Things I've learned about Katsuhiro Otomo from older interviews in his GENGA art book...

• Otomo believes it's a bad idea to work on comics for rewards
• Otomo believes the struggle and process behind a work is important and valuable, not just the final image
• Otomo has said that if you really are a true comics artist, all your secrets will be laid  bare on the page in one sense. It is important to confront yourself and shadow self, because that is what you're readers will see in your comics: YOU, HIDDEN PERSONALITY AND ALL

That last one really gets me. Really moves me. It rang true to me. When you're an author, a manga-ka, you can't necessarily just pick and choose your subject matter and what you're going to write and draw all the time. You can't always leave the things you're running or hiding from in your personal life out. You will find, with the more involved in writing and drawing you get, the more your demons WILL come calling. All those unpleasant aspects of your personality and life you would rather forget. Your demons.

You have to put those in. Otherwise not putting your demons and secrets into your stories will result in being creatively blocked. I had that for a while. I found I was leaving the things that made me uncomfortable, (that drew strong reactions from people in their real life raw form) out of my work, ESPECIALLY my art. The things I was truly AFRAID OF. I found I had a lot of them (in my life) but I kept unconsciously leaving them out, because they made me feel sad, awkward, angry, hateful, or depressed or whatever. I eventually found, the more I put those monsters, those demons in, the more material I had to continue and work with, as a writer, and ESPECIALLY as an artist.

And THAT'S How to Draw Comics: The Otomo Way!