Craft or Style? What makes good art?
from the B
_
Yes, why am I writing another article when I should be making another a video? Well there's several reasons; most obvious being that college occupies the majority of my attention right now, but also because my next review is set to debut my new sidekick Tracy Zero (I'd be more cryptic but anyone can go look at the About Us section and find out anyway) and right now I'm waiting on the actress to get her lines in. Also my Let's Play for Warcraft is still waiting for the titlecard to come in, but I try to be patient. But enough beating around the bush let's get to the article's subject. Of course I'll have to segue with another anecdote.
It was around two or three months ago (I know it happened midsummer) that I was in a Skype chat with Snowie and Martin Mehawk. Now I forget how we got to this but somewhere down the line we began discussing art in manga, and I made a remark that Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka for One Piece, was an inferior artist against Kentaro Miura, the mangaka for Berserk. Now before you jump to conclusions don't take that as a sign that I dislike Oda, far from it. Well I certainly wouldn't call myself a fan of his work, mainly cause Shonen Jump and me have long parted ways and I no longer have any interest in anything they publish, but I don't dislike his artwork either. Let me highlight the positives about One Piece's art; the character designs are expressive, unique for the most part, and Oda actually manages to keep his panels from feeling cramped. Now the cartoony look to it is what puts many people, myself included, off of One Piece, but that boils more down to personal taste. Much like how it would be easy to dismiss Brian Lee O'Malley's art in Scott Pilgrim as amateurish, when upon closer inspection you see just how expressive the characters are and how it's partially a send up to Osamu Tezuka. So yeah I don't hate One Piece in the least, do I like it, no. Honestly after 160 chapters of this manga the only conclusion I can reach is that this manga just isn't for me, but getting back to what I said about Oda being an inferior artist to Miura, what this sort of did was earn me this response from Snowie, “I think that once an artist has arrived at their style, you can't compare them to anyone else.” That is most likely not her exact words but what she basically said was, it was unfair to compare Miura and Oda as their styles are very, very different, and to an extent I agree with her. Yes Oda's is very cartoony where Miura's is more realistic, but as James “the Goth” Grayson put it, “If you're going to like something you have to be able to admit to its faults.” What I mean to say is, Oda has a distinct style and I applaud him for it. Style is essential for an artist to have, however and this I think any One Piece fan needs to admit, as good as Oda's art is, his craft when held up against the likes of Miura is just inferior, and that isn't saying his art is bad, just that his craft isn't at the same level as Miura. Yes the styles are different, but Miura's art is also more detailed and clearly has more time and effort put into it. It would be like comparing Dragon Age: Origins to Final Fantasy XIII. Yes both do the same thing different ways but Dragon Age is better for several reasons (You are given more freedom to explore, you are able to customize your characters better, the characters are more interesting and overall the world feels more alive). End point, Oda's a good artist but Miura's better.
Now why would I arrive at this conclusion? Do I completely dismiss Snowie's position as invalid? No, of course not. Snowie's not wrong for thinking the way she does. I have spent two years being trained in graphics design, and one thing my instructors hammered into me over and over was this, “Have professional level craft.” People who work in my field are expected to meet a certain standard when turning in a piece to a client. That standard demands that everything is perfect; the type and graphics have to be perfectly aligned, placed, and not so much as a dot can look out of place. Clients will look for any reason to not accept our work, yes they are that nitpicky, but they're paying and we've got no room to complain. Now we are expected to approach our work with a measure of creativity but craft is always our top priority. Then again I'm applying the mindset of a graphic designer to a mangaka, which while similar are still different professions, however to an extent they still have the some of the same expectations. I can't imagine that a publisher would accept sub par material from a mangaka anymore than a client would from a designer. It's from my experiences plus my own tastes that I've come to value craft more than style. Style's great and all, but if an artist has shit craft what good is his style then? Which is more appealing to look at? A landscape that has had painstaking attention to detail put into it done by an artist known for his craft, or an abstract mess that is just ugly to look at done by an artist who hides behind style as a cheap defense.
If I'm going to wrap this up, the best way I can put this is this, Oda's not a bad artist by any stretch of the imagination and it's clear that he puts time and effort into it, but, and I'm sure even Snowie would agree with me here, Oda's a better writer than he is an artist. Honestly that's where I see his strengths lie, his writing. He's made some very complex, likable, and otherwise interesting characters. But if I'm gonna be held up to a gun, I'll have to choose Miura, because his craft is superior to Oda, but this is as far as the two can compared. I have no intention of denouncing Oda, but I'm sticking to my beliefs, and my beliefs say that craft is more important than style. Now Snowie's gonna disagree with me and she's not wrong for that, I'm not here to change people's opinions, just give mine. And my opinion is that art is better when the craft is up to par, but I don't disregard style cause an artist has to also be able to distinguish himself from his peers, so I do expect some measure of creativity and uniqueness from an artist, but craft will always be what I value most.
