Let’s start with the basics. You all know about comics and manga in some way shape or form, even if you aren’t particularly interested in them. To make this easier on me and more simple for you, I will be comparing and contrasting the two styles of graphic novels throughout. First point to make, both are considered a topic for nerds. I cannot deny this. But I don’t see many nerds wishing for social success as much as your everyday prep, so there really isn’t much of a problem.
Ah, American comics. A world I am just getting exposed to… My experience with reading Japanese manga for so long has given me an objective view of the much more red, white, and blue influence. You can see very basic cultural differences between the two, and I am going to point stylistic distinctions brought up by this.
First of all, there is the most basic difference (warning: this is opinion based). America usually has the bigger-is-better, biggie size, flare for individuality and making a difference (or at least watching people make a difference on the television screen) kind of mentality. In Japan, it is easy to see both the crazier side of the culture today with its sometimes outlandish themes and still at the same time see its conservative/less-is-more attitude remaining from the past.
Lets break this down into the drawing aspects to save us all some time and patience. When it comes to figure drawing in the realm of graphic novels, there are many stylistic choices that lean toward one side or the other.
Body types.
For American style comics, the bodies tend to be dramatized, overly perfect even. Though this is not a specific trait of the style, the cultural expectations are. Extra macho hero men and idealized female forms make up the common physique for this media.
On the Japanese end, it tends to be no different in the way of idealized bodies…except for the difference in ascetics. This being increasingly difficult for me to explain, there are pictured to show the difference.
What big eyes you have…
Better to express personality and emotions with my dear. No matter where the graphics originate from, eyes are still the windows to the soul…so to speak. Warning: Eyes are one of my favorite things to draw; so they will be discussed. A lot. Now there are still some differences when it comes to the more stylistically free genres (such as girly manga- or shojo). Most of these details cover both American and Japanese styles, but I’ll specify otherwise.
Some major expressive traits are (but not exclusive to) the following:
The basics. Nothing special, not particularly detailed…to be honest this is not even an important kind to point out the details. This is basically for generic characters/ for when the eyes are not emphasized in the scene/ or other reasons…
•Important note though: emotion is still importantly conveyed through every eye style.
Femme Fatale. You cannot avoid this one. In no matter what type of graphics, there is always the sexy female lead, catching attention with a mere glance. Her eyes are just as expressive, but usually more stylized: thicker, darker lashes, sometime heavy-lidded, and always with an air of mystery or danger. I’m not going to lie; this type of eye is always fun to draw.
The male eye. …is a pain to describe. There isn’t a lot of difference between the sexes. Most importantly, there is usually little to no eye lashes, bigger eyebrows, and a little less shiny when being compared to a typical female eye.
Yet another important note: This ‘masculine
look’ is not as prominent in the Japanese style.
Inhuman. This is an easy type. It applies to any other type…with the addition of differently shaped pupils or strange colors/markings. This type is one of my personal favorites.
Impossibly anime. These eyes, when studied closely, appear to be made of the shiniest jelly you can imagine. Not realistic in any sense, this style is very, very stylized and is most popularly used in shojo manga. Another use is for small children in other genres, conveying an innocent demeanor.
Comic eyes. This will be the final eye type I discuss due to realizing how much of an ocular tangent I got lost on. This type of eye is the easiest to draw by far. Similar to the basic eye, but with even less detail, this stylized eye can be drawn in many different ways. None are realistic and they are used mostly used to convey an expression or emotion with humor.
Alright, so I was really having fun talking about the eyes, the next comparison and analysis will be continued in a blog in the near future. Topics I hope to cover will include: fashion, masculinity and femininity, and the similarities and difference between character appearances vs. status in a story.
Honestly I hope you are learning something as I am from this; though the topic is to study subjects that I write about, some of said stories I am now trying at my own graphic novel style. I hope to post some pictures with further posts to let you know how that goes.
Credit to the artists of course! You can find them on Deviantart.
No comments:
Post a Comment