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Post by usagigoya on Apr 1, 2021 19:15:34 GMT -5
Sorry for the late reply. A4 size should be fine
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 25, 2021 22:42:29 GMT -5
May we please know the size of the artwork in pixels for the contribution please? All image files should be 300 DPI in resolution
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 15, 2021 23:35:01 GMT -5
Is there a cutoff date for contributions (art, stories, etc)? End of April.....
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 7, 2021 1:39:03 GMT -5
For those who would prefer an alternative method of contributing financially to this project, donations can also be sent by Paypal to usagiyojimbodojo@yahoo.com
Arigato, Steve
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 6, 2021 13:50:40 GMT -5
www.gofundme.com/f/usagi-yojimbo-dojo-25th-anniversary-project?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1THE USAGI YOJIMBO DOJO 25th ANNIVERSARY PROJECTThe Usagi Yojimbo Dojo is an internet community of fans who came together initially through the patronizing of the web-site of the same name. That web-site, the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo, was founded in 1996 as a personal web-site of a single fan, but it quickly attracted other fans who helped it grow larger and better, eventually becoming the best Usagi Yojimbo fan page on the internet. It did not take long for Stan Sakai, creator of the Usagi Yojimbo comics, to start visiting the web-site and interacting with the Dojo members on the forum. Around that time as well, the web-site was dubbed the "official" Usagi Yojimbo web-site, an honor it kept for approximately 20 years, right up until Stan Sakai finally launch his own web-site. The majority of the Usagi Yojmbo Dojo web-site has been converted into Stan Sakai's web-site, leaving just the Usagi Yojimbo Dojoboard forum, which over the years had become the heart and soul of the Dojo web-site, the place were fans from all over the world connected, formed friendships, and celebrated all things Usagi. The year 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of this dedicated group of fans and the web-site which brought them all together. In celebration of this milestone anniversary, we want to go full circle and bring the essence of the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo back in an old-school fan magazine dedicated to all things Usagi Yojimbo and Stan Sakai. We are looking at producing a limited quantity publication that will be free to fans (just cover postage). The actual quantity will be determined by contributions. What will contributions be used for? Since the project is being created by fans contributing their time and efforts for free, most, if not all the content and production work will not cost anything. Of course, it would be nice to solicit contributions from professionals in the comic industry if funds permit. That leaves the actual printing and binding expenses charged by the printer, in this case Comix Well Spring of Plymouth, Michigan. Any contributions left after the printing is completed would be used for shipping complimentary copies to the content contributors, or saved for use on the follow-up issue.
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 6, 2021 10:57:24 GMT -5
I've read through this a few times now and am still struggling to fully grasp the concept. So the book will be divided into sections that mimic the Dojo structure and will include a letter column? Letters to Stan? I'm always happy to do more writing for this project. Am I still doing an introduction? I'm happy to write additional content, both fiction and non-fiction. Well, as far as the concept goes, think of a Wizard comics magazine type of publication devoted to Usagi Yojimbo. When looking at the various sections of the Dojo forum, most of them seem (to me) to translate naturally into magazine columns or departments. When I think about this, I see a 'zine which captures the complete essence of the Dojo in paper form: The information, the community, the fan art, Stan's involvement, etc.... A place for at least some feedback letters on the new IDW issues seems logical since IDW does not offer a letter column in their issues. And, of course, if this goes together right, hopefully it will be just the first issue of a semi - annual publication. And definitely need contributors interested in writing....
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 5, 2021 12:21:04 GMT -5
Usagi Yojimbo Main Forum split between bibliographical information and letters Column
Dojo News a split between newly released and upcoming releases information
Stan Sakai Art Gallery A few pages were people can show off some of their pride and joys....
日本の話題 - All Things Japan! Ronin Ramblings A page or two featuring book, film and art reviews which might be of interest
Rabbit Bodyguards - Fan Art & Fiction a large section split between fan art and fan stories / comics
RYAAAA! Marketplace Since want ads are obsolete, more of a review of trends and outstanding sales ($31,000 for an Albedo #2 anyone?)
