It’s been revealed that actor Sawamura Ikki will be making his debut as a picture book author and illustrator!

Sawamura’s first picture book, “Tane Pokkuru ~Papa to Mama ni wa Naisho no Ohanashi~“, will be released on March 16th.  He expressed, ”I’m not done yet, but these next few days, I want to shave time off my sleep schedule and life, and devote myself to drawing.”

The book is an adventure fantasy that tells a story of three fairy brothers named ‘Tane Pokkuru’. Sawamura, who is a father of three boys himself, is in charge of the book’s original story and drawing.

Sawamura decided to publish a picture book after drawing the character on a tv program. He commented, “The world of picture books has great depth. I got sucked into it, so I thought that I couldn’t just publish something vague. If I’m going to do it, I wanted to put my whole heart and soul into making something with an actual story. I don’t want people to think, ‘He’s an actor doing this on his spare time,’ so I thought I had to take this seriously.”

Sawamura also shared that he spends over 8 hours drawing one page. ”It’s difficult, but I don’t hate it. It’s fun to be able to concentrate and draw right when I wake up. The work itself feels good. After designing it on white paper, and start adding in colors, it seems like the characters are brought to life. It’s a strange feeling,” he explained.

To commemorate the book’s release, Sawamura will hold an event on March 18th at Libro Ikebukuro Bookstore.

Source & Image: Mantan Web