Storyboard drafts are the drafts before the rough sketches, mainly used to check the story, dialogue bubbles, pacing, panel layouts, and panel divisions.
As for other parts like characters and backgrounds, you only need to roughly indicate them with stick figures and blocks, so they are very simple to draw; the main difficulty lies in creating the content.
Back to the topic.
The content of Chapter 4 of FSN continues directly from the end of Chapter 3, with Tohsaka Rin starting to patrol the city with Archer, looking for traces of other Masters and Servants.
During this process, Akira showcased and explained the abilities of both parties to a certain extent.
At dusk, while Tohsaka Rin and Archer were investigating at the school, they suddenly encountered Lancer, and a battle broke out between them, clarifying the cause and effect of the fight.
In the end, Tohsaka Rin discovered Emiya Shirou's body and decided to use magecraft to save him before turning and leaving.
The final scene freezes on the bewildered expression of Emiya Shirou as he sits back up from the ground, shown here as a close-up of a stick figure's face.
Master, Servant, magus, Holy Grail War...
Akira did not directly explain these settings; instead, he slowly laid them out through the dialogue and actions of Tohsaka Rin and Archer, piquing the readers' interest.
Additionally, as the male lead, Emiya Shirou will certainly participate in this war.
So, what kind of encounters he will have after being resurrected, and what kind of Servant he will summon, are also things that make people very curious.
Therefore, although this chapter counts as a transitional chapter, it is still interesting enough because it is packed with information.
And Hisashi believes that the moment this fantastical, mysterious, complete, and rigorous worldview is fully revealed to the readers, the charm of "Fate/stay night" will surely conquer everyone!
'I don't believe there are any issues; let him draw it this way.'
Hisashi nodded to signify approval.
However...
But then, he revealed a hesitant expression, as if he had something to say but found it difficult to bring up.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing this, Akira asked curiously:
"If there's any problem, please just say it directly."
"Of course."
Hisashi said with some helplessness:
"It's just that, because the point I want to discuss is really hard to count as a 'problem', I was struggling with whether or not I should explain it to you."
Huh?
His curiosity was piqued, so he said:
"Please go ahead; I want to hear Mr. Sasaki's thoughts."
"Alright."
Hearing him say this, Hisashi stopped struggling and confessed:
"Actually, the point I want to discuss with you is regarding the storyboards."
"Mochizuki-sensei, how do you think your storyboard drawing level is?"
"Hmm..."
He carefully recalled it and said somewhat uncertainly:
"I think, it's okay?"
"That's for sure."
Seeing him reveal a cautious appearance, Hisashi laughed:
"Don't doubt yourself; even by my standards, Mochizuki-sensei's storyboards are at a pretty good level among serialized manga artists."
If you were to grade the storyboards on a scale of 100, with 60 being passing and 90 being excellent, Akira's storyboards would probably get around 80 points.
Although this level cannot be considered excellent, it is definitely not bad, and for most serialized manga artists, this level is already quite sufficient.
But the problem lies in the fact that Akira does not belong to the ranks of 'most manga artists'.
For someone whose overall ability is at a 70-point level, an 80-point ability can be considered their specialty.
But for someone whose overall ability is above 90 points, an 80-point ability is a clear shortcoming.
And Akira undoubtedly belongs to the latter.
Up to now, the overall artwork, settings, plot, and pacing of FSN... these are all at a very excellent level.
And in this situation, the storyboards, which were originally quite good, have instead become something that holds him back.
However, in the state of finished drafts, Akira's storyboard issues are actually not that obvious.
But now, without the cover of excellent artwork, the storyboard issues have become somewhat prominent.
After explaining his thoughts, Hisashi said to him:
"To be honest, expecting a manga artist to be the best in every aspect is unrealistic, which is why I was struggling with whether or not to talk to you about this."
"I want to know what you think."
"Hmm..."
Akira pondered, falling into thought.
Actually, when Hisashi mentioned storyboards, he had already roughly realized what the other person was going to say.
Because he himself knew that his ability to draw storyboards was indeed worse than other aspects.
The Original Owner only started learning about storyboards after preparing to draw manga, so he was not good at this aspect;
And in his previous life, he similarly did not undergo systematic learning; he basically just learned some related knowledge here and there while watching videos, and coupled with reading a lot of manga, he only had a relatively vague concept.
When he didn't know how to draw certain shots, he relied more on his absolute memory to filter through the massive amount of works in his mind, finding the storyboard techniques that met his requirements.
The effect of doing this was indeed good, but since it wasn't something he truly mastered and he didn't understand the deep principles behind it, it was hard to achieve the best results.
It was somewhat a case of knowing the 'what' but not the 'why'.
Of course, just as Hisashi said, this method is actually more than enough to handle manga serialization.
After all, everyone's talent is different and energy is limited; it is impossible to be perfect in every aspect.
But...
"Although I don't know if it can be achieved, if possible, I also hope to improve my ability to draw storyboards."
He affirmed Hisashi's statement and then asked:
"Additionally, I think what I currently lack is knowledge of the principles; if I want to solve this problem, where can I start?"
Seeing Akira agree with his thoughts, Hisashi revealed a gratified look.
And the other person's next sentence made him feel a bit surprised.
Did he find his own shortcomings so quickly?
This is truly...
"I understand."
Hisashi laughed:
"I will help you find some related books as soon as possible; is there anything else you need besides that?"
"There shouldn't be anything else."
He shook his head, then seemed to remember something, and looked at the storyboard draft for Chapter 4 on the table, saying:
"Since that's the case, should the storyboards for Chapter 4 be redesigned?"
"That won't be necessary."
Hisashi smiled and rejected his idea, explaining:
"The reason why I said these things to you is that I believe you have the talent, so I hope you can do better, but it's not a must."
"If that ends up affecting the normal serialization, then that would be putting the cart before the horse."
Then, he urged:
"Similarly, I also hope that you won't be affected by the conversation just now and get hung up on this."
Well said, but I don't think I have such talent...
Akira silently complained in his heart.
However, he certainly wouldn't get hung up on it.
Improving storyboard levels or whatever, if it works, it works; if not, so be it. He would absolutely not make things difficult for himself over such matters.
At the end of the day, he isn't a true genius, so why make life hard for himself?
So he nodded and said:
"I understand."
"That's good."
Hisashi stood up to leave, and before leaving, he said to him:
"Since the storyboard draft has been confirmed, let's start drawing the rough sketches. Tomorrow, I will also bring those three assistants over to report for duty and work."
"Next, we will officially enter the rhythm of a serialized manga artist!"