Usagi Yojimbo Dojo Help Letters to the editor of the magazine
質問と回答 - Usagi Trivia Here be the games of trivia where you can show off your knowledge and maybe even win some cool prizes
兎用心棒 希少性 - Usagi Yojimbo Kishō-sei A section about some of all the cool Usagi Yojimbo merchandise and promotional items which have appeared over the past 30 plus years.....
The Stan Sakai Interviews New interviews with Stan Sakai and other people of interest
Step by Step A look inside the art by Stan
Usagi Yojimbo World Wide A review of recent releases world wide and news updates, etc
Usagi Yojimbo Dojo Center Ring A section devoted to the various RPG, video and other Usagi games out there....
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 5, 2021 12:06:10 GMT -5
A look at the various categories / forums of the original Usagi Yojimbo Dojoboard Forum. How do you see these different areas transformed into the various sections of a magazine / fanzine?
Usagi Yojimbo Main Forum General discussion about Usagi Yojimbo, the comics, the stories, the characters, collectibles, TV appearances, Stan Sakai, Space Usagi, Nilson & Hermy, and all other related topics.
Dojo News A moderated forum where Stan Sakai and the UYD Shogunate regularly post UY-related news, comic con and signing info, Dojo contest info, and special announcements to UYD Members.
Stan Sakai Art Gallery Show off your original artwork collection here! Create an online gallery and post your Stan Sakai portfolio drawings, original cover art, convention sketches, paintings, commissioned pieces, original pages, and whatever else you may have.
日本の話題 - All Things Japan! General discussion (non-Usagi Yojimbo related) about all things Japan -- Feudal Japan, Samurai, Ninjas, Anime & Manga, Chambara films, Japanese Pop Culture, Otaku, martial arts, history, sushi, giant robots, Godzilla... anything Japan-related!
Rabbit Bodyguards - Fan Art & Fiction A place for Dojo Members to post Usagi Yojimbo "Otaku" art and fiction. Display your artistic and/or literary works based on Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo here!
RYAAAA! Marketplace A forum for trading UY comics, books, and other collectibles. Looking for missing back issues? Want to sell/trade your extra copies of UY? Want to post your eBay auction? Then look no further!
Ronin Ramblings Off topic forum! Feel free to discuss anything non-Usagi related or that doesn't fit within the parameters of the General Discussion forums. Gotta talk about the latest Sci-Fi flick? Need help with your homework? Want to post an announcement of a personal nature? Then here's where you do it!
Usagi Yojimbo Dojo Help Post problems and requests to the UY Dojo here. Requests include something you'd like to appear on the UY Dojo: Story synopses, Character descriptions, etc.
質問と回答 - Usagi Trivia Here be the games of trivia where you can show off your knowledge and maybe even win some cool prizes
兎用心棒 希少性 - Usagi Yojimbo Kishō-sei A moderated forum for sharing information and photos of all the cool Usagi Yojimbo merchandise and promotional items which have appeared over the past 30 plus years.....
The Stan Sakai Interviews An archive for interviews published both in print and on-line.
Step by Step A look inside the art by Stan
Usagi Yojimbo World Wide A place to discuss Usagi Yojimbo in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Indonesian, or any other language you find most comfortable with.
Usagi Yojimbo Dojo Center Ring This is where the fighting happens, the "Battle Board" where Usagi goes up against his friends, and his enemies, and even his fellow comic book heroes in blazing tournaments of honor and skill, and maybe even a little bit of trickery, because anything can go in the Center Ring!
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 5, 2021 11:55:16 GMT -5
OK, I need to figure out how to put this so that it covers everything with one initial generic reply. 🙂
As much as I loved the 35th Anniversary Usagi Yojimbo Tribute book from a couple years ago (2019), I want to make the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo 25th Anniversary project different. I want to capture the essence of the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo in this project. And the true spirit of the Dojo has always been the fact that the Dojo was created and built by Usagi fans and fully supported by Stan Sakai.
