in mind right now, but they're a lot bigger than YA's B5 format, which is itself twice bigger than the tankōbon (B6 format).

Death May Die said:

Pen wise, does he use a "tech pen" ? Thats what we called them in our commercial arts courses. I'm not sure what the professional pen definition is.

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He used a G-pen in 2002. They're common in Japan, but I don't think you'll have been introduced to them in your courses. I can't guarantee you he hasn't changed since then though.

Death May Die said:

I hear he has a team thats kinda with him, what do they do, edit the original by adding/messing with contrast between the light and dark? Do they shade? Do they add the quote boxes? Or they there to help simply publish the art? Does Miura do all the story boarding or what not?

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Miura does all the storyboarding himself, of course. And most of the work, really. He has 5 assistants nowadays, more than he used to have: Yoshihiro Kurosaki, Akio Miyaji, Nobuhiro Hirai, Naohide Nagashima, Chigusa Amagasaki.

I don't know all the intricate details of their work, but here are excerpts of the recruitment offer that was in YA a few years ago:

Aazealh said:

Twice a month approximately, the assistants should go to downtown Tokyo (for 5 days per month in total).

The salary is 15,000 Yen a day (~ $140), but it also depends on the individual skills. They've got a bonus twice a year, and they're guaranteed to work (and get paid) at least 8 days a month. They're served food while working.

To be recruited, you have to send some works (that won't be sent back), a Curriculum Vitae and a photo. The illustrations required are one drawing of a human with armor and without armor (nude?), one drawing of some backgrounds (ex: castle and nature), and one drawing of some effects, beta-hura (panelling, page editing, ?), and screentone. It's just to check their aptitude (high quality isn't needed).

They're mainly seeking background artists for now, as well as effect artists. Just a few assistants (2 or 3) are needed.

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If you want to see a clear example of what the assistants do in an episode, check one with people standing in the background, and look at their faces. Those drawn by the assistants are much cruder than those by Miura.

Cool, thanks.

Its kinda funny to think, that some where Miura probably has more or less a super size version of each volume of Berserk. Wouldn't many like to get their hands on those.

I've been thinking maybe doing some Berserk art, maybe free handedly transcribing a manga page into a bigger size, just to see how far I can get before I give up. I've done it before, just not with such detail. If any thing maybe I will do some character art. I just want to use the same ink technique.

I imagine the dimensions used are 11x17. And then, for double-page spreads, they probably just combine two 11x17 artboards and go from there.

That's the standard for American comics and I've also seen some manga artists use that format as well. There's really no telling unless you had an inside source or found a random employee who actually cared enough about your question to take the time to check.

So, yeah, I would go with the industry standard of 11x17 artboard.

Interesting thread. I literally JUST started on a graphic novel and I'm working on plain 8.5x11 20# printer bond. I was thinking about going larger and may start doing things on 11x17. Thanks for the info!

I've been very curious as to Miura's workflow as well.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Just wanted to say i love the forums so much, its great to find a place with so many people as obsessed with Berserk as i am!

just wanted to say that i found this info very interesting! i've often wondered how many peopel are on his team and how the whole process works so thank you for sharing