Yeeaaah cos this isn't technically accomplished at all is it?! -_- And sooo easy to get it looking this pretty....riiiight? ¬_¬
During my time in the education system(so far) I have only met one art teacher who doesn’t completely disregard anime and manga style artwork. The rest have either not considered it real art, thought of it as ‘too easy’ or said its been “done to death”. (Please not, this is veeeeery old now, posted it over a year ago and I was on a rant lol)
Do you know how disheartening this is? How spirit-sucking it is? To be actively dissuaded from doing the things you love? Not because I need to expand my horizons, but because the teachers just don’t seem to like it, or don’t seem to acknowledge it(or understand it, it seems…)? It’s just… it ruins the fun. Most other teachers in school who have ever seen me drawing or doodling in class have at least been impressed by it and commented on it, but never the actual art teachers. English, Science, even maths, but not the art teachers. They just want us to do poncy watercolours and oil paintings it seems. Modern art which alot of the time doesn’t even have any real form. I know art is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz, but really… some of the modern art I’ve seen in galleries is complete shit. Or at least completely devoid of any real prettiness. Sold chunks of colour with a single stripe across it… what the hell is that really? Drawing manga style artwork is NOT easy. If it was every tom-dick and harry could do it. You think all the manga-ka just started out as brilliant as they are now? To be as good when they started drawing as to when they finally got published after all the years or slogging away? The teachers here in the UK just don’t know enough…
I think the main problem is they haven’t seen enough. They think its all the same, whereas a fan will know its most definately not all the same. Most people have only been exposed to the mainstream stuff, Pokemon, Dragonball, Digimon, Sailor Moon, if your lucky, some not even that, mostly like Pokemon usually, and they refer to them as ‘those big eyed Japanese cartoons’ which, in alot of cases, is fairly accurate I’ll admit, BUT its not all that dammit!!!
Its just disheartening is all… they should encourage your passions right? Not discourage them…
Below the cut for some more prettiness 🙂
Tags: Anime, Art, art teacher outrage, artwork, discourage, disheartening, disregard, easy, education, george kamitani, Manga, odin sphere, outrage
Meimi132 no Itonami 
April 17, 2010 at 3:30 pm |
I know what your going on about and it isn’t just manga art, it is any cartoon stylised art. I have a friend who is doing a BTEC in art, she’s an amazing artist but usually draws cartoon style and gets moaned at for it.
During my GCSE art years a fair few people who didn’t like manga tried it at least once, we had a few how to draw manga books in the school library so they used them. The thing is though they weren’t encouraged, they were encouraged to use a more traditional style and it is ridiculous.
I think most art teachers do need to be updated.
April 17, 2010 at 3:42 pm |
ask them if they can draw a anime style moe picture that can attract ppl or not in first place ^^
April 17, 2010 at 5:01 pm |
Haha I’d love to try that. And they couldn’t. Not in the slightest I bet. They wouldn’t even know what moe meant for one…
January 26, 2014 at 1:23 am |
The best thing to do is to practice doing other things such as realism. I love manga and I like drawing manga, but to most people,it doesn’t have that oomph, that’s why I’m practicing realism too. Obviously there will be people that disagrees with what you do, all you can do is get better to shut them up or just go with the flow and give them what they want (of course
April 17, 2010 at 4:42 pm |
I know certain styles can get away from the stigma that is art-teacher vs Manga/Anime-esqe… such as ABe’s work which normally has only moderately sized eyes, and highly detailed body/hands etc.
But yeah I know what you mean. Sadly, these are the same teachers that will moan and complain about “anime cartoons” yet are perfectly fine with things like loony toons and what not.
Hell in high school I had to draw in a reversal method based on a picture from online (scraping away to draw instead of adding onto) and I chose DJ Lain, it was fun it was complex, she was annoyed that I chose what I did, yet was telling someone else good job on… Tweety Bird… Yellow Canary, giant head (that dwarfs chibis) and massive eyes…
I say that unless that become an expert of FOREIGN art styles, that they should keep their opinions to their own culture.
April 17, 2010 at 4:59 pm |
Yuuuush Haibane Renmei & such, I tried using that at one point during a project I think…
The saddest thing was, in year 10/11 I had a project named ‘Japan’ and they still tried to stop me… sucked ass.
And wth is up with the Disney/Warner Bro’s cartoon love, but not for Japanese animation or comics? Makes no sense does it… Maybe in like 10 years when we’ve all grown up and some of us have become teachers(not me…never ever…) then they’ll know more about it and be more embracing? *sigh* Would be nice.
April 17, 2010 at 5:11 pm |
I think it’s the same thing in America, because I’ve had many art teachers who absolutely did NOT allow any type of anime/manga style art…but the most ridiculous part is a girl in my class was allowed to draw anthro FURRIES! What the hell is up with that LOL? It just seems ridiculous to me!
I agree with the modern art thing, I don’t understand the point and it seems like a monkey could throw paint at a canvas and it would be considered art. -shakes head-
One thing I am happy about though is being told that I couldn’t draw cartoons helped me very, VERY much in drawing realistic still-lifes. I had no idea I had the potential to draw realistically before I challenged myself. I think that’s why many art teachers don’t allow cartoons, they think it’s a fallback, non-realistic (this I don’t understand, because many mangaka have to be able to draw proportions very similar to the real human body), and it’s simply “too easy” to do it. I definitely think art teachers have only seen the mainstream anime (DBZ, Sailor Moon, Pokemon) has gotten them out of touch today with the potential Japanese cartoons have, ESPECIALLY in the game department. If I was an art teacher, I would allow students to draw in a Japanese style sparingly in some assignments, but I would also challenge my students to use different styles to help expand their horizons.
April 17, 2010 at 5:26 pm |
I started out with all the still life stuff, which I was already good at and kept doing throught high school/6th form/uni… so I didn’t need so much to be told to do it… the real life people proportions I can do too… it just bums me out…
The furry thing though…. wth…. Anthro Furries are damn near anime/manga alot of the time anyway…
God.. I visited a Game Art department in one Uni was considering, and the head of the course literally said ‘he see’s any anime/manga style artwork in a portfolio he will throw it in the bin’ I was really upset by that… because there are LOADS of popular games on the market with anime/manga style artwork in…
May 10, 2010 at 4:11 am |
Game Art = Entertainment Design.
He prefers seeing hyper-rendered, really realistic-looking stuff. Like those Bayformers-stlye designs and all those FPS soldiers with buzz cuts.
May 10, 2010 at 4:12 am |
Basically, everything you see Gnomon and Massive Black produce, he prefers.
August 22, 2013 at 11:58 pm |
OH COME ON D:<
I love pokemon, and I actually like other animes too. Im not trying to be judgemental, but actually give more credit to the game makers and the animators of both the games and the anime. A lot of hard work went into both. So appreciate more!
But on the other hand that sucks when teachers wont let you draw anime style. Its so cool, I DONT GET IT D:< They just need to be a little more in touch with the scene.
Goodbye!
~Random girl who likes anime and pokemon 😀
April 17, 2010 at 6:38 pm |
I completely agree with you. I’m an Art History major in the US and have taken classes in Chinese and Japanese art and for some reason this whole genre just tends to get skipped. It is art just as much as any contemporary art piece. I know what you mean when people think a lot of it is the same, but each series tends to have its own unique quality… cartoon/manga art just doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in my opinion.
April 17, 2010 at 7:35 pm |
A high school art teacher (in northeastern USA) I know was enthralled by one of her student’s manga-style drawings. I can understand the whole highbrow elitism though, but I don’t agree with it. Manga-style is hard….
April 18, 2010 at 1:47 pm |
Y’know, because “Red Square” and “Black Box” are so thought provoking. I used to be an art student (until I became sensible and went into engineering…. right) but I never really got most modern art.
Yes, it can be viewed as expressive, unique, emotional, etc. etc., but really… when the piece is just some guy having fun pouring buckets of paint on a canvas, is it really art? What if the creator really just felt like dumping paint on something? Do experts look to deep into it and say “oh, the red splatters are his expression of rage while the blue represents someone important in his/her life working to quell the emotions.” In reality, that person just felt like throwing paint around because it’s fun. And because s/he knows there is a profit in selling it as “art.”
The “classics” on the other hand, I admire because they’re pleasant to look at. There’s inherent beauty in the work and I enjoy that. Take a step back and really look at the historical context around when the work was created. Michelangelo, for example, did most of his work on commission. Someone wanted the Sistene Chapel painted and hired him for the job. Someone wanted a big statue of David for their courtyard. The difference? Those works survived and others were destroyed, thrown out, etc. A lot of classic art didn’t really become “art” until many years later, after the original intention was satisfied.
A perfect example is Van Gogh. The man was batshit crazy. He suffered from mental illness. He cut off his ear and gave it to a prostitute. Through this insanity, he created many works that are known today as masterpieces. Interesting to know that he never made anything from his work and died penniless. He became recognized as a great artist many years after his death. His works were done out of necessity for himself, most likely for need of release. Some were probably commissioned and the end result didn’t satisfy the buyer since it was all so weird. It didn’t fit the modern standards for art at the time.
I’m done now. Sorry for going on and on in your blog. ^.^;;
April 18, 2010 at 4:48 pm |
So what your saying is we have to wait years and years till after anime/manga style has died out or become unpopular for it to be recognized as ‘art’ XD?
One of the most funny exhibits I’ve ever been round is one filled with fluorescent tube lights. Apparently the different colours and positions of the tubes were very meaningful. It was more fun listening to the other people standing around making pretentious douchey comments about them lol
April 18, 2010 at 8:47 pm |
Well, no necessarily. We just have to wait about 20-30 years for no one to use that particular style anymore. Just look at the stuff that was created in the 70s and late 80s. Things like Astro Boy are bordering on the edge of being considered art. Heck, Disney’s early works are considered art today (Steamboat Willie, anyone?)
April 18, 2010 at 10:06 pm |
Ahh but Disney-style is allowed in Art classes already(we’ve been made to use examples & allowed to study it without getting discouraged from it).
But yeah, Leiji Matsumoto, Otomo & Tezuka etc, more… revered I spose… Looked down upon less… How does that work… *sigh*
January 26, 2014 at 6:23 am |
Asian Ed, Actually I didn’t think Van Gogh was all that crazy. As we all know, Van Gogh got most of his art supplies and funding from his brother, he felt bad most the time for borrowing money from him, that’s the reason why he did so many etchings because they are cheap and can be painted over once he had the money. Now, he cut his ear off and gave it to a prostitute. Some suggest he did this because he was very drunk, but some also believed he only to pretend he was crazy, so he would get sent to a mental asylum which was much cheaper than borrowing money from his brother and living in inns and stuff. If this was the case, A better word is that he is independent and doesn’t want to pull people down, He was known for impressionism and strong use of colours to bring out emotions.
April 19, 2010 at 5:00 am |
All of my art teachers seem to not mind the anime style. One teacher in particular brought up manga and some of the styles that are involved. I’ve been in the art edu-program (at least the art section, I only just started the edu. which sucks) for a while (I’m really behind on school by the way, I changed majors way too many times), and enjoy it thoroughly, some students use a lot of manga/anime influences in their work too, and the teachers don’t seem to mind it at all.
As for teachers who don’t accept it, I don’t think it’s that they haven’t seen enough, but that they haven’t seen the right pictures of good anime artwork, like the ones shown.
Most anime characters are usually proportionally pretty accurate (I mean, the heads might be a bit big, and the faces are of course completely different), and it really isn’t as easy as some think, you need to know some basics about the human figure to draw anime.
I enjoyed this post.
February 23, 2012 at 10:01 pm |
Really, where do you live?
Seems the art teachers in most countries hold a major disdain for anime and manga. You must be a lucky soul to not be livig in japan and have it appreciated.
April 20, 2010 at 10:58 pm |
I sometimes tend to think art teachers cant draw very well animemanga style artwork, being that one of the reasons they discourage students for that artwork.
That or they really dont know about animemanga style…
January 26, 2014 at 6:29 am |
I think the main problem isn’t that. They want to teach you the basics, the essentials before you become stylized. This way you can draw manga, but can draw inspiration from real life. That’s why cartoons are also not too popular in the class. I do half realism and half manga, I usually give my realism for my teacher to mark. Though my teacher enjoys my manga drawings as well and she’s Polish I think and also very supporting and kind. I live in Canada, so what people thinks might differ in other countries.
April 30, 2010 at 10:08 pm |
Ugh, it’s because of this nonsense I didn’t go to art college. In high school I was in an advanced portfolio class. My art teacher had a “NO ANIME/DRAGONBALL Z/POKEMON” sign proudly hanging on her walls. Anti-anime camp, much? I wanted to explain to her that there is ‘anime art’ is incredibly diverse and full of all sorts of styles…but in the end decided it was a lost cause.
It didn’t help that the teacher also heavily played favorites. She always lavished attention on a small handful of “super gifted artsy types” and left the rest of us with mindless busy work while she helped them with their unique projects.
Sorry for the ranting. Just thinking about those days still gets my blood boiling.
April 30, 2010 at 10:09 pm |
Lulz, extreme typo. Take out that “there is” in “I wanted to explain to her that there is….”
*bangs head against wall*
November 18, 2010 at 3:38 pm |
i swear that sounds like my art teacher mrs fairly in 10th grade i hated the way she did that -_- and she always discouraged my manga influenced art even when i did it realistically…
May 9, 2010 at 9:42 pm |
My art teacher knows about manga kei, and she even made us do an article on Japanese artists and it had Miyazaki and akira in it.
But yeah, most art teachers probably didn’t study manga kei when they were learning in art school, and manga is sort of still recent. Don’t listen to them. Just keep drawing what you want to do. (When I draw, I don’t really show it to anyone, but anyone can comment and look when I’m drawing in school) But if you’re applying for art school, make sure you can draw a variety of things, not just manga/anime kei.
May 10, 2010 at 4:06 am |
Stylized artwork is a “shorthand”. To even stylize you need a good grasp of realism and fundamentals.
Most people people in the West just jump straight to the shorthand.
June 1, 2013 at 4:26 pm |
Totally true! I completely agree..! I did the same, and now I am trying to get a grasp of the fundamentals finally 🙂
May 12, 2010 at 8:07 pm |
I’m afraid since I’m not an artist I’ve never experienced that situation. But I would probably be incredibly frustrated. Even though I can’t draw I love looking at art, I have beautiful manga illustrations next to images created by Renoir, Dali, etc…they would probably die if they saw those items being hung side by side as if they were equal 🙂 because to me they are, I hang anything that makes me feel happy looking at it.
May 20, 2010 at 12:05 am |
Oddly enough I found this site article today because I was just discussing this with my one art teacher in school. I’m a freshman in high school and didn’t take a certain art class this year because I tried out some computer art but wasn’t to into it cause I sorta had a sucky teacher. So, I’m in the art club so she knows me and I have a friend who’s going on to art II and you need the basic art I first, but she talked to the teacher and asked if I’d bring in art if she’d let me get bumped up. She said sure so this morning when I got there I showed her mainly manga pictures because that’s all I really know and want to learn more styles which is why I want art II. She started complaining about how it’s not really art and that “EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD CAN DRAW IT!” I got kinda mad, but she let me get bumped up since I had a couple pencil shades in my folder. So through out the day, it’s been really bugging me if I should just give up anime all together because no one excepts it (except my 8th grade teacher. He’s the youngest art teacher in the district so I guess that might be why he’s the most understanding?) But then I found this and I never realized how many other people have been told things similar to what I was told. It’s a small world after all huh? ^.^ Alrighty, thanks!
A.S. ()()
(^.^)
<( <)*
June 16, 2010 at 5:26 am |
I understand what you’re saying, sadly. Anime and manga aren’t viewed as ‘acceptable’ or ‘real art’ in most cases I’ve seen. I’m 16 and I’ve been in love with it all for 7 years, and it’s just disheartening to hear people talk about anime/manga as if it’s crap. (Art teachers especially!)
