Anime vs Manga
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Wills]Andrew Wills
If you are a magna fan and reading up on the latest anime and manga releases and the history of the subject, you will find there has been a lot of confusion between anime and manga. Oftentimes, fans will ask others on forums or on blogs or in chat rooms what the difference is. But this is like having the blind lead the blind in most cases.
There are experts who visit these sites and can answer questions intelligently, but since they do not usually leave links to back up their claims, it can be unclear if what they say is true or if they are really experts. If you go to an online encyclopedia, you often find so much information to wade through with so many big words, it's hard to fully make sense of it all.
Suffice it to say that manga means Japanese comic books, or in other words, those drawn-on-paper cartoons originating in Japan. Similar to the American comics with Superman and Spiderman, these comics were often made into different series and are still produced in quantity. Anime is animation, or you could say, the animated versions of manga.
Any animation actually needs to start out as a cartoon drawing of some kind. Manga artists create the characters and story line, then their drawings are made into animated film. The animation process is long and detailed, and takes a number of talented people to bring off the final product. The artists who originally create the character, his personality and the scene where the action takes place play a large part in the production of the anime.
Sometimes, besides the creator of the manga itself, studios take the artwork and make the backgrounds and other details with the labors of other animators. These drawings are combined and photographed or scanned as one piece, making an entire scene with the character, extras and the sights of a modern city or whatever is being portrayed. Thus anime is created.
Rumko Takahashi created the popular series, Inuyasha and Ranma ½. She does the original drawings and assists in the animation process along with other artists in the studio that produce the final anime. And so it is with many manga-kas (manga writers).
Which came first, manga or anime? That is easy to answer in studying the history of cartoon drawing. In Japan, the most famous manga artists were in production in the 1940s, for they were producing cartoons regarding the World War in progress at the time. That doesn't mean there weren't other cartoonists prior to this time. Certainly there were.
In the U.S., comics were in vogue early on. As early as the late 1700s, Benjamin Franklin started the first editorial cartoon. This soon expanded to the longer comic strips, the first of which was drawn by Richard Outcault in 1895. Then in the 1930s there were the debuts of such heroes as Superman and Batman.
The author is the Admin of the [http://www.animemine.com]Anime Friends Network site AnimeMine, where you can meet new friends and discuss your favorite anime and manga subjects. This article can also be found at our [http://www.smarticlesmart.com]free article directory Smarticlesmart
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Anime vs Manga
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Top 20 Animation Movies - What Makes Them Tick?
Being in the animation industry, it is in my interest to keep abreast of which animated feature films are taking the most box office profits. Today I run by this list of the top 20 highest grossing animation movies of all time and I would like to share my views on why I think these movies did as well as they did. They will make up my recommended recipe for an animated feature box office hit.
Shrek 2 (3D) - $436,471,036
Finding Nemo (3D) - 339,714,978
The Lion King (2D) - 328,539,505
Shrek the Third (3D) - $322,719,944
Shrek (3D) - 267,665,011
The Incredibles (3D) - 261,657,004
Monsters, Inc. (3D) - 255,870,172
Toy Story 2 (3D) - $245,852,179
Cars (3D) - $244,082,982
Aladdin (2D) - 217,350,219
Ratatouille (3D) - $206,445,654
Happy Feet (3D) - $198,000,317
Ice Age: Meltdown (3D) - $195,330,621
Madagascar (3D) - $193,595,521
Toy Story (3D) - $191,780,865
The Simpsons Movie (2D) - $183,135,014
The Polar Express (3D) - $179,100,434
Ice Age (3D) - 176,387,405
Beauty and the Beast (2D) - $171,350,553
Tarzan (2D) - $171,091,819
Shrek - Top of the Crop
Shrek 2 takes the lead as you can see from the list. In fact, the Shrek trilogy takes the 1st, 4th and 5th positions, all in the top 5 positions. This is a very impressive feat and in my opinion, Shrek took the cake because the stories were really good and the gags were good. Of course it helped a lot that 4 major stars were casted - Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Mike Myers. In fact, of the Shrek trilogy, I enjoyed Shrek 2 the most, so personally I am not surprised that it performed the best out of the three.
3D versus 2D
From the list below, we can see that 3D movies take 15 of the spots, in comparison with its 2D counterparts that take only 5 seats. It would seem from this statistic that the audience is favoring 3D animation to 2D animation. Even 2D/3D fusion shows like Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Treasure Planet did not seem to please them enough. It would seem that The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Tarzen are only in the top 20 positions because of their strong family-orientated storylines and classic branding. The Simpsons Movie benefited basically through a huge fan base through its TV series. Barring such unique franchises, it would appear that a 3D show would trounce a 2D one any day. The animation studios seem to be echoing this sentiment as the quantity of 2D animated features produced has dwindled drastically in recent years.
