Now I'm trying to develop the lips more, make smaller noses, for the eyes, make the irises bigger and the eyes smaller. For the guys, lessen the lashes, make the face more angular, more distict noses. It's harder then it looks! But I guess this is what separates my style from generic manga. I want the guys manly but not "Fist of the north star" manly. And I want my girls more girly but not "Sailor moon" girly. I'm trying not to make one gender more extreme than the other, otherwise the whole artstyle will look unbalanced. The bigger picture is that I don't want my art to look like someone else's.
I would be so embarrissed >__>. Cause as I said about style in my previous blog, I don't like it when one manga looks too similar in style to another's. On deviant art (I haven't been on in like. Ever.) it was very common, not among art-thieves, but among beginning artist trying to get out there. I've been drawing for years and to this day I'm still trying to find the right style, something that screams "ME". Something that some one will get smacked if they mistake it for someone else's. To be honest, I've seen very distinct styles more often in OEL manga. Like Fred Gallagher's "Megatokyo", or Mark Crilley's "Miki Falls". I find that OEL (original english language) manga has more challenges to go through than Japanese manga. Japanese manga can either make it in japan or the western hemisphere (U.S., U.K., Europe...). For OEL manga it's make it or break it. It's trying to bring out it's own style and origin but while trying to stay in the manga genre. The Manga genre is a very limited art style, and to dare break out of it would bring you into the independent graphic novel genre, making it less likely for popularity. So to make a "Popular manga" means you have to limit yourself, but I can't do that. I need to push myself further, Which means that I need to work on my anatomy, scenery, and still life. That's right. I got to go back to basics. But by doing so I believe that I will achieve a supreme art style, even If I hate myself in the process of it, that happens to every artist, usually I put my head against the tablet and say "I hate this!" "I'm not good enough!" "AUGH! DX". On a positive note I have good manga to share with you.
MANGA REVIEW: Gold Digger
Story and Art by: Fred Perry
Don't let the title throw you off. It's a peculiar name but it's not what you think it is. This manga is a personal favorite of mine. It's about two women, Gina Diggers or "Gold Digger" who's a world famous archaeologist/scientist and her adopted sister Brittany or "Cheetah" who's a were-cheetah with great speed, strength and serves as Gina's bodyguard. Together this unlikely pair explores the world finding lost cities and solving great mysteries, if they aren't getting into trouble... It's an action-packed adventure series with comedy and neat old school references. I like it because it's marked as part of the manga genre, but it actually breaks through into it's own personal style. It also passes the expectations of OEL manga without becoming too independent. It's an old manga (1990's) and it's still ongoing so that's assurance that it's good. The artist uses a style of simplified facial features, exaggerated expressions, muscular men and trademark babes from the manga genre. But the detailing, scenery, inking, storyline and action scenes have a distinct western style. What I like about it so much is it's unique style. Just by looking at it I can tell the artist. Fred Perry, also known for doing an OVA of the series, check it out, the guy does his own animation! That who I want to be like. I want to be known for my style and storytelling, including my animation skills (I didn't tell you I did flash animation, did I? The more you know ^__^). I think this book is a great example of what OEL manga can accomplish and how it can differ from the manga genre without cutting away from it.
