Sho Kitagawa

Twitter: twitter.com/kitagawa_sho
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC0U6T7o1rQT49suxNqkq_wg
Blog: ameblo.jp/sho-kitagawa/

Sho Kitagawa (きたがわ翔 Kitagawa Sho) is a Japanese manga (comic) artist. Kitagawa Sensei was born on June 28th 1967 in Shizuoka, Japan and graduated from the design department of Hongo High School in Tokyo.

Debut work:
「番長くんはごきげんななめ」(Bancho kun wa gokigen naname -The leader of the school gang is in a bad mood, in 1981)

Major works:
「19 NINETEEN」(1988)
「B.B.フィッシュ」(B.B. Fish, 1990)
「C」(1994)
「ホットマン」(Hotman, 1997)
「刑事が一匹⋯」(Deka ga Ippiki- One detective, 2005)
「デス・スウィーパー」(Death Sweeper, 2007)
「アントルメティエ」(Entremetier 2012)

Career:
In 1981, Kitagawa Sensei debuted as professional manga artist at the age of 13 when he was in 8th grade. He sent his only master copy of his manga to the editorial office of the magazine Bessatsu Margaret. Bessatsu Margaret is one of Japan's most famous manga magazines for girls (Shojo manga) published by Shueisha company. The reasons Kitagawa Sensei chose to submit his work to this magazine was because his older sister was a fan of this magazine and the editorial office was known for providing advice to all applicants. From then, Kitagawa Sensei was active as one of the few male Shojo manga artists in the 80's.

In the late 80’s, Kitagawa Sensei moved on in his career to Shonen manga (boy’s manga) and Seinen manga (Older teens through young adult manga) magazines. With his delicate drawing touch and well thought out story structure, Kitagawa’s mangas broke through in the 90's. His work「19 NINETEEN」and「B.B.フィッシュ」(B.B. Fish) made good use of themes such as youth love, suffering, family affection as a motif. As such his works were popular among a wide range of age groups from teens to older generations.

In 2000’s, Kitagawa Sensei challenged himself to new themes, exposing the darkness of political power, police and death. 「刑事が一匹⋯」(One detective…),「デス・スウィーパー」(Death Sweeper)  are examples of these genres. His various styles of story structure fit well in bringing the famous Japanese rock star Eikichi Yazawa’s biography novel to manga「成りあがり」(Success).

Style:
Kitagawa Sensei has stuck with traditional “analog” techniques such as screen layout, delicate and fragile expressions, and soft color and light in artistic expression. His unique and beautiful drawing style is the result of his respect and skill with analog techniques. One of his favorite drawing skills is Kakeami (a type of cross hatching) which he periodically shares though his social media channels.

Exhibition:
In April of this year (2019), Kitagawa Sensei held his first art exhibition “Analog” in Kichijoji, Tokyo. The exhibition displayed Kitagawa Sensei’s original master copies of his previous work as well some of his new illustrations. An encore exhibition will be held in Osaka later this year in November 2019. One of the highlights at this exhibition is his Kakeami (a cross hatching) demonstration. Kitagawa Sensei uses this technique frequently in his artwork and has published videos on YouTube demonstrating this technique.