What I am envisioning is a magazine devoted to all things Usagi…..
• Interviews • Articles about collecting • Fan art gallery • Original story contributions by fans • Possibly (hopefully) new material from Stan and/or Julie • Reviews
What is needed?
• I have lots of ideas for which articles could be based upon, so Usagi fans interested in (and capable of) writing are needed. • Fans who want to contribute artwork, either as single pieces or short stories are needed. • Since this project will follow the tradition of previous Dojo projects and be distributed for free, just the cost of postage, financial contributions to cover printing and other production costs are also happily welcomed.
I already have one original story contribution in hand (thanks Randy) and have discussed briefly with a couple other artists about contributing stories.
I am hoping that this project is workable, that the production is successful, and the reception is decent enough to do additional issues in the future.
Please give me your feedback on this and let me know if you are still interested, and in what way you would like to contribute.
Thanks, Steve
(January 15, 2021)
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 5, 2021 11:53:20 GMT -5
2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo! We have some awesome plans for a project to celebrate this amazing milestone in Usagi Yojimbo fandom, but we want to extend an invitation to any of those who would like to contribute to this project. Please message the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo here on Facebook for more information. Thank you, Steve
January 14th, 2021
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 4, 2021 1:29:28 GMT -5
Introduction Usagi Yojimbo Book 34: Bunraku and Other Stories
The first time I met Stan Sakai was in Tokyo. Actually, that isn’t true: we first met online. The occasion was an email conversation about Yokai - monsters from Japanese folklore, a topic in which both Stan and I share a deep and abiding interest. And even that isn’t isn’t quite true, for you could say that I first “met” Stan growing up reading Usagi Yojimbo as a comic-obsessed kid in the Eighties.
Stan’s characters, art, and historically-infused storylines leapt out from a marketplace that was, at the time, saturated with imitative anthropomorphic animal-hero fare. That Usagi Yojimbo has endured and thrived is a testament to the richness of the world Stan created. When I finally met him in person many years later in Tokyo, I played the role of interpreter as Stan discussed his work with local manga artists. In spite of the growing popularity of manga and anime abroad, many Japanese creators still struggle to appeal to foreign audiences. They were fascinated by how Stan channeled their nation’s folklore and traditions into comics that Americans so thoroughly enjoyed. I learned a great deal from those discussions: the universality of good storytelling and compelling drama and complex heroes, and the power of art to bridge linguistic and cultural gulfs.
The setting of the very first episode in this volume involves a Bunraku puppet theater, Several years ago, I had the pleasure and the great honor of being invited to the studio of a puppet craftsman in Osaka. Today most think of Japan as a land of high tech, of electronics and video games and semiconductors, but here in the cozy confines of the master’s workspace the clock might as well have stopped in Usagi Miyamoto’s antique era.
There wasn’t a single electric tool in sight. The master’s low benches - he worked cross-legged on the tatami-mat floor - were covered with an astonishing array of gouges, knives, and chisels. When he told me many were more than a century old, I recalled an old Japanese superstition about old tools reanimating as Yokai once they reached 99 years of age. If it was going to happen anywhere, I thought, it would happen here.
Over the next few hours he demonstrated the process of creating a puppet. How he would, over many weeks, painstakingly whittle a block of wood with nimble fingers, seeking the human face dwelling deep within as though by instinct. But the carving was only the start. For this was no statuary: his creations needed to emote.
Next, he revealed the workings behind a puppet’s visage: levers made of iron pins, joints made of leather, springs fashioned from ancient whale baleen harvested by his ancestors and carefully stored for use by successive generations. These ingenious mechanisms bestowed upon a blank mask the ability to lift eyebrows, turn eyes, open and close mouths. From these “organs” (as I began thinking of them, for it was hard to consider this level of handiwork as inorganic) ran a series of strings, a nervous system of twine strung through the “skeleton” of its internal frame, linking them to what might be called its “brain” - the duo of puppeteers who would control its movements with an elaborate series of poles, pulleys, and switches, efforts synchronized over many decades of apprenticeship and practice to function as one.
