Becoming a manga-ka~!!!

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Originally Posted by rayluber95

but does anyone know how you can approach someone at an anime convention and ask them to work with you??? I think I'll make that a question~!!!

It is easier then you think to approach an artist...Most artists are open so if you ask them to draw for you they will most likely be flattered. Just find someone who draws in a style that you would want your work to be in. A lot of artists who go to conventions work alone, and are looking for a writer to team up with.

So by browsing around and talking to different people you are bound to hit it of with someone. Also, don't forget to show people your material and get them intersted in your work...Since no one wants to draw something based on a subject they know nothing about. ^_^ Just don't be shy.

Originally Posted by MMM

Manga has an art style? Just because they are Japanese doesn't mean that there is one manga style. What "style" would they need to be true to?

Manga definitely has art styles. Of course there is not one style, but all Japanese artists have certain ways that they draw that makes all their art similar. Look at American comics you can easily tell the difference from American art (which has a lot of overly large muscle guys) Japanese art has more thinner people with long colorful hair and big eyes. So that would be the style that I am trying to explain. lol

Hope that makes sense. Sometimes I am no good at explaining...

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

Manga definitely has art styles. Of course there is not one style, but all Japanese artists have certain ways that they draw that makes all their art similar. Look at American comics you can easily tell the difference from American art (which has a lot of overly large muscle guys) Japanese art has more thinner people with long colorful hair and big eyes. So that would be the style that I am trying to explain. lol

I completely disagree. You have picked up on the STEREOTYPES that we apply to "manga art", but Taiyo Matrumoto's style is completely different from Kazuo Umezu who is completely different from Hiroki Endo who is completely different from Goseki Kojima. These are the masters, and they what they do have in common is that they don't draw doe-eyed girls with big boobs and long skinny legs. Manga is a format. There are as many styles as there are original artists.

[Morbidachan]

I might be completely wrong here, but wasn't manga just the Japanese/Asian way of doing 'comics' so to speak?
Because as MMM says, there is no particular style in it.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Morbidachan

I might be completely wrong here, but wasn't manga just the Japanese/Asian way of doing 'comics' so to speak?
Because as MMM says, there is no particular style in it.

Manga means comic in Japanese I believe. They made it, so they apply the styles that go to it I guess.

I completely disagree. You have picked up on the STEREOTYPES that we apply to "manga art", but Taiyo Matrumoto's style is completely different from Kazuo Umezu who is completely different from Hiroki Endo who is completely different from Goseki Kojima. These are the masters, and they what they do have in common is that they don't draw doe-eyed girls with big boobs and long skinny legs. Manga is a format. There are as many styles as there are original artists.

lol that's not what I meant. I guess I do really suck at explaining things. I was just trying to explain how you can tell the difference between American Art and Asian art. But I guess I just used a bad example. They look nothing alike, and I was trying to put it visually.

[Shidash]

I didn't mean to start an argument and I wasn't trying to stereotype things either . Manga doesn't have one specific style. It is more that... in some way manga is different from comics from other countries. It isn't just the art but stories too. There are many different manga styles, but somehow there is a way to tell if a comic is manga. It... I don't know, I make no sense but I know that manga is different in some way from other comics.

[MMM]

I am not trying to jump at anyone. I just think we have to be careful when we talk so sweepingly about "manga style". I think it's a term that people that have heard of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh can throw around, but it is a much richer, deeper, and vast field than that.

Manga is a format. It is Japanese for "comics".

"They made it, so they apply the styles that go to it I guess."

Japanese manga-ka are about as concerned about maintaining the styles of Japanse manga as much as American TV show makers think "We need to make sure we keep this American". For the most part, Japanese writers write for a Japanese audience, and are less concerned with maintaining the art. This may be more true of kabuki performers or traditional calligraphers because theirs are distinct national and struggling arts passed down generation to generation. I think we want to think the same is true of ALL things Japanese, as we here so much of tradition in Japanese art, but manga flows and changes expands and surprises constantly.

[Shidash]

I agree with MMM but I also think that people from other countries can draw and write Manga.

[ILOVEJAPAN]

There are manga (mainly less mainstream, more underground type stuff) that have styles that are nowhere near anything close to what you see in main-stream manga. With stuff like this you wouldnt be able to tell if the art was Japanese, American, European, etc. However, since most people who call themselves "otaku" (at least in the US, where I am) only watch what they see on adults swim, or read what they can find in scanlations. So they dont really bother to look at wider varietys of anime and manga, and dont really know what they are talking about.

I think the problam with most american anime/manga is that the creators try to draw/write somthing that they think a Japanese author would write instead of doing anything original or interesting.

Im sorry for being so harsh, but somtimes it frustrates me how ignorent modern otaku can be of anything old, or not main-stream.

Edit: I hope its clear that I am not acusing anyone here of being this way, just the way the conversation was going remindeded me of some people I know...

[ILOVEJAPAN]

Originally Posted by Shidash

Is it possible to become a manga-ka before I am an adult? Should I write it in English or Japanese (I plan on being fluent in Japanese before I write manga). I wouldn't mind working with someone in Japan even though I live in the US but I also wouldn't mind writing American manga. To me, manga and anime are the same no matter what country they come from as long as they stay true to the original art style and qualities that Japanese anime and manga have.

A: No, you do not need to be an adult.

B: If all you know is english, for now, write in english, if you eventualy move to Japan, Japanese would be expected, but as long as your in the US (or wherever you are) english is expected.

C: If you or anyone else has any more questions, then assume the answer is "yes" because with manga, there are no rules.

[Shidash]

I do look at the wider varieties. I am not trying to say that anime and manga has a certain style, I am trying to say that people in countries other than Japan can create anime and manga with enough work in the right direction. Currently I am considering leaving this forum because I feel unwelcome enough to do so. I will stay one more week and see if I am convinced to stay.