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.

Research Artist #10: Deamond89

Yet another artist I follow on deviantart.com. Often referred to by the nickname Dea, this young woman lives in Germany and is studying to be a dentist. Lately, she's been creating a lot of characters for role-playing groups and activities, but I was drawn to her because of her comic, Essence of Time. It's characters and story are very interesting, but she hasn't created a new page in quite a while. I love her rich colors and the amount of detail she puts into everything is insane. She creates her own backgrounds, some of which look like something out of a High Renaissance painting. She has a few tutorials on using digital programs for drawing and coloring, some of which I have used and found helpful. Unfortunately, Dea doesn't allow downloading of her images, so I can only provide the link to her page: http://deamond89.deviantart.com/.

Research Artist #9: Hayao Miyazaki

Often referred to as "the Walt Disney of Japan", Hayao Miyazaki is a brilliant movie writer and director. In 1985, he cofounded Studio Ghibli with Isao Takahata. Miyazaki has created many films that are a visual delight and very thought-invoking. His films often have themes of man's relationship with nature, pacifism, feminism, and flight. I really like how almost all his films feature a strong female protagonist, and they manage to avoid being cliche or stereotypical. I find Miyazaki's films to be incredibly inspiring. My favorite Miyazaki film is Princess Mononoke. I know it's not a credible font of knowledge, but wikipedia has a very thorough article on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki.

Research Artist #8: Daisuke Moriyama

My favorite manga series is Chrono Crusade, written and illustrated by Daisuke Moriyama. I love the story, the characters, and Moriyama's art style. I love how he draws hair, eyes, and hands. The details in backgrounds are great, and I love his character designs, too. The dramatic poses he draws people in at times are wonderful, too. And when Chrono Crusade hits a very emotional, pivotal scene, he knows how to use fine detail and negative space to create a bigger impact. The story and the artwork go hand-in-hand, and this manga made me cry more times than I can count, because Moriyama captures the intensity of a single moment very well. Again, comic pages read right to left.