Macoto Takahashi

Macoto Takahashi is a Japanese painter, illustrator, and manga artist. His art and illustrations are noted for significantly influencing the aesthetic styles of shoujo manga. He decided to pursue jojouga (lyrical painting) after discovering the works of jojouga artist Jun'ichi Nakahara in the magazine Himawari. He began his career in 1953 illustrating books aimed at the loan market (kashi-hon). He began to create manga in 1956 with the shoujo manga series "Paris-Tokyo." That same year, he contributed to the nascent gekiga scene by adapting Sherlock Holmes stories for the kashi-hon manga magazine Kage.

During the 1960s, Takahashi stopped creating shoujo manga, because he considered himself incapable of adopting the point of view of a girl. He shifted to illustration, creating album cover artwork, stationery, and covers of shoujo manga magazines, and became particularly popular with the Gothic Lolita subculture.

(Source: Wikipedia, edited)