is a Japanese illustrator,

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

, and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

. He is a regular contributing artist for the ''

Duel Masters Trading Card Game The ''Duel Masters Trading Card Game'' is a two-player or two vs. two team collectible card game (CCG) jointly developed by Wizards of the Coast and Takara Tomy (itself an affiliate of Hasbro, which owns WotC). The card game is part of the ''Duel ...

'', the ''

Pokémon Trading Card Game The , abbreviated as ''PTCG'' or ''Pokémon TCG'', is a collectible card game developed by Creatures Inc. based on the ''Pokémon'' franchise. It was first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was first published by ...

'', and

Hatsune Miku , also called Miku Hatsune, and officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official moe anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise bu ...

merchandise. He is also the main illustrator and character designer for the game ''

Dragalia Lost ''Dragalia Lost'' was an action role-playing game developed by Cygames and published by Nintendo, for Android and iOS. It was initially released in September 2018, and was later released in other regions. The game received mixed reviews from ...

''. As a manga artist, he wrote and illustrated '' Baki Domoe'' from 2010 to 2014. In addition, Saito runs a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel(s) offering advice on how to improve artwork and published two books based on its content. His main channel, which had roughly 1.3 million subscribers, was terminated for unknown reasons in late March of 2023.

Career

Saito debuted professionally at the age of 19, drawing artwork for the ''

''. He is a regular contributing illustrator for the ''

'' and the main illustrator for ''

''. From 2010 to 2014, he wrote and illustrated ''Baki Domoe'', a comedy spin-off of ''

Baki the Grappler Baki ( ar, باقي) may refer to: Places * Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan ( az, Bakı) * Baki District of the Awdal region in Somalia *Baki town, Somaliland * Baki, Afghanistan * Baki, Sukoharjo, a subdistrict in Sukoharjo Regency, Jawa Tengah ...

''. ''Baki Domoe'' was first launched on the ''

Weekly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Akita Shoten. History ''Shōnen Champion'' was first published on July 15, 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Mizushima, Masami ...

s website, but after it shut down, it was published irregularly in the magazine before being moved to ''Bessatsu Shōnen Champion''. In 2017, Saito designed a

figure, which was also re-released in 2019. He provided the illustrations for collaboration merchandise between ''

Monster Hunter Frontier , later renamed as ''Monster Hunter Frontier Z'', was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, the first spin-off in the ''Monster Hunter'' franchise to appear on the platform. ''Monster Hunter Frontier'' w ...

'' and Hatsune Miku, celebrating the 10th anniversary of both franchises. Saito provided the character design for the manga series ''Suginami Tōbatsu Kōmuin'', which began serialization in ''

Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its ''Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titles ...

'' in 2018. In 2019, Saito became one of the contributing character designers for the mobile app game ''47 Heroines''. He released a collaboration illustration between Hatsune and ''

Digimon Adventure , known as ''Digimon: Digital Monsters'' in English-speaking territories, is a 1999 Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation in cooperation with WiZ, Bandai and Fuji Television. It is the first anime series in the ''D ...

'' to celebrate the latter franchise's 20th anniversary. Later that year, Saito created a

channel, where he provided advice and instructional videos on drawing. As of June 2021, he has at least 470,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. In October 2019, he provided illustrations for Hatsune Miku mug cups that were sold in

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

arcade machines. In 2021, Saito designed a figure featuring N and Zorua from ''

Pokémon Black and White and are 2010 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fifth generation of the Pokémon (video game series), ''Pokémon'' vid ...

'', as well as Leon and

Charizard Charizard (), known in Japan as , is a Pokémon in Nintendo and Game Freak's '' Pokémon'' franchise. Created by Atsuko Nishida, Charizard first appeared in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'' ( ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'' in ...

from ''

Pokémon Sword and Shield and are 2019 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. They are the first installments in the eighth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series ...

''. In the same year, Saito released his first advice book, ''Umaku Kaku no Kinshi: Tsurakunai Irasuto Jōtatsu-hō'', on March 22, with contents based on his YouTube channel. This was followed by his second book, ''Saitō Naoki no Mottainai! Irasuto Tensaku Kōza''. In the same year, Saito also announced he would be selling

NFT art A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the b ...

, with one of his works selling for 13.69

ETH (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

(equivalent to ).

Personal life

Saito attended and graduated from

Tama Art University or is a private art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) founded in 1935. ...

, where he majored in graphic design.

Works

Manga

Other publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Naoki 1982 births Japanese illustrators Japanese YouTubers Living people Manga artists from Yamagata Prefecture Pokémon Video bloggers