Eastern styles over western

syrana

Doing a thesis in collage on

"Is Eastern styles of drawing such as manga and anime excelling in Western society to the point that it may replace it?"

I would like to here anyones views on it.
thanks:)

ztoical

syrana wrote: »

"Is Eastern styles of drawing such as manga and anime excelling in Western society to the point that it may replace it?"

There isn't really one general Western style when it comes to comics or animation [there isn't really one "eastern style" either if you really look at the work and ignore those stupid how to draw manga books]. BD's or bande dessinée, which would be Franco/Belgian comics, have a totally different style to Mainstream American comics which in turn are very different from Alternative press/underground and small press comics. Animation has even bigger style differences as animation style tends to alter from animation studio to animation studio rather then country to country.

Japanese prints were a major influence on European painting in early 19th but it didn't "replace" the style of art in the region. Artists have always been influenced by other artists, art forums and styles but they tend to bring elements into their own work. All forums of art including comics are always involving and changing.

Focusing on just comics there are elements that have been brought in from Japanese comics but they won't ever replace the local comics as there are cultural differences in storytelling and also the production of comics from country to country effects the way comics are produced. American mainstream comics are dominated by Diamond and the direct market, the breakdown to how those comics are made/published is very different to how bande dessinée are produced and very different to how Japanese comics are produced.

FruitLover

I don't think Western society is going to be replaced by Eastern-style drawing any time soon tbh.

Personally, I like being 3-dimensional.

Cy_Revenant

I don't think you can whittle down all eastern or western works to be referred to as a single style. Every artist has his or her own unique style. Different mangaka can be as different from each other as Naruto differs from the average Spiderman penciller's works.

Indeed, there is an american artist currently doing a weekly run in a certain japanese manga publication. Also, I'm sure you all know that modern manga was largely inspired by golden age DC comics and Disney?

Unless you think Shirow Masamune's work looks similar to Eiichiro Oda's or even Mitsukazu Mihara's? Or that the style of Alex Ross is comparable to John Romita Jnr or George Peréz? No, I didn't think so either.

I also feel that the title of the thesis could be phrased better, but hey, I'm just being pedantic.

K.O.Kiki

Franco-Belgian comics are massively under-appreciated in English-speaking markets.

Shinji Ikari

Hopefully,I find the western style an eyesore.

Cy_Revenant

Shinji Ikari wrote: »

Hopefully,I find the western style an eyesore.

As I indicated before, that phrase is largely meaningless.

Franco-Belgian comics are Western.
Canadian cartoons are western.
Disney is western.

Spot the difference?

ztoical

Shinji Ikari wrote: »

Hopefully,I find the western style an eyesore.

I'm going to assume by "western style" you mean Mainstream direct market american comics but even within that market there is a massive range of styles going on. Outside of the big two you've got work by the likes of Robert Crumb, Gary Panter, Chris Ware, Peter Kuper, Charles Burns, etc etc which would be counted as "western" yet look nothing like standard superhero comics.

Comics are viewed as a forum of high art in France just like painting and sculpture and level of work coming from there is amazing along with the production values, nearly every comic is larger then A4, hardcover and full colour - check "Three Shadows" by Cyril Pedrosa or the work of Pierre Alary

There's an irish animated feature film, "The Secret of Kells" opening nationwide on the 6th of March which has drawn its style from the book of kells, so it's a "western" film but it certainly doesn't look like anything else out there.

Eastern comics works the same, comics coming from Korea have a very different look and feel then comics coming from Japan and within Japan there is such a massive range of styles. And when you say Eastern where does east start? The style of comics produced in Eastern Europe is totally different to the comics coming out of Western Europe - check out Stripburger or Aooleu for some great Eastern European comics. I try not to use the term Manga or comics when talking about the medium as both are such general terms that don't do justice to the level and variety of work that is out there.

You should also learn your manga/eastern comics history as Japanese comics and anime was influenced very much by "western art" esp the work of Disney so its all really just one big pot.

JesusRiddle

Shinji Ikari wrote: »

Hopefully,I find the western style an eyesore.

Thats pretty snobby of you. All art should be judged on its own merit.

Prime32

Where was that Shortpacked! strip where a guy is complaining about "what is this some anime **** eyes aren't that big this sucks" and it turns out to be Bugs Bunny?

Overheal

Batman: TAS from the 90s. Western. Hey-o.

Then you have Spawn. X-men. Spiderman. Megas XLR. Transformers (multiple series)



But even then, even within the same character or culture you see many styles due to various artists working on the pieces.






I think naturally youre going to see techniques that work in one area being applied elsewhere. Anime/Manga faces seem to do a quick and clean job on human face. At the same time, there are other factors.

