Hey guys, long time no see. I haven't been blogging too much because I'm hard at work on my art portfolio for college. A few days ago I had to overcome one of my many weaknesses in art. Proportions. I have never been so frustrated to get a single pose anatomically correct in my LIFE. I've been really hitting the books on my anatomy (including one book and a male art mannequin that my brother got for me) and I've been really studying proportions. I've learned that the average human is about 8 1/2 heads tall. So now I've been working on my figures and measuring them to make sure they're 8 1/2 heads tall. So I guess I've been making my characters more "Realistic". I've also been looking at how to draw comic and how to draw manga books for figures and they don't follow regular proportions. Some characters are only 7 heads tall (which is the size of a 12 year old) and some are 9 heads tall (like the super buff American super heroes).
I think it's very hard to make characters "Realistic" when you're trying to maintain a manga style, which is characterized by insane proportions and super deformed characters. The manga I've seen that follows realistic proportions are mostly Senin or "Mature" manga. Like "Ninja scroll" or "Vagabond". Manga gears towards mature audiences generally follow a realistic style that to be comically deformed like manga for younger audiences. I've seen only a few teen manga that follow realistic proportions. But it's hard to follow realistic proportions, because it's a lot of work. But I think realistic proportions can make the characters seem more realistic and more believable than a small chibi character. It may have nothing to do with manga but the movie "Avatar" follows very realistic proportions in their design of the Na'vi. The bodies are over 9ft but they are proportional like a human. Even their faces can mimic real human expressions. It goes to show you that by making your characters realistic, the reader can relate to them as if they were real. Here's one manga that follows that.
MANGA REVIEW: Death Note
Story by: Tsugumi Ohba
Art by: Takeshi Obata
Anyone who knows manga definately knows this super popular series. For those who hate it, I won't force you to read the rest. For those who don't know it, it's about a teen, Light Yagami who stumbles upon a black notebook called a death note. When he reads it. He learns it is a tool used by Shinigami, Death gods, to write the name of a fated person and kill them by natural causes or accidents. Light is forced to use it when a person is in danger and then has to bear the weight of killing a human being. But as he begins to use it more often to kill criminals, he begins to become a godlike figure called "Kira". He is then Visited by the owner of the notebook, Ryuk, who is amused by light and how he has used the notebook. Light tells him how he will use the death note to create a new world order filled with justice. As bizarre killings go on in japan, a special detective called "L" investigates and tries to track down the man called "Kira". The whole manga is a super natural game of "Cat and mouse". The story is good and the scenes do get talkative but what I really like about the series is the art. Obata uses a realistic style of manga to help draw the story and match it's mature themes. The charatcers are drawn in realistic proportions with no distortion (except for the shinigami, who scream "Hot topic") and the settings are hyper detailed. Like, Light's room looks like a real room, not too tall, not distorted. It almost reminds me of the detailing in Hirohiko Araki's "Jojo's bizarre adventure". The facial expressions do have a "manga" feel, but they're also realistic. Obata's style of "Manga Realism" really brings out the mature capabilities of manga (the manga itself is for 16 and up), That it can accurately portray human figures and human emotion correctly. That's what makes Death note a good read for aspiring manga artists hoping to go for a more realistic style.
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