Research Artist #7: Yuichi Kumakura

I read a fair amount of manga. One of my favorite parts is seeing how an artist's style changes throughout the story. King of Bandits: Jing, written and illustrated by Yuichi Kumakura, has the most dramatic change of styles in all the series that I've read. In the first volume of the first Jing series, the style is very goofy and cartoonish. It makes you very much aware that you are reading about a young boy and his wacky adventures. However, by the time the second series, Twilight Tales, rolls around, the style is incredibly realistic, detailed, and filled with dramatic contrasts. Each series is 7 volumes long, for a total of 14 manga books. It's a lot of fun just leafing through them and seeing how much Kumakura changed his art style.Sometimes it's hard to believe it was all done by one person! By the way, the comic pages read right to left.

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