Similar and Differentiating Art Styles Thread

[Twisted-Eva]

This thread could turn into a compilation of art styles, anime/manga or not, as a source of inspiration for beginning artists or just discussing distinct/similar art styles.

My first post will end up being a semi-rant as it is something I've noticed while reading manga which is similar art styles pertaining to the eyes and hair. I guess it's just some artists prefer to go with a style that will be recognizable for profit or whatever is the trend in manga or taken inspiration from somewhere. For example, I was first exposed to the cross-hatched, big-eyed female characters that is from Tanemura Arina's works. Aside from the eyes, I find the details of the hair, overabundance of tones and lines to be distinct in color and in grayscale. Then there's Kitchen Princess where the only style I think is similar to Tanemura's is the eyes. The artist of Badminton Girl comes to mind as well. Or there's Aikawa Saki's works which I came across one of her oneshot stories where I see the similar cross-hatched, big-eyed characters. Years passed by where I'd glance at the preview cover of these shojo mangas and I think most of them look identical in terms of the way the hair and eyes are drawn. Or there's a bunch of Korean manhwa I'd see released at the same time where all the works are from different artists but the trend is still identified which are fine details of the hair or the way the eyes and lips are drawn. An example would be Hwang Mi Ri's works with the hair, eyes, and lips. A similar trend I think was found when I read 100% Perfect Girl with the eyes and lips.

Then again, dozens of new manga and manhwa series are released so maybe I'm scratching only the surface of cross-hatched, big-eyed characters that show up as 5% of a similar art style trend. On the more positive side, I can spot Tanemura or Yuu Watase's art from a mile away. For visual novels, Kazuki Yone's work is easily identifiable to me.

So what particular art styles have you guys find to be similar or better yet, distinct where you could identify that artist's work in a pile of other works without knowing the distinct artist's name?

[fioricca]

I've noticed that if styles are ever similar, that's a sign that they identify themselves in a certain genre. Tanemura's style is great for shoujo mangas, but you wouldn't expect that sort of style to pop up in a shonen manga. I can't speak for shoujo as I'm not a fan of shoujo/josei manga, but shonen manga does boast a wide variety of art styles, ranging from badass-awesome like Murata's to really stylistic ones like Oda's:



Seinen manga is targeted towards an older age group, and you can start to see how the drawing style reflects that:



Even though otome games generally have very bright/shiny shading styles, the basic art styles can vary too!



If you ever feel like all manga/anime art look the same, that's a sign that you've been looking at the same categories all the time. :p

[Twisted-Eva]

If you ever feel like all manga/anime art look the same, that's a sign that you've been looking at the same categories all the time. :p

You're right, I should have clarified myself further. I'm embarrassed that I made too broad of a statement. Frankly, I've let a comment of my high school art teacher plague me from time to time whenever I ask myself "Is my art visually proficient for public viewing" because he told me that my preferred art style looks too generic and looks "like many other anime style drawings" on the internet. I know I have to practice proper anatomy and realism of lighting, but I still like to draw manga-style art. In the end, I don't know if I got a terrible score on the art exam for trying to be different than who I am in an attempt to stand myself apart from other students. I didn't like the forced change of art style I made just to make myself look different from others and trying to give a reason as to why my presented works demonstrate myself to the proctor felt half-baked. I'm sure I improved a bit since those few years ago, but it bugs me that my drawings could look like anyone else's. -end rant

Well anyways, I should have spent a few more minutes to ask the question "Do people just accept similar art styles within a genre?" So your point being shonen manga have stylistic and masculine styles, which I agree and view as having similar tendencies to use little tone and more line art for the pages. Or for me, someone who likes to read shojo manga, just accept that many artists will identify with the cross-hatched, big eyed characters that look similar to one another. I felt tempted to include "tone-heavy" pages, but toning has been essential for conveying emotions and often beautifying the pages in shojo manga.

So maybe it's pointless to expect most artists within a genre to try and differentiate themselves so every manga series has distinct art.

[Omnificent]

There are at least three popular shonen mangaka with a style looking very similar to Oda's and it makes me cringe a little. Not because I don't like Oda's style, but overexposure to that particular style is not my bag.



I will always recognize Yukimura Makoto's art.



And Yagi Norihiro.



And definitely Hanazawa Kengo.



To say nothing of Junji Ito.

Those are just the examples that spring most immediately to mind, but I think a lot of mangaka have very distinctive styles. I do think that it's good to try to be as non-generic with your art as you can, but that's something that develops naturally over the course of your art evolution as you get inspired by more and more styles that appeal to you and different ways of showing characterization in your designs.

I mean, my original art style started out being inspired pretty much exclusively by Megaman/DBZ, but now it's barely recognizable as an influence.

[Taleweaver]

I've watched this thread for a few days, and now I REALLY think this belongs into Asset Creation: Art. Thus, moved.

[Twisted-Eva]

To say nothing of Junji Ito.

Oh god, is Ito the same author who made that one story where there were a bunch of human-shaped holes in a cliffside and people died in there? The nightmares are coming back again ;__;