I like it when people draw anime characters “realistically” in theory…

marigolddreaming:

tumblngkori:

…but when rendering them in near-photographic likeness… can’t you use a Japanese model?  Haruna Motoki is not a white guy.  Neither is Sailor Moon.  I appreciate the effort, but when I see them drawn like western people, all I can see is a random model with the character’s hair style and color.  What do you think makes them them?  Can you sell that perception to me?

How do we feel about DBZ characters? Because I’ve always pictured Goku and the gang as living in hyperfuturistic Japan, and being very very Japanese at least culture wise, but I had a friend who insisted that “most anime” take place in the western world and yes, DBZ characters are all white. And it made me so mad because are you blind. Saiyan or not, they are at least living very japanese lifestyles, I mean are you insane. 

Oh, I certainly don’t mean this for non-Japanese characters!  I should have specified that I guess.  Anime more often than not takes place in Japan, but sure, FAKE is set in New York, Aria takes place in Italy, and Goku?  Isn’t he an alien?  Obviously they’re up for non-Japanese interpretations.

I just saw a whole slew of photorealistic interpretations of anime characters recently, who were all Japanese but drawn very not Japanese at all.

Source: tumblngkori

I like it when people draw anime characters “realistically” in theory…

…but when rendering them in near-photographic likeness… can’t you use a Japanese model?  Haruna Motoki is not a white guy.  Neither is Sailor Moon.  I appreciate the effort, but when I see them drawn like western people, all I can see is a random model with the character’s hair style and color.  What do you think makes them them?  Can you sell that perception to me?

73x5sunrises:

For the first day of my Senior Project course, the professor wants us to all bring in something we’ve done recently that’s representative of our typical work. I have some big problems with this.

  1. I haven’t……done any art recently. Nothing serious anyway.
  2. I’ve been stuck between a few different things for MONTHS now. My newest idea/possible direction with the flowers is completely different from the stuff I’ve been doing for the last few years…but I don’t want to bring one of the older ones in necessarily, because I may be moving away from it?
  3. Also none of that is comics. This course is basically guided time/deadlines to help you produce a body of work that is conceptually sound. In other words, it’s a pretty great opportunity for growth. So do I use it for comics, or my fine art paintings? 

Really, I want to combine the two. I want to make comics that are really super fuckin’ pretty and visually complex, like paintings. But I don’t have a recent example of this—I’ve just got that minicomic I’ve never posted due to formatting issues that I did LAST spring for Visual Concepts. 

We’re supposedly doing critique on these pieces, too, so…..um. It now occurs to me that I could bring in that last double splash page for IgZ that I did, because it meets all my requirements, but still. This is my first impression on the class and I am kind of competitive and a dick about liking to be “on top” so I want it to be like, a BEST piece. Those pages fall just short of being BEST.

Maybe I’ll just make something tonight and/or tomorrow. Hmmmm.

It sounds like you know where your hang-ups are here already, Mr. Perfect.  *wags finger*

Remember that you’re a student, okay?  

1.  You won’t be the only student who feels like you haven’t done any recent work you feel strongly about.  In fact I’m sure most of them will feel that way, actually.

2. Bring not only recent work, but all the information you just said.  When presenting, describe how and why you found this selection difficult.  If you have a good teacher, he can guide the discussion accordingly in a helpful way.

3.  I wouldn’t worry about it not being comics.  Consider what you’ve done most recently, not what’s most representative of the “thing you want to do.”  What you are doing now will tell you more about what you should be doing than what you’ve done in the past that reminds you of things you want to do in the future.

Finally, if you’ve done small things, like sketches, doodles, writing, that might be helpful too.  Unless the teacher has specified “finished pieces,” (or if you think this might just be a bad idea for your ego) what may be representative of your most recent work might be scraps.

You probably weren’t asking for suggestions, but I hope you don’t mind.  I just remember that I would have struggled less in school if I has just let the work I was doing guide me instead of the work I “wanted” to do.  So I thought I’d share.