And for one thing, being an art teacher, isn’t it their JOB to teach you about ALL forms of art? And unless I’m mistaken anime/manga is still ‘art’. I love to draw it, watch it, read it, and I plan to become a manga-ka someday (SOMEDAY!), so I find it to be complete bullshit when art teachers look down on it. My art teacher this year had the NERVE to call my artwork, and I quote, “pointless and unoriginal because any person with a pencil in hand could do it”, while SHE specializes in some batshit-crazy type of ‘feather-painting’. (Gomen nasai, I’m ranting…*sweatdrop*)
ANYWHO, BUCKEROO… Anime and manga are beautiful and highly misunderstood forms of art that really need to be studied more by others before they label them with their pointed opinions. Trust me, oh high-and-mighty-modern-Picasso, not every person you give a pencil to can instantly draw manga. It takes years of practice, perfection, patience(ha ha, they all start with ‘p’), and most importantly dedication. Not to mention that if you are creating manga, you need an amazing imagination and sense of creativity. So, narrow-minded batshit crazy art teachers, you can suck my and my fellow manga-ka’s big toes.
Alright, I’m done. ^^
June 22, 2010 at 10:54 pm |
I know what you mean. To many art styles are given the shaft especially these days with such focus on abstract (which I’m not a big fan of) and photorealism of which most is crap. My only advise is to just let it go do what they want in class and pursue your own love at the same time. You know what they say haters gonna hate.
August 18, 2010 at 6:05 pm |
really. i HATE those teachers. ok so we use watercolor or acrylic to do anime. take the cs pic. thats acrylic and acrylic gouache. full moon wo sagashite, vampire knight is watercolor. do u think u can use screentones? can u paint in strokes that dosent have texture with acrylic? sure. no one used oil to paint anime…but that dosent matter. we can use JUST A BALLPOINT PEN and draw a whole manga. now… what makes the diffrence?
September 10, 2010 at 12:00 am |
i relate to everyone here my parents want me to take art but when i got to the class their is no manga/anime styled drawing allowed i dropped the class that day even though i’m not that good at drawing it i still try and it still hurts
September 12, 2010 at 1:57 am |
Well, let your haters be your motivators. Next time someone looks down on your art, say “Well, let me see you draw it.” Haha! I wish i could say that to my teacher now >:)
September 17, 2010 at 4:51 pm |
You should consider that high school art teachers are not artists. Artists that cannot survive on their art alone usually get into education, and their quality can roughly be measured up against their rank in the education system. You can certainly expect to find an adjunct (part-time) community college instructor whose skill exceeds that of a state school grad professor, but you will likely never find a high school art teacher whose opinion really amounts to anything. Your high school art teacher may paint pretty portraits or design nice 2-d graphics, but they are in the lower bracket either because they care about the future of art so much that they want to nourish the foundations or more likely because their pretty works aren’t accepted in the art world and for good reason.
The art world, especially modern art, does not reward prettiness. It doesn’t seek out what looks the most complicated to create, in fact modern art will prefer to do just the opposite. There’s a thing in your head that says “art has to be complex to be appreciated”, illuminated by lines I’ve seen here such as “drawing manga style artwork is NOT easy” or “ask them if they can draw a anime style moe picture that can attract ppl or not in first place”. By saying things like this, your expectations corner art into having to be something specific, and in this case it must be impressively complex. Modern art appears to be so absurd to you because it sets out to dismantle such expectations, and it succeeds. Compare what’s in your iTunes playlist to Mozart, Beethoven, or Brahms and tell me if your music holds water to the complexity of the classics. I’m sure it doesn’t, so why should you then appreciate modern music?
This brings me to Asian Ed’s comment on the classics: “The ‘classics’ on the other hand, I admire because they’re pleasant to look at. There’s inherent beauty in the work and I enjoy that.” I hate to break it to you, Ed, but beauty is not intrinsic. Yesterday’s standard of beauty is today’s tackiness, or vice versa. Beauty is shaped by cultural mores and taboos; you worship the classics (as do I) because from a young age we’ve been shown that the classics represent beauty in art. I assure you there is as much beauty to modern conceptual art, for it provokes beauty for the mind rather than beauty for the eye.
Lastly, when you say that modern art is shit, it’s only because you won’t take the time to understand more about it. You commit the same fatal mistake you accuse your art teachers of having made. Manga can be nice to look at and there is no question that the designs are sophisticated, but it belongs to a genre of its own that doesn’t require the cognizance of the art world and for the same reasons why you shouldn’t expect a lithograph of Homer Simpson to be displayed at a fine art gallery.
September 23, 2010 at 10:04 pm |
I will be blunt and say the reason it’s so turned down upon is because a lot of these artist who draw specifically “anime” styled work ONLY do that and they SUCK at everything else.
Might I mention that a lot of professional “anime/manga” artists drew things NOT anime related before then. Which is why their art is so well done.
You MUST learn proper realism before stylizing. That’s just how it goes.
Art schools hate students who fail at this.
September 24, 2010 at 4:15 pm |
Yes but I wasn’t one of those!! I was good at normal art before I started drawing in manga style. And kept drawing in normal style too. I don’t know about other people, cos there weren’t any in my school at the time, guessing there’d be more now though XD
October 2, 2010 at 10:38 am |
Yeah, there is a reason why teachers don’t like it. Its because they hear about it far too much. The style of art is too common to a point where one would dismiss it entirely. I mean, its annoying enough that one who tries to spread its influence like a missionary.
You may flame me if you want, but its the truth and its up to you to decide whether to believe it or not.
October 2, 2010 at 11:03 pm |
lol, I don’t flame people 🙂
Thing is, when I was first trying to draw it properly in school(2005), it wasn’t common. As I said, only one in my year. Norfolk was/is very behind the times sadly. Back end of beyond XD Tis why I found manga in northern libraries years before I found any in Norfolk libraries XD
November 5, 2010 at 9:36 am |
It is because you don’t really understand what art is.
This is not surprising, don’t be offended – no one really understands what art is. That is as we are constantly redefining its definition. However, anime is not art. It simply isn’t. Occasionally I also enjoy drawing manga; I have quite a few favourite animes/mangas that I think are incredibly beautiful and have extremely well-written stories. But unless you can truly be like Japanese animators such as Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai, then no. Your examples don’t impress me. Art is not about pretty figures drawn in a cartoony way. Art is about concept and the ability to present a visual representation of the concept in an aesthetically pleasing, shocking or avant garde manner. Art is about the degree of formalism versus contextualism. It is about history and the response to contemporary events, thoughts and ideas. It is about animation (not to be confused with anime), installation, film, theatre, illustration, photography, painting, printing, typography, graphic design, sculpture and myriads of other visually expressive art forms. Until you can even begin to understand this, don’t diss your art teachers. It is true that the art curriculum is not perfect. But it can never be because art cannot be defined. You must simply take and learn what you can from such institutions.
And believe me, if you learn to understand, anime will seem utterly insignificant in the scheme of things. You must understand that animation in itself can be beautiful and conceptually incredible; go search up “Aquatic Language” and other animated short films. But the kind of anime you propagate – there is a reason those who are even beginning to understand will never consider it “an art form”.
June 10, 2011 at 9:24 pm |
Way to contradict yourself – “It is about animation (not to be confused with anime), installation, film, theatre, illustration, photography…”. You list all these art forms because they fit with your description of art – “Art is about concept and the ability to present a visual representation of the concept in an aesthetically pleasing, shocking or avant garde manner”. While I agree with that statement, what makes anime not capable of fulfilling these qualities? If a painting can represent a concept – why can’t anime?
In fact, if you were to watch “Neon Genesis Evangelion” from start to finish, particularly the last episode, you would see just how visually abstract and avant garde anime can be. It presents many concepts, most of which are very basic and philosophical in nature (our reason for existence, what drives man to create, many aspects of human nature, etc), and it does so in an aesthetically pleasing way. So by your own definition, that is art.
Another contradiction is how you say that art cannot be defined, yet you say yourself what it is and is not art. Especially if Western cartoons can be considered art, why can’t Japanese ones? Much anime deals with aspects of human nature, another example being Death Note, which brings into question the subject of morality, and how power corrupts. If you don’t consider that art, then you need to liberate your mind.
July 26, 2011 at 9:48 pm |
Art is a form of expression using lines, shapes, forms, colors, textures, spaces, and values. And sometimes, that happens to be anime.
Art is different for everyone. And I know that for me, anime is one of the many different arts out there. That’s just how it is.
November 6, 2010 at 7:47 pm |
I feel you. In the country where I came from, a lot of people like anime. I am studying animation and I have friends who like anime and draw them. We have grown accustomed to this style and yet some jack-ass professor would suddenly say that anime is not accepted. I mean, what is with them? Anima is not accepted but disney characters like cinderella, snow white and the others are? I had this one experience where I watched my upperbatchman’s thesis defense. A guy from disney who used to teach animation in our school comented and said,”I am glad that I haven’t seen anime style here…” then he suddenly went “Anime is dead.” He even went on about why its unacceptable. He said that it’s unreasonable since they have this disproportioned body. Big head, big eyes, small nose, pointy chin. BUT, aren’t disney characters like the ones I’ve mentioned before are the same? Does it seem like Belle from beauty and the beast have perfectly proportioned body as that of a human being? are her eyes equally proportioned to her head? I think not. And yet they all babble about how anime is not accepted. SHEESH! This old people should update more. For the record, anime depends on how the artist draws it. I don’t particularly like them with big eyes so I dont draw it that way. Maybe mildly small eyes and other stuff. I hate how they are being discriminating about this topic. Also, Anime/manga wouldn’t be dead since there are loads of Japanese people creating them in Japan. Have you seen KyoAni’s works? They are brilliant. Really beautiful animation, and yet my professors would say that they suck. I bet they cant even do the same.
I also find it unreasonable when another professor of mine would say, “yes you can draw anime but make it sure that it REALLY looks like anime and not some fake shit” but hello, that would entirely depend on the person’s style right? Oh my God, my professors think they are so great and experienced and know so much about art when they don’t know this single tiny detail. UGH!
November 6, 2010 at 7:52 pm |
ALSO, I don’t ONLY depend on anime style. I’m proud to say that I know different styles too and I’m trying to widen my knowledge about different art styles. I’m not hard-headed when it comes to what I love. I just don’t like it when they discriminate. In my school, once the teacher knows you draw anime, they think that it is the only thing you can draw and nothing else. Then I went to CGO in Singapore for a seminar and realised that what they’re teaching in my school is so shitty compared to what I learnt in a 3 day seminar. I learnt so much there yet I’ve been studying for three years. I used to think my professors where cool because they came from the industry itself but after Singapore, my thoughts have changed.
November 28, 2010 at 7:43 pm |
Speaking as a middle school art teacher I always encourage my students to not copy anime but to look at it as a jumping point to create their own style. I work with my students to try new and different style of art as well because a lot of students get stuck in a cycle of one thing, especially on the high school or middle school levels, and don’t stretch their knowledge of other art forms. Now I do take the time to introduce students to artists such as Takashi Murakami, Nara, Roy Lictenstien, or Andy Warhol who have taken popular media and images to help them understand that they need to take this art a step further from what they’ve done to make it into something more.
Speaking personally I am a huge anime fan myself and I let my students know it and my own personal struggles with getting it past teachers who don’t accept it.
January 6, 2011 at 2:23 am |
I think the reason that art teachers hate anime is because it’s like a cartoon. They probably think that anime is as easy as drawing sponge bob. And a lot of them can’t see that there is different styles of anime.
I believe that anime is harder then real people though. It’s easy to see if a human is oddly shaped or not, ’cause that’s a human. And we know human better then any other creature. Anime isn’t exactly human though, Just takes the same form. Art teachers are also sometimes into everything, and not just drawing. I know the only thing I want to do is draw. :3
January 20, 2011 at 12:16 am |
The teachers have a point. Let me be the first not to side with anime and say that drawing from reality is the best way for you to grow and develop as an artist. The very CONCEPT of having a “style” is limiting. Is anime hard to draw? Sure. So is the drawing the human figure from life. But one thing about anime is that it can be drawn in a very formulaic way most of the time. And when you really get right down to it, all anime generally looks the same. I used to draw a lot of manga and anime related things, but when I stopped and focused on creating art from life, THAT is when my skills improved 10 fold. Now, drawing anime is childs play to me–a joke.
All the people who tell you to stop drawing anime aren’t trying to kill your spirit or stop you from following your passions. They want you to be the best artist you can be. One of the most sure fire ways to become a good artist is to learn your lessons from reality. That way, you can base your imagination off of something real and tangible and learn the technical skills you need to excel.
January 20, 2011 at 1:42 pm |
Kudos to anyone who stands up to their art teachers. It is absolutely RIDICULOUS to consider Looney Toons to be art while manga style not, and I have a real issue with this “modern art” the kind a toddler could make by splashing paint on a canvas. If any art teacher refuses manga style in my future classes at university I will challenge them.
I understand the need to use different styles and techniques, they are very important as an artist. I reference my drawings from real life, though I hate drawing from life. To me it is boring and I’m not interested in it.
Actually most art teachers in university and one in my high school years seem pretty open about art, they have their own opinions about “what is art and what is not” but recognize it as a matter of opinion it seems. So far I’m only in my first year art classes so mostly basics.
February 3, 2011 at 6:03 pm |
I enjoyed reading this… mainly cause i’m having a problem related to this at the moment :c
My GCSE art teacher doesn’t like manga art, and when i showed him a drawing i was pretty proud of he just said “meh” and explained that he hated manga style.
Now i’m in my second year of GCSE and have an exam in 8 weeks time, and my sketchbook isn’t brilliant due to the fact i’m reluctant to draw in my normal style. There is the odd bit of manga in there, but I’m pretty sure my final grade will be poor cause there isn’t a lot there.
College don’t like it either but i want to get a grade in art for actualy drawing how I draw- not putting on an act cause they don’t like it :I
If i DO get onto the BTEC in art i wanna take at college, at least i can learn to draw better- in this class all we did was clay and lino printing, didn’t learn anything about anatomy or anything.
It burns when your classmates say your sketchbook is brilliant and they hate theirs. Or they say they wanna draw like you. But in the end, they’re the ones getting the A*s and you’re left with a C…
Thanks for voicing this- We need more people to actually consider manga I think 🙂
March 2, 2011 at 9:04 pm |
very often it is not that Art Teachers don’t like manga, they just don’t want it to be all you have. I am first year BTEC fine art and some people in my class do loads of what I would call manga. My tutor discourages this because most of the time manga is not appropriate! In life drawing said people make the model look like an amazing manga art piece… but this is not what the tutor wants to see.
Manga is appreciated! it is just the purpose of studying a BTEC is to learn to be capable in many different areas and ultimately get to university. I know someone who just went for an interview at an art school to study illustration… they didn’t get in because the showed no flexibility (just manga). Art teachers just want students to have covered as much as possible, I used to just do portrait work but have realised I need to be able to do so much more.
Manga is an amazing branch of art but you need to show your strengths in other area’s then specialise later.
all that said some teachers are just held in the past. freedom comes later on and if your good at art then you will get the grade you deserve regardless of your style.
March 2, 2011 at 10:57 pm |
I think your drawings should be considered art! They sure are inspiring me more than any of the other pieces of “art” being sold.
March 3, 2011 at 12:46 am |
Hehe, the stuff on this post isn’t mine, just examples lol.
April 15, 2011 at 11:36 pm |
I was lucky enough to have an art teacher who doesn’t like anime (or even western cartoon styles, really), but still seems to recognize potential in it. He would tell us not to draw anime or doodle in our sketchbooks, but that’s ’cause he only wanted course-related material in it. Throughout the year, while showing us types of art, he would oftentimes include cartoon-styled images, some of which would have anime influence. Mind you, he would show these because of the creativity of how it was done, or where in was done (none of it was painted or drawn onto paper), and not because he liked the form.
My point being that some art teachers will appreciate forms of anime/cartoons if there’s something creative about it. I’d imagine even the first image posted here would be at least somewhat appreciated, even if just for its mix of color for shading.
Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen online elsewhere and here, they seem to be scarce. It’s a shame too; people can have their own opinions on what ‘art’ is, but an art teacher of all people should be teaching how to appreciate (or at least tolerate) art of all kinds, not openly shun an art style. Which kinda brings me to my next point…
I’m against how you’re dissing modern art. I personally don’t have it as a favorite, but it’s not right to say that it’s ‘shit’ instead of art. The point of art isn’t how difficult it is to do- the moment that’s your thought process, you’re not very different from all those people who think anime isn’t art.
