Manga

Manga is the term used in japan for their on medium of sequential art. The equivalent to the west’s comics. Manga is widely popular in the current generation’s youth. While I didn’t read any manga when I was a kid, I was heavily influenced by it’s animated counterpart or Anime. I grew up watching shows like Dragonball Z, Macross (or Robotech) and Gatchaman among others that started out as Manga. It wasn’t until later in high school where I actually picked up a volume of Rurouni Kenshin and saw what the main source was all about.

In this post, I’d like to talk about the undervalue of Manga and the stigma that is attached to it as an art student. I’m definitely one of many students who as a kid, enjoyed drawing from shows like Dragonball Z, only to later on pick up a greater interest in drawing and doing so using this style as an approach. However, going into Ringling, one of the first things you’ll hear is to “never draw anime (or manga)”, avoid it like the plague. Now, as a senior, I can understand where this stigma come from. Manga style is very simplified, which is one of the reasons we are attracted to it. However, as artists, in order to draw in a style that simplifies and exaggerates the human figure, we need to understand the figure itself as a whole and with accuracy, so that we make smart decisions and properly simplify. This is what differentiates a good manga artist from a bad one.

Manga style does have some attributes that even contribute to American comics, whether it’s dynamic gestures, or storytelling devices.