BLANK CANVAS: MY SO-CALLED ARTIST'S JOURNEY (Kakukaku Shikajika), by Akiko Higashimura. First published in 2011 and first published in North America in 2019.
PLOT:
Akiko Higashimura might be a big-name manga artist now, but she started out as a talented but lazy kid way out in Miyazaki prefecture who was convinced she could easily make her way into art school and eventually to shojo manga stardom. Her youthful ego is punctured when she starts taking drawing lessons from a reclusive local teacher. Hidaka-sensei may be a tough-talking taskmaster, but as the reality of applying to art schools sinks in Akiko begins to truly understand the discipline he teaches her.
