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The Manga Artist - My Rant
Why hello there reader and welcome to my little essay dedicated to a certain type of artist: the Manga Artist.
You all know what Manga and Anime are, right? Well if not here is a little reminder; Mangas are the Japanese graphic novels most people love to read and Anime is with it...Animation, Japanese animations off Mangas themselves. By now I am sure that everyone has heard about DragonBall and Sailor Moon, so if you know about those cartoons you know about Anime.
What makes a Manga Artist? What could possibly one do to call himself a Manga Artist?
Due to the lakceys and pseudo Manga Artists that are capable to draw nothing but a Fandom of pictures, Manga has taken a cheap position in the world of Art which is seriously disappointing scale and a few of us just TRY to overcome such low position. Unfortunately enough the real Manga Artist just strives only to get the crumbs of the cookies in the plate, while the pseudo artist just go "KAWAAAI I draw [insert charcter/anime here]" and you see all the fans compliment them.
First off all these fanarts that people just love to draw are not what it makes a manga artist, neither the style in which they are drawn. Hell, even I could go and draw a mountain of fanarts of an anime or a game and get the crazy pageviews will start flipping madly to the point that will make anyone in the deviantART most watched.
Seriously though, what is the point of it all? Would YOU liked to be praised as a Manga Artist or would you liked to be praised about how obsessive you can get over others creation? Do YOU, pseudo-artist, KNOW what it means to be a Manga Artist?
I will bet twenty bucks that such artists don't know anything about styles and about the different types of body proportions/anatomy in Manga and Anime. Where are the original characters? Where are the feelings and the emotions of the character? Where are the newer generation of characters that will replace the old ones? Where are the expressive portraits of feelings? Where are the artist's ideas and thoughts?
Seriously? Those who just think that Manga Artist is just drawing out already existing characters and go around and say "Look this is my art!" can just get out and stay there so that the serious Manga Artists can have the credit they truly deserve. I really do not mind one or two fanarts or even ten in a gallery but I am against the pseudo artists that just don't know how to be creative, and deviantART is the clearest example of them all. I seriously appreciate more art that is catastrophically done but original then a beautiful masterpiece of Manga work with a hollow meaning. After all, empty vessels make most sound.
From my point of view, here is my own theory and ideas as a Manga/Anime Artist.
A Manga Artist is an Artist that is gifted to craft a new life, a new person with its own ego, ambitions, life and so forth. Such an artist is able to express oneself in those characters as well as one's thoughts, ideas and other personal things. Manga can be expressive as much as any other type of painting or drawing; you don't need to draw an actual character sometimes since you could express yourself by just drawing a figure. Just like in paintings with figures that hold no particular identity exist, why not Manga? If there is a thing such as expressive portraits in real-life drawings and paintings, give one good reason why shouldn't there be such in Manga as well.
One is able to express oneself through one's own image or the image of a character, it's the Artist's choice at the end of the day. The mediums used in Art are all applicable to Manga art, it still has its own complexity and some are simply too hard to copy.
What makes a Manga Artist unique is that these types of artists are not only capable in expressing themselves in figures and colours, though they are also capable of expressing themselves through stories and dialogs. Just like a Writer, a Manga Artist can make what is called a "Graphic Novel" in English and "Manga" in Japanese. From superheroes to real-life stories, a Manga Artist is free to let his or her own mind in such a form of art. Such obviously is applicable to any kind of comic artist.
Some Art Teachers complain about the lack of realistic features but they couldn't be more wrong than most of them already were. Did you know that in manga there are five different types of body anatomies? As Tadashi Ozawa written and professionally demonstrated in the first volume of "How to Draw Anime and Game Characters" there is the Realistic Type, the Popular Style, the Comical Style, the Chibi Style and the Mascot Type.
Emphasizing on Realistic Type there shouldn't really be complaints about the person's head being bigger than the body or the hands and feet being larger than they should be, because such anatomy has been totally taken off 100% from the body of a human being. There are people whom may complain about the unrealistic nose and overly huge eyes; the nose is classically drawn that way though the eyes just vary from Manga Artist to the other. One cannot possibly point out and say overly huge eyes to the realistic type of eyes, which are basically the outline of the actually human eye.