While far from the most modern example, there’s LHOOQ. In case you’re unaware, that’s a famous piece of art in which the artist (Marcel Duchamp? I could be mistaken) drew a mustache and goatee on a postcard with the image of the Mona Lisa imprinted on it.
Was it hard? I’d imagine not, I’ve drawn mustaches on plenty of images. But that’s not the point. It’s not supposed to look pretty, or look complicated- it’s supposed to insult traditional art, which it does quite thoroughly.
In the case you brought up with a solid line on top of solid color, that’s not different. It’s not meant to be pretty, or complicated. While I can’t name a specific piece for this, the piece could very well just have a focus on changing one’s perspective of how one color looks with another. A strong green contrasts greatly with a strong red- in a work without solid colors, the impact probably wouldn’t be as great. It could have another focus, but my point is that there’s meaning behind the art, no matter how simple it is. Even if that point is just to make you look at something differently. You don’t have to like it, just please try to learn to appreciate enough not to call it shit.
Ah…Sorry, that was kind of a ramble. I cut some out…but it’s still long. Sorry again. I just get on edge whenever someone openly claims that something isn’t art. That’s most likely because I’ve been convinced that everything is art, from the Mona Lisa itself to the keyboard I’m typing on, but still…it irks me. Feel free to disagree with me or ignore me, by all means (art is all opinion, after all), but I appreciate you reading through this post. xD
April 16, 2011 at 2:16 am |
Had to re-read what I wrote lol, was almost a year ago to the day when I posted this XD I was in a proper ranting mood though, so some of what I wrote was a little harsh, so I do apologise for some of it if I really offended you. BUT I stand by my decision that *SOME* modern art isn’t all its cracked up to be(ranty mode made me use harsher language it seemed…). I only said some. And the some I could have been thinking of was probably the exhibition of tube lights I saw at the Hayward, I remember people actually standing round looking at them discussing them in depth. Which me and my mother thought was quite comical. I know it probably had some deep profound meaning, but it did just look like a load of lights XD. The stuff I saw at another gallery(name escapes me, was on a school trip some years ago)was pretty awesome though. The room filled with oil. That was cool, couldn’t tell what was up and what was down XD, the window reflections totally messed with reality.
As for the line/stripe canvas’s I saw at the Tate, I *think* they were white on black… but I honestly can’t remember, it was a while ago now, & there was more than one I think. And I know that art isn’t all about being pretty, I just like to think it should be visually inspiring, and stuff like that, without major analysis or contemplation, or having it explained to them, isn’t for me. It may be that I’m lazy when it comes to some art. But hell, some of the older portrait stuff, the big grand oil paintings, pretty yes, but dull as ditchwater XD.
April 20, 2011 at 12:41 am |
It’s a petty simple answer as to why teachers do not acknowledge anime as a teachable art style. The answer is, anime is not an art style. Anime refers to the animation that has come out of Japan. Simple as that. Now, animes can have certain styles as part of their storytelling, but it does not make that style anime.
There are many resources on what criteria an art movement has to follow in order to become an acknowledged art style, and anime has none. Anime encompasses the story as well as the art that allows the story to be told. They are not separate from each other. The storytelling is integral in the word anime. For instance, the big eyes aren’t their to look cute. The big eyes represent a naivete and purity of the soul. That’s why the bad guys usually have small eyes.
April 21, 2011 at 11:21 am |
So you’re saying Disney or Pixar animation isn’t art either? Anything can be art in its own right. And Disney & Pixar & even Aardman gets used in classes.
And definitions are ever changing. In the same way that the Japanese word for pervert ‘Hentai’ has become commonly used to describe anime/manga porn in the west. The word ‘anime’ is just a word, was talking about the style, not anime as a whole. You forgot to mention manga too ;D
May 1, 2011 at 6:39 pm |
Your opinion is a bit naiive.. My teachers brought it up once but there are many types of art out there and I think unless you go to or live in Japan, knowing about anime is next to useless.
You said your art teachers dont consider it art etc but you say:
“They just want us to do poncy watercolours and oil paintings it seems.”
You can’t really be taken seriously if you have an opinion like that. I’m not trying to insult you, I just think that your teachers are trying to teach you things you can actually use in the future, not specialist stuff or phases you go through. I used to love manga, I know.
May 14, 2011 at 11:39 pm |
bawl bawwwwwl ; A ; OMG. I FEEL YOU. So, I do get that art teachers don’t like manga-art because, they want you to draw other things. Alriight, that’s quite acceptable. c: However, like everyone else the thing that pisses me off most is that, colleges and art teachers accepts Disney, WonderBros and other comic like art but not manga/anime. I mean, way to not be biased right?
If I recall right, nowadays these disney, wonderbros and other comics all have a little bit of manga/anime style factor in them. Have you notice how their eyes get bigger every time or the fact that they now have hair that is similar to dragonball? They also have small hands that teachers hate so. To be fair, I think if manga is not allowed then neither should be these comic/cartoon artwork ^^”. If not, then can we not be mean on manga?
I also agree with you, manga is not easy to draw. 😐 and urgh i wish people would just understand that.
May 18, 2011 at 11:52 pm |
I don’t think professors are trying to discourage you from doing less anime. I think they are trying to encourage you to broaden your horizon. Most people make the mistake of filling their portfolio with all anime art. I’m a Marvel Comic style artist and I got crap for only having Marvel Comic style art in my portfolio. My professor said most companies do not hire you because you can do anime art. They hire you because you can do more realistic art. Some companies frown upon anime art, some embrace it. But all will take realistic art. So diversify your portfolio with realistic art, Marvel Comic art, Manga, American cartoon, Traditional, 3D Modeling, even photography that is modified. To me there is to much competition in Manga art. everyone does it, it is widely popular. So instead I develope my own style of art which is exaggerated at some points and realistic in other points.
May 19, 2011 at 12:04 am |
Oh, and who ever said manga is not art is out of their minds. Anything can be considered as art. I believe that when you look up in the sky at night and you see the stars and the Milky Way strip… that is the greatest art that the world could ever see. So if the celestial constellation can be art… why can’t manga?
Most people are captured by the detail in the work and not the meaning behind it.
June 16, 2011 at 11:34 am |
“I think the main problem is they haven’t seen enough”
They could see many tons of anime and manga and still not accept it as art.
So it`s not a main problem. Main problem that art-teachers are mind, heart and soul shut and they won`t consider another art forms, especially if they are commercially oriented. Like art is opposite to money.
Same here in Russia with art-teachers – they all hates comics, toons or anime styles and brainwashing pupils that is a bad thing to like.
June 24, 2011 at 5:18 pm |
Art teachers don’t necessarily hate anime. What they dislike seeing are the hoards of anime fans who say they are artists, but refuse to expand their artistic horizons. Being well rounded is important as an artist, and one cannot accomplish that through only anime.
Unfortunately many kids try to jump straight into a style like anime without learning the basics of anatomy, which can be very frustrating to an art teacher. To be quite honest, I would say that discouraging anime style in art classes is for the students’ own good. Art classes are meant to help students improve, and stretch their own artistic limits, and often they will fail to do that if they should cling to such a heavily stylized rendering of the human body such as anime.
July 30, 2011 at 8:07 am |
I agree with Arthur. There are hoards of anime artists out there, thinking that all they need to be good at is anime. It’s also that there are SO MANY of them, so MANY of them out there. It gets tiresome, really.
August 3, 2011 at 1:12 am |
It would have been nice if one or two of the ‘so MANY’ were at my school with me then. Would have had some fans I didn’t have to convert myself lol. There were barely any anime/manga fans when I was at school. I was the only one in my year who liked it & mimicked the style. And if it’s an anime artist, would imply they were working on cells & animation. Anime-style or manga-style, is preferable :3
(Not in the most perky mood, sorry for the tetchiness)
August 3, 2011 at 5:30 pm |
l-lol sorry, I just had to reply to this. There are so many realistic artists out there thinking, SO MANY OF THEM. They all do the same thing, they draw the human body the way it is. Wouldn’t this be called doing the same thing over and over again? Why can’t there be tons of people who draw anime/manga style but, it’s okay for everyone to draw realistic cause it’s soooooo original?
j-just saying. :u
August 3, 2011 at 9:39 pm |
“They all do the same thing, they draw the human body the way it is. Wouldn’t this be called doing the same thing over and over again? ”
Yeah, and how about all those boring photographers who photograph people looking the way that they look, instead of opening the photo in Photoshop and distorting the photo! That’s been done to death already. The next time I hire a photographer to take a picture of me or my family, I’m going to ask them to deliberately distort everyone so we look like we’re in a carnival funtime mirror. Why on earth should anyone want to see us looking the way we really look?
And the same with movies! Why do filmmakers shoot movies where everyone looks normal? I think they should have used camera lens distortion and camera filters on all the actors in the most recent Harry Potter movie, so they all had these huge heads and enormous eyes and tiny mouths. Who wants to see them looking like themselves anyway? It’s been done enough, don’t you think?
August 5, 2011 at 5:50 am |
exactly~ thoughunlessyouwerebeingscarcastic. We accept so many things that’s been done but, we can’t accept anime/manga? LOL. humanity.
August 5, 2011 at 6:23 am |
Uh yeah, I was being totally sarcastic.
Look, I wasn’t saying that Manga wasn’t a legitimate art form. It is “real art.” However, some teachers are sick of seeing it, because it is a stylized art and they want to see students do realistic art first. To only do anime means that you’re stuck in a rut of one style, the same as if you only wanted to paint everyone with green skin or give them dog heads, or paint them like the cartoon Snoopy. Sure, it’s “art” and it’s your “style,” but don’t expect everyone to like it. And don’t expect every teacher to be impressed with an artist’s ability to do stylized art when they are unable or unwilling to show they can master realistic art as well.
Realism is based on realism. On how people really look. With normal sized-eyes and normal mouths. Most people like seeing realism. They like seeing Johnny Depp and Daniel Radcliffe look normal in movies. (Well, except for Johnny Depp in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”! He didn’t look normal there!) That’s why filmmakers still keep making movies where everyone looks normal and like themselves, and why we hire photographers to photograph us looking normal and like ourselves and why a lot of artists paint things looking normal (i.e. realistic), meaning like it’s supposed to look.
For you to comment that drawing things the way they look is “doing the same thing over and over again” as if that’s the same as doing anime over and over again just misses the point. Realism is the default. Realism is what we look at every day, when we look in the mirror, when we look across the street.
Anime is not the default. It’s not what people see in reality. That’s what realism is, and THAT is why all live action films are made undistorted, and that’s why photographers usually do portraits of people looking normal and not distorted or stylized. But, if you think that realistic artists are just doing the same thing over and over again, then so are filmmakers and photographers. Why don’t you ask some of them why they insist on always making their subjects look normal? I’d be interested in hearing their response.
August 5, 2011 at 1:58 pm |
I think you kind of misunderstood the argument of the blog, or what I believe was meant. We’re not saying that we don’t draw realistic or nor am I hating on realistic. 8| I love drawing realistic art, I srsly love doing it but, it’s a true fact: art teachers can sometimes be close minded. They want nothing to do with anime. My art teacher said it himself, he doesn’t like the style, and when I asked him why he said “they only have one shade of skin color, you never know if it’s dark or not because they only have one shade of skin color”. C: oh hey~ look, someone didn’t research enough.
“everyone does it” – really? Idk, in my grade 11 class only two people out of 30 people drew that style and in my grade 12, only one person – that is me – did so. And in my art class, I drew everything equally, some anime, some realistic, I did some crafting – I tried everything. So, it’d be nice to to judge all manga artists to the extend that “that’s all they know”. But, before art class – that is right – that’s all I knew cause it was a mere hobby, I was never thinking of going into art. But, during art class, I explored other art forms and didn’t stick with one thing. I am sure others have done this too.
but, really if you think outside the box, don’t you sometimes go ‘ don’t we ever get bored of ourselves’ or I am just a tad off the sane path here. I really would not mind seeing distorted photos of my family and me. I think it’s rather original. * u *
also, the original isn’t realism~ the original is the stick man~ ….lmfao that was a joke 8’D
August 6, 2011 at 7:25 am |
Well, then, how do you explain why teachers are so massively sick of manga/anime, if hardly anyone in class does it? Surely somehow, they have been exposed to it—OVERexposed to it—and now they’ve had enough. It doesn’t make sense that they come up with some prejudice on it, if it’s something so rare that they hardly ever encounter it. All you have to do is look at articles or guidelines for art schools to know that one of the first things that is often listed is “NO ANIME.” So obviously someone is overdoing it, if art schools are having to make that rule. They wouldn’t have to make that rule if only a few random students were doing anime, would they? Or if these students were always comfortable with all forms of art, but dabbled in anime. But apparently it’s become so widespread that now it’s a problem.
If you are already comfortable with realism, then I don’t know what the big complaint is. So there is one type of art your teachers don’t want to see from you. But there are all these other types of art that you can still do. So do them for class and do anime elsewhere. You enjoy doing realism, right? So do it and enjoy it. Or is it that you can *do* realism but what you really want to do most of the time is anime? I don’t really understand what the big deal is here.
You won’t be the first student who doesn’t have an opportunity to do their favorite type of art in every class, we all go through that in some form or another.
And maybe you would find a distorted photo of yourself “original,” but ask your parents if they would pay a photographer a lot of money to deliver a photo of you that has been squished, squashed, or smooshed around in Photoshop. Ask them! LOL
August 6, 2011 at 11:34 pm |
lol well one, my parents will never—everrrr– pay money to get their picture taken BU. and I am just saying it’d be a pretty cool idea to do so~
o w o ” this isn’t my rant btw – lmfao. But~~ I agree with the rant. maybe you don’t know because you haven’t been in our shoes ? I’ll admit, there are people who draw anime/manga horribly just…horribly. And there are people who only knows how to draw manga/anime – which is the reason why colleges don’t like to accept it. However, the thing is – there are manga artists out there that can draw – even if not everything – a lot of types of art, realism,cartoon, still-life, manga.
The worst is when cartoon art is accepted when manga is not. I do love cartoonn but, if big heads 4 finger’d hands and no toe’d figures can be accepted erm, shouldn’t manga be too c: ? i think that’s the issue. You gotta been through it to know dear.
August 7, 2011 at 2:30 am |
I’m not sure what shoes I’m supposed to have been in. I have done artwork that is not accepted by teachers or colleges or art galleries, but because I had other styles I could do, I just showed them instead. That’s the pragmatic thing to do. I would think it would only be a problem if all I could do was that one style, and the teachers (or colleges) didn’t want to accept it. In which case, that’s my problem, because I’m purposely limiting myself.
As for the other types of cartoons… are these unique cartoon styles that the artist made up themselves? Maybe that’s why the cartoons are more acceptable. The artist developed their own style, but anime artists are using the already established anime style, or in other words, they are not being as original and that’s what the teachers and schools want to see.
If the artist drew only cartoons that looked just like the Snoopy style, would the teachers accept that, while rejecting anime or manga? Somehow I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. But if it was, I agree that would be unfair, because they’d be accepting of one kind of derivative art style while rejecting another.
September 3, 2011 at 3:56 pm |
This is one of those questions where I’d really like to interview an actual art teacher with those views.
I had a manga-loving friend switch schools to go into animation and a manga-obsessed roommate switch her major to Japanese. Neither could get their art past the panel of professors our school required students to pass to take higher level classes. I, on the other hand, love riffing off the western tradition, and the painting faculty almost literally shoved me through. My “manga” friends had to wade through an hour of questions, then wait for a reject letter in the mail, while I was told “see you next fall” after 20 minutes. It didn’t seem fair to me at the time (honestly, my stuff wasn’t that great…at all), and it still seems odd now. Several of the ‘dropout’ manga artists I know would have *bloomed* in a traditional painting studio environment.
Seriously, what is the bias? Is it because manga/anime is too “commercial”? Is it not a valid part of the artist’s “cultural heritage”? Is it too “low-brow”—or not low-brow enough to be used ironically or be properly parodied? Is it the concern that copying the manga/anime style is smothering the development of the student’s “unique, individual style”? If a teacher explained their valid(?) concerns instead of automatically shooting down the style, students could successfully counter-argue, and compromise would be possible.