This system, honed over many centuries, allowed experienced puppeteers to evoke from their charges everything from the dynamic action of a swashbuckling sword-battle down to the coquettish wag of a single fingertip. Or, should the scene call for it, trigger hidden quick-change mechanisms to transform the face of a beautiful maiden into a fearsome fox-demoness. As the master demonstrated one of these for me, I found myself thinking Is this why Japan, and not some other nation, devised so many morphin’ heroes and transforming robots and evolving monsters? It was as though those networks of threads hidden within the dolls represented the network of connections between times of old and the modern day.
Which brings me back to Stan. The way he breathes life into his pages is, it seems to me, not unlike the way the master puppet-craftsman breathes life into his blocks of wood. The way he excites us with his pen and paper reminds me of how the puppeteers stir our souls by manipulating figures made of wood and cloth. And the way in which he revitalizes folklore and history with his storytelling makes antiquity feel so relevant, just as the best scenes in the ancient dramatic arts possess the power to move audiences even in the modern day. There is something incredibly fitting about setting an episode of Usagi Yojimbo within the walls of a Bunraku theater. Within his pages Stan is both puppet-maker and puppetmaster, and the world is all the richer for it. May Usagi Miyamoto dance across his stage for many more years to come!
Matt Alt (2019)
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 3, 2021 1:50:54 GMT -5
Todai Moto Kurashi Usagi Yojimbo Book 33: The Hidden
Of the many things I admire about Stan Sakai, rating up there at the very top is his ability to so nimbly navigate so many different fictional genres.
That skill is a major reason why Usagi Yojimbo has remained so enjoyable - so relevant- for so long. Stan has never allowed his defining series to grow stale. My admiration for how carefully he has constructed Usagi’s world is boundless. He has fashioned characters and a time and place which allowed him to take his stories and ambitions in different directions - historical adventure, political intrigue, war, science fiction, fantasy - Usagi Yojimbo has been a very elastic premise that Stan has artfully deployed to many ends.
The Hidden is a detective story, and what with the high body count and degree of corruption, I’s say it qualifies as hard-boiled. I mean that in the classic sense - there’s a brutal precision and lack of sentimentality that goes straight back to Dashiell Hammett. Most importantlt, though, it’s about character. That makes it a genre story with a purpose, and from beginning to end the story belongs to Inspector Ishida. Stan makes the bold choice to regulate Usagi to a secondary role, having his usual alpha serve as the reader’s surrogate, an outsider like us, to whom must be explained police procedure (including Ishida’s sometimes unorthodox investigative techniques), as well as the complicated relationships of various cultures living under the Shogunate. Usagi does get to go all Yojimbo when needed, serving as Ishida’s strong-arm man, but it is the inspector who is the story’s driving force and its emotional center. He has become a fascinating personality (and I would love to see more stories centered on him!).
That Stan can present all this story’s historical and plot-specific information in a compelling manner is a testament to his mastery of the comic medium. The very nature of a detective drama told within the static panels of a comic poses a problem: how do you make all the repetitiveness of all the necessary verbal interactions visually interesting? It would be easy to succumb to a staccato gallery of talking heads. But Stan understands rhythm and flow, he is a maestro at manipulating the time and space implied in our two-dimensional, image-progressive medium. Stan has absorbed and transformed any number of influences, but I particularly see that of Harvey Kurtzman and Roy Crane here. The storytelling is always inventive and propulsive - every panel, every scene gives detailed information, throwing the story forward. That’s real artistry.
Ultimately, Stan has taken his tale, set in a very specific time in the history of feudal Japan, and quietly reminded us that its underpinnings of culture and class divide, state-sanctified corruption and persecution fueled by fear of the “other,” is not bound to that time and place. The persecuted, under another set of conditions, can easily become the persecutors. Power and the status quo shift, and only the individual who sees past prejudices and futile resistance to change gives us hope of finding a better way.
