abec: Sword Art Online Vol. 1 (Aincrad)
Translation of abec’s personal blog posts.
Mostly comments on the illustrations, since abec’s the illustrator for the series and all.
abec’s blog. (mature content warning)
Sword Art Online 1.
SAO 1 Character Roughs.
It’s obviously advised to have read through the novels, or seen its illustrations first.
Spoilers are slight if there are even any.
*-s are links to notes. Click on them.
I’m not reproducing any images, so their positions will be marked within {description}s.
Might be a good idea to open a copy of the original post to see the images.
8th April 2009
Sword Art Online 1
{SAO Vol. 1 cover}
I was given the opportunity to draw the illustrations.
Please allow it some of your time if you spot it at any of the various bookstores around with it in stock.
The contents are on the other side of the link, if you please.
You’ll find the comments and excuses for the illustrations after clicking on the Read More.
Please read them after reading the actual book.
Also, I received some Hey, it’s not your first job! comments through web clap *. (＾ｑ＾) What could they be referring to, I wonder
It’s the first job. abec’s first job. (＾ｑ＾) It’s true, you know? First experience, first experience
What could they possibly be using as a basis for that claim! (＾ｑ＾) The internet’s such a scaryyyy place
Men who ask girls if they’ve done it are the worst! (＾ｑ＾) I’m a dude though!
Character Design
This work was originally released to the public on the net, with the author being someone who could draw as well, so drawings were usually displayed back then, and the main pair were done according to the pictures drawn by the author while it was released on the net that I received as data… or rather, it didn’t differ much from the image I got when I read through it.
So I figured there was no need for any drastic changes for the sake of it and kept it relatively the same.
Hence, I believe fans of the work from back when it was released on the net shouldn’t feel too much discomfort with them.
Aah, I did receive many comments through web clap about how Kirito was too girlish and various other things, though. ((゜w゜)) I-I’m sorry
Well, it’s going to be a long series, so I wanted there to be more room for growth and all, not to mention how there’s loads of descriptions about how girlish he looked in the text and he’s the main character too; this is where I ended up while thinking through all that.
I plan to basically continue drawing with my own impression on things, creating them over discussions with the editor and author and steadily churn out these conflicting images from now on too.
Fans of the original will have no choice but to give up.
Front Cover
The editor praised me, saying that it was nice how it gives off the same impression as Kirito-kun (haha)
Just that when speaking about the illustration in general, it lacked catchiness. Agagah.
Frontispiece
I only had enough time to draw 7 pages for the front illustrations and handed them over to the editor, but I spewed blood when the illustration from the character roughs got used.
Also, they’re practically all plain, aren’t they.
I think drawing them at a size that could be printed with ease, even at B5 *, backfired. Snug and compact.
The somewhat-erotic facing pages are for that. The editor told me to draw it! (Pushing the bla-
The usual illustrations were of monsters, it was really fun. (＾ｑ＾*)
I will keep at it alongside the author and editor, fully prepared to see it to the end, so please do give us your support.
We can’t see it to the end if it doesn’t sell, huh. It’s tough breaking through in this trade, huh.
When you look at the entire scope, the work stretches from SAO 1 to 4, but personally, I want to hurry up and draw Sinon from SAO 3. The image of her in my mind suits my tastes in characters the most (＾q＾) But I can’t draw guns
Rather, almost the entire manuscript was set onto paper and sent over, but I burst out in laughter with how the cardboard box it was sent in was entirely flooded with writing paper *, lol.
Just how much… just how much!!
Maybe I’ll take a picture next time, lol. It was hilarious, after all, lol.
28th June 2009
SAO 1 Character Roughs
Eek, I totally ended up abandoning this with how busy I was, didn’t I.
This off-peak period is kind of unusually hectic, so I’ll be continuing to leave this alone for a while more. Seriously sorry here.
Anyway, I don’t have anything to talk about, and I did get permission, so here’s the SAO character roughs.
By the way, volume 2 will be published without any problem.
The focal point for the front cover this time is, “midriff-baring”. Please look for to it (haha-
Incidentally, the previous time was armpits and zettai ryouiki *.
The sales won’t rise unless we show enough fanservice, right! No idea if that’s true, though!
The quantity dropped when compared to the first volume. The deadline. The deadline.
I’ll put up the character roughs for those who appeared in the second volume when I’m lacking material for an update after it goes on sale (haha-
{character roughs for Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Agil and Heathcliff}
Kirito and Asuna had a chance of being used as publicity materials on magazines and such, so I coloured them in.
I don’t usually colour my character roughs, though. Even if I do, it’s certainly not to this extent, lol.
It’s a bother inserting the copyright names, so let’s not bother with Kuradeel and the rest, yea.
P.S. I got retorted with vehement cries going Agil’s name became Adil! and all.
Yea, it really did, lol. Who the heck is Adil, lolol. I did call him Agil during the meetings too, lol.
Well, stuff like this happens a lot!
I believe slight mistakes like this will happen from now on too!
Notes
Web Clap: A system that allows you to thank the owner of the (usually Japanese) site, usually through clicking on a link of some kind and writing an optional comment. Think of it as an antiqued version of Facebook’s Like button with comments. If you want to give him one, click the “web拍手ボタン” button on the right of his site.
B5: A paper size that is the average between A4 and A5.
Writing paper: Here’s a summary of what it looks like, spanning thousands of words.
Zettai ryouiki: “Zettai Ryōiki (絶対領域) (lit. Absolute Area/Domain/Region/Territory) is an anime/manga related term for describing the area of bare skin exposed on the thighs between the skirt and socks for female characters”- Wikipedia