Today we’re interviewing Hackto Oshiro.

Hackto Oshiro is a talented artist and the colorist for Gladstone’s Revenge living in Fukuoka, Japan.

You’ve seen their work on the cover for the Mummy Girl double-feature as well as being the colorist for the Mummy Girl, Ghost Girl and Martian Jones stories from the Gladstone’s Double-features.

MARK: First, it’s an honor to work with you. Armand and I really admire everything you’ve brought to Gladstone’s with your work on the series. Thank you for doing this interview.

Hackto: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for creating such an amazing work of art. I would’ve never expected to directly work with you on Gladstone’s series, which I love very much.

MARK: Manga, of course, is popular as a style in Japan, but I see a lot of other influences in your work, and you have a wide range to your art. I think that’s really refreshing. Could you talk about your influences?

HACKTO: I used to watch anime and play games when I was younger, but the more I went to an old friend’s house and watched Cartoon Network together, the more I fell in love with western design styles, especially with their simplicity. I remember thinking that I wanted to create something like that, appealing not only for my country, but for the whole world, and that’s exactly the style I tried to develop for myself.

Then, I got to see fairy tale illustrations, and I fell head over heels in love with their dainty details and lines, especially Edward Gorey’s and John Tenniel’s. Their works strongly influenced me.

MARK: I think that’s interesting, and it makes sense. I’ve been working on writing a new project and I’ve been referencing John Tenniel a lot. I remember Edward Gorey’s illustrations from when I was a kid watching BBC shows and they would have them in the opening. You also got me into ‘Over the Garden Wall’ which I didn’t know about before, but I fell in love with the series. I think recently, I can see a touch of OZ material on your Instagram.

I wouldn’t have guessed about Cartoon Network being an influence in Japan, but now I feel like the pieces of a puzzle are coming together and I understand.

I’m a fan and I’m looking forward to the day that I can pick up your comic work where you do everything and tell the complete story.

Are you watching or reading anything good these days?

HACKTO: I’m a fan of John Tenniel and I’m very curious about your new project. I can’t wait for the day you reveal some information about it!

I think it goes without saying, but I’m fond of Halloween as a concept, that’s why I draw so much about it and my style often reminds people of that. ‘Over the Garden Wall’ is on a league on its own for me. I value it so much I’m absolutely sure that it’s my favorite cartoon of all time for now. I’m extremely glad that you mentioned it, thank you!

Everyone has a personal perception of Halloween, finding different meanings, stories, and viewpoints in it, and ‘Over the Garden Wall’ is simply the product clearly expressing what a Halloween setting should be like for me.

People commonly show scary monsters, homicidal maniacs, trick or treat and stuff like that, but I feel like making those elements the main point of this concept is generally superficial and wasteful. That’s why I love ‘Over the Garden Wall’ so much: it fundamentally speaks of life and death, mourning for late ancestors and many other topics that piece together what I believe the true essence of Halloween is.

I could go on about this forever, so I’ll drop it for now lol

Is that so? I’m more inspired by Alice’s adventures in Wonderland than The Wizard of Oz, even though I love both.

John Tenniel’s illustrations greatly inspired me, especially Alice’s. He is my main influence and I still enjoy drawing parodies of his artworks.

Almost all my stories are set in the past, not in present times, and many of their main characters are children. I also tend to go for fantasy stories, so I can tell Alice influenced me deeply!

Lately Maurice Maeterlinck’s “The blue bird” really piqued my interest! I never tried to read a masterpiece so “old”, especially not a stage play, which tells their story very differently from a standard book. It’s been such a peculiar reading that I started studying how to lay my comic scripts down like that as well.

Also, I found the personification of abstract things — like night, light and time — extremely fascinating!

Old fairy tales and vintage designs are very inspiring to me.

MARK: What are your career goals? What medium do you usually work in, and do you illustrate comics? Are you trying for comics, art, prose, animation, or a combination of these?

HACKTO: My first goal is to publish my comics worldwide. There are lots of things I’d like to do, try, and experiment at the same time, so I can’t really tell what’s my ultimate goal after that 😀

I’d love to try creating a game, doing animations, and trying 3D modelling; I’m interested in all of these challenges.

Putting aside what I’m doing with Gladstone’s series, I usually work as a colorist, as a character and visual designer.

I’m working on my comics alone for now, but one day I’d like to show them to some publisher and see if we can strike a deal.

