In this episode, Deb Aoki reflects on a childhood immersed in manga and anime and how this experience, combined with her journalism background, amplifies her visual storytelling skills.Sponsored by ConceptsThis episode of the Sketchnote Army Podcast is brought to you by Concepts, a perfect tool for sketchnoting, available on iOS, Windows, and Android.Concepts' vector-based drawing feature gives you the power to adjust your drawings saving hours and hours of rework.Vectors provide clean, crisp, high-resolution output for your sketchnotes at any size you need s ideal for sketchnoting.SEARCH in your favorite app store to give it a try.Running OrderIntroWelcomeWho is Deb Aoki?Origin StoryDeb's current workSponsor: ConceptsTipsToolsWhere to find Deb AokiOutro## Links
Amazon affiliate links support the Sketchnote Army Podcast.Deb's WebsiteDeb On BlueSkyDeb on LinkedInDeb on TwitterMangasplaining on TwitterTangible UXExample of Picture books Deb did with Juniper NetworksManga Class for this SemesterMangasplaining PodcastMangasplaining Substack NewsletterOkinawa - Mangasplaining Graphic NovelToolsAmazon affiliate links support the Sketchnote Army Podcast.Jetpen Zebra Mild Liner highlighter PensJetpen Frixion Erasable markersPigma Micron PensNeuland MarkersSharpie MarkersMuji Traveler's NotebookThe Sketchnote IdeabookMoleskine NotebookDotted or Blank sheet Notebooks by the StackMaido Stationery[Maido-in-a-box] https://usa.kinokuniya.com/featured-stationery-maido-in-a-boxSekaido Art Supply in TokyoLOFTTokyu HandsTraveler's Factory Shop for Stationery and Travel GoodsTraveler's NotebooksTraveler’s Factory Online ShopTraveler's Factory Shop Locations in JapanTipsThink of drawing as a form of alphabet and writing system versus an artistic system.You don't need to learn how to draw everything in the world. Just the stuff in your world.Be visual with fun, low-stakes things.CreditsProducer: Alec PulianasShownotes and transcripts: Esther OdoroTheme music: Jon SchiedermayerSubscribe to the Sketchnote Army Podcast You can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube or your favorite podcast listening source.Support the Podcast To support the creation, production and hosting of the Sketchnote Army Podcast, buy one of Mike Rohde’s bestselling books. Use code ROHDE40 at Peachpit.com for 40% off!Episode TranscriptMike Rohde: Hey everyone, it's Mike, and I'm here with Deb Aoki. Deb, it's so good to have you on the show.Deb Aoki: Oh, thank you, Mike. It's good to see you.MR: You too. Deb and I have been kind of bouncing into each other on the interwebs for a while, and eventually, we met each other in Paris of all places. Good place to meet somebody. At the International Sketch Note camp in Paris in 2019, which I was thinking about that, today. That's pre-pandemic. So that was like—DA: Yes.MR: - the world before. The before times. So really different.DA: That's true.MR: - mindset and everything a little bit. But anyway, so Deb is just a multi-talented person, and we're gonna talk with her about who she is and her journey and sort of get some lessons from her as well and chitchat about all kinds of stuff, I'm sure. So let's start out, Deb, tell us who you are, what you do, and then how did you get here. What's your origin story from when you were a little girl to this moment?DA: Oh, gosh. That's interesting. Well, I think the best place to start is I'm originally from Hawaii. I grew up—I'm a third-generation Japanese-American, so I was surrounded by Japanese culture, but I kind of don't speak Japanese fluently. I can read and speak some.MR: Okay.DA: But, you know, the nice thing about it, about growing up in Hawaii, I was surrounded by things like manga and anime much earlier than a lot of other people. And so, the nice part about that is that as a young girl, I got to read a lot of comics for girls from Japan.MR: Oh.DA: And in all those comics, it would kind of give you this sense of, "Oh, this is the comic artist you love, and here's how to draw like her, or you can be a comic artist too." So I got a lot of great tips from that. And, you know, like, it fueled this dream of becoming an illustrator or comic artist from a young age. And when I've compared notes with other peers at the same time for American comics, comics for girls were going away or almost faded out.So I was really lucky in that, you know, my love of comics came that way and was sustained that way. So I've always loved to draw, but, you know, comics part is the part where you know, sometimes you draw for yourself, but with comics, I found out early on you're telling stories and you share those stories with your friends and they're like, "Oh, I wanna see more. I wanna see more."MR: Mm-hmm. So you keep making more.DA: Yeah. So it's kind of fun. It's a good way for people who normally don't, you know, to talk about themselves be able to kind of put themselves out there.MR: So I wanna break in for a minute and ...
