Sending my sympathies from the cold (although it is warm today).

Every new volume of Vagabond runs a drawing for a poster. The editorial department sends me a bundle of all the postcards that are entered. They include your comments and fanart, along with requests for a poster. I look through all of them, every volume.

I finally finished going through all the comments last week for the latest volume, 37, which was published last year — a while ago.

I also take feedback via e-mail and twitter.

I often find myself remembering my surprise at the not insignificant number of people who really take what I draw within themselves, the discovery of that something which joins the artist and the reader, and how moved I am by the feedback.

Thank you for always standing by me.

Now then, Vagabond is going to appear again (after a long hiatus) in the 1/29 (Thu) issue of Morning.

Look for Kojiro with an eye closed on the cover.

The chapter of earth has finished and the story picks up as Musashi and Iori (and Toyo Zaemon) are heading towards Buzen Kokura.

Buzen Kokura has many strong personalities, and I suspect that they will all be drawn very vividly. I am excited to be the artist.

I’d like to let those feeling to well up and carry me through drawing them.

I’ve started to change how I think about approaching my work, specifically regarding my proofs (like storyboards), right around this time.

Until now, I’ve wanted to take the time to focus on them, take the time to think about them, take the time to gather input. When I noticed, I realized that this had been eating me up inside.

In reality, that’s impossible for me to do right now, and I need to find a way to use smaller chanks of time efficiently.

“Better being brisk and sharp than slow and prudent.” That’s a saying that has been handed down. It means that even though doing something slower may result in better quality, doing something faster, even with some mistakes, is better.

I’m going to try to apply a little of that thinking to my work (drafts).

I’ve never really been able to spend a lot of time at once on the final inking, so actually I should probably spend more time on that… but that’s probably not going to change.

I picture myself doing my drafts quickly and a bit roughly, and then making the details more precise and accurate afterwards.

I wonder if I can.

But even so, I can’t work at a weekly pace…

I plan to do Vagabond at a monthly pace.

Thank you.

Takehiko Inoue