Question for Manga Artists

[Catila Amano]

For a while (ever since the esurance.com ads, starring Erin Esurance (http://www.esurance.com/home/erinsworld.asp) started appearing on TV), I've been thinking about creating an animated Flash micro-series with an animation style similar to the esurance.com ads based on my City of Heroes character, Jade Lotus.

I'm now starting the character design process and I'm leaning towards using a manga style. Manga is new to me, so I've been using a lot of tutorials, both online and in books. The problem with manga is that the style always seems to portray caucasoid features in place of Asian features, but since my main character is from China, I want her to appear Asian.

My question is, how do I use the manga style yet still maintain an Asian appearance? A lot of the features of Asian eyes that make them distinctive are not seen in the manga style, so it seems to me that it is difficult to meld the two together.

In my searches for manga tutorials, I came across Julie Dillon's excellent tutorials over on howtodrawmanga.com (www.howtodrawmanga.com). On the tutorial for female eyes (http://www.cablenet.ne.jp/%7ejapanime/tutorial/eyesf.html), it showed an example of a possible eye style that I could use (halfway down the tutorial page) based on the Elven character Deedlit (http://www.animanga.com/cgi-bin/picture?lodoss-08.jpg) from "Record of Lodoss War (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=394)." Although I like the style of eye in this tutorial, I don't know if the shape plus colouring will produce an eye that is distinctively Asian-appearing.

So, is anyone aware of 1) a way to undo the caucasianisation of manga characters to make them appear Asian, and 2) examples of Asian-appearing anime/manga characters (pictures on the web would be especially helpful) from which I can take artistic cues?

Thanks in advance! :)

[Devirka]

Manga style is not only defined by big eyes. Check out GTO (http://xellos.free.fr/mangas/gto.php?menu1=personnages&menu2=profs) for a manga style that does not use big eyes at all, characters there have small asiatic eyes.

The true manga is really on the line styles and (if comic form) the halftone useage combined with a more cinematic presentation than other comic styles.

[Trumble]

Motoko Kusanagi (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/animelist/gits.jpg) from ghost in the shell has very pretty eyes and looks asian while maintaining the large eyed manga look.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (http://www.lwhy.clara.net/nge/) has more simply drawn female characters and many of them look eastern as well.

I think most anime females look asian unless they are blue/brown eyed blondes. Google "Perfect Blue" too, it has another kind of drawing style and I think they also don't have a western look.

Im not an artist though, but I hope these are some ok examples.

[Silvercalipso]

Faye Valentine from Coyboy Bebop, especially the shots of her childhood, is very distinctly asian.

and about Manga it's merely a level of simplification (manga being the lowest level) it isn't defined by the large eyes.

[Merdakai]

Go out to your local Manga dealer and pick up Negima Magister Magi and look at the character Fei Kun.

Even though Ken Akamatsu uses the HUGE EYE approach to his comics for most of his characters he tries to keep their eyes looking as if they are from where they are from. Fei Kun is of course from china so her eyes look more asian than the other characters...... and I don't know why considering most of the characters in that comic are supposed to be from Japan...

[Catila Amano]

Thanks for the tip on "Negima - Magister Magi." I did some Googling for pictures of the characters and the closest to Fei Kun I could find was someone named "Ku Fei," except she was blonde (although I've found one picture that has "Chinese Martial Arts Society" under it), and she didn't look very Asian.

However, another character in the same series, Setsuna Sakurazaki, does have features (both hair and face) that are more Asian in appearance, and it does give me a good idea of what direction I should go (actually, it confirms the direction in which I was already going).

Here's a picture of her: http://www.negimacn.net/html/char/incampus/img/15_reg.jpg

Once I get an initial character drawing completed, and I can find a way to scan it (after upgrading my motherboard at Christmas, I no longer have a way to connect my scanner), I'll post a picture for C&C. (I may end up having to take a picture of the page with my cheapie digital camera.)

Thanks again for the help, everyone.

===

UPDATE: I used the tutorial I linked above that showed how to draw Deedlit's eye, and it looked okay, but what really did it for me was that I raised the eyebrow to about double the distance of Deedlit's eyebrow and NOW my character looks Asian. It's funny that that one little detail can change the whole look of a character!

One big thing I did wrong in my drawing, however, was that I put the eyes too close together. Instead of having a one-eye-width distance betwen them, I had about a half-eye-width distance. I'm going to work on that and hopefully post something soon.

Now I just need to figure out the stupid nose. :P

[Merdakai]

I hav4e problems with the noses as well.

and if you notice that in a lot of Ken's work, and I've noticed this in other anime / manga is that the eyes aren't always one eye width apart - many of Ken's character's eyes seem about 3/4 - 1 eye width apart and more often than not do not have 1/2 eye width from eye to edge of face liek some tutorials tell you to do.

And Fred of fredart , MegaTokyo fame, has characters with eyes rather far apart.

And ku fei is the one I was talking about that looked more asian than most of her classmates.

the tutorial you linked is one of the best tutorials for novices and beginners - like me - that was ever made. Before anyone goes out and buys the How to Draw Manga books, which some high profile Universities use, I suggest starting with Julie's tutorials that are generously hosted on howtodrawmanga.com while browsing your local manga store to pick up various graphic novels if nor nothing else than to study techniques and styles.

Want to see how frilly and pretty dresses can look? Find nearly anything by CLAMP - like Chobits or Clover.

Want to see good fight scenes and motion? Go get Rurouni Kenshin or Real Bout High School. There are plenty others out there too that have good action.

Want to see a lot of fanservice? Get anything by Ken Akamatsu - Ai Love You, Love HIna or Negima! Magister Magi.

Want to see the greatest being to ever exist? Well too bad, I'm not linking my picture >=P