https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v From its inception in the late 60's to the modern day, how has the artistic stylization of shonen manga (manga published in Shonen Jump) changed? en-us 2023-05-04 12:22:37 UTC 2023-05-21 20:15:04 UTC hello@padlet.com ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582174411 Astro boy clearly depicts the overall trend throughout the 50's and 60's of simplistic character designs whose most prominent features tend to be their eyes and whose features are generally extremely expressive.]]> 2023-05-08 14:34:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582174411 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582182586 In the 1970's shonen manga largely shift away from the cutesy and expressive style and trends towards grittier and more realistic styles. This is best shown in Fist of The North Star, one of the most popular manga of the decade. Note the incredible attention to detail which creates a much greater sense of depth. The color of the hair and eyes of characters was perhaps most realistic at this point, as afterward they get much more vibrant (red eyes and green hair, etc.)]]> 2023-05-08 14:40:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582182586 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582186091 Though Fist of The North Star is more stylized in that direction than many of its contemporaries, you can still see the trend in every manga published at the time.]]> 2023-05-08 14:42:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2582186091 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2583009907 As you can see from Araki's reposts of his old art (shown here), when compared to his new art as shown in his twitter banner, his style has changed over the decades to fit with the times. While he maintains distinct stylization in the form of hard lines and sharp angles which he obtained from the style he first drew in and read in the 70's, his characters have notably slimmed down and become more typically anime over time.]]> 2023-05-09 02:37:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2583009907 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585421067 Come the 1980's character stylizations largely returned to how they were in the 60's, but echoes of the 70's remain as characters, while still heavily cartoonishly stylized and simplistic, still have more realistic proportions i.e. smaller eyes. Noses (which were visible in every character in the 70's) once again became simple lines, dots, or non-existent.]]> 2023-05-10 12:27:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585421067 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585429951 The 90's gradually reintroduced more detail such as complex shading while keeping to cartoonish character designs. During this time random disproportion was common, such as oversized eyes, foreheads, hands, etc.]]> 2023-05-10 12:34:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585429951 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585431316 During the 2000's character designs once again became more 'realistic', with eyes becoming smaller and noses slightly more visible. More shading became common, specifically in the form of hatching and cross-hatching.]]> 2023-05-10 12:35:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2585431316 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591240007 The 2010's was the decade that the vast majority of manga became 'ready-to-animate', with polished linework and shading that could be easily replicated in animation form. As a result characters were more often in dynamic poses (mid-action) than previous decades where that would only be the case during action scenes. Many character designs lost their 'edges', with facial features becoming softer and character designs in general becoming more commonplace, and closer to something you'd see in reality. For example, clothing increasingly became something you might see another person wearing, as a result of settings in general tending to be set in something closer to reality than previous decades, which more often experimented with historical, fantasy, or science fiction settings.]]> 2023-05-15 12:30:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591240007 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591271540 This video covers shonen anime adaptations over several decades, though naturally anime as large studio productions tend to have toned down art differences compared to the (generally) individually-produced manga. It covers manga such as Gintama, Attack on Titan, and Dragon Ball Super. It divides shonen anime history into roughly three periods, the 1900s to 2000s, the 2000s to 2020s, and the present. It focuses much more on the anime aspect, that being the more popular medium between it and manga, but still delves into manga history such as the early popularization of manga in the early 1900s leading to increased specialization, such as in the form of shonen manga (geared towards teenage boys). It also covers how manga and anime gained a small following in the 2000s in the west with things like Pokemon and Dragon Ball which gradually spiraled into the larger claim it has on western audiences today, with many anime being available on western streaming services or in western movie theaters. It doesn't really cover what I would like it to specifically, but the mention of specialization I think is interesting given how as shonen manga became bigger over the decades you can see it repeat that process; nowadays there are entirely specialized genres within the already specialized shonen manga genre. It also provides visuals which display the gradually increasing sophistication of anime over the decades, though again that doesn't necessarily apply to manga as it is nearly always drawn by one person and not a studio, so it is less vulnerable to overall trends.]]> 2023-05-15 12:53:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591271540 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591274771 Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics is a book by Paul Gravett which covers much of what I've said here describing the differences across each of the decades. It describes the anomaly which is the 70's, as well as the gradual yet generally linear evolution described after and continuing towards the 2020's.]]> 2023-05-15 12:55:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591274771 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591290167 The 2020's aren't yet far enough in for obvious trends to be visible, with art largely being similar to the 2010's. If there is one trend, it would be the increased digitization of manga creation and thus ease with which it can be drawn meaning that there is increased detail.]]> 2023-05-15 13:05:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2591290167 ktheobald20231 https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2599020163 Manga: Evolution is a longform article which covers manga from its very earliest forms, from the Ukiyo-E art style of Japan in the 1600-1800s to Osamu Tezuka, who is often called 'The Father of Manga'. It mentions in the 1800s how manga was influenced by European and American art and comics, and how prior to Osamu manga were often short four-panel commentary or gag comics. It was Osamu who created more complex panel layout and stories in manga, and he who added the visual sound effects which are now so common. He developed 'pans', close-ups, and off-screen shots. He was easily the most influential force in manga to the present day. The article next focuses on Katsuhiro Otomo, the writer of Akira, which was one of the first manga published in America. It then move on to Toriyama, author of Dragon Ball, which started the martial arts trend within shonen manga. Dragon Ball originally started as a Journey to the West parody, but soon exploded in popularity, eventually reaching worldwide acclaim. Dragon Ball's success would lead to many of the fighting and training tropes visible in shonen manga to this day. In 1991 Sailor Moon was published, which would be a watershed for the shojo (teenage girls) genre. Next, the big three came into play. Oda's One Piece, Kishimoto's Naruto, and Kubo's Bleach came together to combined sell hundreds of millions of volumes worldwide and spawn massive fanbases. Come 2014 the digital world and webcomics became a part of manga history with the eventual popularity of webcomics like One Punch Man, which meant a new player in the manga field outside of traditional publishers. I think the most helpful part of this article is filling in the very earliest trends in manga, since it doesn't get too much into art style, but does list influences in the early centuries. Specifically mentioning Tezuka's influence will be helpful to my own project.]]> 2023-05-21 20:02:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ktheobald20231/p5vu3lr9wex0pn7v/wish/2599020163