And compromise would make the art stronger because cross-culture style fusion has created some of the best art ever (Renaissance, anyone? Picasso? Art Nouveau? Jean-Michel Basquiat?).
That’s just my take, though. 🙂
September 4, 2011 at 2:27 pm |
I completely agree im starting year 9 tomorrow and ive taken art graphics for GCSE’s under the advise of the head of art when I asked her on open evening would art & design or art graphics be better for aiming to qualify for a mangka because I really want to become one. At least she has some respect for how skilled you have to be to draw manga. the other teachers in the art department at my school don’t really acknowledge that manga is a very interesting skill in art. For example, my art teacher from last year would praise me for drawing good observations and etc but when it came to manga it would be ignored. If art is a way of expressing the artist’s emotions or identity or inspiration and is praised when a horse is given a paint brush and smeers it all over a canvas, why is it manga is looked down upon? some of the people who inspire me are mangakas such as masashi kishimoto and yana toboso and they poured there hearts creativity into their work like any other professional artist does. I like art in general because its fun but manga for me is my most comfortable style to draw in and manga these days is becoming increasing more popular and soon or later art teachers will have to accept that. the closest subject Ive had to draw manga was drawing the style of a graphic novel and according to my friends who are doing there art GCSE’s thats the closest thing I’ll ever to actual manga. its just ridiculous
September 12, 2011 at 2:03 am |
I completely agree with you on this!! My art teacher at my school doesn’t know much about Anime so of coarse she rejects anything involving it. I remember in my sketchbook I drew in Anime style. It wasn’t based of any characters, just one I made up and created! Well, she gave me an F and wrote “Animme is not original.” WTF?! -.- lol she even spelled Anime wrong so I shrugged it off. XD I was so happy with another art teacher at my school. She loved Anime and she liked my drawings. I miss her…now I’m stuck with the old teacher. So I have to stay away from anything Anime or she will give me a F which is ridiculous!!! D: What we do is boring…so far we had to draw a sewing machine and eggs. -_- I mean Were’s the creativity? I prefer creating art were you use imagination! 🙂 Oh well, at least she can’t stop me from drawing Anime outside of school. Muhahaaa!!! 😛
September 15, 2011 at 11:38 am |
I think its more of how people who draw anime/manga tend to just only draw things in that sense. A girl in my illustration class drew some anime like characters for her project but the teacher didn’t like it because he wanted her to be more flexible with different aspects of drawing. I draw anime and manga too but I try to learn different styles of art because its more variety. Teachers don’t hate it because its Japan they just want their students to know and create things in more variety than just anime/manga.
October 26, 2011 at 7:58 pm |
Art teachers discourage it however they choose, it’s their own opinion whether they see it as a degrading style, too commercialized, or whatever. Anime style itself can and cannot be considered as art. Art is defined as an expression of oneself. And who do those people think they are telling if your expressions can be considered as art or not? If at least one person finds it aesthetically pleasing (Including yourself) then it is by current definition as art. No one has the authority to label what one creates as art. There will always be a group of people who oppose it and a group that supports it. The reason people oppose it and it’s not recognized as an ‘official’ art genre is because there is not enough people or there is not enough influential people who support it. As you said current art styles are debatable on it’s validity as art (like paint splatter or a stripe in solid color. This is just like anime/manga styles, it is still an underground style which not enough people enjoy so many people scrutinize it as being uncreative. I understand it as being uncreative since the style is pretty formulaic however anime was never meant to be so ‘super’ creative anyways. One not only has to look under the piece itself to understand the meaning but one must also observe anime’s own history of how this style came to be. The anime style started from the creator of Astro Boy (forgot his name -_-‘) because he wanted a style that could express emotions easily. His style that was implemented in Astro Boy was then copied by other manga-kas at the time. Therefore the anime/manga style is not an art genre but actually is somewhat of a subgenre of expressionism. The faces in anime/manga are meant to convey emotions more easily and more dramatically. Sometimes one could even cross the subgenre of anime/manga style with other genres like surrealism or impressionism. Another reason people do not encourage this style is because of the artists themselves. The people who draw in anime style are the sole reason for the opinions that the style gets. If they aren’t creative and innovative while using the style, then people will think the style is uncreative and stupid.
Phew….sorry bout that, seems like a went on a rant myself…hehe….
November 11, 2011 at 8:28 am |
Mm, my, reading this article has made me feel better about myself for being influenced by anime/manga, but some of the comments have – dare I say it – miffed me. I believe that art is what the artist makes it. The viewer can choose to like or dislike it (I, myself, am not fond of modern arts, for example…), but they have no right not to call it art. That is sick and wrong and it utterly demeans the artist. I think that people take artists for granted – they don’t see that a PERSON made the art, they just see the art. It’s a terrible mindset that many have.
I hate it when people say anime is not an art style, for it totally is, just as there is a definite Disney style and a definite Looney Toons style. Now a lot of commenters here have taken it upon themselves to say that NO, art teachers who dislike anime style only want you to “broaden your horizons”. I’m sure some do. Is that every single one? Hell no. People seem to lump them all together and give them the same opinion: “they say this for your own good as an artist”. Funny how that opinion is ALWAYS the same as the commenter’s. 😐 I have had both an anime-hating art teacher and a teacher who, while she was not too keen on it, saw that it was indeed an art style and respected the fact that I drew in it. I think that’s one big thing that a lot of art teachers (and commenters, it seems) are lacking: respect for personal opinions as well as art styles.
Now, it is good to broaden your horizons by experimenting with any different art forms – realistic, cartoon-y, abstract… it helps you develop your own personal style. However, shoving it down someone’s throat that YOU don’t like their style and that they need to change it because their style is not REAL is sickening. Art is whatever the artist makes it, not the viewer. Art is hard, no matter how you learn it and no matter your style. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.
No matter what your style…what matters is that you put effort into what you draw and do your best to develop a sense of how YOU want to draw. People should develop their style and artistic ability on their own pace. If you try to force yourself, or someone tries to force you, it makes art into a chore. Art is supposed to be fun – the artist is not a slave, nor are they a tool.
A lot of comments that I read have talked about how art teachers hate anime style because of the radical fans who refuse to draw in any style other than mainstream anime styles like Pokemon and Sailor Moon. I, myself, have known such fans: they can be annoyingly over-the-top, and they were the reason why the better art teacher I had actually quit doing the animating class at the school. The sad thing about radicals is is that they are the ones who make the stereotypes. However, aren’t the crazed fans who refuse to try anything different the same as those who refuse to broaden their experience by drawing ONLY realistically? The knife can cut either way, and those who dote solely upon realism and look down upon other art forms I see as snobs.
There is no such thing as art police, so people get off your high horses and take off the blinders. This “issue” does have many sides, yes, but everyone is making a mountain out of a molehill. Everyone has their own opinion, and while I tend to say in the middle-ground, I will say this: it is a disgusting show of arrogance to say that anime is not an art. If you don’t like it, then don’t look at it, don’t draw it, and just leave it alone. It’s as simple as that. The same goes for art teachers: kudos to those who wish for their students to experiment; rotten tomatoes to those who will let their opinions get in the way of a student’s way of drawing. Art is art, whether you draw realism, anime, or whatever. In layman’s terms: art means something different to everyone. If you don’t like someone’s style, draw your own pictures.
Now I know that people will probably flare up upon reading this (if it gets read). 😡 Oh well, have whatever reaction…but there is an insanely thin line between sharing your own opinion and trying to force it upon someone. I may have come off as the latter but that needed to come out.
And to the author, I’m really glad that I found this. It feels very good to know that such an experience is not something I went through alone. 😡 People can be very degrading when it comes to art, but in the end, we artists will grow. 🙂
November 19, 2011 at 5:13 am |
wow..i think thsoe pictures are awesome by the way!! my art teacher in high school admired anime i think alot. But i’m still trying to choose a college to actually draw and stuff all kinds of work but can’t decide which is best or you know less uptight with certain art styles
November 21, 2011 at 2:59 am |
I agree with your views. I think Manga/Anime is beautiful when well done. I found this article because I was looking for how not to draw anime/manga style because people are so against it. I just wanted my art to be different and not get lumped together with everyone else. I drew a girl once and I wasn’t even aiming for anime but everyone was like oh it’s anime. I was like sure I guess, I didn’t even add any facial expressions it was the just the head shape. There’s nothing wrong with anime/manga but I would like to have my own style too. ^______^
January 2, 2012 at 4:50 pm |
I think perhaps we need an opinion from an art teacher here …. and that would be what I am. Twenty years teaching HS art in a large public school.
I admire anime. Love the style – it reminds me a bit of early Art Deco http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/2653010451_25354df70b.jpg. It relies strongly on popular culture, as did many art movements: Op Art, Pop Art, etc. On its own, it has developed into amazingly complex and deep as an art form.
So why do art teachers cringe when a student hands in a drawing of Sailor Moon, or Ulquiorra Schiffer or Sanji? Well, follow me if you will back through my years as an art teacher. In the 1990s, I had to contend with high school art students drawing Looney Tunes. I’d give an assignment and inevitably, I’d get at least one Tweety Bird. Later on, it became Disney. Do you know how many little mermaids I’ve seen? Osamu Tezuka et al. has had the same effect in the classroom. Kids COPY anime and try to pass it off as “art”. Copying is never art. It’s not even the same skill set as creating art. Copying a style useful in learning techniques of the masters. It teaches one to use materials, tools, perspective, form, perspective, etc. Even the Renaissance masters copied from the artists before them. But these are exercises meant for honing skills. And SKILL is not the same as creating art. Skills are tools. Once you have acquired skills, we need to dig deep and express something new using those hard earned skills. Bring something new to the table.
It’s never cool to copy someone else’s artwork and pass it off as your own. How can I assess a drawing an art student did that is a copy of a work done by Akira Amano? Should I give Amano an A? I certainly can’t give credit to my student. It’s unethical.
I try to encourage anime fans in my classroom to create their own worlds, their own characters. They can draw anime-style. But make it original. Make it their own. Not a copy of someone else’s work.
May 13, 2012 at 4:33 pm |
I have a question then. During my research homework tasks, my teacher always says to do a copy of the work that you’re researching. It tends to get people a higher grade to include a copy. Isn’t it wrong to just copy it though? Or doesn’t copying it help to get a sense of the artist, and explore different styles?
I have no set opinion on this. I just see both sides and I’m unsure which is correct…
March 18, 2015 at 4:45 am |
Your comment is old, but I am still replying because why not. When I draw in the anime/manga style, I draw my own characters and not someone else’s. I used to practice by drawing other people’s characters though and when I felt comfortable I started drawing my own.
January 6, 2012 at 10:36 pm |
ok i completly agree but i got lucky every teacher i have had loves my style(which is manga) so i got really lucky i say
January 13, 2012 at 3:39 am |
I have a feeling I know why this isn’t taught in schools. Japanese manga and anime started off ass comic book and cartoons. That is technically a form of commutation, therefore if you were going for a degree in animation commutation you’re in luck. (Brought up by a top art school who DOES accept anime art) so most artist don’t think of it as art, although nickelodeon, and Disney stuff is art. Right now I’m an Art 30-IB (30 means grade 12) student and I am Frustrated at the fact that my teacher keeps calling everything I am doing is anime, although they are more realistic. I have a rare form of dyslexia, and my mind thinks more complex styles (anime, aubrsact, collages, anything but realism) getting out of that mind set is hard
It’s also shocking to see how many schools will NOT accept original anime work. This is another reason why anime is not encouraged in art class. They are trying to prep use for post-secondary. So a thought is, lets stop blaming the art teachers at our high schools and push more art departments in universities and colleges to accept original work. I can see the concerns of why people won’t take it fan made art (I.e superman, Naruto, one piece) because how do they know that people did not trace them. (brought up by admissions in a uni in Edmonton)
Until we start pushing the post secondary schools in letting in original anime work (not fan art) we can probably start learning manga in schools. 🙂
January 16, 2012 at 9:22 am |
Stop. Stop. Stop.
What you need to understand is that art teachers are there for a reason, and that’s to help you learn about every aspect of art. They’re not there to tell you how to make it, but to assist you in your development as an artist. They will want to show you principals of design, how to compose a work and how to build your skills. They’re not there to tell you every kawaii-desu nekomimi is brilliant and kiss your pathetic mangaka-wannabe ass for it, but to tell you, you’re copying a very overdone style and it won’t be acceptable should you actually be serious about a future career in art.
If you want to draw animu ugguu~ so be it, but know that what you’re doing is wasting your teacher’s time. Make desu at home, in your personal sketchbook, and take the pocky out of your ears at school and learn some shit.
What you need to know is that teachers want weeaboos like you to expand yourself. As an art student who’s seen way too much bullshit go down on paper, I can tell you that teachers say ‘Oh, that’s nice, but you, and countless other kids I deal with daily, have drawn something that looks exactly like this 500 times. Try doing my assignment now.’ You need to be trying out other styles of art instead of confining yourself to the same bug-eyed girl looking sad with her angel wings. When your portfolio is being reviewed they want to see originality and capability. It should be showcasing that you can do a wide range of different things. Emulation is one thing, but there is a point when one doesn’t stop, and they become stuck in the loop of drawing the same thing over and over again.
Sure, manga is like any other art form, some’s good, some’s bad. It does require good skill to make it look ‘prettiful’. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s overused and seriously isn’t what art schools are looking for, and that’s why teachers go ‘Ughh… not again.’
February 18, 2012 at 12:05 am |
I think that a lot of you are confusing what is considered “Fine Art” with “consequential art” forms (film, animated film, comics and hence anime/manga).
I was struggling with the same question myself the first 2 years of art school and as time went by and I gained experience and knowledge about art in general and learned a lot about art history I got to the conclusion that there’s a difference and beauty in all of art in general.
Anime/manga can definitely be considered an art form, it’s quality depends (like in most cases) mostly on the artists skill but not only DRAWING skills. It’s a consequential form so we should be looking at it in a lot of aspects, and of course I don’t consider Naruto/Pokemon/(namewhatevercomercialanimehere) peaces of art. Illustrations, comics,movies,animated movies can be considered art pieces though depending on their context (like in most cases when it comes to FINE ART) and emotional power (mostly).
When it comes to Fine Art, honestly it’s not OK to say “some of the modern art I’ve seen in galleries is complete shit. Or at least completely devoid of any real prettiness.” Art should in no way be something that represents only “prettiness” (that’s why we have design after all) but it should be something beyond that. Beauty is not only aesthetic for the masses in art. And hand on heart you shouldn’t say that modern art is shit. Research a little bit about it and your mind will be blown.
February 18, 2012 at 2:10 am |
To be honest, I do understand the response of your art teachers. Manga is a formula that can be easily learned and repeated. it is not a direct response to life. People who draw manga often get ‘stuck’ in that style – believing that people are actually made up of cylinders and ball shapes, with out of proportion facial features. When I was about 15 and in the process of learning to draw, I got a couple of books on manga and started doing the exercises. It took me about a week to be able to draw the highly stylised characters. It has taken me years to get out of manga style again and go back to traditional values of really seeing the world and drawing it the way it is. Go outside. look around. the world isn’t pretty and easily compacted into a formula of cutesy cartoony shapes. Manga artists are no match for the old masters.
just my two cents.
February 23, 2012 at 7:32 pm |
It’s because in the industry, anime will get you next to nowhere as suckish as it seems. If you go to Japan and work instead, you get crap pay for being a manga/anime artist. The teachers are just looking out for your future.
Personally for me, the one irk I have about anime is the extreme cookie-cutter style. Even in those pics you linked, if you removed the hair and clothes, they would all look like the same person. There is nearly no variation between them, which is bad if you want to go into something like character design.
March 17, 2012 at 7:00 pm |
I’m a current college art student. I understand all of your stuggle because I’m there my self. I was told not to draw anime in high school, so I stop for art class, all the way up to last semester. I had a teacher found out about my seperate style and encourge me to draw anime. But for me I didn’t want to to turn my back on my realistic style either so I combined them and everyone loves it.
