"Anime" art. What's your problem?

[mistresslegato]

So . . . it gets very VERY frustrating to constantly hear, "Oh, you draw in an anime style. How unoriginal."

I'm sorry, but drawing in a Western comic style isn't original, either. Just as anime style has many different little tipoffs (in GENERAL, not always, this includes big eyes, three tones of colour [highlight, shadow, regular] pointy noses, elongated figures, occassional super deformed panels, blah blah, you know what anime is) Western style some, too, but rarely do I ever hear anyone bitching about it.

I'm curious what is MORE unoriginal about adoped a style from Japan than adopting a style of popular Western comic art.

I hear "Oh, it's so popular and marketable." Yes it is, but have you ever heard of Batman, Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk, etc? Because they all just recently had movies. I recognize that as marketable and popular, but I don't believe it is less an art than any other style.

Is it because, compared to Western styled comics, it's a relatively NEW popular style to the West? The typical Western style comic has been around in the US since what, the thirties, whereas Japanese comic art is relatively new to the Us, since it came over in the lte 70's, early 80's. (Voltron, Astro Boy, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya.)

While it is true that anime styled artwork tends to have similarities between artists, I believe it is wholly unfair to judge all of it as "the same." If you think it all looks the same you aren't looking very hard.

Thoughts, please.

[nikkigraves]

Ugh, I wish I could expand more on this than I could. But in the end, people will always see what they want to see sometimes.

I've got a friend in art like myself and she freaks out any time anyone even remotely suggests that her art is anime-like. She has a whole complex about it, has sworn off anime and the like, despite the fact that she still plays the japanese - based video games. This is something I see as one of the worse extreme cases when a specific style of art or comic is used in a derogatory fashion.

I think of it similar to the Art Nouveau style surfaced with artists like Audrey Beardsley. The ukiyo-e paintings from Japan had just found their way into European hands thanks to the opening of trade routes, and the calligraphic lines from these paintings started to influence the Western way of art relatively quickly.

I don't know, honestly. I don't see these styles as something I "must" collect, so I only look at/have a few Manga pieces in my collection. The work Khota Hirano did on the Hellsing series was particularly enjoyable (and demented). Pending who you're hearing these claims from, it might be due to a probably unjustified feeling of the anime style cheapening art as a whole(or justified, pending on your point of view..). I know I've personally gotten sick and tired of trying to find a good book on figure drawing and only turning up 50 "How to draw Anime" books.

In my opinion, the majority of these people who use "anime" as a derogative term are usually the kind of people who take everything way too freakin serious. (They have been in my personal experience, anyway.)

And on an unrelated note, this is what happens when you wander Art Board forums at 2:30 AM.

[mistresslegato]

Thanks for finally leaving a reply! I never have a problem when people say "I don't find most anime/manga art attractive." What's irritating is hearing "I HATE anime and manga art, it ALL sucks."

I know that my style is very anime/manga, but originally my style was very traditional western comics. I started doing figure drawings of people (not horses for the first time EVER) when I was in Jr. High and I based most of it off of the artwork I loved in the Star Wars graphic novels and Michael Turner's work, Fathom.

I got into the anime comics after that and adopted what I liked about the style.

[nikkigraves]

I think the forum's gotten kinda dead atm, that's why there's no replies before. But you're welcome!

[mistresslegato]

Yeah, it's pretty disappointing that more people aren't active!!!

[tyzue]

Well, I can't speak for other people.. but I generally dislike the anime style as well. For a number of reasons.

1. Lacks detail. Not always, but that's where the bad stereotype comes from. I've seen some great artists with TONS of detail. I'm a fan of Bara chan and Shinlin. They both have enormous amounts of detail and variety in their clothes and stuff. However, even great artists like Bara and Shinlin don't have much in the character's faces.

2. There's something about that ^_^ face that bothers the crap out of me. I think Samantha Whitten (Celesse) is an amazing artist, but I can't stand her chibis or anime pictures. I highly respect all the other paintings she has though. And she is a great colorist. BUT, I just cannot stand her anime styled art.

3. Petafilia. omg, half of these "sexy" women look like they are 8-12 years old with random butt shots. No thx @_@

4. As far as story goes, it's usually too bizzarre for me. Super heroes and stuff... I can handle, sometimes. Even some of those get pretty bizarre too. But space cowboys, animal people, all the sci-fi stuff that's too over-the-top... Is a bit much to me. I generally prefer more realistic characters and realistic type... people?

5. I dont like how things are too implied in anime/manga. It's the scooby-doo syndrome. "It was so and so because they went on this train and we found a lock of hair in the corner, but it wasn't really them, they were framed and OH MY GOD it was really so-and-so!" A lot of times, things are "discovered" and you sit there like "how did they figure that out?". Bizarre. But dont get me wrong, old school Batman was like that too



Uhhhh again, it's probably just all the bad stereotypes. I still read some manga, I've read a ton of terrible ones... I've seen a couple good ones. The style in general bothers me, but if people do a good job, it's a good job. I dont refuse to say that any anime styled art is good. It's just... the majority isn't that great in my eyes. I have a lot of friends who draw anime styled and what not and I watch many anime artists. It's hard for me to look at anime styled stuff as "art" because too much of it is.... the same? When i see something different, I will go "WOW, it looks great yadda yadda" but that's few and far apart...

[juggertha]

I just don't dig the style, never have. I take nothing away from the artists that do it... it's just not for me.

[nayias]

Out of curiousity tyzue, have you read Hellsing by Kouta Hirano? That's a pretty detailed (at times) series, occasionally his faces lose detail, but it adds to the story when it does.

As for 3, yeeeahhh....I have to give that one to you. That's just one of those odd cultural differences I'll groan about occasionally, if the character IS in her teens and looks even younger.

[tyzue]

I have not, though, it's been recommended several times. I might pick it up the next time I go to the bookstore. I definitely am not a fan of the art in it, at the very least. Not to say that truly affects how well the story is written.

I'll read the first book tomorrow and update how I feel about that one

[spookydoomer]

I didnt like Hellsing, I was really turned off by the weird proportions of the characters. Call it style if you want, but when the characters arms go down past their knees, thats just shoddy work to me.

Regarding the rest of anime, I started out as a complete and total anime nerd. I read Newtype, I blew huge amounts of money on DVD's and Manga. I never got into adopting Japanese words into my vocabulary, though I knew people who did. Then, one day, I just didn't like it anymore.

I grew out of my fascination with Japan and anime. There is still some that I love and swear by, but I cannot get into 99 percent of whats out there. Still, I have to thank anime creators for getting me to pick up a pencil for the first time and sling ink on a page.

[deviou5]

Looks like this board is dead... but what the heck, I read this thread yesterday and happened to stumble across something relevant.

I don't like anime (at all) either, but check this guy out! An anime artist with skill (!) and style (!!) and depth (!!!)

genzoman.deviantart.com/

Pretty wicked I think.