Every artist, no matter their medium of expression, can often find themselves difficult position, devoid of ideas, at least one point in their lives. For someone as creative as Hajime Isayama, that wasn’t anything he could escape either. No matter how flourished a mind may be of ideas, there can often be times when they face writer’s block or artist’s block, unless you’re Jeffrey Archer.
Isayama’s creative journey has been one where he has learned a lot with every step he took. While there are moments when the mangaka criticizes his own work, there are also times when he has praise flowing through him, acknowledging the time and effort put into Attack on Titan. When Isayama found himself in a difficult position, his childhood self came in clutch.
Hajime Isayama was Stuck with No Ideas
During an interview with Febri, Hajime Isayama opened up about how sometimes when he was drawing Titans for Attack on Titan, the need to make them unique also meant to come up with fresh ideas for every kind that was introduced. He talked about how it was the Cart Titan that became a nuisance for him.
I was blanking on the design until two days before the deadline, and the resulting iron mask was a reference to a mask from a one-shot manga I first contributed to in high school. Back then, I was always drawing masks, like it would have killed me to stop, but fortunately, it was the key to my artist’s block.
He needed a fresh face for him, one that he couldn’t come up with because of the artist’s block that consumed his creative process. When Isayama couldn’t come up with any idea, he took to his old drawings, consulting a one-shot he created as a child during his high school days.
There he found multiple masks, those of which contributed to the Cart Titan’s final appearance. However, his obsession with masks had a lot to do with the fame of Berserk and his love for Kentaro Miura’s series.
Hajime Isayama’s Connection with Kentaro Miura
Hajime Isayama had always found himself inclined towards drawing masks because of how much he enjoyed reading Berserk. Griffith’s mask in particular inspired him to sketch out even more. His goal was to give Guts the perfect mask, one that could also compliment Kentaro Miura’s style. These sketches quickly turned into something he greatly admired.
The main reason I liked Berserk was in the design components, and that I thought Griffith’s mask was cool, too. Therefore, wouldn’t you naturally want to have Guts wear a matching mask? That’s why I was doodling Guts’ mask design for fun. By sheer coincidence, right after chapter ninety-two was published, The Berserker Armor episode of Berserk came out. Moreover, since it resembled the mask I had thought of, I was overjoyed to feel connected to Mr. Miura for a brief moment
The drawings that he later on came to refer to as doodles helped him create the Cart Titan’s face. However, what became a dream come true for Isayama was the coincidence by which his ideas for Guts’ own armor were somehow incorporated into Miura’s work.
That became an iconic moment he could not forget and the mark that the mangaka left behind helped him through his journey as the artist behind Attack on Titan. Without those sketches, he wouldn’t have found the perfect face for the Cart Titan.
Attack on Titan is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