I recomend to learn the more realistic style and different anime style and find your own personal style. Remember you have to explain why it art, you can’t just say I wanted to draw a girl on a couch, because the girl might be happy, sad, or whatever and the emotion can make it art.
here my da if you want to check it out http://kittyrei.deviantart.com/
March 18, 2012 at 4:45 am |
Art teachers are never accepting of anything. I knew one who called installation ‘a bunch of rubbish heaped together’. I knew another who claimed ‘watercolor paintings are not ‘real’ art’. And then there are the weirdos that praise crayola works but condemn chalk. The varying personal misgivings against art forms is staggering.
Generally, they want you to work like a dog to get anything accepted in their classes, regardless of what medium you use.
I would strongly advise not attending art classes in the first place, because there is nothing they teach you that you can’t learn elsewhere. Additionally, all of the effort comes from the student in the first place.
March 18, 2012 at 7:12 am |
lol oxymoron ..original anime work.. ? ( a style with heavy repetitiveness , standards and strict classifications)
If your school still has European-based curriculum and little to no Eastern art work …you can forget about including anime/ manga art in a professional portfolio.
Many schools want you to practice a multitude of styles (ironic) cartooning isn’t included in a majority of art classes, techniques and etc…so that you will pick and choose preset acceptable standards to create an expected acceptable result.
Anime / Manga might be more accepted in a graphic design/ digital media class instead of a classical art studio class. My profs had no problem accepting ( family rated)anime and manga images (free of pedophilia/sexual minority symbolism/abusive relationship situations).
With regards to colleges… many of them take gov./ private prestigious donations and funding …so unless you know how to become aware of the social issues/ subtle content often tackled in anime and manga.. you could endanger a college’s funding… I have had some profs review “scandalous work” in private.. but much of the work will have to meet a college wide rubric (rules met set by accreditation,) ..not by the prof or the school.
March 24, 2012 at 1:52 pm |
I strongly disagree with you. Most people do not have a realistic idea of what they, themselves produce. I agree with you, some of it IS good… But that’s only people who have worked their whole lives on something else.
Often people who ‘aspire’ to be what they refer to as a ‘manga artist’, are shit. That’s because they are very young, and have only ever done that. You need to first draw REAL people to learn proportions, draw from life, then move onto your own style, instead of trying to copy someone else’s.
Just to be technical, when you draw it, it ISN’T manga, that’s a japanese term for comics… When you draw it it’s western. It isn’t, and will never be manga.
April 4, 2012 at 3:00 pm |
i totally agree! its a bueatiful artform and its called that foriegn +++++ as said by my own father. anime is a bueatiful deeply detailed artform and it is my dream to become a mangaka! D.Gray-Man anime/manga and Katsura Hoshino (creator) inspired me, helped me to purdue my dreams bravely and get out of depression! i think it deserves some american respect!
April 13, 2012 at 12:28 pm |
Well,I’m an actual author/illustrator for children’s books out here in the Phil. and a huge fan of western comic art . I challenged a kid who was pretty good at drawing manga to draw Captain America while i drew Goku whom i easily and credibly drew but the kid’s captain america was way off. As in his head looked like a beany bag ! It does require a lot more skill and variation to do western comic art which is derived from western classic art than manga. Compare issue # 7 of the prior volume of Ultimate Spiderman drawn by a manga artist where most of the characters male or female look alike and have the same facial expressions to those by Stefano Caselli current artist on Amazing Spiderman where even though characters are cartoony, retain their individuality in features and portray a rich variation of facial expressions.Or compare manga art to Coippel or Arthur Adams comic art work and any one who tries their hand at copying either will experience first hand the greater skill requirement in producing detailed individual and varied facial features and expressions even action poses( though manga isn’t far off in this area) than the ” one look fits almost all ” of Manga. As a professional,I wouldn’t mind kids learning to draw Manga but I greatly recommend that if they cut their teeth on any form of comic art,it should be western comic art first and foremost to develop a better base in versatility and greater observational skill. It takes a lot more observation and a keener eye, to translate human expression into varied cartoony faces than semi homogeneous ones and lastly,on average,western comic art is significantly more detailed than manga so those who practise it in my opinion will also develop a better eye for detail.
May 6, 2012 at 11:49 am |
Bitches don’t know about proportion, research and realism…seriously if they hadn’t teach you why Manga style is just generic crap, they seriously failed as art teachers.
I do enjoy anime style, honestly but I can’t consider it art as in at all, there is literally 0 research and you can proportionate the parts as want without caring about measures, but again I don’t blame you I blame your art teachers being useless.
January 26, 2014 at 6:43 am |
That’s if your art piece only had proportion. There are other parts such as composition, colour, and other. Also if a person knows manga, doesn’t mean they don’t understand proportion and if you’re going to do as much research as you imply, there is no need to know proportion because you’re going to research it anyways. In the world of art anything runs because its a form of self expression, and there are tons of different variants, if you’re going to trace then I see what you’re saying, but many people manages to find their own unique manga-esque style. Some are even combined with realism.
May 6, 2012 at 11:52 am |
I mean seriously, do you consider http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/original_285490_E0Py3W9eia_CwYPBXGzbB1slM.jpg
As taking the same effort as http://artxart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/bouguereau_biblis1.jpg ?
O.o Those teachers should be fired straight away.
June 2, 2012 at 10:02 pm |
well here in Holland I have a art teacher who plainly refused to criticize ( I don’t know what it is called, but to give a mark) my work at first because it was manga. It dind’t stop me from using manga sryle, in the end I showed her an artist book whit manga art. She kept saying it wasn’t art. She said: “This isn’t art, just pretty picture’s, they have no meaning.” WTF?! so i showed her a lot of picture’s and told the meaning of it. She finaly criticize my work but still don’t understand it. It’s a shame…
January 26, 2014 at 6:45 am |
It’s like the story of the man who has never seen a painting seeing the painting of a horse. He simply doesn’t understand what the horse represented. Art is a form of self expression which means anything runs, and yes there can be meanings behind manga.
June 11, 2012 at 2:53 am |
I’m in middle school and I completely agree with you. Most of my art teachers thus far have made me practice modernism and “realistic” drawings, although when it comes to realistic *they* can’t even do it and tell us to trace a photograph (real skillful, I know XD). It’s terrible. Luckily, this year I had an amazing art teacher who loves all types of art. She even has a huge poster that tells you how to draw anime in the style of Studio Ghibli, and let us watch Spirited Away in class. I have to say though, I do find it considerably easier to draw manga than western art. Perhaps my opinion is a bit biased, because I’ve been exposed to anime ever since I first watched TV. (Pokemon and the like, but I’ve since expanded my palette) However, teachers might have a point when they say that anime is a bit easy. However, if it’s so easy, then how come so many people can’t do it? Maybe I could understand if they put manga into the curriculum in, say, elementary school and then had you progress into more traditional art. But when they teach you absolutely nothing about it and then, after you devote so much time to it as a hobby, they completely disregard it? That, in my opinion, is completely hypocritical and close-minded. But enough with my endless rants. 🙂 Long story short, you make a lot of good points, as does everyone who’s commented. No matter how many times you get put down for something you like, though, just make sure you don’t give up. If you love something, stick with it.
June 20, 2012 at 1:26 pm |
I absolutely agree with you!! Many art teachers don’t understand that anime is art. Not everyone can draw it, and I am pretty upset that they have not made an art school that accepts this category. I am lucky to have a school that has a manga club that I’m in, but I feel as if though more people need to swallow their pride and accept it. I also feel that many other people need to open their eyes and see that manga artists are smart. Take Mark Crilley for example. He is an expert on anime and manga, and also in realism art. Yes anyone can draw manga, but it’s just as enduring as any other art, and as we know it, everything is art ^w^
June 30, 2012 at 7:50 pm |
All of you sound ridiculous. Listen to yourselves. Art teachers discourage their students to draw anime because they rather them tackle the fundamentals of human anatomy and proportion first. Anime is a cop out for people who can’t draw anything else. Anime is not bad, but it is highly recommended for al students to understand and have a firm grasp of the basics before immersing themselves in anime.
Here is my website. http://www.rb-portraits.com. I am an illustrator who wears many hats. As you tour my blog, you will see that I can not only draw cartoons, but that I can also draw people too.
All of you quit whining. You sound like a bunch of babies.
July 6, 2012 at 12:00 am |
Hello! Not all art teachers are unappreciative.
Check out this initiative started by a Singapore secondary school (middle school level):
http://www.siglap-youngillustratorawards.com/about-us.php?id=3
It is to encourage young artists to pick up the “ART” of illustration.
I think this is quite an encouraging sign! Manga may not be “Fine Art”, but it definitely falls into an area in the world of visual art.
July 8, 2012 at 3:02 am |
I’m not sure if it’s been said yet and I understand that this post if from 2-ish years ago but I went through the same problem and finally got sick of being told that what I was doing wasn’t art in any “real” form. I asked what her definition of “real” was and she gave me a long lecture of mainly BS but one fact that she said has become unbelievably true as technology advances.
Sure back then when manga style art began the artist took the time to color and detail the work, I’m not saying that they don’t do that now but it stops becoming a piece of art when a computer gets involved. I can say this because I usually use a computer to color my work unless it’s something I feel needs to have a piece of myself in it.
Because I believe this I don’t call my work art, especially when I finish it on the computer, but I will name it which gives it an importance and a meaning very similar to calling something a piece of art.
Bottom line is no matter what one teacher says there will always be another who says differently so to solve this problem you value your word above all others and you find your own way to make what you do art because somewhere out there there is someone that will agree with you.
I agree with you and most other that reply to this post do as well. Teachers over think things and think their ideas are absolute but what they don’t know is that it has been proven in history that when something is put down in any form that thing has a way of fighting it’s way up to be exactly what one said it couldn’t be. This being said one day manga art of any form will be realized as art. After all it’s not easy.
-Raising Manga Author and Artist
July 13, 2012 at 6:48 am |
Personally I am a illustrator, and style can be a crutch. I studied animation and storyboarding and a big thing that came with doing that stuff though it was mostly me drawing a cartoon was that it has its foundations in real life. Before you really could play around with style and exaggerate it you had to understand how it works in real life. I think that was the reason why the teacher frowned on it, was because she couldn’t draw from life and all she knew about drawing was drawing in this ” anime style”. If she could jump or even show an interest in drawing life how she see’s it, the teacher may not be so harsh toward her. Studying from life will help develop variation in character design, and understand how things work. That’s my opinion.
July 20, 2012 at 5:56 am |
I know EXACTLY what you mean…all though out school i was told “realistic-realistic” and what happened when I graduated and actually GOT into my field? “um, can you tone it down a bit? Maybe not so real? Here, heres some reference…” and you know what that reference was? A FREAKIN MARVEL VS CAPCOM POSTER!!! Then every PAYING job was, “cartoon this, anime that”…Art, is art…and any artist who doesn’t acknowledge another form of art whether it is not to their liking or not, should not consider themselves and artist just for the simple fact of not being able to recognize the craft that you SUPPOSEDLY mastered…
August 13, 2012 at 1:14 am |
holy monkey dick! did you draw all thems yourself! fuck me man. you make my art look like shit. T_T i feel bad now… FML
but i do know what you mean. i failed art class cause my teach wouldnt accept that kind of art. like even when it was good she wouldnt accept it. well all exept 1. it was a hot elf girl dancing in the woods in a see through vail with one of her boobs hangin out lol ;). it was one of my best. so either she appriciated my hard work or she was lesbo and wanted to keep it. idk.
September 6, 2012 at 9:13 pm |
This may be a really interesting reply for you to read, as I am in a really odd scenario. I’m a graphic designer for video games. Many of my clients ask me to use anime style art for their games, and I can do it very well. But here’s the catch – I don’t like anime. I completely agree with any art teacher that says it’s overdone. It is very over done. It is an art style that belongs to no one person but potentially belongs to everyone. I feel somewhat restricted when drawing anime because I am not using my own creativity – instead, I am using as design that millions of other people harness. Think of famous painters that you can look at their work and instantly know the painter because of the style. Anime is not like that. Anime has certain unsaid rules that you must follow, but art has no rules. This is not just limited to anime. Think of North American cartoons such as Dexter’s laboratory, Powerpuff girls, Clone High, Johnny Bravo, Fairly Odd Parents. All the same style. I do not believe you can learn to draw if you copy someone else’s style. In doing so, you have neglected to find yourself, and this is exactly the reason art teachers generally do not acknowledge anime as an art.
September 17, 2012 at 2:36 am |
Art teacher here, just finished an art history powerpoint on Asian art and felt inclined to include manga, not necessarily because I care for it much (but can acknowledge it as art) but because it is a huge part of the Japanese art history. MY particular issue with ANY cartoon styled art (all, not just manga/anime) is because in my experience with my students (teaching 6 years) has been that cartooning becomes a crutch. I RARELY find students that create their OWN designs based on their OWN ideas. I hate the idea of using someone else work as your own, even if altered a bit. A true, formally trained art student (note I said student and NOT artist) must learn the basics. They must learn how to draw from life, from observation, figure drawing and still lifes, perspective and color theory, all forms of media from clay to paint. When all students want to create one style in one media it’s binding and very frustrating as a teacher. I praise my students when they show me the work they’ve done at home, and acknowledge it as an art, but I’m in the business of teaching art, and I’m going to challenge my students by not relying on one style or media. I’m sorry if many of you have had bad experiences, I too had one with my high school art teacher, but many of us out there, just want to help broaden your knowledge of all forms of art. Thanks for reading, now go to bed. 🙂
January 8, 2013 at 3:36 am |
“MY particular issue with ANY cartoon styled art”
That´s exactly the point why many people dislike anime/manga or comics/animation movies in general. Most people think of anime/manga as only cartoons. But it´s really not. It´s just that the less cartoonish stuff is rather unknown and doesn´t sell so well.
If you´d really studied manga/anime, you´d know that there are hundrets of artists who doesn´t draw in a cartoonish way at all.
October 12, 2012 at 10:09 pm |
because however good your manga is, it will not be your own because everybody else is drawing in the same fucking style. Why would you even want to draw in a style that half of the world is drawing in..
October 13, 2012 at 3:08 am |
I am nearly devoted to my anime drawings. It gives me confidence and people actually acknowledge it as my talent! Due to these comments and these kinds of art teachers, I’m scared to take an art class. I understand about expanding your horizons to go to realistic, still life, etc. Still can’t they expand their OWN horizons to try some anime art for once?
October 20, 2012 at 7:32 pm |
I agree with you. My art teacher thinks that i’m shit on someone shoes because i love to draw anime. While my other teacher love it and they are afraid of me that she would turn me away from anime. But but other art teachers love it i don’t know what to do.
October 28, 2012 at 4:03 pm |
FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE!!!! :’) i’ve just started taking my art gcse course and my topic is ‘surfaces’ (boring-.-) and when i told my teacher, who is lovely, that i love drawing manga and anime she was a bit like oohhh right ok :l and suggested other stuff to me.
But now, i have actually managed to link in anime to my work. Basically, we were looking at the pre-raphaelites and Rossetti was inspired by a japanese kimono, and he also did like 2 or 3 woodblocks, which japan are famous for. So from there, i went on to talk about how Ukiyo-e inspired impressionism (claude monet and van gogh – who even copied works of hiroshige and hokusai). So i’ve done a load of work on that, and now my art teacher is saying for my final piece i can contrast old and modern japanese art…which means manga 😀
So maybe sometimes it isn’t about just manga by itself, but more the fact that if you have some good background to go with it or not 😛 xxx
October 28, 2012 at 5:12 pm |
XD Nice. I actually ended up doing alot of Ukiyo-e and Hokusai too. Trying my very best to link to what I was doing. I can’t even remember what my subject was… but I got it in there somehow… XD No… wait…. we actually had one project on like… stuff that we liked…. or about us….. I forget XD
October 28, 2012 at 5:17 pm |
I hope you do take into consideration the fact that contemporary Japanese art is not just manga. In fact, if you were discussing traditional and contemporary Japanese art, I would be very careful of incorporating manga or anime at all. It would be good to reference more conceptual animations such as Perfect Blue and Paprika, and there are plenty of actual incredible contemporary Japanese artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Chiharu Shiota. Good luck!
