Brother Le Ping is fourteen years older than me, and I am eleven years older than Sanmao. When the great Sanmao appeared in "Independent Comics" in 1935, Brother Leping was twenty-five years old. What about me? Ten three years old.I have never seen Sanmao in this "Kaishanzu" painting.Alas! Sanmao is more than sixty years old after all. Read Sanmao in "Shanghai Comics" and "Times Comics". As it is, my "art career" started with comics. At that time, the ethos in my hometown was quite enlightened and progressive; new ideas, new culture, and new civilization constantly encouraged the enterprising spirit of young teachers, who went forward one wave after another.They ordered many progressive magazines and newspapers from Shanghai and Beijing and circulated them to each other. Needless to say, we, senior elementary school students, benefited from this.We hold on to "Shanghai Comics" and "Times Comics", and feel that they are not only a gift that allows us to understand the world, but also a weapon that we may master to criticize the world.

Our hometown is a piece of separatist land, the ruler controls the power of a dozen or so counties in western Hunan, whoever will fight whoever! The Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to do so.So there was a partial security situation for a decade or two. We imitated the style of "Shanghai Comics" and "Times Comics" to draw some satirical works on the wall newspapers, and even posted them on the street shamelessly. . Yet the self-satisfaction of this small group cemented a lifelong art of courage and unmistakable irony. On Children's Day, April 4th, 1936, my father gave me a copy of "Little Book of Comics" co-authored by brothers Zhang Guangyu and Zhang Zhengyu.

This all-encompassing encyclopedia taught me how to do it and how to imagine it, turning the people and things around me into caricatures.I admired and imitated at the same time, and found the power of expression.Learn to incorporate the things around you into the model of "Little Book of Comics".It really feels like something I created myself. I know that there are great Zhang Guangyu, Zhang Zhengyu, Ye Qianyu, Zhang Leping in the world... I can recite twenty or thirty such "great men" in one breath, and tell everyone, and someone in a new comic magazine drew a picture What a wonderful cartoon, so the buddies unanimously appreciated:

"This fucking bastard is really a god!" "Mr. Wang" and "Xiao Chen" have broadened our horizons about Shanghai's social life. The wife of "Mr. Wang" is very similar to Liu Yuxi, the wife of the owner of the silk tobacco shop outside the South Gate.It looks more and more like it.It's ridiculous! "Mr. Wang" and "Xiao Chen" called people "Ma Tepi", and we also carefully studied whether it is the same thing as the local "Ma Tepi". Shanghainese are actually swearing! Amazing! We have never lived their lives, we are not as busy and lively as "Mr. Wang" and "Xiao Chen".All we see are mountains, trees, and rivers. What about them? They are foreign houses. "If you look at a tall house, you will lose your hat if you are not careful", hey! The city people who say this are so stupid! Don't you look at it according to the hat?

"Sanmao" is different. "Sanmao" is exactly like us.People bully others, poor, hot, cold, tired, fighting, he is involved in it all day long, and we are also involved in it all day long.Although his hair is a little short, it doesn't matter much.He is better than us! He is cute! Like us, full of hair and eggs! Don't look at the "Sanmao" three strokes and two strokes, it is easy to copy, but it is very difficult to draw by yourself; if you don't believe me, try it! This is not learned, but cultivated. Left, right, front, side, top, bottom, no matter how you look at it, it is him.There is no such a real person who makes sketches from nature, and he completely depends on his own concentration.

Now that we know that there is Zhang Leping and many other people who are also human beings in the world, we also know that although people have to eat, eat pork knuckles, stewed beef, and drink soup, we also know how different people are. One day, my classmate Ji Longsheng's father discussed this issue with Master Ji who steamed bowl cakes on the main street. "Do you know the San Mao painted by Zhang Leping?" "Egg Sanmao!" he said. "Do you know that Sanmao is a character drawn out of thin air by one person?" "Know that there are eggs? It's not a meal!"

"Pigs eat too, dogs eat too..." "You son of a bitch! If you don't get out, I will beat you!" He chased out. I think this kind of person is hopeless, so I decided not to save him. I feel advanced since I draw manga every day.Start by drawing the people around you.My father has a good friend named Fang Ji'an, who is fat and has a pockmarked face. Although he is a military judge, he is a very kind uncle. I drew a full-body portrait of him on horse manure paper, then cut out the whole body, and asked my three-year-old brother to show them in the main room. Dad laughed first, and the uncles laughed too, and then sent it to Uncle Fang Mazi.Uncle Fang also grinned loudly, cursing while laughing:

"It must have been painted by 'Big Stupid Stick' (of course it refers to me, I am number one)! Tell him to come and see Lao Tzu's military law!" When my father flipped through "Times Comics" afterwards, he told me: "You draw a portrait of Uncle Fang, but not enough air. If you look at Zhang Leping's Sanmao and the people around him, each of them has a different movement, air, and expression. It can't just be like." It's not easy to look like, but you still have to move and look, Dad, Dad! Who do you think I am? Sometimes I don’t have paper; the paper here is only raw edge paper, yellow straw paper, and Xiaobei paper for the window. I can’t use it for copying colored cartoons. At least I need a newspaper that prints "Shen Bao".Paper shops don't come to this kind of paper very often; when it came, I happened to eat up my money, so I had to stare blankly at the shop.You know, when you are a son, you are always not too loose financially.The next day I saved my pocket money and rushed to buy paper, but the paper was sold out.

"Times Comics" and "Shanghai Comics" also published many paintings by foreign artists, such as Mexico, France, Germany, Britain, the United States... I don't know.I can't say it's bad.The strange eyes and head, the messy mouth, to be honest, I am a little scared, like pushing open a crack in a door, I often only open half a page to sneak a glance at it, and quickly turn over.I understand that this is what painters look at when they grow up, and there is another reason for it. One day, I suddenly saw a picture of three or four people running on the beach in Liangyou Pictorial.They were shirtless, each wearing a pair of pants that couldn't be any shorter, and ran desperately.The title is "Journey to the Seashore".Printed in small characters are "From the left, Ye Qianyu, Zhang Leping, Liang... Liang Desuo..." (Who is Liang Desuo? Why do you follow?)

Far is far, but can clear face.These three guys are all fucking handsome; Ye Qianyu is as tall as a horse, and has a curled beard; Zhang Leping's nose and the hair on his forehead are very majestic, like a stag; There is a thin white ribbon floating with it, like a foreign fairy. They are all so beautiful.They don't draw comics well, what are they doing on a "journey" to the "seaside"? It’s hard for a cartoonist to look so beautiful! I’m sure I won’t be able to do it when I grow up! I’m also embarrassed to wear such narrow shorts for people to take pictures. What if the “cock” is exposed?

This has to be seriously considered. Will I draw manga when I grow up?