Discovering how to appreciate art

an original drawing for a page in my manga :D!!

For art's apreciation, a big thing for us to be able to do is to recognize what art is, and try to dicover the value in art. For some, it comes naturally, ecspecially for those of us who are already artist to talk about, and pick apart in detail what we find intreresting about a piece of art. I know for some however, this does not come as easily as it does for others. Sometimes it's difficult to look at a piece and really try apperciating and talking about what it is you like about it. Sometimes, you may not like a thing about the artwork to begin with. However, i believe in some way or fashion, if it's real art, you'll be able to identify the values that make it  such. I know some have trouble with doing so. For example my own art got critiqued by other artist alot growing up, at first, i didn't know how they saw so much wrong with my art, but as i grew i started learning from them, and i began to get a feel for some things to look for in art which helped me to be able to now improve most of my mistakes. So now as an artist with a bit of experience i'd like to offer my assistance to those who may struggle. a great way too look at art sometimes is in the color. Try to see the color and how the artist used it. Is it painted in solid colors, which would make the piece look flat, or is it painted from lights to darks, to give it a more three-dimensional look. That's an important thing to look at. also look at how things fit on the page, does it appear that everything was made to appear as it does on paper. or does it somewhat look like an accident. That could be a factor in determining it's value, because some artist intention is to give there art value though the way they set things up. Now moving on to the actual subject matter, if any! what's going on inside the painting is a good way to analayze a piece. use the title of the piece for reference if you can. try to relate the art too the title, and see if you can identify EXACTLY why it would be named what it is. If you can, then you understand what the artist intention was, and are able to see a bigger thing than just the picture. However, this does not go to say that there is subject matter that will not attempt to mislead you. Just focus and try too see exactly what the artist were trying too make. Sometimes it is difficult, and sometimes you won't be able to guess at all. This does not mean you aren't good at appreciating art, this could simply mean the artist trick worked, which in that case you go to your best judgement about the piece, and put as much details about how it relates to the title in your mind. There are many other ways too interpret and analyze art. For now though i'll leave you with that for a start.It ultimatly however comes down to you. You have to find what attracts the art to you. if it doesn't, try too give it your best guess. I hope that this helps if anyones's having trouble. Well let's keep up the good work everyone!!!

Final Artwork collection post: 12

Title: Soul Eater

Artist: Ookubo Atsushi

Medium: Copic markers, ink, and pencil

Finally for the final piece of my art collection i present to you a work from my personal favorite Mangaka's work Soul Eater. Ookubo Atsushi does not have much history known on his early life escept as a child growing up, like most artist, he showed little interest in school. His soul objective was to become a better manga illustrator. There was even school notes of his that was discovered to have many sketches and doodles for the characters that would later appear in his manga B. Ichi. When he actually got into the buisness of being a mangaka, he first worked under Rando Ayamine, in the production of his manga Get Backers. He also worked too create artwork for a card game in Japan called The Lords of Vermillion. With the experience he gained from that he went on to produce his first manga B. ichi. It didn't really take him off in the manga world but it served as a foundation for Atsushi's gretest work Soul Eater. Too be honest I have no real words to descibe Soul Eater and how it affected me. It's everything i wanted to see in a anime, and manga, and surpasses even those expectations, even though it's ending was pretty questionable in the anime series haha. I simply LOVE it, the style of the characters, and world, the interactions betwen the characters, the characters backgrounds, and lives. I just love Soul eater enough said haha. It's hard to choose a favorite amongst his artwork for me, so i chose the one that i liked very recently. It's from an actual page of the manga. It depicts the main character Maka Albarn, emerging from smoke with her death sythe weapon partner Soul. I won't get into actual detail about the show. i'll just say that what i love about the picture most is the movement it gives. The way Maka appears to be hunched over, going downward, while her sythe goes upward just gives the picture nice balance in my opinion. I Love the side view angle as well. It makes the characters look so cool in my opinion. The colors are cool as well, the shading for the sythe is what i like the best. i Like how the shadow gives it that value, and makes it more realistic. I have so much i can say on this but i'll leave you with just that. I absoulutley must make a manga that will give my readers the same feeling or perhaps even a better one, that Soul Eater gave to me. It's the number one inspiration for me, no matter how my work progresses Soul Eater will always have a huge influence on it. 

Artwork collection post: 11

Title: Kamina and Simon

Artist: Unkown

Medium Unknown

The image above is from one of the gretest animes of all time in my opinion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan. The picture features too of the central main characters Simon(bottom left), and Kamina(top right). Whats important about the pic in my eyes is that the anime itself focused on a coming of age. In the series the main character Simon was never really confident about himself, he Just followed orders going along with anything everyone ever said, never questioning it or standing up for himself. Kamina taught him how to be a man, showing him that no matter what anyone says he should stand up and believe in himself, staying strong, and never letting himself be put down by others. The two began forming a bond sort of like a older, younger brother relationship. Kamina leading the way and Simon learning and following his "big bro" as he called him. However Kamina, doing what he could to protect his "little bro" Simon in battle, lost his life. Simon was devastated by this, However he continured to stay strong growing and living by the way that Kamina had paved for him. Finally while leading his squad into a battle he was confronted with visions of his past. In it stood Kamina that helped Simon once again come to grips with being himself and becoming a man. This is an image from that Scene as the two brothers stand together, as men. What i like about this pic is the positioning and detail of the characters. Kamina as the big bro is shown overshadowing Simon who is the little bro. This shows the kind of relationship the characters have with one another. i also like the attention to detail in the figure work. both of thier bodies appear to flow well, and everything matches up. All in all it's just an Inspirational pic for me in general, It reminds me of the relationship i have with my father. It's truly a great picture.     