Take a look at Mecha examples. Here's Iron Man.



An All-American Character. Simple design. Easy focus (torso, head).

Japan: I'll use this custom exia as an example



Now you'll notice How Iron Man uses a lot of countoured, organic-ish lines and warm tones. Whereas the Gundam displays colder, mechanical tones, and a very polygonal form. The focus is less apparent. Also in comaprison Western mecha (and characters in general) tend to focus on doing more with less:

Iron Man has his Chest RT, and his Repulsors on his arms, plus a few situational gadgets. The Gundam on the other hand typically has Several beam swords, a Rifle, shoulder gatlings, an arm shield, etc. Theres nothing wrong with either style. But each is a contrast to the other.

Will one replace the other? I dont think so. Rather, each will adopt traits from the other, until a point is reached where you encounter a non-geographic style emerge, developed from the best traits of its influences.





And could people in College learn how to spell College? Fcuking embarrassing yourself.

Prime32

I tend to disagree with your analysis of mecha

Here is Mazinger Z, one of the oldest Super Robots


Here is Iron Man as he appeared in House of M


I'll grant you, Real Robots do tend to look more polygonal.

syrana

Thanks everyone how replied to my forum. I fell that you can't say that their is only two styles of drawing, as their is new styles appearing every day and they are being influenced from both sides of the world. It was good to see everyone's different views on the topic.
Thanks again for your views, it really helped.

Oh and i meant college:pac:

Shinji Ikari

JesusRiddle wrote: »

Thats pretty snobby of you. All art should be judged on its own merit.

Well it's just my opinion,subjective as it is. Although I will admit that came out a bit dismissive alright. We all have different tastes. I will admit I was generalising a bit there though. And yes, all styles do tend to influence each other.

seraphimvc

speaking of the western/eastern style,of course we can clearly see the line there:

get the female protagonist of Mirror Edge(a game),and compare her to those big eyes japanese characters design. an asian character under a western artist becomes something like that(to me,that girl from mirror edge is acceptable but the game is no doubt wont sell well in any 'normal' asian market/countries).

there,same trends go on comic too.

put it a simple way to explain the critical difference between western and eastern style:the details of the objects.

look at those old school classic comic eg Spiderman etc,they are simple drawings,but now?

while look at those old manga/animations?they have always been like that have so much details/texture on character/objects eg like the eyes,big,mirror-liked,watery effect eyes?

there is without a doubt that obviously eastern style highly influences the western style comic - all comic drawings are getting complicated with many different high level visual effects on them nowadays,which we used to see on japanese animation/manga only.i said big influnce doesnt mean one of them is 'replacing' the other bear in mind with that.western artists have their own pride ffs!

i guess the beauty judgement of people is just getting globally orientated?

anyway,we wont see a huge watery eyes girl in spiderman any time soon which is kinda a good news

ztoical

seraphimvc wrote: »

put it a simple way to explain the critical difference between western and eastern style:the details of the objects.

again your only looking at direct market american comics. You want detail have a look at some of the french comics out there. Now look at the work of the underground american cartoonists - R. Crumb's work is packed full of tiny detail drawn with the smallest rapidograph and later on you have the likes of Gary Panter an amazing American cartoonists whose style is hugely popular in Japan. And of course Japan isn't the only country in Asia making comics, we just don't see much from the others here but theres alot of really great Korean and Malaysian work out there.

Prime32

Detail? Take a look at stuff by... that famous guy. The one who did Astro Boy. His art style was inspired by Betty Boop.

ztoical wrote: »

And of course Japan isn't the only country in Asia making comics, we just don't see much from the others here but theres alot of really great Korean and Malaysian work out there.

Except the ones without "experimental" art styles get mistaken for Japanese work (such as Yureka/id_Entity) :pac:

ztoical

Prime32 wrote: »

Detail? Take a look at stuff by... that famous guy. The one who did Astro Boy. His art style was inspired by Betty Boop.

Osamu Tezuka who is created with creating the "big eyes" look took his influence from, as mentioned, Betty Boop as well as alot of Disney's early animation, esp Micky Mouse.

Art is a never ending circle of influence, remember good artists copy, great artists steal. People are quick to say when an american artists has "ripped off" a japanese source but rarely look any further. The Matrix ripped off Ghost in the Shell but Ghost in the Shell was very much influenced by films like Blade Runner and 2001 which in turn where influenced by early German cinema which in turn was influenced by Expressionism so on and so forth all the way back to finger painting on cave walls.

jvposter

syrana wrote: »

Doing a thesis in collage on

"Is Eastern styles of drawing such as manga and anime excelling in Western society to the point that it may replace it?"

I would like to here anyones views on it.
thanks:)

I like both types if they have a good story only