This is a page from "Gunsmith Cats" by Kenichi Sonoda. This panel is from a reversed photostat of the original art from the Kodansha publication.

The pages are sent to me reversed because Japanese read from right to left. Here, I'm supposed to put a "WHUDD". I found that I couldn't do it without some major retouch.

So I slap the page on a lightbox and on another paper I draw the sound effect. I cut it out covering areas that had the original Japanese sound effect and some of the toned areas that was in the background. For example, part of the effect was over Goldie's shoulder, and Mr.V's hand, so I had to cover those up.

Then I draw back in all the artwork...

The page is finished by laying down tone. This is usually the same kind (brand even) the artist originally used. I don't do this kind of retouch too often (thank God!). It's very time consuming. It's the main reason why some Manga stories get chosen for reprint into English and others don't.

Now this panel is ready to be published in "Gunsmith Cats Vol VIII: Mister V" by Studio Proteus / Dark Horse

I'm not doing a lot of this analog work anymore. Most of what I do is now digital. Those examples will be coming soon.

"Gunsmith Cats" © 2002 Kenichi Sonoda. All rights reserved. First published in Japan by Kodansha Ltd. New and adapted artwork and text © 2002 Studio Proteus and Dark Horse Comics Inc.