Chapter 4: The Young IC (2)

  "And so, ladies and gentlemen, this is the nominal president of Shonen IC, Jerry K. Rosscott!"

  Koizumi Ryūichirō, Takayama Shizuko, Aoyama Gashin and others who had signed with Shonen IC, the high-achieving students of Nihon University's Faculty of Art saw a five-year-old Jerry dressed in a suit sitting in the president's chair, their faces full of surprise!

  "Miss Cai Cai Zi, you're not joking with me, are you?!"

  "Miss Cai, I think I have the right to know what's going on here!"

  "How can Jerry be a company president when he's still just a kid?"

  ……

  "Everyone, please calm down!" Jerry stretched out his hand and pressed it forward slightly. "Miss Cai, I told you earlier that announcing this shocking news would absolutely put people's lives in danger! Look, I've almost become a target already!"

  The little guy's big and funny appearance immediately amused everyone else!

  "Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Cai actually just played a joke on you all, of course, this was under my instruction! Because I don't want to see our company's employees being like those in other comic companies, only knowing how to bury their heads in drawing, without any conversation or laughter! A company lacking communication and passion is one that cannot see the future! Every single person sitting here, within the next five years, ten years, or twenty years, will become a great figure just like Miss Cai. The prerequisite is that you must be full of passion! Does everyone understand what I mean?"

  "Miss Jingzi, do you have any questions?"

  "Jerry, I'm asking you, are you really only five years old?"

  "Are you all watching? You must all be like Ms. Shizuko! Even if you ask me what I'm going to eat for lunch today, that's okay too! Alright now, let's have the president of IC Youth, Ms. Tanaka Nanako, take over the meeting!"

  It's obvious that Tanaka Nana is more convincing as the president! While Jerry and Bob have become bystanders!

  At the first meeting of Shonen Jump Inc., Tanaka Nana assigned jobs to the 30 employees. In the early days of the manga company, the publishing and advertising departments were clearly the easiest, with these two departments temporarily handled directly by Tanaka Nana and Jerry. The editorial department was mainly led by Asahina Akemi, who was originally a responsible editor for a fashion magazine. The head of the manga department was given to Furukawa Ryuichiro, who was originally the president of the manga club in college. As for Takayama Shizuko, she continued her old profession as a lecturer! However, the content of her lectures had changed from dry textbook knowledge to comic applications.

  "Jerry... sir, shouldn't my job be a cartoonist? Why did it become a lecturer? In that case, what's the difference with Japanese universities?"

  "Of course there is a difference, Shizuko-san! Because here, you can learn more practical skills and pass them on to future manga artists. And as an instructor, you can also create your own manga!"

  "So, Jerry, you think the painting skills we learned before are not mature enough, is that right?"

  "That's right! That's exactly how it is!"

  "You... you're really too arrogant! Do you think you're even more outstanding than the professors? You're truly a megalomaniac!"

  "Ah ha~ Miss Cai Cai Zi has said so too!"

  "Ah~ Jerry, when did I ever say that?"

  Jerry ignored Tanaka Nana and said, "So, Shizuko-san, if possible, how about being a student for half an hour?"

  Takaishi Shizuko stared into Jerry's eyes for a few seconds, but found that this little guy's gaze was so deep that even she couldn't see through it. "So, for the next half hour, Jerry-kun, you'd better behave well. If you can't satisfy me, I'll become a manga artist!"

  "No problem!"

  "So, Shizuko-san, can you tell me about the composition of manga?"

  "Hey! Comics are composed of three elements: images, frames and text!"

  "Absolutely right. With the three elements reasonably applied, and a continuous plot divided into frames with painted borders, it becomes a comic strip. For example... " Jerry picked up his pen and drew on the white paper hanging there, creating a four-panel comic strip!

  "The simplest manga is like this! Just like writing, there's a cause for the event, development, climax and ending. Note that in the process of describing the manga, attention must be paid to the use and arrangement order of panels! For example, like this!" Again, scribbling down some rough sketches!

  "Jerry, don't you think there are too many words?"

  "Ah ha~ Jizuko-san, you actually found it! That's right, when dividing the frames, try not to include unnecessary text. Manga uses pictures as a descriptive language, if there's too much text, it's better to just ask Menusaki-san, she's good at writing! Of course, there's another thing to pay attention to, manga is read in two-page spreads, so you have to be mindful of the balance of black, white, and gray on both left and right pages. If not, readers will get dizzy!"