The Hidden is certainly entertaining, but it’s more than that. It’s genre storytelling at its best.
Mark Schultz (2019)
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 3, 2021 1:05:11 GMT -5
IntroductionUsagi Yojimbo Book 32: MysteriesWhen I was first asked to provide the voice of Miyamoto Usagi for the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, I got cold feet. For many people around the globe, the character represented samurai. They started reading Usagi when they were young, and they grew up with him thoughout the years, so Usagi’s life was their alternate samurai life. Surely, voicing him would be a pretty daunting task for anybody. But, to mu own surprise, my biggest fear was concerning aa completely different reason, disappointing the creator, Stan Sakai-san, a Japanese American cartoonist icon. If I failed to represent Usagi properly, I failed him, thus wasting the biggest opportunity to contribute to showing the world an authentic samurai figure. This was my biggest anxiety and fear. Ever since I came to the United States many years ago to pursue acting, I constantly held myself responsible for overseeing everything that has to do with Japanese culture while on-set. Sometimes it was the way the Japanese military saluted throughout history. Sometimes it was the way Japanese newspapers or signs were displayed. In a very limited amount of time, I had to research everything possible on-set in order to correct mistakes out of the fear of letting the world see Japanese culture misrepresented. Eighteen years of this tiring work wore me out very much. But then, if you look at Stan-sensei, he’s been doing it for over thirty years … and moreover, quite successfully! HOW?! THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE! To me, he’s not just a master storyteller, but a master Japanese culture researcher. When I first opened an issue of Usagi Yojimbo, the first thing I noticed was the level of research in the details: The shapes of kasa (hats), what people were wearing, what they carried, what toys kids were playing with, etc. Many people probably saw them just as background detail, but to me they showed the determination of the creator to portray Japanese culture as truthfully as possible. And it was done in a subtle way so readers could immerse themselves in a realistic world instead of being distracted by those details. When you look at the pictures, you don’t see everything drawn in the details, but you can definitely hear people shouting in the crowded streets; you can smell the food that the vendors are selling: and when Kitsune performs and the townsfolks gasp, you can imagine how they spend their daily lives just by looking at their kimono. I was completely mystified by the fact that someone was able to accomplish such a feat. But soon, my wonder faded - NOT because the book became less impressive, but because I stopped thinking about it being a man-made world. I found myself walking on the unpaved road with Usagi, listening to the sound of the breeze. Once Usagi settled into a seedy inn and started to eat his soggy rice, I cautiously looked around every corner of the panel to make sure there was no danger around him. I trembled whenever I heard Jei’s haunting voice, and felt sorry for the plight of whomever was unlucky enough to share a roof with him. I laughed and laughed listening to Usagi and Gen talking. I was simply there. Like a skilled Neko ninja, the creator had vanished. Voicing Miyamoto Usagi has taught me many things, but the biggest takeaway was being assured that good storytelling has no bounderies. It doesn’t matter where the reader or the audience are from. As long as you succeed in creating a realistic world, people of any culture can submerge themselves into that world, and laugh, cry, and live. Yoki Matsuzaki (2018)
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 2, 2021 19:38:16 GMT -5
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Post by usagigoya on Mar 2, 2021 19:35:58 GMT -5
TMNT/UY Other Realm's cover variant step by step (Stan Sakai)
The TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo: Namazu book will have a few variant covers drawn by myself and others. This is one I did for Other Realms Ltd - The Comic & Game Specialist in Honolulu. On 2-ply, 500 series, cold press Strathmore Bristol. 10x15.5 inch image area on 11x17inch paper. Before writing and drawing the story I did a few inspirational drawings just to get used to the characters again. I based the final cover on this one. I redid the composition to accommodate the logos at the top and added Jei in the background. The characters were much too big on the preliminary drawing, so I reduced their size to add more breathing space. Drawn with .5mm HB mechanical pencil. Inked with two Rotring ArtPens. A older, broken in pen for the foreground characters and a newer, more rigid pen for the background. [/url] Blacks and textures added, and finished.
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