Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 20:02 -0700**

Mr. Sakai, how did you become a comic artist?

I know you were at first lettering, but at what point did you realize that this character was something you wanted to keep drawing? Was it difficult to convince publishers that you had a story to tell?

I love to draw for friends, but thats a far cry from the kind of consistently excellent stories and artwork you bring to Usagi. What do you draw when you aren't drawing Usagi?

I could ask more questions...but.... 100 is enough for now.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:53 -0700**

I've always enjoyed drawing. Even before being a letterer, I was a freelance artist doing stuff like book and magazine illustrations, record album covers, and toy packaging.

I met other artists, and through the grapevine heard that a guy in Seattle (Steve Gallacci) wanted to publish a comic, so I sent him a story. That was Nilson Groundthumper and the comic was Albedo #1. Usagi made his first appearance in Albedo #2, and he's been in print ever since.

There should be a few of my interviews online, if you want to know more about how I got into the business.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 13:24 -0700**

Stan Sakai wrote:There should be a few of my interviews online, if you want to know more about how I got into the business.

There are well over fifty interviews transcribed and archived at:
http://usagigaijin.livejournal.com/

(not all of them in english, unfortunately)

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 13:47 -0700**

No worries, thanks for the information!