Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey, known in Japan as, is an autobiographical manga series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura. It was serialized in Shueisha's monthly manga magazine Cocohana from 2011 to 2015 and collected in five volumes. The series is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.
Characters
;Akiko Hayashi;Kenzō Hidaka
Media
Manga
The individual chapters, referred to as "canvases", were serialized in Cocohana magazine between the inaugural January 2012 issue and the March 2015 issue. They were later published by Shueisha in five volumes. The third, fourth, and fifth volumes also included bonus "sketchbook" chapters.Live-action film
A live-action film adaptation was announced on December 17, 2024. The film is produced by Warner Bros. Japan and directed by Kazuaki Seki, with the screenplay written by Higashimura and Date-san, and music composed by Yuki Munakata. It premiered in Japanese theaters on May 16, 2025.Reception
The series was number five on the 2013 and 2014 Top 20 Manga for Female Readers surveys and number seven on the 2015 survey. It was number four in the 2013 Comic Natalie Grand Prize. In 2015, it won the eighth Manga Taishō Award, and was awarded the grand prize in the manga division by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs at the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival.Volume 2 sold 49,232 copies as of June 2013 and volume 3 sold 47,446 copies as of February 2014.