October 28, 2012 at 6:05 pm |
Ohhhh Yayoi Kusama. I remember them. With all the spots if memory serves… I did a whole bunch of stuff on the Superflat movement. Since it was sort of… well. It could be all bright and colourful and stuff XD. So I liked it.
November 1, 2012 at 12:36 pm |
I’m 17 this year.Personally I like,love, extremely extremely love to draw manga & anime style.When I hold a pencil, I just want to draw them!!!However, when it comes to work related stuff, I would either have very less or not at all any of the anime/manga style.My art teachers are fine with it(Very nice teachers), as long as I can link to the topic and stuff.But I don’t, simply because I know the industry dislikes it.I only draw manga style during my free time.
Art, I consider Real Art to be works that are expressive, meaningful, emotional, one that has a story to tell.Artworks which just consist of super awesome OMG omega nice style, regardless of anime, manga, realism.etc are really just not that much of an art IMO.
Quite a number of anime artwork/fanart that are on the net really is just a cute girl or a handsome guy staring at you.It basically lacks in many things(probably have lots of ability to make you want torso or something though).True Art IMO is one that really make
you feel for it.Artworks that have good techniques but lacks in expression are basically just “empty” to me.
November 20, 2012 at 9:36 pm |
i understand that feeling. Like seriously it gets me pissed off that art teachers don’t recognize manga as an art form. (my current art teacher an I are cool when it comes to my manga work because he ACTUALLY tolerates it.) Like I was applying for an art college (HS senior, btw) and the person whp talked with me about my artwork said that I should expand my horizons and inside I was like “You serious!” because they saw mostly manga. So then i decided to go for colleges that mostly have graphic design or animation. I wished this country can make manga a major like they do in Japan, but dreams like these are like winning the lottery.
November 28, 2012 at 11:29 pm |
Yeah I completely understand. I like doing art, though I don’t like some of the stuff we’ve been doing lately.
I want to do anime for art GCSE but i’m not sure if my art teacher would allow it. She’s only mentioned it once when a girl in my class sketched some really good pairs of eyes for homework. She said ‘it looked like that japanese styled drawing Mango’ (-_-). Which was completely wrong ‘cuz the eyes were realistic.
And one time I made one of my artwork a bit more llike anime/manga and when I showed it to her she thought i’d made a mistake.
To be honest I don’t she knows much about it and even if she did allow it , it wouldn’t matter because she’s pregnant and would most likely still be on maternity leave at the beginning of next year or may be pregnant again (she’s been pregnant three years in a row).
December 7, 2012 at 8:47 am |
My Dad teaches Art to all ages and he ‘allows’ anime/manga art. About 19 years ago he realised there were kids in his class with a particular talent for this type of drawing so he studied the art form and made sure there were sufficient resources available like books and films for the kids to use at the school. He only encourages the kids that are really good to take this path otherwise its a waste of their time when they could be much better at another style of Art style. As it happens most are just copying someone else’s work so the imagination and skill required to carry them through a whole coursework project just inst there. However he occasionally comes across someone who is able to design their own characters and who has the imagination to make a whole project out of the work by referencing other artist or techniques and by showing a clear path of development in their work. Over the years I have seen some fantastic pieces of work by such children and their grades are always on a par if not higher than others who chose to paint landscapes or make sculpture. Many of them have gone on to university to study animation or have been snapped up to work for the gaming industry.
It seems that not all teachers hold the view that anime/manga shouldn’t be used in a school classroom. The way the syllabus is structured and the hoops you have to jump through to get marks does not lend itself to this type of Art work. If a teacher has the time and dedication to help a child with skill develop their work into a project that will get them the marks they deserve then the results could be impressive.
December 29, 2012 at 10:15 pm |
hello there,
Found this browsing google this afternoon and thought I could chime in. I obtained my BFa Art (drawing spec) back in 2007 and have worked off and on as a freelance illustrator since. This phenomena is common amongst Fine Art faculties. The reason is actually pretty straightforward, flawed though it is:
In the early 20th century, and even late 19th century, there was a split between “fine” art and “commercial” art. This distinction did not exist before. It all has to do with the 20th century idea of “art for art sake,” that commercial art, art made for specific purpose for payment, is a different thing than “fine” art. Now of course this is contradicted by much historical art that was absolutely commissioned for purpose that modern art people still consider to be of the “fine” variety.
So, if you are going to a school that refers to itself as a “fine art” school, chances are you will find the entire faculty unwilling to dignify unclean “commercial” art with any sort of attention. Commercial includes illustration, animation, cartoon, graphic design. However, not all art schools are this way. If you go to a dedicated art school and major in animation, illustration, or graphic design, all of these commercial forms of art will be studied in depth. It just depends on the school and the specific program.
I agree that it is a ridiculous distinction. Fortunately those that care about such distinctions are a dying breed. Animation (of any type of regional flavour) is by far the most popular artistic zeitgeist in history. It matters.
January 8, 2013 at 3:16 am |
I think another reason for why many people especially adults condemn anime and manga is simply, because those anime/manga who are really aimed at a more sophisticated and mature audience, i.e. mostly ‘seinen’ or ‘josei’ anime/manga, they really don´t sell so well, compared to ‘shonen’ or ‘Shoujou’ manga. Thus they are not very well known and most people have a pretty blurred view about anime/manga and a lot of prejudices.
Manga/anime mostly just get considered as cartoons for children, even in Japan, although there are actually hundrets of manga/anime artists who draw in a very realistic, detailed, sophisticated, or ‘artsy’ style. However, comics or animation movies in general still stuck in this cliché, that it´d would be for children or teenagers only. Not just in the way, that people have prejudices against it, but also in the way, that the more sophisticated stuff is rather underground.
January 9, 2013 at 11:30 pm |
Well my school dosent have art anymore
I want art class back
Because i can teach kids manga
January 14, 2013 at 1:22 am |
“Why dont art teachers really acknowledge anime/manga style artwork?
Meimi132 no Itonami” was in fact a fantastic post, can
not wait to look at more of ur posts. Time to squander some time online hehe.
Thanks for the post -Warren
January 17, 2013 at 4:17 pm |
All of my teachers think anime is “useless”. not even just my art teacher, but my math science language arts and social studies teachers do too. I mean, they’ll hand out some crappy “touching“ storybook for children when I’m in 6th grade alredy and tell us to read it, but when I try to read manga keep in mind something meaningful, they tell me to get a “real”book. it’s ridiculous! I mean seriously! I’m pretty sure anyone would rather read a man’s that has meaning to it then some child’ s storybook! and my art teacher? if you even try to draw manga then he flips out! sometimes I HATE adults because a lot of them are so close-minded. but then, even the other students say it’s stupid and useless…
January 17, 2013 at 8:05 pm |
I actually consider this particular article , “Why dont art teachers really acknowledge anime/manga style artwork?
| Meimi132 no Itonami”, particularly entertaining not to mention the post was in fact a
fantastic read. Thanks a lot-Janis
January 20, 2013 at 11:40 pm |
Well the reason why many art teachers don’t acknowledge the style is well, many people start off with copying it, not taking the time to learn about anatomy (Like alot of people! Are Bad at it! ). Now don’t hate me or anything but I love anime as well! But it disturbs me when I see young artist copying or drawing from other artist. For example when I told one girl to add maybe a nose or more def to some of the body features. Instead she said it wouldn’t be anime but ugly american comics, and anime is super realistic. You can easily tell I was annoyed by the comment she said and I just let it be, when an other girl began copying off her style. But overall it can be soul sucking when a teacher tells you that, but their telling you early that you should find your own style. Not rip off someone else’s! And while that I know its fun and all. But over all if you think of it some anime has something that makes people say its anime, while for comics its sometime hard since each of are really unique and have pretty good anatomy (Some I know don’t).
Another reason why Manga can’t major in America…….Its japan things not America, America made Comics. Japan made Manga. Simple as that and a comic book artist makes more money than Manga. But overall if a child believes drawing anime can get to be the most watched artist on deviant art, will make them famous and college acceptable. No. College Art schools and Professor want to see uniqueness, and some form of influence and their (Your) own taste. Not taking Kishimoto style and saying i draw, but instead blend it or combine it. Sorry if this was a rant or anything but coming from an Artist and Anime and comics lover. It really is annoying when seeing young kids copy off other artist and say I drew it myself, or when full grown adults thinks its cool to take someone else style and say “Oh I did it by hand.”
January 26, 2013 at 7:06 am |
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Thanks ,Jada
January 27, 2013 at 7:58 pm |
techincally all manga/anime is just simple verison of realism, all it is in the nutshell is the artist sense of breaking down realism in a nutshell. So if you can get down how thinks look and should be in reality then drawing it in a simple form is a piece of cake, so if you can take on the big hurdle then little ones are no problem you dig?
January 28, 2013 at 6:24 am |
I completely know what your going through Im experiencing it myself right now and it pisses me off anime is art no matter what anyone says just because someone can splurt some lines on a paper dosent make it art shit i could do that with just my penis and some paint……by the way your drawing style is cool:D
February 2, 2013 at 10:50 am |
I’ll tell you why : It’s just an overused style, that everyone uses and don’t have their own style. That is the stupidity of it. It looks cool yeah, that is true. But I think you should get something more ,,ORIGINAL”. Art teachers want you to have you OWN damn style ! They don’t want you to copy some wapanese stupidity… That is the meaning of ART !
January 26, 2014 at 6:50 am |
Manga is so broad. Care to elaborate on which manga style? and also starting with manga is still possible, I didn’t however, but even if you do copy, eventually a style will develop out of your mimicry,
February 13, 2013 at 6:13 am |
Well I understand both sides. I enjoy drawing anime/manga style images. Is it an art. Yes. Is it fine art? No. It is a commercial art. That is why it is often not acknowledged. Also it is extremely easy to become generic. (I’ve been there) It’s to fall into the swing of things with that one look. I’m sixteen and in my class of 1000 or so students there are about 10 of us who draw in the manga/anime style. The thing is though most of these individuals are not that good at it. They started drawing manga/anime and that is all they really did. I started with surrealism and still life drawing in first grade and manga/anime in fifth. According to my art teacher (which she both said and nominated me for the Students Olympiad, which if you place within the district you get scholarship. money) I have a very distinct and unique (she tolerates anime/manga) style with my anime/manga esque images. So yes you can make your own style within the realm of the anime/manga variety of art, but you must explore other things to truly develope YOUR style. Your style, your style, your style. I am not telling anyone not to stop drawing fanart or to stop drawing manga/anime style but I believe there is more to learn than just the repetition of the mainstream anime/manga. That has been done. Come up with your own. Those other students who draw manga/anime images at my school all look almost identical. It has a sketchy shonen-ish aesthetic. They are comepletely unoriginal. I believe you must open your eyes to other forms of art and take them in so that they may shape who you are as an artist not just sticking with the mainstream.
Note: my art work in the manga/anime art genre are one of 2 things: a bright moe with deep shading and (as i said) bright vibrent main colors with lots of blending (and again) and shadows, or it is a bery dark realistic anime representation that follows realistic anatomy to the tee but differs in small areas (namely color. I like either very bright or very dark and, as many have noticed, my clothing have a distinctive wrinkle pattern). All in Prismacolor pens and severel types of colored pencils. I do not use computers. Computer created images are computer design (which keep i mind is difficult in its own way, though MUCH easier than a pencil). My art is different.
Note: As an opinion of mine, Art is expression. Whether it be performing arts, fine art, musical art, photography, graphic design, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. All have a way of portraying something, how. YOU DO IT. Find a way to portray what you decide to convey. That is art. Don’t make a mockery of it. No art form is better than another. No style is better than another. No genre is better than another. Only an artist is better than another. How. Creativity. Creativity. Creativity. That is what makes art. That is what makes and artist. Art is Creativity. An artist being an artist. An individual being oneself in a sophisticated, outward mannar. Expression. That is art. Anime/manga is no different.
-BGR
February 22, 2013 at 7:47 pm |
It’s been done to death and we’re sick of the style. Learn to draw with correct proportions, and actual eyes…
March 3, 2013 at 4:12 pm |
I’ve already done that, i had to learn through human anatomy to get into anime; to be honest if you don’t know how the human body works you won’t be able to get the correct figure for an anime character. In art all i see is still life, portraits and random flower painting <— that is getting boring. Not once in a gallery have i seen anime/manga. The original was once great now its boring and the meaning behind them is just a persons life and view point.
Through anime art there is meaning to it and its not as easy as everyone says it is, they draw the cliche square eyes with big circles in them and stick like hair. Studying correct proportions and eyes teaches you to interpret your own style to manga/anime.
Art teachers in my year hate the style because they can't draw it, it is foreign and not in their 'views' and to them it looks like a kiddy drawing. Its not. Its beautiful when its done right. to my teacher a tin can is art rather then a full canvas paining of manga. My english teacher and all other subject teachers love anime and manga but the art teachers see it as 'scary' and 'creepy' pfft talk about knowing a lot about art.
And all anime is the same? no way. ever compared pokemon to lets say spirited away? in no way do they look the same. everyone can create their unique version of anime…but most people copy the same old big eyes huge smile and hair with no shading but others like the first picture create a unique style and its in my view amazing *o*
All i am saying its best to learn realism, still life and correct proportions and shading to fully understand and create an anime character. i didn't learn that until i studied it.
April 1, 2013 at 6:10 pm |
When will people learn to recognize real art. In school I’m classed as a child prodigy in art as I can draw and paint the artwork of great masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I can draw the creation of Adam from getting a glimpse of both hands (full painting) and the last supper from seeing Christs face (full painting) and because I don’t draw your precious anime (even though I can, I’ve done it before because I can do it in seconds I just prefer not to) everyone starts telling me I can’t draw. I’m gifted, it’s been proven. All I ask is that you appreciate the art of the masters and soon I will be one of them with my “victory at carver hill painting” and “a life of steel once lost” based off the HMS Excalibur ‘s sinking in the ottoman empire. I have nothing against your anime just please appreciate the art of the great masters.
April 25, 2013 at 5:52 pm |
“If anyone (and that doesn’t apply only to art teachers) says that everyone can do anime/manga, sweetly ask them to do some. Their argument will only be correct if they can do it, and if they can’t….well do what you want.”
I don’t think that it should be claimed that “anyone” can do anime, thought I’ve seen some truly awful “anime” out there. It takes far less skill and practice to do something that can be *classified* as anime. Doing *good* anime would require more skill and practice.
However I think that a claim can be fairly made that someone who is well practiced and knowledgeable in realistic drawing and anatomy will find it much easier to draw in the anime style. Because they can DRAW already. They can draw what they see. Many anime-only artists have done very little of drawing what they see without putting it through an anime filter (which does not demonstrate any skill at getting real proportions or accuracy) and then saying, “But that’s my *style*! You just have a prejudice on the anime style!”
Someone who has memorized an anime “style” can keep on replicating that style, but many of them will have a damned hard time switching immediately to realism (drawing accurately what they see with ease, comprehending anatomy as it really is, not the anime stylization of it).
So the question I’d have to anyone who thinks that anime is so special is, how well does someone who has ONLY done anime switch over to accurately representing reality? Is it as easy for them to make that switch as it is for a proficient realism artist (who also understands anatomy well) to bang out an anime styled drawing? THAT’S the big question and THAT’S why so many art teachers are not all that sold on anime.
Anime often puts these kids in a box where they can only do that style and suck at anything else. In a way it’s a little like always using a grid to copy photos (or always tracing photos). It looks good when the artist always does it that way, but then they’re a prisoner to that way. Any amount of straying from their crutch shows them how much they truly suck, which then sends them whimpering back to their safe zone. (Well, it does for some. Others will suck it up and push their way out of their safety zone.)
So there will be art teachers that are not inclined to let kids stay in their comfy little safety zone. They want to push them out of it. That’s not a bad thing, only some kids feel it is, because the safe zone is where they want to stay. Well, suck it up! That’s the world! LOL.
April 1, 2013 at 6:33 pm |
just out of curiosity, do any of you enjoy the art of the great masters like “the creation of Adam” or “victory at carver hill”. But back to the subject, I would say anime is a more …..”commercial style” of art but there’s nothing wrong without as it’s not hurting anyone.