MARK: I hope so too. Do you feel like a publisher is the only way to go or would you ever consider self-publishing or doing a Kickstarter?

I know there are a lot of factors at work. Some people just wait, and it has to be ideal conditions because self-publishing might not be considered as prestigious, but others sort of kick down the barriers by themselves and they don’t ask anyone for permission.

Do you have any feelings about this? I’m in favor of people doing what feels best to them, but I also encourage people to take the reins also.

What kind of format for a published book are you thinking of and is there a particular genre?

I think you could do a 22-page floppy easily and simple and fast to print or publish anything over 100 pages as a book in China and sell it on Kickstarter in the US.

HACKTO: People here in Japan tend to show the countless comic publishing houses their work.

That’s the fastest way to gain more readers and to get their popularity to rise.

Unluckily, even the best of products might go unnoticed for a long time without a good advertisement campaign.

In my case, since I managed to find Gladstone’s thanks to Image Comics, I’m thinking to work with a foreign publisher, then go back to self-publishing in a later moment.

I wish to draw a full color fantasy graphic novel, which would be great for children but also strike a chord with adults.

I didn’t know anything about publishing in China. thank you very much for telling me! I’ll treasure this information! No matter how big my dream is, I need money to reach the results I want and get ready for what’s needed, so you just addressed quite the vital issue.

MARK: I’m kind of surprised that you discovered Gladstone’s from Japan. How did you first find out about the series?

HACKTO: I first found out about Gladstone’s from an article that was written in Japan by someone who was familiar with foreign comics. At the time I was into American comics like DC and Marvel, so I was very intrigued by the new setting of a school for villains. And especially, Armand’s illustrations with anime elements are very attractive and easy to read for Japanese.

MARK: This is incredible in my opinion because usually things come from Japan to the US but it’s rarer for things to head from the US to Japan. So that’s nice to hear. I think we also debuted a few years before ‘My Hero Academia’ haha. I wish we could get translated over there or maybe pitch Gladstone’s for animation in Japan. Both Armand and I feel very fortunate to have you on team Gladstone’s.

HACKTO: I feel the same!

Recently a lot of western products are getting translated to Japanese, this isn’t a rare thing anymore. Bande dessinée is getting quite popular now.

If some publishing house were to take Gladstone’s under their wing and translate it, I’m sure it would have what it takes to appeal the Japanese audience.

Speaking of which, recently this publishing house started translating American comics, like Devil’s candy.

There are also comics from Taiwan, I strongly suggest you to go check them out (they’re all gonna be written in Japanese, though)!

https://note.com/aokishi/

MARK: How long does it usually take you to color a page or draw a cover? What is your work process like? For Gladstone’s were you doing more of your own thing or trying to match what came before in the earlier books? Do you usually listen to music while you work?

HACKTO: It takes me about 4~8 hours to color a page, and about three days to complete a front cover.

However, I use a lot of that time to gather data and resources.

I study the script thoroughly, asking myself what feeling it should convey exactly. I make sure to understand what time and weather is in the scene, and then keep going with trial and errors to achieve the best way to express it for me.

I pay particular attention to lights and shadows because they’re never easy for me. I think I need to study them better…

In Gladstone’s case, I used the previous entries as references to keep the same mood.

I use colors which give off a vintage feeling when I work on my personal projects. They are usually dull and very different from the ones I need to use for Gladstone’s, so I have to keep that in mind.

I feel like superhero comics need polar opposite colors compared to the ones I usually use: lights and shadows must have huge contrast and colors must be vivid. Everything must convey how “powerful” the story and visuals are.

I always listen to music which conveys the same feeling of what I’m working on to me.

That way I can get even more absorbed into the vision that brought the story to life.

For example, recently I listen to pop music when I need to convey something positive, and to gothic-sounding or generally “heavy” music when I need to convey something dark.

Music is absolutely essential for me when I work.

MARK: Do you have social media that you would like to share here or your website so that people can follow you?

HACKTO: I sure have, thank you very much for asking!

You can find all the news about me on twitter (@hxkxtxxxn)

Otherwise if you want to check my portfolio out, go for the link below

http://villains-hackto.com/

If you allow me, let me leave my trusted translators’ twitter here too (@Nappysubs). I’m grateful for their help! I’d like to give them the credit I believe they deserve.