General Influence: Mana Khemia

One of my favorite video games EVER is Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. You play as a bunch of students at an alchemy academy. Each chapter is a school term over a 3-year time period. The main character is named Vayne, and each chapter ends with him reflecting on how much he grew during those times. The fun times, the bad times, the friends you make along the way... My school life is not nearly as magical or perilous as Vayne's, but I love how this game captures the feelings of school days in a nostalgic light. Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy was also a fun game, but the first was a whole lot better in just about every way.

I think about these games a lot. I think about playing them again. I listen to its music to get my creatic juices flowing. I drool over the game art. These games have had a huge impact on my life, and I wanted to share that. I wish I could tell you who the artist is, but I can't find a name anywhere.

Senior Show Proposal #2

So, I'm thinking of changing my idea for a SS project. I need to work on my technical skills more and practice like crazy before I really get started. Anyway, I'm thinking of doing a series of drawings on mythological creatures, like griffins and chimeras and what-not. Fortunately, I got anatomy books on animals and humans for Christmas, so I have something to help me a bit. The thought of being in the Senior Show still terrifies me, but I'll do what I can.

Research Artist #15: M.C. Escher

Who hasn't heard of M.C. Escher? Anyway, I've always admired the fine detail he puts in things, and the shading is beautiful. His grasp of linear perspective has always impressed me, as someone who still struggles with it. I hate drawing buildings, and the way he could draw architecture so well always made me green with envy. Whenever I try to draw buildings in a scene, Escher's work comes to mind, but I can never make it look nearly as good. I enjoy his testellations, as well.

Research Artist #14: Kazuya Minekura

Another manga series I read is called Saiyuki, written and illustrated by Kazuya Minekura. It is roughly based on a myth about a monk who travels to the west, accompanied by the monkey king, Son Wukong in Chinese and Son Goku in Japanese. The artwork is highly detailed and realistic, but is still definitely manga-style. The characters and dialogue are a lot of fun, and the action scenes flow clearly. The coloring for covers and colored images is gorgeous. The language is strong, and there is a fair amount of nudity and gore, but it is worth checking out if you like serious manga. Otherwise, a Google search brings up a lot of good images. The orginal Saiyuki series is nine volumes long, and I have no idea how long the second series, Saiyuki Reload, is. After a point, I had troubles locating the next books. Anyway, here are some samples of Minekura's Saiyuki artwork:

Research Artist #13: Shilin Huang

I just discovered this person's work. It blows my mind. Shilin is writing an online manga called Carciphona, and she has gotten volume 1 and an artbook published. Her fine detail is amazing, I love the outfits she designs for her characters, the anatomy is great, and the action scenes are dizzyingly superb. Her personal site is here: http://blackbird.ashen-ray.com/. She also has a deviantART account: http://shilin.deviantart.com/. Here are some of her colored pictures:

Research Artist #12: Tite Kubo

Tite Kubo writes and illustrates the international smash-hit manga, Bleach. His drawing style has changed a lot since the start of the series, and it is definitely for the better. His anatomy is great; a lot of the characters are muscular men, and the muscles are drawn well without looking over-the-top. I really admire how Kubo creates so many characters but can make them each look unique. He uses many body types: from tall, broad to short and slender males, and from buxom ladies with wide hips to slender women without substantial busts or hips. The facial feature are diverse, too. Kubo also prefers not to draw backgrounds, which I sympathize with (I hate drawing them). Somehow, his art manages to look great with very little in the way of backgrounds. I still like Bleach and Kubo's art, but I feel that the plot is practically gone and that the story has come down to endless brawls without time to relax in between. It's hard to find actual work from Kubo in a Google search, since he's so popular. There's a lot of fanart and pictures from the TV adaptation, but here are a few from his comic, and as before, comic pages read right to left:

Research Artist #11: CLAMP

CLAMP is actually a team of four women in Japan who create manga. Ageha Okawa writes most of the stories, and the other three, Mokona, Satsuki Igarashi, and Tsubaki Nekoi, shift roles for each project. They've tackled many different genres and different audience levels with overwhelming success. I prefer their earlier works, Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth, projects in which Mokona was the main artist. I really love the long, flowing, sweeping lines she used for those projects. The hair and outfits were intricate and absolutely beautiful. The colors in colored pictures were stunning, too (and they still are). While I don't find their recent manga as appealing, I can't deny the influence they've had on me. CLAMP is one of the factors that got me into manga/anime in the first place.
This is art from CCS and MKR:

And this is some of their more recent stuff:

Don't get me wrong, I think the art is still great! I just don't like their current stories.