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Blood: The Last Vampire's Katsuya Terada Talks Philosophy in Short Documentary

Illustrator Katsuya Terada is probably best known to Western audiences as the character designer of Blood: The Last Vampire anime film in 2000. However, since his time working on the film, Terada has worked as a designer on the live-action Devilman and Yatterman films and was a guest designer on the Space Dandy anime series.

In a new short documentary with Archipel, the YouTube channel behind the monthly Toco Toco web series, Terada heads out to Iki Island, part of Nagasaki prefecture, for the first time. Terada spends four days on the island while completing a life drawing of the natural elements he observes during his trip.

Terada reveals in the video that when it comes to life drawings, he doesn't draft his composition first. Instead, he continues to stack graphic details on top of one another until the piece is finished. It's using this process that Terada draws an intricate ox melded with plant life on a wooden screen door using only a thick-tipped black marker.

Terada speaks at length about his internal battles with his art, namely his concerns about how his physical condition could affect his output now that he's reached 50. He also shares his own insecurities, or more accurately, a lack of contentment, with the quality of his work and how it propels him to continue his art.