April 3, 2013 at 1:49 pm |
I’m in Year 6 right now and reading about how most art teachers dislike (or HATE) anime/manga is making me feel less excited about secondary school. My natural style is more or less like Nick Sharrat’s, with some anime/manga eyes, hair and head shape. I’ve been thinking of ways to improve it, but not many ideas right now.
What’s really annoying is that at my school we don’t do much art (I once found out that they, as in the school, might have been planning to have an Art curriculum, but once they’ve finally made it I’ll be at my new school) and when we once did (a self portrait), no-one did any kind of cartoon-y drawings. They were all supposed to be realistic, but as there were only 10 or 11 year olds doing it, not many of them looked real. I tried to draw in the style which I mentioned before, but when I did the eyes someone started laughing, so I scrapped the idea and started again as realistic.
Still, most people generally in my class seem to like my drawing style, and ask me to draw for them. My teacher doesn’t make any comment, even though she sees my drawings nearly every Monday, in this reading log which we have to keep.
If anyone (and that doesn’t apply only to art teachers) says that everyone can do anime/manga, sweetly ask them to do some. Their argument will only be correct if they can do it, and if they can’t….well do what you want. I can’t think of anything right now :3
May 4, 2013 at 12:37 pm |
In Japan any teachers of art subject don’t teach drawing anime or manga.That partly because colors in anime are not mixed up.anime and manga expresses shadow but only for expression of faces necessary to 3 dimension to 2D. Background does not have shadow.Usually beam effects are deleted.
They don’t need models.In case for anime In case for a minute anime neds more than 2000.Speed painting is must. Anime and manga are for commercial purpose,Painters draw to make money.You should be sensitive of what the public needs not you need.
You are young and so I should not say of it. However,I dare to say, as not a christian manga needs feeling of sex.It appeals to his or her feeling inside.There a lot of female artists in Japan.They know what a expression of boys faces appeal to girls.This is important factor to sell well.
On the other hand you should give up to copy Japanese faces.Most of Americans do not know there is discrimination problems in Japan.Japanese discriminates people by nationality not by skin-color.They believe their eyes are larger, their skin-color are whiter, their bodies are smaller and thinner than Chinese and Koreans.These are why the white are intrigued by anime girls eyes and white skin-color.
Of course It is free for you to draw how to compose faces of your characters.However to paint speedily you have to draw your own faces whenever asked.
I have a friend of illustrator.He was hired by publishers and draw more than 300 manga one month prior notice.Please remember to be taught does not make money. To follow needs of the millions makes money.
If you are a girl memorize what a boy’s face expresses at astonishment or at falling love with you. at joy in a slash of second.Then drop your ideas onto your sketchbook.Do not mimic the existing one.
May 16, 2013 at 4:07 am |
The reason why they are discouraged is simple. Anime style can trap and restrict your artistic growth. You won’t see it now but when you get older, it starts getting difficult to break free from that anime-tinge style that follows you around. And for a creative, it can be really frustrating. Also, anime expressions, body language and actions are laced with Japanese mannerisms and cultural undertones, making it an inappropriate story telling medium sometimes.
There’s nothing wrong with anime but take a moment and think, anime is someone’s stylized version of reality. What you are doing is forces you to skip what is most essential step in art, observation from life. Do not restrict yourself to anime/manga, open up, look at other artist, learn from them as well.
And, do not discredit the teachers, they have seen a lot. They might be older but that does not mean that they are unaware of the anime styles that are going about with the younger generation. In fact, some art teachers grew up with it and are fully aware of they various types and styles of anime. Art is art and anime is an art form, it just has to be used at the right time and not for everything.
June 1, 2013 at 4:24 pm |
Hello! I realize that you wrote this long ago, but I felt the need to comment. I am currently enrolled in an art college. All of the teachers actually lower one’s grade if they draw anime like. I was very discouraged, but I tried to think of it in a different way. The whole point in being an artist is being open-minded, yes? Trying new things!
So although I do draw anime/manga art for fun sometimes, I am trying out different kinds of styles at school and I am having a blast at it. We all should just think of things in a different way, yes? 🙂
August 3, 2013 at 1:18 am |
Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favourite justification seemed to be on the internet the easiest thing to be mindful of.
I say to you, I certainly get irked while other people consider issues that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing with no need side-effects , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
September 12, 2013 at 11:03 pm |
Hey hun i know how it felt for a while but when i got into high school i ran into one art teacher who thought Anime and Manga was cool she wanted to teach it but thought no one would not like it. im going to become an art teacher and i know i will teach how to draw anime.
February 26, 2014 at 3:18 pm |
About manga being constricting, I call bullshit.
I get praises from teachers all the time when I apply manga knowledge to my realism. As long as they don’t know I draw manga.
There’s a huge bias here. Though I do understand why It’s there, They’ve probably never seen a good manga drawing in their life. Doesn’t help that Kids won’t try other art styles.
But to those who say “Manga doesn’t require skill”
Give them a pen and paper, Tell them to draw a Tsundere. Submit it to Pixiv under only the Tsundere tag. See if they can get a 4 digit ranking in the all time Tsunderes.
March 20, 2014 at 1:21 am |
Uhm…ya’ll are getting a bit of the wrong impression. I agree that it is an overlooked and discouraged style. I will agree that sometimes lines between ‘illustration ‘ and ‘fine art’ is thin and even invented possibly. However, there are reasons teachers do not like anime. 1) a lot of students come in not very good at it and need to develop skills to make better work, so this amateur work gives the teachers a bad impression. I think a lot of the good anime drawers are already going to illustration programs.
2) there is a line for most between illustration and fine art. Fine art contains a thought or theme or something like an expression within itself that viewers have to interpret, whereas illustration supports a story and has to have a story with it for it to be interpreted, also everyone can agree on the interpretation..Now I do think there are instances where the lines get blurred…
One of my teachers explained it as in fine art you start at a point and then the viewer’s ideas diverge. Whereas everyone can agree on what they are seeing with an illustration. (I think this is a flawed definition because then realism should be discounted as well according to that logic)
3) there is a generic anime style that a lot of students will copy without having taken serious consideration on a truly individual style. This also gives anime work a bad name. It looks too much like other anime which purpose is to support whatever show or manga it is trying to illustrate. It looks way too general and unless it is making a comment on that general thing , then it isn’t personalized enough to be considered anything but a copy, which is more like what animators do . If it isn’t unique it is boring and people don’t want to see it.
4) There is a general anti cartoon attitude / anti popular art. Popular art and cartoons have a seperate purpose from fine art or whatever. There are times though when the lines blur, like what if an artist does a well executed bird on a colorful background? That is agreeable..and seems more like an illustration. I do think the lines between illustration and fine art are made up to a certain extent.
5) i have already mentioned this is 1 and 3 but to add onto those ideas, a lot of the fine artists haven’t seen anime make good art. We had a discussion about this today in my class. and it just hasn’t been seen or proven so they sort of assume it isn’t possible. lol Also if a style gets so far removed from the generic people won’t even think it is anime anymore. Even if it is influenced by it.
May 22, 2014 at 11:15 am |
Yeah, i know how this feels.. My family keeps saying, “stop drawing anime and go with realistic” and “animation isn’t a form with art, don’t waste your talent”. I’vr heared this millions of times, they just don’t what manga is, i’m learning manga style so when i become a pro, i will draw my own manga, but they just don’t understand.. It made me want to cry. Oh well, i want to tell you to just ignore others and believe that no one can understand the beauty of it only who know it :)! U have all my support!
May 29, 2014 at 9:39 pm |
I at least have two art teachers I’ve know to accept it as art. But this is the main reason I won’t likely take art school; art is really, like you said, in the eye of the beholder. I once spoke to one of the teachers at my school, and showed her my stuff. She though it was nice, in fact, she encouraged me to continue! But I distinctly recall her saying something about anime being to ‘stylized’ (seeing as you mentioned the anthro-furry drawing girl, I still can’t grasp what my teacher meant.) I hope art professors revise their methods and definitions of what art is.
July 8, 2014 at 6:38 pm |
This is why I’m going to be an art teacher. I HATE it when people say, “Oh hey, that’s easy.”
Ninety percent of those people will be drawing stupid stick figures.
August 7, 2014 at 7:16 am |
Honestly I think it has to do with the learning process. A lot of people start off drawing anime. I mean I did.. but when I did that, I didn’t learn how to draw people. I learned how to copy lines from one manga art style to my paper, adding in more art styles until it sort’ve looked almost my own.
Thing is though, I didn’t… understand what I was putting down. I was lacking in foundations and understanding. Really good manga art takes that understanding to achieve, and i didn’t have it because I was drawing from drawings instead of drawing from life first.
When you draw from life and start to really understand the shape of a realistic human body, that’s when you can take that knowledge and bend it. Take things out, exaggerate others. That’s kinda how you create your own authentic style.
I do think some teachers are pretty elitist, but most aren’t shutting down your style – they’re trying to broaden your artistic horizons. There is nothing wrong with manga, but learning how to bend reality is the last step in the long process that is learning how to draw – not the first one.
September 5, 2014 at 9:49 pm |
[…] Meimi132 no Itonami (April, 2010). Why don’t art teachers really acknowledge anime/manga style artwork?. Retrieved from https://meimi132.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/why-dont-art-teachers-really-acknowledge-animemanga-style-a…. […]
September 11, 2014 at 2:18 am |
Anime is in fact art, and shouldn’t be discouraged, but a big reason for art teachers not accepting it is because it doesn’t touch on any of the fundamentals. Once those are learned, a person is better able to twist art into what they want because they have the proper knowledge foundation of realistic art, to do so. A lot of the time, they just don’t want people jumping into an art form they don’t know how to put their own style into because of a lack of basic knowledge or understanding of the dynamics. A result of someone doing this is often replicating anime characters that one has memorized drawing. It’s cool that that person knows how to draw that character, but what about originality? I have a friend, who when in art class, copies characters and changes them a little bit in order to call them her own. She only draws in anime art style, and it’s annoying to see her art get praised by the teacher (who is also a big anime fan) when it’s not her original idea. Anybody with a keen eye can copy anime and cartoons, but can that same person draw their own character in a non predetermined pose? Likely not if they turn to copying anime pictures instead of trying their hand at drawing their own anime.
You can do really cool stuff with anime when you become a very all around artist, but you don’t really learn much from copying an anime picture. Just because it’s very main stream doesn’t constitute it as “not an art.” That’s a ridiculous notion and those who think it are very narrow minded in their view of art. Art is what we want it to be. If you put the effort into something to make it original and creative, than it’s art (It just doesn’t make it very good art in terms of what is appealing to the general public.) The purpose of art classes in to expand your knowledge base and how to extend yourself in multiple branches of art, not one in particular. I think anime should be allowed, but by taking it out completely, the purpose of an art class is partially destroyed. Art teachers should encourage people to navigate into what ever branch of art a person wants, and not teach such a specified form.
October 18, 2014 at 8:59 am |
Its sad really that art teachers doesn’t allow it. My classmates however loves my anime-themed drawings.
However, I was able to force my art teacher into letting us draw anime.
She gave us an assignment to draw our ideal person so the first thing I did was jump in joy. Then she just randomly said “No anime art” and I’m pretty sure my expression says “WTF??!”
So I told her I couldn’t draw anything but anime themed drawings (which is not true). She kept on thinking about it at first but eventually gave in because my classmates were supporting me as well.
The next day, 98% percent of the class drawings were anime themed.
HAHA!! ANIME FOR THE WIN!!
November 3, 2014 at 2:08 am |
I know this is an old post but I want to share my opinion on this.
Art teachers don’t really accept anime/manga art because they want you to create something on your own and to not do what someone already created. Yes, I’m not going to lie. Your drawings and well drawn and colored.
They’re great! What art schools/teachers are looking for is originality. If you draw anime/manga all the time, they’re not going to care. You’re just going to be another one from the bunch. If you develop your own style, you’ll get more recognized and acknowledged for it.
November 13, 2014 at 8:30 pm |
In my experience, the main problem my art teacher had with anime art concerned unique style. That is, a lot of anime art styles can tend to lack variation in facial features, and so a lot of the characters look the same, just with different hairstyles/clothing.
March 4, 2015 at 6:19 am |
Amazing how everybody on here is shitting all over modern/contemporary art while saying anime and manga is incredible.
First of all, the two things aren’t even in the same category. If you went to a museum, an exhibit of Jackson Pollack paintings wouldn’t be in the same gallery as cartoons.
I’m guessing the reason teachers would throw portfolios out is because anime is SO overdone. and SO many times it is done poorly.
So many people also portray modern artists as scammers when in reality they were doing art that made them happy and was fun. It’s especially funny that these artists are being criticized for having fun doing their work when the original post talks about how teachers dissenting anime take the fun out of art making.
Modern Art is usually about visualization and pattern making, Jackson Pollocks early work was god awful until he started to realize the paint drips falling off his canvas were more interesting to look at then what he was actually painting on the canvas itself which led to his drip period.
Anyone who looks at a Jackson Pollock or a Rothko and tries to derive meaning from it is talking out of their asses, but again this doesn’t take away from the work. A Rothko is meant to be experienced in person, Monet’s water lilies are absolutely just globs of paint on a canvas, but they are beautiful and breathtaking and simply meant to be looked at and experienced.
Abstraction in art has a rich history that is totally unrelated to anime in every way. There’s no logical reasoning for the two to be compared, especially when one, while commercial, contained a lot of soul and heart, while anime is, most times, a very overdone and relatively easy (though difficult to master) style of drawing which is purposely built that way to help corporations pump out as many of these shows as possible to make a profit.
I’m not saying that anime is bad as there is a lot of it that is very good and is very artful, but I don’t think you can blame people for dismissing it when it’s something that exists in such a high concentration, especially art teachers who probably face and have faced dozens of amateur students a year who think drawing the same anime face in their notebook a million times makes them an artist, just like people who buy a digital camera and start taking black and white pictures of anything and everything can be dismissed as non artists.
I feel your pain, It’s hard to please everyone, your work looks good too, and it’s a shame that it’s brought down by the other 9/10 people drawing the same poorly done anime character over and over and over again. I don’t think you should be shaming a whole other unrelated field of art to try and get your point across however.
Thanks for reading, I hope things start going better for you and your work.
March 18, 2015 at 4:36 am |
Personally, I absolutely love drawing in the anime/manga style. I find the anime/manga style much more appealing than realism, it’s just beautiful. I can’t explain with great detail the feeling I get when I watch an anime, everything is so colorful, fluid, and just beautiful. Sometimes, with the right anime, they even show more emotion, at least to me. The anime/manga style has the potential so be so beautiful just like realism and no one sees that it seems. I had a great art teacher in high school and she let me draw in whatever style we wanted. I think teachers limit your creativity when they take away the freedom to chose the style we want to draw in.