A Strong Storyline
This is probably not new to you, but I will say it anyway. I think that one of the most important factors that will drive an animated feature would be a strong and compelling storyline. In fact I would go as far as to say that if you forgo everything else, you must have a great story to tell! Every single movie on the list tells an interesting story (well almost) and they all did well enough to make it to top twenty.
Laughter, the Best Medicine
People like to laugh. They like to laugh at others. They like to laugh at themselves. They just like to laugh. All things constant, I think Shrek takes three of the top five positions because of their gags and original jokes. And do not forget the two maestros of comedy - Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy - who performed the voiceovers for Shrek and Donkey respectively. How can you beat that lethal duo?
A Strong Voiceover Cast
It is a fact that a star-studded cast for the voiceovers is a crowd-puller, especially when the celebrities are well-liked and great performers. Again, refer to Shrek's cast. With Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, how can the movie go wrong?
The Importance of Recognizable Characters within the Show
This is just my theory, but I strongly believe that besides having a strong storyline, animated features should also showcase recognizable characters. And when I say recognizable characters, I don't mean plain human characters. I mean monsters. I mean animals. I mean super heroes. With characters that are more interesting than humans, they are instantly more recognizable. Look at the list closely. Besides a couple of the old 2D movies, which other movie had a cast that only had plain old human beings for its lead? Having interesting and identifiable characters will most definitely attract ticket sales because people want to pay to watch interesting characters in an animated feature, not plain old human being! I don't have to remind you again what a flop Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was, do I?
My Personal Favourites
In case you are wondering, my personal favorites are Monster Inc, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Shrek 2 and Ice Age in that order. My reason? They all have strong and compelling storylines. And I put them in this order according to how much I enjoyed each individual movie. I must say that Monster Inc gave me the best enjoyment factor!
Conclusion
So here's my recommended recipe for a animated feature box office success:
The movie must be done in 3D
It must have a compelling story to tell
Inject lots of humor into the show
Get a strong cast to be your voiceover talents
The character designs must be interesting and memorable
I hope that this article has been an interesting read. Please visit my websites to read more of my articles or simply to check out what I am doing.
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This article was contributed by Aldric Chang - a creative businessman who is active in music composing and production, internet marketing, casual games production, animation production, cartoon production and character licensing. He's currently intent on growing his already successful [http://www.media-freaks.com]animation company into a behemoth entertainment enterprise.
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Sunday, April 13, 2008
3 Top Cartoon Drawing Tips For Beginners
Cartooning is not about drawing it is about telling stories. Yes, even when you are drawing a single illustration you are telling a story. Cartooning is about expressing your thoughts. And it is your thoughts expressed beautifully through your cartoon characters that make you different from other average cartoon makers.
But as in every other field of life here also you must learn to walk first before you try running. To express your thoughts and ideas through your cartoon characters, you need to master the skill of cartoon drawing first. Then of course you can use your cartoon drawing skills to tell story to your liking.
To be skilled in cartoon drawing you have to face a learning curve. You just can’t decide to be a cartoonist then copy some popular cartoon figures and become an accomplished cartoonist who is rich and famous. If you are lucky and talented with keen sense of observation you may pickup one or two tricks by making copy of popular cartoon figures. But that is too inadequate to be of any use.
There are various ways that you can take to learn cartoon drawing --you can join cartooning school or take a home study course or follow a book of an expert cartoonist -- the bottom line is you have to follow the steps. Like you should first teach yourself drawing 3d shapes, then learn to stretch, squash those 3d shapes in your drawing. Next you need to practice things like drawing hands and head before moving on to motion and emotion and advanced things like that.
If it sounds like lot of work, you are right. But what you achieve at the end is worth working for. If you are smart however you can use the tips you are going to discover here to make the whole learning process fast and painless.
1. ==> Do not start with computers. I agree I run the risk of sounding backdated. But here I am not opposing usage of computer altogether, no sane person can do that. But for beginners there is no alternative to using paper and pencil.
There are various software that help you so much that you can go ahead even without learning how to draw a smooth line. This kind of over dependency on computers from the very beginning always backfires down the road.
2. ==> Nail the fact in your mind that construction of human, animal, cars and most of the things that that we see around us are complex 3d structures though we draw them on paper which is 2D. So when drawing you must mentally analyze your model in terms of 3d shapes like spheres and boxes and not in terms of 2d shapes like circles and rectangles.
