by Tetsu Deinonychus » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:10 am
I view Tezuka as a role-model, actually.
See, I myself am an aspiring comic book/animation artist. In fact, one reason I haven't been posting much is because I've been working hard on a comic. My current avatar is my character "Kazuki" who plays a major role in my current project.
And, while there's a lot of cartoonists out there, both "Eastern" and "Western", that I look up to (Jhonen Vasquez, Kevin Eastman, Peter Chung, CLAMP, and Yayoi Ogawa, to name a few, all rank pretty high), Tezuka is in a class by himself, a true master of both mediums.
He really shows just what comics and animation can do.
I'd say I view him the way he viewed Walt Disney. Except, I think Tezuka surpassed his hero by a wide margin. Whereas, I don't think I'm ever going to reach his level, but that's okay, because that just means I'll always have a reason to keep improving.
One thing that amazes me about his artwork is his ability to depict movement on still comic panels. Some of his manga, at quick glance actually appear to be moving for a tiny fraction of a second. I have not seen any other comics artwork have that effect, not even other masters like Jack Kirby. He really was the "God of Manga"!