June 6, 2015 at 6:39 am |
I agreed that if someone wants to be an artist they do need to learn the fundamental but that doesn’t mean manga/anime style isn’t an art form and why should “art” have to have a meaning
does a person commissioning a portrait of themselves have any real meaning heck no besides themselves and what is the meaning behind the mona lisa? isn’t that a commissioned portrait of someone’s wife? you can give me all the reason and meaning of the world for the picture behind the mona lisa but i wouldn’t see it, and it isn’t because i don’t understand deep meaning art it’s just that there aren’t deep meaning and besides isn’t the mona lisa popular for the new and inventive way it was made not the actual the subject? i may not be correct but that is how i see it, then shouldn’t it have been said instead of not having meaning but that manga/anime don’t bring anything new into art? besides isn’t art define the by the principles and elements of art so the whole argument that manga/anime don’t have any real meaning is not valid and go ahead argue away but when you read all the technical words down to it’s cord it only exist to help create a good composition in the image so it balance well
let say an artist uses blue and red and a viewer says “what bold color choice of the red showing great power and dominance, and the blue is a nice contrast by creating the clamness of the mind” this is someone interpretation not what the artist intended and i remember a long time ago someone did an experiment to see who created the abstract art better by pitting an artist against a kid and do you know how many people liked the kids random splat over the careful design of the artist by a lot actually and i doubt that kid was thinking of anything i’m not dissing abstract art i’m just saying if a kid won why can’t manga/anime be art cause you can’t say the kid wasn’t good when he won even though his painting was literally crap over then artist he still won right
and in case most people don’t realize but all i see is
western style this western style that what most people forget to mention is that in most asian art has and foremost always been an interpretation of real life and not a copy therefore i don’t find it strange that anime/manga style does not have a lot of variety on face structural because if by not accepting anime/manga, any art that is interpretation of real life will also not be accepted which i’m sorry to say is what most “classic asian art” was and is still today that being said doesn’t mean there aren’t classic artist that tries to draw real representation but that mostly come in the form of animals
if westerners can appreciate ink painting from asia why can’t they appreciate manga/anime, ink painting can be just as formulaic
and sure within the same style of an artist all their character look a like but you have to credit that they do look different from artist to artist and to say they all look the same is like saying all asian look the same which is not true cause i look nothing like koreans, or chinese, or japanese of thai or vietnamese or whatever
and honestly i don’t see what is wrong with the same look fits all
i mean look at disney all their female looks the exact same way
small tiny waist, hourglass bodies, cute button nose, large wideopen eyes, hello rapunzel, anna, and elsa anyone? and no offense but western comics is just a generic especially for their female heroines have anyone of you seen topcows females? i have a copy of a very old topcow magazine that features their various female lead and my god they all look the same, super model face, tall and well built with a bundle of hair and maybe a nice perfect tan, and lets not mention their perfect figures
and honestly this whole manga artist don’t and can’t draw realsim is BS sure it’s true that some don’t but the majority start art just like any other normal artist do and also by refusing someone to be able to show their love for a style can deterred them from going into art
we all sure as hell know art is becoming more and more old and losing more and more people to other things and also it was anime/manga that got me into art so if anything people should be grateful and yeah there are those dumb heads that refuse to draw anything but anime/manga but they don’t define manga/anime just like the crazy korean celebs fan don’t define all there is to korean fans and honestly i have an art teacher that didn’t like stylized art period cause when i show her a realistic style art of mine she commented that they’re too many artist going this route and even showing disdain albeit subtly for it so art teachers shouldn’t just help new artist broaden their horizon but they should broaden their own horizon as well and instead of being stuck in the past glories and seriously there is like only one artist i really like cause he is the only that doesn’t do art like the rest he draws as a technicality more than anything that is William Adolph bouguereau i think he was a teacher and i don’t think he is well know outside of the art community which is a plus because i am so tired of van gogh, Picasso, Michelangelo who by the way hated painting and architecture who only did them because he was force to sorry distracted there for a bit
and again i do understand where the teachers are coming from
but i also understand where the manga artist are coming from
and if you guys want to say that manga/anime is overdone fine but don’t write things off just because they’re popular and some classic music by famous dead composer cannot be compare to some famous pop music i daresay some classic music doesn’t invoke any feelings in me at all except me thinking where is the music going with all these notes
and if i sound confuse i apologize and no what i wrote is not 100% correct and no i do not claim that anything in here can be backed up by facts and if you want me to show manga/anime art that i daresay even better than the classics, but then again this is an opinion, i will show it to you and please don’t come in here and say the same thing I’ve read over and over and over and over from above give me something original if you want to shoot me down and don’t be a bitch i’m only saying what i feel not what is 100% correct
June 6, 2015 at 6:40 am |
forgot to say i know this really old but i just really wanted to say something
September 12, 2015 at 12:49 am |
I totally agree, in my art school in france, though manga is kinda accepted, you can still feel some reluctance from most of the teachers… Most of them are silent about it, but you can feel it.
There’s also that kind of belief which states that the anime style is kinda feminine… I’m a guy and i like manga style drawing, i even like moe things, big eyes and things like that… But well, since manga is a bit despised, i tend to draw in a western style, which i really enjoy too, so i’m not that frustrated :p, but i’d like to try out a more oriental type of drawing. And fuck it! That’s what i’m gonna do, i don’t care of what people say. 😀
But it can only be beneficial to explore other forms of art, like the realistic one and such. I think that in order to achieve whatever style you’re fond of, you should know how to draw realisticaly. 🙂
Sorry if my english is approximative!
Cheers 🙂 keep on drawing guys! 😀
October 26, 2015 at 5:31 pm |
I never knew that some art teachers could hate and criticize anime/manga art style that much. That’s because in my high school art class, I had an awesome teacher who is very open to everything. I find her awesome because she is a person of respectable age who likes the manga style just as much as any other form. In fact in her drawing class we had a manga style drawing assignment. One reason why I think she respects the style is because she watches anime. On the other hand my college art professor doesn’t like it.
I understand some teachers dislike the style because they have their own reasons, but I do agree that they probably don’t know much about the manga style itself and just see it negatively. After getting addicted to reading manga and watching anime I start to appreciate and love the style. I find it funny when I’m fan-girling a manga or anime character that is not real and that is because they simply look good (haha).
In fact I only draw manga style most of the time, but can also draw realistically too. I started drawing and studying manga style before learning the realistic art style. I felt the manga style ability really helped in my figure drawing class in college because I know the simple shapes and form of the human body figure thanks to watching cartoons and anime/manga.
I just don’t get it when teachers/professors/etc. allow cartoon but not manga style. In my opinion whether its cartoon or manga style both are just different styles of drawing of the artist all together that is what I believe. Art can be almost anything.
Anime/manga is my passion.
October 27, 2015 at 12:38 am |
I’ll take you at your word, that manga has helped you in your figure drawing class. I think I can see how that could happen. Please understand that when I make some generalizations about what I’ve seen, I am not saying this is the case with you. If you are doing well in your figure drawing class, then you’re probably doing okay with realism.
So, with that said, this is not the first time I’ve heard some anime/manga fan claim that they “do realistic work too” and that they are comfortable with both.
What I’ve often seen is that they do a token amount of realistic work, and maybe it’s not too bad for a newbie, but it’s really not that good at all. I recall one girl who kept on bragging about how she was doing fine with realism, and a peek at her online gallery proved this to be a strong self-delusion. Her realistic work was very primitive and cartoony. She had no idea when this was pointed out to her. She thought that her realism was perfectly fine and good as it was.
In fact, I’ve seen many, many young artists who are working under the delusion that their realistic work is good, just as it is.
They use these talking points about how they haven’t suffered by focusing on anime, because their realistic work is high quality too. But from what I’ve seen, that’s often not the case.
While it’s probably true that some teachers have an unfair bias against anime, the reason for at least some of it is because of the stubbornness coming from some students, as well as the denial and self-delusion. They want to only do anime, and cannot do realistic work too (though they may believe that they can). They treat anime as the standard style that they *always* will use.
I mentioned this a long time ago, but it bears repeating: there’s a reason why art teachers are fed up with seeing anime. It’s the same reason that art schools have to make specific requests that students *NOT* include anime in their portfolios. It’s because anime is overdone, and overdone badly, and it’s overdone to the point where the students are falling behind in other styles.
Another thing to be repeated: Realism is the default standard. It is drawing what you see. It is copying the information that your eyes send to your brain. Realism, in its literal form, is not a “style,” anymore than a camera copying what it sees is a “style.” Style is what humans add or change in realism. Style can be brushstrokes, or color choices, or exaggerations of line, or many other things.
In order to develop your own style, it’s best that you understand and master realism. Then modify, distort, and interpret what you see. It’s not best to find someone else’s style that you like, and then copy on that. All you’re doing is regurgitating someone else’s viewpoint or vision, not creating your own.
Anime is very much an exaggeration of what you see. It’s a vision that someone else (NOT YOU) came up with. There’s nothing wrong with liking anime, or even dabbling with it sometimes, but if that’s all you can do *WELL* (because you never learned how to do realism *well*) then you’re so limited and restricted by that.
This is what teachers are trying to help students avoid. They’re not all trying to spoil your fun, or prevent you from expressing your creativity. In fact, many of them are trying to help you to be more free and more creative, instead of just regurgitating someone else’s style, which is what you’re doing if all you ever want to do is anime.
October 26, 2015 at 5:48 pm |
This is really old but its really interesting to hear the thoughts of many.
Anime and manga is my passion.
To me it is a wonderful style and there is much to know about it to understand and appreciate it. I started drawing and studying cartoon and anime/manga style before drawing realistic styled art and let me tell you it really helped me for my figure drawing class. It’s all because I know the simple basic shapes to a human figure that help me draw realistically. I don’t know if I did it backwards or what but I just had more interest in something that I can draw and illustrate from my imagination of what I want it to look like than to draw exactly what I see because there is no limit. But that is just me, I respect and love realistic styled artwork just as much.
November 6, 2015 at 7:59 am |
I found that my adt teachers loved anime. A couple of the students could only draw anime style amd feel happy about what they created. We had to show other artists influences but the rest was pretty much our own. One of my friends even ended up doimg digital art om her laptop for her exam, which was then primted out on an a1 size paper or poster size idk it was huge.
November 14, 2015 at 11:14 pm |
That’s easy. Anime artist don’t really have that much variety from each other when you look at their interapation of a character but when you have people that draw in a realism perspective or cartoony perspective, you quickly see the difference of each interpretation weather the character has a different face, design, is much more realistic or is a lot more expressive compared to the original or each other.
May 28, 2016 at 10:41 am |
It’s as same as parents as they always say that its just a cartoon and nothing else. I showed my art teacher an entire sketchbook made up of 95% attack on titan drawings but he didnt gave a dam about it. Just Moved his head a little like he is supposed to be completely ignoring it like an elmentary school drawings and on the other hand my friends said some comments like these.
1. Hey how did u make these?
2. Can u make more?
3. Can u make it for me too?
4. How much will this sketch book cost? I wanna buy it.
5. Great work. You’ll surly become a Manga-ka in no time.
October 13, 2016 at 12:21 pm |
Interesting. Can you draw a person without lines? Can you shade to depict form? You know what separates a great anime artist to sub par ones? It is the singular fact that a great anime artist knows that you cannot do anime without a template of reality. This person would study how the muscles work, ways body bend etc (anatomy). This artist, if told to draw 100 random poses, they would have no problem. Even in stylized anime. The other artist would have problem doing the same thing, they would either deform the human anime body and bend it in ways you can’t to achieve the pose. It PAYS to know how to draw realistic and render it. I have a friend who does only anime, he can never draw an anime characters without lines. Nor can he do a simple walking animation even in said anime form. This is because he has not learned the mechanics of a human body which anime follows. In cap, all these great anime artist always learn to draw realistically.
August 21, 2016 at 9:29 am |
I find it very discouraging not to me, but to everyone else that has/and still is working very hard in the anime and manga industry. I was in an art class once with a rather rude instructor. Not only did she not particularly care for those who used anime/manga in her class, but she failed anyone who held onto the fact that anime was art. I was very upest. I thought an art instructor was supposed to be at least a little bit diverse being that they are dealing with the subject of ART! Art has no single form, no restrictions. It’s a free form, And forever expanding, too. So why not call anime and manga art?! I confronted her about this towards the end of the term and her reasonings were ‘the shadowing and unrealism’
Are you kidding me…? Surrealism. That’s an art form. Again, why not anime and manga? I’m starting to realise that perhaps it may be a generation gap of some sort? For I have had a younger art teacher, a bit more open to the ideas of anime and manga. I will have to look more into it though..
October 13, 2016 at 12:28 pm |
Great anime artist you respect learns law of realism. It’s why they can animate characters doing any form of action. Artist who don’t, can only mimic the great ones. Understanding anatomy of the human is key to anime, other wise anime would just be some alien monster with six legs.
November 3, 2016 at 8:21 pm |
There is a difference between commercial art and fine art. Commercial art must appeal to the consumer. It’s not a matter of one being hard to do or not. Both can be highly complex and time-consuming to produce or very basic and simplistic. Realism requires sensitive observation–recording the slightest irregularities such as imbalance or asymmetry of shape, imperfections in the surface texture, unevenness of a line and even the slightest discolorations. These “flaws” create an honest and sensitive representation of the subject and of the artist’s feelings toward his/her subject matter. For example, the humanity (artist’s hand) shows in the lopsided Japanese ceramic cup (wabi sabi). Perfection is beautiful (Ming vases), but having a human touch makes the art easier to relate to and more personal….from one imperfect human being (the artist) to another (the viewer).
November 16, 2016 at 6:02 am |
For me , art is everything . When you look at a sweets wrapper , there is art , when you look at a icon of a shop , there is art too . So naturally i think anime and manga is art ( i’m a fan of anime and manga:P )
I see ppl saying “realism is better” and “Anime style can trap and restrict your artistic growth”
For me , i started drawing anime first and then realism , and i have no problem doing both , and my friends like it too.
As for art teachers , my teacher even had a project about drawing anime/manga girl/boy , so not all hated it 😀
December 7, 2016 at 10:38 pm |
Most of the people posting here….and I HAVE read the entire thing are missing the distinction between a Fine Art curriculum, followed by most schools and a design curriculum which will include all the forms of illustration, of which Manga is a subsection. Teachers can let students follow their passions in their own time, but are HONOUR bound to try and get them to achieve their best grades possible to work within the system. I wasn’t allowed to draw Disney princesses for exactly the same reasons as I discourage my students from drawing manga now.
January 25, 2017 at 10:14 pm |
I’ve been told the same thing even when I’ve tried to manipulate my style to not look like manga/anime. Also even if you removed the character from a scene, the quality can be astounding as well as the continuity.
February 12, 2017 at 1:10 pm |
Ask them to draw ANY 1 page of Berserk or ANY fight scene of Vagabond. Like hell will they be able to draw it not even in a decade wil they be able to reach Kentaro Miura or Takehiko Inoue level😒
February 16, 2017 at 7:16 pm |
Can’t agree with you more, currently. As of this comment, I’m in my college’s drawing 1 class, and it bores me to death.
I like my teacher and she’s a nice lady, but all we draw in class and for homework is still life. Huge respect to those making a living and are good at still life drawing, but it’s not a style I want to draw.
I love anime/manga style very much, and it’s what I desire to draw; however, there isn’t any way for me to practiced in this class. It’s annoying as hell, and I’m only still taking it due to college funding and it being a waste of money to just withdrawal (already been 4-5 weeks into the semester).
Once done with this class, I’m not taking another art class in college unless I can practice or use anime as my subject
May 20, 2017 at 5:02 pm |
Well its not like drawing is easy, drawing is hard. He or she probably want you to learn tge basic anatomy first(human realist). If you ‘ve mastered it, you can create your own style (anime face proportion or etc) . Then it will develop your drawing skill more.
August 27, 2017 at 6:57 pm |
I know Im late to the party but I still wanted to add my two cents. I used to snub manga UNTIL I TRIED IT. I LOVE it now, simple symmetry is not a t all easy to achieve, the perspectives, the expressions…besides there are many manga,manhwa and nashua comics that have very different styles. They stylize and idealize human form in very harmonious ways. Educate your teachers! You can show your teachers that manga started during the war to replace the lack of actors that were fighting at the times expression is of uttermost importance. Manga tells a story not only in words but in pictures and fine art is now accepting manga, take a look at this work and tell me it’s not kawaii http://www.widewalls.ch/kumi-gallery-director-interview/
(Im 50 yrs old btw and Im under the assumption that you are all younger than myself) here is my advise to you: If you love your art, that’s all you need, the most important thing. Still,there is something for you to learn from EVERY teacher that comes into your life ,its your responsibility as a student(if you love your art) to suck all the knowledge you can from each teacher. You will NOT be creating masterpieces in school, in class. Art in class is just for LEARNING. Learn whatever the instructor has to offer well(humor them). When you get home see if anything can be applied to your work.(YOUR work will only be done on your own, not at school) Eventually all that will help you develop your style and stand out from the crowd. Become a sponge, absorb things and also let some things drip off you. Enjoy your artistic journey otakus!
September 2, 2017 at 2:28 pm |
This happened to me also few years ago. I really worked hard, practiced all day, and collected more information about manga/anime and how to do it. I taught myself and hoping that I can improve my skills when I get to college. But they discouraged it. I was discouraged. And from then on, my enthusiasm of being a mangaka fades away. :<
October 21, 2017 at 7:34 am |
Drawing anime/manga is not allowed in only USA and Europa?