i recently looked through a how to draw manga book and it had an interview with an american anime artist. he had said earning the respect of japanese animation studios is very tough. this is of course proably partly due to many japanese cartoonists striving for perfection so their standards are very high. but is it also do to race and ethnicality? on the flipside of this issue i was at a comic bookstore and saw these awesome marvel comic books done in manga style. a person looking at them blatantly expressed his disfavor of the traditional super hero genre being "bastardized" by being done in a foreighn style. the question i have is why do artists get flak merely for trying a style outside their nationality? is it because of stubborn pride by traditionalists that like keeping certain art tecniques within their own ranks?

I'd love to see american comics manga style. Tank girl would be intresting or something like 30 days of night. On the flip side, seeing manga done the american way would also be intresting.

I disagree with the characters being "bastardized" I believe it'd be a nice change. Or just something fun to at least check out.

well for awhile marvel did a run of manga style x-men and spider man comics. i don't exactly know the name of the series off hand but they were really good. as for japan i think the disney style is big there and when an american draws anime it's like seeing something they've seen over and over so it loses its impact as something special.

While not all experimental styles are repulsive to look at compared to traditional treatments (hey true some of them are irresistibly cute :biggrin: ), I'm of the opinion that things ultimately look better with what they've grown into.

The Mangakas know this all too well. They may try to adapt some unorthodox techniques but they're still making it blend with their usual comic styles. So if you want to experiment, the key may be to assimilate certain aspects of a style you want then incorporate it with your own. You learn something new but still maintain a sense of integrity - cool, huh? :cool:

When comic industries allow artists to adapt foreign styles, they overlook one important thing about this "new look" they wanna try: An artstyle evolves not only to look good, but also to effectively portray the characters and plot. Comics from different countries have different social/cultural nuances which are best expressed by their native artstyles.

At the end of the day, let's face it. Comic companies who publish in manga styles are only out to sell to those fans who really like the comics where those styles originated :tongue: A few out there may try to be open to the new thing, buy a few issues and such. But I've yet to hear anyone say that a certain comic, written for a particular native demographic was better off done in a totally foreign artstyle to begin with.

Heck, some of it's already queasy to look at in fanart, but running whole issues on it? geez :buck: God, are you that desperate to sell your title?

Aside from stubborn traditionalists (who, more often than not, actually have a strong point), one other reason why I think such artists get flak is because they're simply just changing from one established style to another. They're not really making anything new - in fact, dare I say it - they just copied another style. As an artist, are you really just content with copying off from someone and calling it your own? Should you really take that much pride in it? Whatever happened to ingenuity/creativity? :wave:

well i noticed though i'm a fan of japanese animation my stuff has always had a bit of my own flare in it. a friend once told me in jest "ben, your girls have big voloptous lips! most girls in anime just have petite lips or line mouths!" i do agree with you though nib...whatever tecnique one adapts to be it realism or animated they should try putting their own heart and style into what they create.

when i started to draw more anime type faces i had to question myself. "was i just selling out to a style that had become popular?" yet when i look at my art i notice each of my characters have feeling and personality. to me i suppose that is enough despite my arts lack in popularity.

sure i like getting compliments but honestly i do my art mainly for my own satisfaction. still i must confess it'd be nice to make a living at it someday especially if by doing so i could provide better for those i love.

Well, I believe any potential racism regarding whether or not certain cultures accept foreign styles is mostly just attributed to the purist side of anime fandom. At least, that's what I'd like to hope, because it's daunting enough knowing that their standards are so high regarding which stories they choose to pick up, let alone having the possibility of me not being Japanese affecting any success my projects might have.

What are the usual methods involved with being a successful American in the anime and manga business? Not just artwork, necessarily. It can include writing and other related positions.

yeah, i definetly agree there. storylines are just as key to a good anime as the art, at least in my opinion. i do find i have constant divided loyalties between writing and art. sometimes i think if i sacrificed one of the two i'd be better at the"one" thing i continued to work on. yet i can't give up either because i love them both.

knowing all that can be done with photo editing programs i wish i would have started to learn about coloring techniques much sooner but like many traditional artists i had a phobia of technologically touching up my sketches. now i'm learning how to use the tools in photo impressions i realize it was not as hard as i thought it's be.

i just would like to think we are all artists and writers...and if we work deligently and do our jobs well it shouldn't matter what native soil we call home. another descrimination issue i find is that art critics don't always take in consideration what tools the artist in question had to work with. for example generally an artist using adobe photoshop is going to be able to smoke someone using ms paint or a low end photo editor not necessarilly because they are more talented but because they have more tools at their disposal.

Indeed! You bring up many a good point!

It's a shame that a lot of great stories never come to the public's attention simply because the creators are either lacking in resources, or don't have "noteworthy" skill the present it in a readily available medium.

In a perfect world, it would be the ideas that companies look at first, instead of how the artistic and/or writing sides of the coins stack up against the competition. It would be all too easy to hire an aspiring or professional artist to fill in the gap for a writer who can't draw manga, or likewise, a skilled writer for an artist who cannot come up with their own stories.

I'll also agree that ideas come in many flavors, and as long as the person is serious about wanting to tell their story to the world, I don't think we should hold ANYTHING against them, as you so eloquently put. It's just too bad that the assurance of a steady cashflow is what dominates the minds of most of these corporations.

It's really strange because being an artist I do get flak for integrated outside styles. Anime/Manga has a big backlash in the established American art school/scene right now because it's so popular and older teachers tend to see it and think "cartoons" instead of "established art style". I have a friend on one hand who has amazing manga influenced style and has gotten shat on by all of our teachers throughout our past four years of art magnet high school. Then he got a perfect score on his senior design portfolio and accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design which has amazing illustration/animation.(it's muy expensive to go there too kids circa $50,000 a year!) so it really depends on the opened mindedness of who you're around. Many of my friends and myself really loved this kid's work and have always given him good crits. praising his style.(of course just as many other's have said "change it,get off your asian fetish"etc.) But he's kept to his own insticts and that's the realness of it. If you've got skills, creativity, and motivation do it, and everyone else can shut the f**k up!