Of course many have you have heard about the iPad (and god knows this is probably the 1 millionth post about it on the web.) I was busy posting about it on my other personal blog as the information was coming in during the Apple conference. The first thing that comes to our minds when seeing it is; how great would reading manga be on it? Also, there are the Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony Readers out there that for the most part, haven't captured the hearts of manga fans and the lack of manga on them is proof.
Now, here's the more important question. Will this be good or bad for the manga industry? The good is that people who might not have been into manga, could start to realize what all the hype is about. On a bad note for the industry, it is bound to reduce the actual paper printing of manga plus it will give more fuel for all those illegal manga viewing sites...even more so than what we already see.
The anime and manga industry hopefully will be able to monitize from the iPad and the other readers as well and if they don't, though many fans will be happy to build the pirating free manga sites, less money in the pockets of the content creators means less anime for us to read and watch.
Comment what you think this means for manga. Would you be buying the iPad for manga (as well as the other features)? Maybe you are already or planning to use the Nook, Kindle, Sony Readers, etc...or are you just sticking to what most anime fans continue to do and buy stacks and stacks of manga?
Ok, I'm either going to create some hatred or some happy fans...or both but as some of you might know, Yen Press is printing 350,000 copies of the Manga version of the hit book and movie series of Twilight. As an anime store owner, I naturally placed the manga in my store for pre-order. My fiancee, Danielle is a big fan of the series, she has read all the books and is for both Team Jacob and Team Edward (did I just type that? 0_0). Listen, I'm not a huge fan of the series, I'm more of a Bram Stoker's Dracula or Vampire Knight person. Unavoidable for both fans and non-fans is that the series is big news on all fronts.
Yen Press will make 2 volumes of the manga both of which are set to be a massive 200+ pages; massive for a single manga volume of course. The expected release date of the first volume is around March 17th so fans of the series, I'll gladly help you get access to a copy (while supplies last of course ^^;;). Both fans of the series or non-fans, you can bring on the discussions in the comment fields but for the love of God, not crazy fighting -_-
Sorry for the delay in my posts, been doing some site updates and I also caught a nasty cold/flu. Anyways, did you know that you can get a college degree in Manga Research? I didn't know either but as per Anime News Network, Kyoto Seika University will have it's first graduate programs in the subject. Yet another reason why I hate, hate the US school system. It took years for video game development to be accepted by the pompous a-holes in charge of US "higher education" when for years it was in Japan. Funny thing is that many so-called "well to do" computer science grads are flipping burgers now since their department is in India now. The only successful people in those fields are..you guessed it, video game developers. I would bet my yearly anime products profits that a major in Manga research will go farther than a degree in say English Literature..but who am I but a former Computer Scientist who makes $$ from an anime business and who can develop video games & who has appeared in Business Week a number of times. Guess the joke's on the US college system XD
Anyways...had to rant a bit but due check out the full story by ANN. Would be a cool degree to get indeed, sure beats English Literature..which why the f$*# did I have to take as well in my Computer Science courses? (..maybe to not have some many typos in my blogs ^^;;;)
A while back I wrote about an Iowa man who's loli manga he got from Japan was confiscated by US customs, and then he was stalked by police on his way home, to which they then arrested him.
As much as I do think loli manga is gross and yes obscene, in the end its fictional drawings on paper and in no way, shape or form should be illegal. Not only its illegal, but look at how bad the sentencing can be. 15 years?! $250,000 fine?! Micheal Vick who ran a dog fighting competition that killed a number of dogs will be released next month because his meager 23 month sentence will be over.
This is utter proof that the US justice system is really, really corrupt. I just can't imagine how many otaku might get arrested for regular hentai mangas..or hell, normal manga misconceptions.
What about all the stupid European art of little naked and very anatomically correct cupids that litter museums and many common greeting/ valentine cards? This is not right. Minus -1000 points there USA =_=
So you want to draw anime and manga? Well, like anything in art you have your own personal touch but to mimic the great arts from Japan, the right way, there's a bit more that needs to be added. A great student always becomes a great teacher. The opposite sadly holds true as well. One of my biggest pet peeves is to observe the number of "How to Draw Anime" books in America that simply are nowhere near the art, style and beauty of real anime and manga. Why is it that many of you become anime fans? Well, usually its the quality of the art that draws us otaku in and yes, eventually its the quirky and different Japanese styles and culture references that keeps us in.
