Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto (NARUTO－ナルト－), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit. Naruto is still ongoing, with more than 52 volumes and just over 50 released in English, and has sold over 100 million copies in Japan and over 95 million copies were sold in the US followed by over 93 million copies worldwide (outside Japan and United States) as of volume 36, also being adapted into two successful anime series. The Naruto manga series has become one of Viz Media's top properties,accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in 2006.The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga to ever win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006.In 2009, Kishimoto designed an extra costume for the video game character Lars Alexandersson for Tekken 6, and in 2010 this character appeared in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 as part of a special cross-promotion.In 2010, Kishimoto also produced a one-shot baseball manga, Bench (ベンチ Benchi), as part of Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shot manga by famed Weekly Shōnen Jump artists, also including Sorachi Hideaki, Konomi Takeshi, Usuta Kyosuke, Akimoto Osamu, and Akira Toriyama.
Influences
When Kishimoto was originally creating the Naruto series, he looked to other shōnen manga for influences while attempting to make his characters as unique as possible. Kishimoto cites Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series as one of his influences, noting that Son Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball, was a key factor when creating Naruto Uzumaki due to his energetic and mischievous personality. When redesigning three characters for the series, Kishimoto cites The Matrix, one of his favorite movies, as an inspiration for such outfits.He has also cited Yoshihiro Togashi as one of his favorite manga authors,while the manga Sasuke by Sanpei Shirato, a series which Kishimoto likes, inspired Kishimoto in the development of the character Sasuke Uchiha.
When drawing the characters, Kishimoto follows a five-step process that he consistently follows: concept and rough sketch, drafting, inking, shading, and coloring. These steps are followed when he is drawing the actual manga and making the color illustrations that commonly adorn the cover of tankōbon, the cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump, or other media, but the toolkit he utilizes occasionally changes.For instance, he utilized an airbrush for one illustration for a Weekly Shōnen Jump cover, but decided not to use it for future drawings largely due to the cleanup required
Manga
- Karakuri one-shot (1996, Hop Step Award winner, published in Hop Step Award Selection 18 ('95~'96) (1996), Akamaru Jump Winter (1997), and Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (2009))
- Naruto pilot (1997, published in Akamaru Jump Summer (1997) and Naruto: The Official Fanbook (2002))
- Karakuri (April 1998 – May 1998, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
- Naruto (November 1999 – ongoing, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
- Bench one-shot (October 2010, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Books
- Naruto: First Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·臨の書]キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Naruto Hiden: Rin no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Confrontation] Character Official Data Book")
- Naruto: The Official Fanbook (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·の書]オフォシャルファンBOOK Naruto Hiden: Hyō no Sho Ofisharu Fan Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Warriors] Official Fan Book")
- The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki (岸本斉史画集 UZUMAKI Kishimoto Masashi Gashū: Uzumaki, lit. "The Art of Masashi Kishimoto: Uzumaki")
- Naruto: Second Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·闘の書]キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Naruto Hiden: Tō no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Battle] Character Official Data Book")