Manga and Anime are not something to be taken lightly, even more to be underestimated. If cartoons are a part of art, then whyever not Manga?
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Comments
SageMage Says:
I really do see the the point that you're trying to get across, and I have to agree with it completely.
I wish that some people would understand a bit better that it's fine and dandy to draw fan art, but they need to realize that drawing original characters (not necessarily fan characters) is much more important for one's development in becoming a good manga artist.
I still agree with this rant very much. +Fave
CafeCliche Says:
Amen to that.
angellynx Says:
I draw manga and i agree :3 im not a fanartist and I do understand what you mean when you say doing fanart does not make you a manga artist :3 i do have friends who are amazing artists though who do draw fanart but in there own style :3 im glad to see there are people like you who understand us unkown artists :3 thats why i like sheezy ^^ (sorry about the spelling)
Faithie Says:
Mm. It's kind of annoying how people who strive and create new characters and stories get ignored, while people who survive off of fan-art alone get all the popularity...
It's even worse when you do some of each. When you draw some fan-art that people like because you appreciate a story, and then your ACTUAL art gets yelled at because it isn't fan-art.
animemangaotaku Says:
THANK YOU.
StrawberryWitch Says:
Bravo, bravo! ^^ Amen to that. Man, you took all the words right out of my mouth.
Fan-artists do get WAY too much attention, then when they grow out of their fan art stages, they're scolded for having originality in their work, and then are tossed to the side as their 'fans' go find new fan artists to swoon over, it's sad.
As for the 'cartoons being considered a form of art', this thought entered my mind. All anime styles may have simularities, but when done right, can still be original in their own way. Same with cartoons. Cartoons have round eyes, anime has big eyes. If you look at it, they both have something in common with others of the same family. So, why should cartoonists bash manga artists, when they themselves are following a trend in animerican styled cartoons?
Sorry, now I'm ranting too. >>
SheenaXZelos Says:
Lovely writing here! :) I have to say I draw my fair share of fanart, but then again I have two original manga going strong and I'd much rather be recognized for pictures of that than my fanart... but alas it's the fanart in my gallery that gets a bit more attention... however the situation is getting rather better I suppose :)
clearly stated opinion and in no way does it feel like an attack at anybody, very well done :)
Either way, I like how this is written
20thcore Says:
you cover a lot of boundaries concerning this manga and anime artist. This is a pretty swell performed rant and in light of this my favorite thing that you mentioned is paragraph 7. and you do hit hit it right on! a manga artist expresses him/herself through characters and stories of their liking. but the whole fanart thing is poposterous. to me! what allows a pseudo-artist to call it "Their Work" what gives them authority to really think of themselves as really great artists when they don't really have their own styles or ideas. some time ago, I catagorized fanart as not even, because I see a lot of it that doesn't do the original character much justice.. but I kind of threw that idea away.
now the only place I stand is when I see a fanart done by a fan~ I really only give them props if they can manipulate the subject into their own styles. that! to me is what sparks the interest when it comes to fanart.
I must say too that I was once one of those types of artists that you mentioned that could "ONLY" draw fanart or originally existing characters and such. but you know I need to say that it was the best practice I ever had. because only a few years back I started adopting my own cartoon and character styles and my mind was just evolving. and now I have my own stories and characters that I wouldn't trade for the world!! so~
I was wondering when someone was going to get to this subject.. ^^ it's a good one to cover!
Xandy Says:
Ah, when I first saw the title, I figured this was something about slandering the style.
But after reading, I completely agree. DeviantART is horrible for fanarts - especially with Naruto and Kingdom Hearts. Heck, I love Kingdom Hearts, but all I see sometimes in people's galleries is demyx, demyx with someone else, etc, and nothing original. I respect the original manga/anime artist more than the fanart manga/anime artist.
Hakayoi Says:
True. Deviantart's frontpage is always entirely Kingdom Hearts and Death Note and Naruto fancomics/drawings. There really isn't any more creativity and originality among manga artists... it's pretty darned sad. I write a comic with all entirely original characters, and I never get credit for squat. I hate it when the people who draw fanart get all the attention! *ramble* Anyways, I completely agree with pretty much everything in this 'rant' thing. ^^