Well, to start off with a few generalizations, I want to say that for most mangaka that are actively working, the work can be very stressful. The hours tend to be long, and unless you hit it big with popular anime and licensing deals, the pay can be very low (you are paid a page rate, and any supplies that you buy or assistants that you hire are all paid for by you). If you earn 10,000 yen (around $100, give or take the exchange rate) per page, and you draw 32 pages per month, that's roughly $3,200 before taxes, so you can see how it would be hard to survive and still hire an assistant.
When it got close to deadline, you'd often spend the last three or four days with him/her working in the studio without any sleep at all, or like 1-2 hours a night.
From an assistant's perspective, you work a LOT. A lot more than the sensei did. you usually get well-paid, but worked 16-hour days , about 20-25 days per month. you get to go to your Sensei to events, and the work environment is fun, but it is also very stressful, and it is hard to keep up a social life outside of work, with those kind of hours.
I also said that I would talk about what it's like for other mangaka. I know a few and they generally live for their work. They love to draw and create, and they do so. The more successful ones hire assistants to help them, and work as hard as they are able to. The less successful aren't able to hire many, if anyone, and they usually spend long, long hours drawing in their living rooms or bedrooms, and rarely socialize. They don't have the money or time to. Some get very stressed-out over deadlines and end up burning out. But, everyone loves drawing. Everyone loves to create. And, I may be making a generalization, but they all love to say that they are making their living doing something that they love: making manga. It's can be a hard life, but to the right person, it is worth it, and to a select few, it can really pay off.
When it got close to deadline, you'd often spend the last three or four days with him/her working in the studio without any sleep at all, or like 1-2 hours a night.
From an assistant's perspective, you work a LOT. A lot more than the sensei did. you usually get well-paid, but worked 16-hour days , about 20-25 days per month. you get to go to your Sensei to events, and the work environment is fun, but it is also very stressful, and it is hard to keep up a social life outside of work, with those kind of hours.
I also said that I would talk about what it's like for other mangaka. I know a few and they generally live for their work. They love to draw and create, and they do so. The more successful ones hire assistants to help them, and work as hard as they are able to. The less successful aren't able to hire many, if anyone, and they usually spend long, long hours drawing in their living rooms or bedrooms, and rarely socialize. They don't have the money or time to. Some get very stressed-out over deadlines and end up burning out. But, everyone loves drawing. Everyone loves to create. And, I may be making a generalization, but they all love to say that they are making their living doing something that they love: making manga. It's can be a hard life, but to the right person, it is worth it, and to a select few, it can really pay off.