When I read the manga Bureiku Shotto (the Engrish word for Break Shot), I was amazed by the stylized movements of the balls. Takeshi Maekawa, the mangaka, seems to put more details to action and movement rather than character design. His characters are simple, and their clothes are just as simple. However, the way he conveys movements from panel to panel makes his mangas believable.

I have always wanted to draw an action or two from the manga, and the chance came when there was a free-theme drawing contest in ProtocolSeven, an online forum currently going hiatus. The character I drew here is Jeffrey Boid, a genius American nine-ball player. He is a native to Chicago, and makes his living by playing nine-ball games with money in bars. Because he is poor, his will to be a professional player is immense.

As I have said earlier, I like the way Maekawa-sensei conveys movements. This drawing is an incomplete example. It is just a panel from a page in which Boid performs his Sure Shot. I have trouble adjusting the speed lines to head toward a common point while varying the thickness. I cannot imagine how long it takes to finish a Break Shot page.
The main attraction of this picture, I think, lies on how we see Boid hit the ball from a low angle over the table. The lines and shading are relatively simple.

Dimension: A5 paper (14.8 x 21 cm) Paper: Memopad paper Pencils: 2B mechanical, 2B genuine, and HB genuine Work duration: around a day for the whole picture, with more time dedicated to getting the speed lines look correct Date finished: 27 Nov 2002