Also when you draw something from paper (i.e. 2D), look for and find out the 3d shapes that make up the character.
3. ==> Most of the cartoon drawing or figure drawing tutorials always start with some basic 3d shapes and after a number of steps end up in a complete and beautiful figure. This technique is very effective in learning how we can draw complex figures starting with simple shapes. But what I am going to tell you will make your pace of learning even faster. It is in fact very simple way of using the same tutorial. Just a lot more effective.
What you need to do is start where the tutorial ends and go backward from there. See the completed figure and try to recognize the ingredient basic shapes. And compare your analysis with the exact shapes that are used in the tutorial.
This will give you a very through exercise in recognizing the basic shapes. And after some time you will be analyzing the real life around you like an expert. Just take your time and practice this technique, and see how fast it will improve your skill in cartoon drawing.
Cartoon drawing is pure fun both for professionals who earn their living through cartooning and hobbyists who draw cartoon only for personal pleasure. I do not know what you goal is but hope the tips here will be helpful for you. Never stop learning: there are a whole lot to learn and even more fun to have in the process. Happy journey!
Do you know what the beginners find most difficult in cartoon drawing? It is drawing the head and face. Check this simple [http://pwrinfo.com/cartoon-drawing-course/head-drawing-tutorial.htm style=color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single]tutorial on head drawing and never be nervous again.
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Original Ideas for Wedding Gifts
Original Ideas for Wedding Gifts
And Wedding Party Entertainment.
A unique wedding idea is to have a cartoon artist draw sketches we call wedding caricature.
Caricatures as gifts are custom cartoon drawings that are hand drawn by a caricaturist.
Wedding caricatures are an original cartoon caricature art sketch. Caricatures for weddings are a great gift idea and fun party entertainment.
In addition a party artist entertaining is a wonderful wedding surprise to your party guests.
Caricaturists can create wonderful pencil sketch drawings. These quick sketch comical cartoon portraits take as little as 5minutes per person. Party caricature drawings are wedding favor gift caricatures and caricature entertainment.
One creative idea is to use a caricaturist for a wedding invitation. We can draw the bride and groom in caricature form.
Wedding invitations can be created any way you desire and are custom artwork.
Custom wedding invitations can be created quite reasonably.
An artist can provide you with wedding invitations advice.
Go to different printers and view their wedding invitations samples.
We can create quick wedding invitations for any bride’s budget.
Using caricature art creates creative wedding invitations that your guests will remember.
Caricature art is much more fun then going with photo wedding invitations.
You can buy wedding invitations from a printer, but why go with traditional wedding invitations.
Caricatures make affordable wedding invitations. We create wedding invitations with fast service.
I suggest using black and white wedding invitations over color. The caricatures look more traditional in black and white.
When it comes to wedding invitation advice, remember to use caricaturists, we have many ideas to help you with your party planning.
You can have an artist create custom wedding guest books with a personalized caricature.
We can also create custom caricature portraits for a wedding signature board. A wedding caricature sign in poster is a 20” x30” poster caricature illustration hand drawn from photos. These posters are drawings from photos and run $350.00 plus shipping. We can provide service with an online caricature. This saves you shipping as well as speeds up service. A digital caricature is provided in the PDF, jpg format. Caricatures for a wedding board also make great wedding keepsakes. You can also hire a cartoon caricaturist to draw the wedding couple for a wedding gift. Color caricature gifts are very reasonably priced and start at only $50.00 for the couple.
We can draw a family caricature for presentation as a caricature gift starting at only $25.00 per person in the picture. A caricature from photo can be drawn as a gag gift.
And having a caricature artist sketch can be in addition to wedding photos. Because caricature pictures are wedding party entertainment and a Wedding party favor. Some of your guests will feel like a celebrity at your wedding. A celebrity caricature they received at your event. Framed on the wall, their caricature is a permanent remembrance of your wedding party.
A party caricaturist can draw at your wedding or other types of events. We provide Caricatures for wedding entertainment in the New York City Area.
We have NJ Caricature Artists, NY Caricature Artists, PA Caricature Artists, and CT Caricature Artists.
We can also provide Party Caricature Entertainment nationwide call for rates 973-586-0790.
Gift Caricatures from photos can be done through the mail or online. You can also make payment at www.paypal.com to my email address gazoo1234@aol.com .
Visit my web-site http://www.aaacaricatures.com.
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Saturday, April 5, 2008
Interesting ideas when it comes to hiring a caricature artist as party entertainment.
caricatures
Interesting ideas when it comes to hiring a caricature artist as .
When it comes to entertainment you should hire the best quality caricature artist you can afford.
