Mangatalk: part 2

[telophase]

This is again nothign formal, just tossing something up to see what people have to say. This is in response to kate_nepveu's comments here comparing Fullmetal Alchemist to Saiyuki.




FMA scan downloaded from ... uh, somewhere. Saiyuki scan stolen from kate_nepveu. read right-to-left.

I tried to get a roughly comparable scene in both - two people talking, no real establishing shots, same sort of level of seriousness.








The linework in FMA is simpler - less variation in line width, the shapes are less complex. There are more areas of solid black. There's more detail in Saiyuki, more tone work, and more random texture added with pen, before the tone is applied.

Thoughts, anyone? On anything? I don't have any serious thoughts or conclusions yet; just what I've said (and I have to attend two meetings this afternoon, so will be gone a good part of it).

Comments

[the-z.livejournal.com]

Both have very static layouts for the panels, but the conversation in the Saiyuki page seems more expressive. I think that's due mainly to the different head views.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I'd like to comment, but I was overwhelmed by OMGTHEIRLOVEISSOPURE!!!!!1ELEVENTYBILLION!!!!

[herchuckness.livejournal.com]

That variation of line width is actually something I adore about Minekura's work. It really hit me with this closeup (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/herchuckness/wa/sexykubo1.png) of Kubota from Wild Adapter. The linework there is so compelling, especially around the mouth/chin, I couldn't stop staring at it. I find myself doing that a lot with her series. The page you have here from FMA doesn't stop my eye the way the Saiyuki one does, the former feels more... I dunno, smooth somehow. Saiyuki is more uneven, but it gives me something to get caught on. My eyes kind of slide off the FMA page. I'm sure that has nothing whatever to do with the fact I'm obsessed with all things Minekura. Nope. Not at all.

[kate_nepveu]

Random comments:

FMA: the transition between panels 3-4 is not as good as it could be; I go straight across rather than up. If Cornello's robe were white, rather than his sash, perhaps it would work better. The random black behind the two of them in the last two panels is a little odd physically (what, did someone turn out the lights?) but does make their faces pop (and the diagonal bit of light is nice from a visual path POV). (Actually, does the light in panel 1, on the wall, make any physical sense?)

The Saiyuki boys really do have better mouths, don't they? I think you'd commented on it before and I hadn't really seen it until now. The FMA characters just get a line, two if their mouth is open; but the Saiyuki boys have actual lips. (The Saiyuki boys also have better, or at least more detailed, hair.) Their page also has more rhythm, it seems to me (and lookit the smoke from Gojyo's cigarette)--it's very linear overall but their opposite-facing, err, faces looking sideways breaks that and slows things down.

In comparison--maybe not objectively, but in comparison--the FMA page looks crowded. Both use panelling to bring the characters' faces together when they aren't physically.

Wow, that was random.

[hollywoodwine.livejournal.com]

Err--I know that I'm posting just a little late... but I think that an artist can be as simple or detailed as they want as long as they follow the principles of art. Rule of thirds, focal point, lines or objects that lead the eyes to the subject, repetition, difference... the whatnot.