Chapter 352: Chapter 349: The Cartoonist’s Crisis (Part 2)
The procrastinating girl was startled for a moment and said, "Shirakawa..."
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to help me again..."
"Don’t talk nonsense." Shirakawa Sawahei said calmly, "I’m just worried that you, without an income from being a manga artist, won’t be able to afford the tutoring fees."
"So, this isn’t helping you, it’s helping myself."
"..."
"Stop spacing out, hurry up and come in." Shirakawa Sawahei frowned and said, "I’m on leave right now, so the sooner we solve your issues, the sooner I can go back to study."
On leave, huh...
Turns out for a troublesome guy like me... Shirakawa specifically took leave to come over...
Ise Yu Yuzhijin thought this way, then looked up again at the boy’s silhouette, with a touch more relief and touched in his eyes.
So... what Sister Rion said before about me being too reliant on Shirakawa... was it true?
...
The procrastinating girl’s home had a room reserved for Hinata Rion to stay over, and similarly, Hinata Rion’s home also had such a room. The first time Shirakawa Sawahei entered this room, he thought he had come to the wrong place.
This... this is clearly a studio... with all the equipment fully equipped. It can be said that without exaggeration, this place looks more like a manga artist’s workspace than Ise Yu Yuzhijin’s own room.
"Shirakawa... find a place to sit." The procrastinating girl smoothly bypassed the discarded drafts and dojinshi on the ground while saying to him: "I’ll go get the magazines sent over earlier..."
The magazines mentioned naturally refer to the publication "Monthly Girls" where Ise Yu Yuzhijin’s manga series was serialized. To be honest, since the procrastinating girl officially became a manga artist, she hasn’t been reading her own works. Partly because the previous "Ghost JK" doujin already taught her a lesson, she believes she wouldn’t dare to repeat the mistake for a while, and partly...
This is a shoujo manga magazine, wouldn’t it be socially awkward for a guy to buy it?
Honestly speaking, Ise Yu Yuzhijin’s drawing skills and level are undeniably great, otherwise, she wouldn’t have a level 4 in drawing. Unfortunately, to become a manga artist, drawing skills are necessary, but not the only necessity.
Today’s readers aren’t as easy to please as before. With the development of the internet era, a new type of entity has become active... Shirakawa Sawahei slightly suspects the procrastinating girl might have been torn apart by trolls, causing her mental state to collapse, leading to a decline in the subsequent quality, and ultimately risking being axed.
If problems can be found in her works and help resolve them, it indeed would be a trivial matter. But unfortunately, after Shirakawa Sawahei thoroughly went through the girl’s works, he couldn’t find any fundamental issues...
Tropes? Well, everyone does that. Don’t say whether it’s a trope or not, if you invert the trope too much, isn’t that also a trope?
Could it be... just as she said earlier... her works lack the feeling of love? Girls are really troublesome...
"Shirakawa..." Ise Yu Yuzhijin asked anxiously: "What do you... think?"
Shirakawa Sawahei pondered for a moment and replied, "I think it’s alright... What did Miss Morihara say to you before?"
"Miss Morihara initially just mentioned that there were some negative comments and told me not to care too much..."
The procrastinating girl sighed and continued, "Actually, I understand too; creations will always face scrutiny... No work can please everyone... When I first started drawing doujinshi, it was the same..."
"So I thought back then... if I can produce better, higher-quality works, then everyone will surely be satisfied..."
"And then... you know what happened next, Shirakawa." The cute little Ise Yu said dejectedly: "I never imagined that after diligently working hard on my drafts, what awaited was the possibility of being axed... Since then, when I look at my previous works, they all seem so strange..."
"Didn’t you have experience as a manga artist before?" Shirakawa Sawahei said curiously: "Can’t you adjust your mindset?"
"I can’t help it! An artist is an artist... a manga artist is a manga artist; they’re not the same..." The procrastinating girl said fretfully, "Now I even doubt whether I have talent in this field..."
Even someone with a level 4 in drawing, like Ise Yu Yuzhijin, can’t help but doubt herself when facing setbacks.
Perhaps this is the common illness of creative professions, be it an author or a manga artist, all crave recognition and attention, unless your talent is truly extraordinary. Otherwise, it’s inevitable to fall into a state of gaining and losing.
"Why aren’t manga artists and artists the same? Aren’t they both about creating stories?"
"The readers are different!" The cute little Ise Yu said angrily: "When I released new works as an artist before, the comments were all about: great person, awesome as praise... But as a manga artist, people start nitpicking over tiny issues... They’re basically looking at manga with a microscope!"
"I’m not drawing quintuplet manga! This isn’t right, totally illogical!"
Shirakawa Sawahei: "..."
What Ise Yu Yuzhijin said wasn’t wrong. In forums or groups centered around art, the atmosphere is the most harmonious, always about the host being amazing and wishing for their lifelong peace. Want to see pervy fans fighting in there? Impossible.
Unless you’re drawing Minotaur. Only in that case, It would cause the deviant fans to clash...
"What about your current draft?"
"..."
"Don’t tell me you haven’t finished yet?" Shirakawa Sawahei said speechlessly, "I just thought you started working harder, and now you’re already showing your true colors?"
"No way!" The procrastinating girl loudly retorted: "It’s just... just that after I got the news of being axed, my mindset was really crushed... The more I drew, the worse it got, the more unmotivated I became... In the end... I’m just a little bit short..."
"A little bit?"
"A little bit!"
Shirakawa Sawahei glanced at the calendar on his phone and asked, "When’s the deadline for the next submission?"
"This Friday..."
"So there’re still three days. Starting now, you should be able to go from 1% to 100%." Shirakawa Sawahei nodded and said, "I’ll supervise you from now on, no problem?"
"???"
"Wait, Shirakawa, why do you think my draft is only 1% completed..."
"Then show it to me?"
"This... this..."
"So you don’t have it."
"Impossible!" The procrastinating girl seemed stimulated, angrily jumping up, organizing the scattered line drafts on the desk, and handing them over to Shirakawa Sawahei.
"Look! This is my progress! Really just a little bit left to finish it, okay..."
Shirakawa Sawahei took the drawings, began to read them silently, and the procrastinating girl also remained silent, anxiously waiting for the other’s evaluation with utmost impatience.
Before long, a voice came from the other side, and the girl gently lifted her head, eyes filled with anxiety and anticipation.
"I’ve finished reading it."
"To be honest, if this level of work is released, it might really get axed."
The last glimmer of hope in her heart was broken, and Ise Yu Yuzhijin’s face immediately turned pale.
"So Shirakawa thinks the same too... I knew it... In this state, it’s impossible for me to create a gripping work..."
"Well... it’s not unacceptable... After all, I started by transitioning from being an artist, and now failing the transition to go back as a dojin artist is not an uncommon thing... Many seniors have had similar experiences..."
Ise Yu Yuzhijin tried her best to make her tone sound relaxed, but in Shirakawa Sawahei’s ears, it was still trembling slightly.
"My life as a manga artist... is just going to end like this... I haven’t succeeded yet, haven’t let Sakurazawa, Konatsuori, or Tachibana see my works... haven’t proudly told anyone about being the manga artist Ise Yu..."
"How odd... What’s happening to me... Thought I couldn’t cry anymore... So strange..."
She wiped the continuously flowing tears on her own, her voice sounding particularly heart-wrenching, while Shirakawa Sawahei remained silent for a moment before speaking softly.
"I only said, if."
"It hasn’t been published yet, so there’s still a chance to change it."