Posts tagged anime

Once in a while, someone will come out of the woodwork on an art/comic/animation site and decry the evils of how “manga” is ruining our precious budding western artists. Posts like this one: http://www.webcomics.com/forum/post/864139 are an example, though this one is far tamer than earlier ones I’ve seen. I do not claim myself to have any shred of talent when it comes to art, but this sort of argument seems really stupid to me.

First of all, one needs to understand that the literal definition of the Japanese word manga is simply a comic or cartoon. This generally means that any comic would fall under that definition. When an English speaker says “manga,” however, we generally mean a comic that originates in Japan or at least mimics the style.

The odd complaint from these decries will be that manga is somehow not as stylized as western comics. This is a fancy way of saying, “all manga looks the same,” and is the sign of someone’s exposure to manga is likely very limited. Someone who is only vaguely familiar with the staple super heroes might say that all American comics look the same for the same reason. In reality, while Japanese comics tend to share some similar characteristics, there are a high amount of differentiations depending on the artist.

That aside, they will argue that by western art students adopting a “generic” manga style, they are stifling their ability to develop their own style. To be honest, I would be hesitant to call anyone who doesn’t experiment with multiple styles a serious art student. There are plenty of people who pick up “How to Draw the Marvel Way” and stick with that, which is just as unoriginal as copying CLAMP.

Since I’m not a serious artist / art student, I draw the way more similar to the way most of  the stuff I read or watch looks like. Even then I still experiment from time to time. Someone with true talent and drive is likely to work hard at practicing various styles and techniques in order to develop their own styles regardless of their early influences.