Being a professional caricatuirist is a fun and enjoyable job.
I’ve been working as a caricaturist at parties since 1982. I imagine at this point my art school education has paid off ten fold.
Caricatures are a unique drawing, one of a kind, and hand drawn.
Some artists offer digital caricatures, which can be sent as an online caricature in the form of a pdf file or jpg file.
Caricature artists’ drawings are timeless and great for any type of party idea or gift idea.
Most people look at a caricature as being a bad portrait. Remember a character drawing
Is not a celebrity photo. It’s a funny, exaggerated cartoon portrait. A caricture is a big head drawing with a little body.
I know a great amount of party cartoonists and party caricaturists working in the entertainment business.
New York City caricature artists seem to get the most work.
I really enjoy doing a show or convention. Most conventions are for multiple days. The more days you sketch caricatures for, the bigger the paycheck.
Artists are a popular tradeshow entertainment attraction.
I draw characatures at a trade show quite often. The illustrations I do make people laugh out loud.
To enjoy a party cartoonist you need to have a sense of humor.
That’s why having a caricature artist working at your trade shows is a great idea.
At a tradeshow the caricature should be drawn as quickly as possible.
I like tradeshows the best, I always get great response.
Weddings are also a lot of fun to draw cartoons at.
A prom is like a mini wedding.
Many people like to make a sign up list.
I find sign up lists do not work.
At a dinner or banquet, listing names can get very much unorganized.
At a kids birthday I give out an index card with a number.
Birthdays have always been very popular for a caricature artist, but I still think for humour a clown can be more popular.
The custom caracatures I draw are in color or black & white.
I think color charicature is better looking, but of course black & white charicatures are faster.
Caricature artists work for many different entertainment agency type companies.
Most party planners hire lower tier artists.
When it comes to party planning you can do a lot on your own.
With a little research you can come up with your own party planning ideas.
You can Google words like cartoon cartoons, cartoon artist, cartoon artist New Jersey, caricaturist tri-state area or new York party caricatures.
You can also search proms, gifts, or wedding.
Always check out the sample caricatures New York artist’s show on their website.
Two years ago I went to Brooklyn, NY to do a post grad party; it’s similar to a post prom or after grad party. At this post graduation I drew for seven hours.
The next day I did an after prom party in Long Island, NY.
There are many funny characters at these post proms parties.
At one of the after proms, I drew 2 sets of twins in the same cartoon picture.
They were acting like clowns.
The ride home back to New Jersey is difficult after working such long hours at the after graduation. I like doing project graduations closer to home. Project grads are really long hours wise.
Bar mitzvahs are great to draw at as well.
Many bat mitzvahs in Manhattan have at least a hundred plus kids to draw. At a bas mitzvah I’ve done a silhouette, which is a cut out portrait on black paper.
I prefer doing cartoon caricature drawings over silhouettes.
I draw caricatures in NYC, about 20 times a month. Being involved in party entertainment, New York City is where most of my jobs are. These days I seem to get more jobs for caricatures New York.
My caricature job today is in Westchester, NY. I just hope the gas prices come down.
http://www.aaacaricatures.com
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
How to Draw Caricatures
Getting Started!
When learning how to draw caricatures you will want to observe your subject and see which features make the subject recognizable. For example, perhaps your father has a large nose; noses are very popular features used for exaggeration in caricatures. The features that you choose to exaggerate should be features that make your subject recognizable.
Caricature vs Portrait?
The main difference in a caricature and a portrait is that a caricature is almost a cartoon rendition of the person. A portrait is more of a realistic view of the person. When you begin to learn how to draw caricatures, you will want to use people that you know. You will also need to have a good understanding of the basic layout of the human face. Techniques such as proportion and foreshortening can also be very handy. All techniques that you learn in drawing people can be used in an exaggerated manner when drawing caricatures.
Seeing the Subject!
Being able to see the subject “in the round” is the best way to get a whole sense of the subject you are drawing. You will also want to recognize any features that can be minimized as well. Not all features are exaggerated in a manner that makes them large, but you can also make them very small. For example, if you are drawing a person and they have a small mouth, you could make it even smaller in the drawing. This is a sort of a reverse exaggeration.
Dumb it Down!
You will also want to “dumb down” certain features. For example, hair is often “dumbed down” because you will not want to draw each hair in a caricature. This gives the picture more of a cartoon-ish look versus a portrait look.
Exaggeration!
Simple rules of drawing apply to learning how to draw a caricature. Don’t exaggerate features that aren’t naturally or easily recognized. For example, if your subject doesn’t have a large nose, don’t give them a large nose. Work on features that can be exaggerated without rendering the person unrecognizable.