Artwork collection post: 10

Title:The Old Guitarist

Artist: Pablo Picasso

Medium: Oil Painting

Now here is potentially my favorite artwork outside of anime and manga. It’s called The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer.  One of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20^th century, he is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. It is said that in Pablo Picasso’s early life, he always had a talent for drawing. At age seven that’s when he would begin to actually take up artistic lessons. He began learning things from him such as the human figure, and plaster drawings from his art teacher, Ruiz. However at age 13, Ruiz had already acknowledged Picasso as a greater artist than himself. Picasso did not have the easiest life growing up. This was due to the loss of his 17 year old sister which completely devastated him. Despite this however Pablo stuck with his passion and continued to create many paintings that would bring him great fame, Of course one of those paintings being The Old Guitarist, which he created during his blue period.  The piece depicts an old man, playing the guitar in a lifeless like state. What I enjoy about it is the realism in the color and shading of the hands, and feet. It shows incredible attention to detail, and understanding. Also I like the feeling that the painting gives to me. To me it gives the appearance of a man who’s clearly in love with the act of playing guitar.  It shows that no matter how old you are if you are willing and able to continue your passion, your craft. You do it because; it is precious to you and means a lot to you. Pablo Picasso did a great job on this. It’s an inspiration for ALL artists. It just goes to show that the past can be a great starting point for inspiration when developing new ideas as an artist.

Artwork collection post: 9

Title: Dragonball

Author: Akira Toriyama

Medium: watercolor, ink, pencil, copic markers

As a mangaka you must always have a favorite anime or inspiration, For many it is the artist of this drawing Akira Toriyama.Akira Toriyama was born on April 5th 1979, not much is known about his early life, however it's known that he debuted in 1979 with the story Wonder Island, published in Weekly Shonen Jump. After that what really began to make him famous and known in the manga world was his manga and anime series Dr. Slump, originally serialized weekly in Shonen Jump from 1980 to 1984. In 1982, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for Dr. Slump for best shonen or shojo manga series of the year. After that he then produced the work that's being show cased here Dragon ball. Although dragonball is not my main inspiration, i cannot deny the force of it, the prescence it has throughout not only Japan, but the world. People who haven't even heard of manga, and anime in thier entire lives know what Dragon ball is. It's just argubly the gretest manga ever made, along with Naruto in my opinion. Although i'm not too big of a fan on the colors Akira used on this. i think the overall drawing is fantastic. An important thing to do in anime is to give your readers looks and expressions that clearly give your character's life and feeling. that's nicely portrayed here in this drawing. Like i said i'm not a fan of the colors. but some colors that do give this picture credit is the way he colored and shaded the clouds. LOVE how they appear, definitly wanna give a simular feel for my style. Although i do feel as if Mamashi kishimoto, creator of Naruto, and Oda Eiichiro creator of One piece come close. I don't think there is anyone who will be able to give us what Dragonball did. I see Dragonball as the Launching point that brought anime and manga to what it is today, and without it Anime and manga would never be the same.  Even though it's not my favorite! i loved it nonetheless, and recognize it as the greatest manga of all time.

Artwork collection post: 8

Title: Darin and Rea

Artist: Hattori Mitsuru

Medium: unknown

This is a page from the mangaka Hattori Mitsuru's Sankera . It depicts two of the main characters Darin, and Rea in cheerleader outfits. This to me is really cool, because in the manga the two are kind of polar oppisites, but the longer the two of them are together and are able to interact, they are able to look past those diffrences and begin to form a friendship. Thiers not much known  about the Mangaka himself Hittori Mitsuru but he is famous for a few other works other than Sankera, like his Manga series Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho, which got it's own 13 episode series produced by artland. Knowing what kind of artist i am it's easy to see why i'm taken with this piece. The Artist portrayed the characters awesomly. From the expression they carry, to the figure, too the folds of thier clothes, to the flow of thier hair. Out of the two i'd say Hattori did a better job with Darin (girl in the top left) her expression clearly let's you see she's a kind of laid back yet seductive in her own way type of girl. Also i love how he did Darin's hair down from the colors, too the way it flows down her body it's truly awesome. For Rea  (bottom right) i'd say my favorite thing Hattori did for her is her right leg, i like the shading he did too show the musle and better define the look of it, also i love the joy he was able to give Rea in her expression, he shows happiness so well in his characters. Hattori does an aweosme job with expressions, and giving his characters life. Hattori's style is truly something i can draw inspiratrion from as i grow more and more into forming a style of my own.

Artwork collection post: 7

Title: The Starry Night

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh

Medium: Unknown

Another famous painting that i do enjoy would be Vincent Van Gogh's Starry night. It is the depiction of the view outside his Sanatorium room window at Saint Remy de Provence. Van Gogh began to draw as a child, and he continued to draw throughout the years, and in time that led him to take on the life as an artist. he continued to draw, and started painting in his late 20's. he would then go on too create some of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, of those paintings he produced 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work mainly cosisted of self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.By looking at the painting itself you could see why this painting is adored by so many, and is in my art colloection. Even though it doesn't appear to be realistic, it still shows great amounts of detail. and the painting can be easily imagined realistically. I love how he did the clouds in a kind of swirly fashion it makes the painting really flow in my eyes, it also gives it the sense that maybe it was windy that night. Landscapes aren't easy to do... although this may appear to be simple great amount's of detail went into bringing this painting ot life. It's awesome Vincent Van Gogh did an awesome job on this.