Designer Katsuya Terada Addresses AI During Live Drawing Session

Renowned character designer Katsuya Terada returned to San Diego Comic-Con and spoke to a packed room of fans on July 21. Known for his work on Blood: The Last Vampire and Hellboy, the artist reflected on his long four-decade career. During his live digital drawing session, he answered detailed questions on his approach to art and his opinion on evolving technology. Eric Nakamura, co-founder of Giant Robot, and fellow artist and translator Yoskay Yamamoto joined Terada on stage.

Kicking off the panel, fans wondered what his art process is when creating something new compared to something with a pre-existing design. The Doodle King answered that developing a sketch takes him eight hours. More complex visuals, such as one with a musical composition, take more time. “I have to sketch in my head before I attack a brand-new image.” He mentioned he can sketch for four hours and look at the image for another four while figuring out how to move forward. “If I were to do that with a live drawing, it'd be like coming to see me working in my studio. It'd be a little bit less exciting.”

Terada explained that his art will drive the story and vice versa when creating manga stories. “If I have writer's block, I usually draw characters in different situations and backgrounds, and the character tells me where the story needs to go.”

He recommended taking a new approach or changing one's point of view for a fresh angle. In the past, he created short, one-page manga, which can be read in different ways due to the limited number of panels.

Considering his decades of work, the audience wanted to know if Terada plans to work on any new stories. “I usually don't start any new stories unless there's a client-based offer.” For beginner manga writers, he recommends pushing through to make one story, which will lead to new ideas. “While making a story, I'll come up with a couple of new themes.” He said this is why manga artists can develop so many new concepts because they constantly evolve. There's a constant hunt to seek new themes, which leads him to balance his commercial and personal designs while he continues to explore.

Soon after, Terada responded to a question about what character he prefers to draw. “Instead of drawing something I like, I tend to go for characters I feel comfortable drawing.” Interestingly, this naturally leads him to draw old men as it helps build up momentum for him to keep going and overcome artist's block. Naturally, the follow-up questions pertained to his influences and the development of his style. Previously, he mentioned his discovery of Moebius, the French comic artist.

“At the time, I was struggling and trying to find my own voice.” Once he encountered Moebius, he saw the French artist's style combined art, illustration, and manga. “Along the way, in my career, I'll meet artists who influence me, but sometimes I also feel jealousy. I developed my own style by mimicking him in the beginning.” Eventually, he would evolve into his style as the years went by.

However, unlike his teenage years, Terada does not spend time looking for new inspirations now. “Since I'm turning 60, my focus is spent sharpening my own tool that I developed over the years.” Despite not intentionally seeking out artists now, his friends send him recommendations on Twitter and Instagram. “If I spend too much time looking at somebody's art, unconsciously, I might mimic them. I don't want to do that.” In a surprise twist, he confessed that he told a white lie as there is someone, but he wanted to keep it a secret.

Given his robotic and human hybrid live drawing, one fan asked why he juxtaposes humans and machines in his work. “When I was growing up as a child, the future looked really bright,” shared Terada. “But as I got older, that idea started disappearing.” He prefaced that he tries not to look pessimistically at the future and that his perspective adapts. “I spend a lot of time looking at my cell phone screen, but it's a tool that I can use to connect to strangers across the world.” Although others may think negatively about technology, he explained he treats it like animals and plants living on this planet around humans. “That's why all those mechanisms, plants, animals, and humans are all incorporated into my work.”

Taking a quick break for a humorous inquiry, a fan wondered if Terada would draw himself in ten years, given his penchant for drawing old men. “I consider myself an old man already. There's always a little bit of a notion in my head that I think I'm drawing myself from time to time. So, it kind of already happened.”

Ending the panel, the last question asked for Terada's thoughts on AI in art and manga. Terada finds the topic unavoidable because of the discussion on the internet. He disclosed that he tried to use it for a little bit. Like how artists give birth to new images based on experiences, he disclosed that AI similarly gathers data to create something new. “It's data going through my head when I try to come up with a new original idea.”

Further, he clarified he doesn't believe that technology is inherently bad. “It's how people get to use it. For companies or people who choose to go the AI route to profit off it, there's a give and take.” Terada acknowledges that if the tool is free, the AI's data might not be free, as it might consume copyrighted material. “In those instances, there's a struggle to find the right balance.” Reiterating that the technology itself is not morally wrong, he encouraged the audience to consider it positively. “It really depends on who uses it and how they use it. That's my opinion.”