Yes, why am I writing another article when I should be making another a video? Well there's several reasons; most obvious being that college occupies the majority of my attention right now, but also because my next review is set to debut my new sidekick Tracy Zero (I'd be more cryptic but anyone can go look at the About Us section and find out anyway) and right now I'm waiting on the actress to get her lines in. Also my Let's Play for Warcraft is still waiting for the titlecard to come in, but I try to be patient. But enough beating around the bush let's get to the article's subject. Of course I'll have to segue with another anecdote.
It was around two or three months ago (I know it happened midsummer) that I was in a Skype chat with Snowie and Martin Mehawk. Now I forget how we got to this but somewhere down the line we began discussing art in manga, and I made a remark that Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka for One Piece, was an inferior artist against Kentaro Miura, the mangaka for Berserk. Now before you jump to conclusions don't take that as a sign that I dislike Oda, far from it. Well I certainly wouldn't call myself a fan of his work, mainly cause Shonen Jump and me have long parted ways and I no longer have any interest in anything they publish, but I don't dislike his artwork either. Let me highlight the positives about One Piece's art; the character designs are expressive, unique for the most part, and Oda actually manages to keep his panels from feeling cramped. Now the cartoony look to it is what puts many people, myself included, off of One Piece, but that boils more down to personal taste. Much like how it would be easy to dismiss Brian Lee O'Malley's art in Scott Pilgrim as amateurish, when upon closer inspection you see just how expressive the characters are and how it's partially a send up to Osamu Tezuka. So yeah I don't hate One Piece in the least, do I like it, no. Honestly after 160 chapters of this manga the only conclusion I can reach is that this manga just isn't for me, but getting back to what I said about Oda being an inferior artist to Miura, what this sort of did was earn me this response from Snowie, “I think that once an artist has arrived at their style, you can't compare them to anyone else.” That is most likely not her exact words but what she basically said was, it was unfair to compare Miura and Oda as their styles are very, very different, and to an extent I agree with her. Yes Oda's is very cartoony where Miura's is more realistic, but as James “the Goth” Grayson put it, “If you're going to like something you have to be able to admit to its faults.” What I mean to say is, Oda has a distinct style and I applaud him for it. Style is essential for an artist to have, however and this I think any One Piece fan needs to admit, as good as Oda's art is, his craft when held up against the likes of Miura is just inferior, and that isn't saying his art is bad, just that his craft isn't at the same level as Miura. Yes the styles are different, but Miura's art is also more detailed and clearly has more time and effort put into it. It would be like comparing Dragon Age: Origins to Final Fantasy XIII. Yes both do the same thing different ways but Dragon Age is better for several reasons (You are given more freedom to explore, you are able to customize your characters better, the characters are more interesting and overall the world feels more alive). End point, Oda's a good artist but Miura's better.
Now why would I arrive at this conclusion? Do I completely dismiss Snowie's position as invalid? No, of course not. Snowie's not wrong for thinking the way she does. I have spent two years being trained in graphics design, and one thing my instructors hammered into me over and over was this, “Have professional level craft.” People who work in my field are expected to meet a certain standard when turning in a piece to a client. That standard demands that everything is perfect; the type and graphics have to be perfectly aligned, placed, and not so much as a dot can look out of place. Clients will look for any reason to not accept our work, yes they are that nitpicky, but they're paying and we've got no room to complain. Now we are expected to approach our work with a measure of creativity but craft is always our top priority. Then again I'm applying the mindset of a graphic designer to a mangaka, which while similar are still different professions, however to an extent they still have the some of the same expectations. I can't imagine that a publisher would accept sub par material from a mangaka anymore than a client would from a designer. It's from my experiences plus my own tastes that I've come to value craft more than style. Style's great and all, but if an artist has shit craft what good is his style then? Which is more appealing to look at? A landscape that has had painstaking attention to detail put into it done by an artist known for his craft, or an abstract mess that is just ugly to look at done by an artist who hides behind style as a cheap defense.
If I'm going to wrap this up, the best way I can put this is this, Oda's not a bad artist by any stretch of the imagination and it's clear that he puts time and effort into it, but, and I'm sure even Snowie would agree with me here, Oda's a better writer than he is an artist. Honestly that's where I see his strengths lie, his writing. He's made some very complex, likable, and otherwise interesting characters. But if I'm gonna be held up to a gun, I'll have to choose Miura, because his craft is superior to Oda, but this is as far as the two can compared. I have no intention of denouncing Oda, but I'm sticking to my beliefs, and my beliefs say that craft is more important than style. Now Snowie's gonna disagree with me and she's not wrong for that, I'm not here to change people's opinions, just give mine. And my opinion is that art is better when the craft is up to par, but I don't disregard style cause an artist has to also be able to distinguish himself from his peers, so I do expect some measure of creativity and uniqueness from an artist, but craft will always be what I value most.
