Art Post 7 Eastern and Western Comic Influence

Hey there! Today’s art post is about manga and Western influence on my art. Within the world of comics and animation, there has always been some exchange going on, and recently there has been some hardcore fusion, but Eastern and Western comic styles are still quite distinct. Like many people, I’m happy to enjoy and incorporate both into my style. But over the years, especially while trying to learn, it has been a game of tug-of-war.

I think my art journey is similar to that of many people my age from a similar background: start drawing as a baby, draw little-kid drawings as a little kid, find manga as a tween and only draw manga in teens, abandon manga style around age twenty, try to relearn in a more realistic style, try to find own style, revisit manga as an adult artist.

As a young teen, I illustrated a lot. Every day, half the time in school, on lined notebook paper, going back-and-forth between drawing and doing classwork. Looking back, I think the Eastern emphasis on lines instead of three dimensional representations made it easy to portray emotions and other features on characters quickly. Only pencil and paper required. Easy to squirrel away.

Around ages fifteen and sixteen, my own manga-y style began to emerge. But a few years later, I suddenly had a 180 rebellion against all manga influence. I wanted create something that I felt was impossible with manga style.

I learned more about Western comic books such as Batman by DC Comics. I wanted to grow and develop the same skills, even if I didn’t want my final style to look like that. So I violently tried to change, starting with some horrifying attempts at realistic portrait drawing! I wanted to have an intrinsically Western, anatomically accurate, sexual, adult-like style.

I tried to empty my mind and learn from scratch from new educational materials, but it felt like my new illustrations on a completely different track. There is an interesting tidbit that (although not my favorite beings to draw) my male characters were finally coming out okay in a Western style.

During this learning push I also started drawing landscapes, houses, furniture, and learning animation. I felt like I was doing good work, but I wanted to learn more, practice more, and try and combine everything I wanted to see in my art. But then art stopped and didn’t start up again until around a year ago. So here I am trying to figure it all out.

Today, I do not feel harsh towards the manga style. The opposite! I admire so many female mangaka who have written their own stories and illustrated in their own styles. I do not regret drawing only manga in my teens. My drawings came from my heart and drawing them made me happy. I have realized that manga style will always be part of my art and I am happy and proud of that. I also misunderstood that one does not draw manga for manga’s sake, but as a way to stylize people, just like all cartoons. I have also realized that I prefer the pace and slice-of-lifeness of manga worlds, instead of the flash-bang-pop of Western superhero comic books. And my goals have changed. Now I go for a solid, approachable, cozy, sensual vibe.

Here’s to all of us constantly learning and improving!

Asya