Sadly, the popularity of anime has also bred many copycats who quite frankly, can't draw anime. I'm all for everyone trying to draw it and increasing both their fandom and their love of art, but its the growing number of fake anime shows and fake "How to Draw Anime" art books that are the issue here. This isn't all too new as the anime surge in popularity has had its sad western copycats for at least 7-8 years (as of this post). I've gone over the TV shows in a previous post but here's a look at some baaad "How To" books, the good and some little tips from me from my experience.
First, before I show the bad, let me show the good. The number one source you should look for in how to draw manga and anime is not surprisingly the official "How to Draw Manga Books"
The work in these books are done by some of the greats in anime art. On top of that, you get very detailed instructions that don't just tell you the basics of drawing but of the art tools needed to draw manga & anime, the difference in anime anatomy and realistic anatomy with plenty of examples from a wide range of real anime artists.
Now for the bad...observe a book like this, many of them are filling the book shelves at local book stores:
To teach others how to draw anime you first have to know how to draw anime in the first place! Clearly books like these are just god-awful in terms of learning how to draw anime. They do however teach simplistic cartooning and simply show the style of the artist but...NOT anime and manga. Again, before you know how to draw anime..don't make a book teaching it!
Some tips for drawing anime & manga:
Now, I've been away from drawing anime since around 2004...but I'll be back into it soon. I'm not the number one expert so again, go to the real "how to draw anime" books for full instructions since it is a long process, something that simply can't be taught by one blog post. I will however give you a bit of tips here to help you start. If you are to "really" draw anime...its the same as learning how to mimic the fine arts, NOT cartooning like the fake "how to" books show.
Tip 1): The eyes make it anime and make the soul of the picture:
This picture done by Uzumaki-Akane-samashows some good examples of anime eyes. One thing I've focused on is getting right are the eyes. Without getting the eyes correct...it doesn't matter how good you can draw the rest of the picture, it just won't look like authentic anime. All the real "How to Draw Manga" books show even more examples and give you real step by step instructions on this very vital part of anime art. This by far is the first skill you need to learn. Of course use your own style but if the eyes are off, the entire picture is off. Those big anime eyes are meant to entrap more emotion than a simplistic cartoony western animation. Tip 2) Treat every part of the drawing as a separate drawing/line:
What do I mean by this? Well, above is a picture I hand drawn back in 2001. I simply looked at a picture of DBZ's Goku and I copied what I saw. This is not a trace and yes, its of an already established character so this mainly pertains to copying...which is your "training wheels" so to say when you start drawing anime. Many anime artists first copied different styles to get the overall feel for it and then jump into their own work.
When I copied this photo to my hand drawn version, I didn't just see the one main picture, I focused on every small line and copied the shape and angle of the small parts. Focusing on just the entire picture is a sure way to create a picture that comes out looking both out of proportion and out of touch with the image. Practice will make it second nature to then your imagination will soon take hold and you won't really need the handicap of using other works for examples.
Tip 3) Use your favorite anime artist(s) as an example to work off of:
All the greats in anime and art usually used the works of past great artists to get them started in their work. Above are some pictures from one of my favorite artists, Eiji Komatsu. Find an artist you like and observe the different layers of the art from the anatomy, to the emotion to the shading and more. Utilizing the skills of a better artist will only help move your artwork up in quality.
Now, like I said, I've been away from drawing for a while but lets face it, though I'm just an ameture, what I learned from the real "How to Draw Manga" books made my images look more like real anime images than these so-called teachers in the fake "How To" books. Here's some more examples of stuff I've done:
Again, nothing amazing but at least I'm trying to make it look like real anime. Yes, angel Fumi looks a bit o_O.
In the end, art, is art. You make it what it is but anime and manga tend to have more depth to them and fall in the fine arts category...not cartooning. You're style makes your work unique but there are underlying basics to anime that sadly...many western artists fail to grasp.
Hope this was of some help ^^.
............ This long post is something I had to get of my chest since I've seen too many of the fake anime "How To" books poisoning the fans who really do want to draw well. Many of those artists...need to go back to the drawing board.
