Japanese Art

A type of art I have always found particularly interesting is Japanese art, especially the more recent, manga art and traditional prints. I am going to focus on these two although there are many other types!

 

Woodblock prints originate back to the eighth century in Japan. Its main purpose was to depict scriptures, particularly Buddhist ones. Until, 1765 the method was primarily used for written text but then new techniques made it possible to use a range of colours in one print. Before this artist had printed in black and white and painted on colours. A woodblock print required four components, the designer, the engraver, the printer, and the publisher. Each colour would require an individual carved wood block, usually cherry wood. And the paper on which it was printed on was created from the bark of a mulberry tree as it is strong and absorbent.

This is an example of a Japanese Woodblock Print

http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum/exhibition/japanese-color-woodblock-prints

Manga is a form of Japanese cartoon/comic which is hugely popular in japan with all age groups and it is quickly spreading in other countries too. The word manga refers to any type of cartoon in Japan but in other countries it is specifically associated with the particular style of Japanese cartoon, it is also referred to as anime. This type of art started out around the late 1940s and early 1950s during the post war period. There are certain materials specific to manga art. For instance manga pens e.g. copic markers or pro markers, what makes them different to other pens is that they are very water based to allowed blending and avoid streaking. For this reason the paper used has to be thick! It is also commonly created through digital art.

This is an example of the books on sale teaching manga art.
http://www.impact-books.com/general/manga/top-10-manga-art