A Caricature is a Caricature, if you say it is!
Karen MacLean is a consultant and writer for online and offline businesses. Karen resides in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. http://www.how-to-draw-now.com/
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Corporate Events and Corporate Entertainers
Corporate Events can be anything from a retirement party, a trade show, a sales meeting, a roast of the CEO, a sales meeting, any hospitality event for your clients, the annual holiday party, or a golf outing. Whatever be the corporate events, it involves huge people participation including everyone in your company or office. So to make your corporate event an ultimate success, planning is a must or it is the key to your success.
We, Californiamechanicalbullrental.com, help you to plan and well arrange your corporate event into a big success. We can assist you with corporate event themes, ideas, planning and managing your corporate event. Californiamechanicalbullrental.com provides you with custom invitations, memorable caricatures, life-sized cutouts, and candy bar wrappers. Our designers have many years experience in decorating the corporate events party so that they can easily suggest you how to decorate your corporate event with unique gifts and favors.
In simple words, Californiamechanicalbullrental.com will help you to make your corporate events look organized so that all of your guests and colleagues will enjoy the celebration. With our assistance it is sure you can make you're the evening a memorable one. So don't waste time, feel free to contact us and talk with our guides and corporate event designers to get organized. It is our pleasure to show you our themes to ensure you how you can make your corporate event a great event. You can also seek our designers' suggestions to know how to uniquely make decorations for your corporate event party. We are always glad to help you.
Californiamechanicalbullrental.com is a leading player in the state of California; our immediate area of operation includes all the major and small cities in the state. Anaheim, Berkeley, LA, Fullerton, Danville, Brentwood, Eureka and Irvine are some of those major cities where we have a solid and ever increasing client base.
Planning corporate events party is an important and challenging task. When you are organizing corporate events party you need to be very effective in managing the complete event to make it successful. Californiamechanicalbullrental.com provides you with lots of ideas and corporate events managing tips to help you to plan and successfully manage the corporate events party. We offer a complete set of suggestions for decorating and party favors to add pizzazz to your next corporate events party.
You can contact us through our website, Californiamechanicalbullrental.com, or through phone or in person in our physical locations across California. We insist you to inform us in advance, the corporate event theme (if you have already decided it), your preferred location - if there is any - games and activities required, and any other general suggestions. If you haven't decided your theme, then we will provide you with a number of unique corporate events themes so that you can easily select one which well suits your company. Knowing in advance about your requirements help us to prepare and make the corporate events a sort of customized affair suiting to the picture in your mind. Remember, if you are in California, you are never far from us and we love to hear from you. Your pleasure is our satisfaction.
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Submitted with Article Distributor.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Caricature Artists: Just Kids Party Entertainment?
Most people hear the word caricature and say,”a caricature artist, that’s just for kids”.
With my experience in the party and entertainment business, I can tell you that is a myth.
Adults love being sketched by a caricaturist. I hear from adult woman “make me pretty” as they giggle. They walk around at a high priced wedding, laughing and showing off their picture to others. I can tell you that at weddings a caricaturist is a real icebreaker. You have many people sitting together that do not know each other. When they display their cartoon portrait, they start to open up to each other. Many people have told me having a caricature sketch artist at their wedding made the party more fun. When I tell people I draw caricatures at parties the instantly think it’s just for children. I immediately explain to them the majority of my events are for grownups. The greatest selling point of having caricature artists at a wedding is it’s also a wedding favor. So you get more bang for your buck. You get wedding entertainment and great wedding favors.
And having a cartoon artist is quite reasonable when you figure that you take care of both options.
At Christmas and Holiday parties you hear the comments from people when they see me drawing caricatures. They say “what are we 12 years old”? These are the same people that line up for a caricature later in the party. They tell me they didn’t realize how much fun it is to get drawn. They woman say draw my like Angelina Jolie, the men tell me to draw them like Brad Pitt.
At Trade Shows I get the same comments. Most people say they will never have a caricature drawing because it’s just for kids. These people always break down and get one done. It’s great fun getting a caricature they tell me. They tell me I’m the hit of the event, and caricatures are the best entertainment they’ve seen at a party. Many say, “This is such a fun and original idea”. I hear them saying, “Who thought of this”?
As you draw you can hear all the laughter and humorous comments about the drawings. I start to laugh myself as well. It’s a wonderful feeling to bring a smile to the faces of so many people. That’s what I like about my job.
After so many comments at these events hearing caricatures are just for kids, I guess that adults are just BIG KIDS.
Steve Nyman
Party Caricatures and Caricature Gifts
http://www.aaacaricatures.com
