Get exclusive access to Sensei Katsuya Terada’s recent feature in ImagineFX. In this short version interview, celebrated illustrator and manga artist, recalls discovering Moebius at 15, his first big break designing a juice package, and other precious insights.

 

Is there a painting that you saw in your formative years that changed everything? What was it?

It was an illustration by the French comic artist Moebius in a magazine, and I remember being 15 years old at the time.

 

Tell us about your first paid commission, and does it stand as a representation of your talent?

When I was 20, I was asked to create an illustration of a juice package for a design meeting from an art school teacher. It wasn’t for the production use artwork, but since it was for a major company, the pay was good.


What character or scene that you've painted do you most identify with?

As a manga artist, I’ve been working on a piece inspired by the Chinese's novel Journey to the West, and I feel a strong connection to its protagonist. Additionally, new characters are born with each exhibition, and I often find myself wondering about their pasts and futures.
 

What advice would you give to your younger self to aid you on the way?

I don’t have any memory of paving my own way, so there isn’t much advice I could give. Hmm, if anything, I’d say: Be kind to others.

 

Entire interview on Imagine FX.