  "As for the dialogue, although comics use paintings as a descriptive language, the role of dialogue is undeniable. When building a comic sketch, remember to decide the placement and composition of characters and scenes based on the order of the dialogue!"

  "Next is the speech circle～"

  "This is a calm tone speech bubble, and the small circles are used to express the character's thought trajectory!"

  "This is an explosive speech bubble, expressing emotions such as anger, fury, warning, scolding or desolation!"

  "This is a soft-line speech circle, usually used on people who are seriously ill, tired, or dying!"

  "As for the dialogue in a multi-party conversation, it generally expresses the third party's dialogue, that is to say, it is not the dialogue spoken by the characters themselves, such as telephone or broadcasting."

  "Wait, wait, Jerry!" Takane Shizuko had been in touch with manga for a long time, but she had never analyzed it so systematically. Suddenly, she felt an impulse to record every word the little guy said!

  "What's wrong, Shizuko-san? Do you have some kind of problem?"

  "No, no, but could you give me a few minutes to find some paper and pen?"

  "This change is a bit big! Jerry didn't turn around for the time being, and when Takao Yukiko went out to find paper and pen, he followed him in, and there were actually Aoyama Koji and Furukawa Ryuichiro."

  "Listen, I heard from Kageyama-san that the president is giving her secret lessons. I'm curious too, and I'd like to come and listen with you!" said Chinen. Like Koshien, Goro Akechi was also curious about Jerry, whom Menma called "young master". A five-year-old kid could say such old-fashioned words, and they couldn't even refute him!

  "Then let's listen together! Shizuko-san, let's continue! The next one is more important."

  "Onomatopoeia and speed lines! Hmm, let's use an example to illustrate this issue!"

  Jerry picked up his pen and quickly drew a person riding a horse galloping on the white paper.

  "This is a galloping Indian! His hand grasps a long spear, he's about to charge towards a group of Americans, ending with his weapon this gang of bandits who invaded their home! Yes, you can see the distortion on his face, but is that all there is?"

  Jerry grasped a ruler and pressed it against the blueprint, adding dozens of straight lines around the Indian. "What if it's like this?"

  Those dozens of straight lines added up afterwards, and the Indian who was originally running at 20 yards suddenly accelerated to 100 yards.

  And then Jerry added two lines on top of the Indian's head, "HO～HO～！HO～HO～！"

  "As far as I know, Indians basically call out like this!"

  And then, just as speed lines and onomatopoeias were added, the scene suddenly came alive!

  "Let's take another example!" Jerry drew a large stroke, and the back of a small creature appeared in front of the three. "Can anyone tell me... what's wrong with this little guy? Qing Shan?"

  "Jerry, this guy seems to have been tripped up by something!"

  "What does Gu Quan think then?"

  "It should be, his body tilted to the side, should have been tripped up, going to fall!"

  Jerry smiled and scribbled a few lines, adding speed lines to the little guy's head, then added two words "Achoo" in stone font. The three of them suddenly realized that this little guy was almost knocked down by stones!

  Jerry gave a few more examples of different types, "Onomatopoeia and speed lines have already been explained, and the two elements can only be better combined with the picture by practicing more! The above content is just the primary content of comics, I think you three should have all come into contact with it!"

  To put it in one sentence, three graduates from Japanese universities felt somewhat ashamed, for the first time, truly the first time to hear such a lecture!

  "Then let's talk about intermediate content!"

  "Introduction, Development, Turn, and Conclusion! These are the four essential elements of a story's development. In other words, Cause, Development, Climax, and Ending! So, who can tell me what types of comics there are? Gu Quan Jun?"

  "War genre, historical genre!"

  "Reasoning type, romance type!" added Kiyohiko Aoyagi!

  Jerry didn't say they were right or wrong, "Actually, comics can be divided into three categories: realistic life, mythological and science fiction! No matter which category, the only principle of comics is to be self-consistent! We don't care about the reader's response, as long as you can tell your story perfectly, then your comic is a complete comic! Please remember, it's completeness, not success!"

  "So, what kind of comic is a successful comic?"

  Jerry smiled slyly and his shiny teeth were exposed, "Excuse me, have you guys ever made love?"

  This topic is really... Jerry even thinks he's evil himself!

  Three people were shocked! How could this little guy ask such a question!

  "If you can get readers into your comic and give them wave after wave of climax, then your comic is a success!"

  "That's right, a sense of immersion, and wave after wave of climax!"