Forum - View topicNaruto: Did Kishimoto change his drawing style?
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Adam Kadmon
 Posts: 20 |
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Firstly apologies if this question has been answered before.
Okay, i've been keeping up with the naruto manga like many naruto fans and i've always been an admirerer of the way kishimoto draws and designs his characters and whatnot. Recently i bought the first four volumes of the official Viz release in order to re-read the 'younger' days of naruto and i noticed more than ever how different his art was way back when. Most noticable was the higher use of lines per character in his earlier chapters. (all through 'Part 1 i'd imagine). It appears to be generally..how do i say... "sketchier" in style. To strengthen my point, even when 'young' naruto is drawn in flashback form in Part II, yes he is unmistakeably naruto, but he still looks slightly different due to this new drawing method. Now my question is, did Kishi PURPOSEFULLY change his drawing style for Part II of the manga (in an akira-toriyama esque sort of way, like he did for Dragonball "Z" ) and if so, how do we know? ie. is there an interview with him etc ? I really want to know. Thanks all. |
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BellosTheMighty
 Posts: 767 |
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Well, duh. Of course his style has changed. Every artist's style changes as he evolves as an artist- take a look at some long-running webcomics and this becomes immediately obvious. Mac Hall/Three Panel Soul is the most obvious, as the artist has struggled for years to find a style that suits him, but even more consistent strips like Sinfest are drawn noticably different today then they were at the start.
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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That depends what you'd consider "on purpose." He has always said that he wants to improve as an artist, especially when he finds other artists that he admires. I guess you could say that after drawing so many chapters of Naruto (which he started as a new manga artist) that he has finally honed his skills at drawing. It's like when you practice something over and over, you get better at it -- it's done on purpose but it's just a gradual change. He didn't just wake up and decide to draw differently. You can tell that he starts improving in smaller ways during the Chuunin Exam arc, and you can really see a change after that during the Tsunade arc. But when reading for so many years, you don't really notice the change until the spoiler[chasing Sasuke] arc. |
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Zoe
 Posts: 898 Location: Austin |
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It could also be a side-effect of his assistants as well. Naturally as the manga got more popular, he would get a larger team with possibly different styles than what was there in the beginning.
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BrothersElric
 Posts: 1996 |
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I actually just noticed that recently myself. I've got the first 5 volumes (before it used to be the first 2 I believe, can't remember) but even when I started buying the 3 a month releases, I actually didn't notice until I was just in B&B one day looking at the cover art each volume had from vol. 1 up to where they were at the moment. And as good ad those first 13 or so volumes are art wise, it really does definitely seem to improve as it goes along. It seems a lot more sketchy yes, but I've always thought it looked fairly cartoony than anything else.
The latter volumes, though the covers aren't quite as detailed, just seems to look more refined too me. I don't know, I'm not really all that much of an expert on this sort of thing, but if I had to say anything it looks more like instead of changing styles altogether, it just simply looks more like he knows what he's doing is all. But that's one of the things I really like about what he does with Naruto though. It's like throughout the duration of the series, in both story and art, you really can see his skills as a manga artist improve as the series progresses and develops. As good as he's always been with this series, he really has improved a lot since the very beginning, as has the series itself. |
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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This is one of my favorite things about long shonen manga (or any long running manga in general). I've seen this in just about every long manga I've ever read; I think it just happens to every mangaka as they get more and more used to drawing their characters and their style slowly changes. Usually you don't ever notice it until you go back and look at the older stuff.
Look at Bleach-Everyone at first had angular faces and they were all pretty skinny. Now their faces are rounder and fuller, the eyes are slightly bigger on some characters, and some of the guys just seem bigger, especially Chad and even Uryu. Similar with One Piece. That series has gone through several different styles already. Luffy now and Luffy in volume one look like completely different people. And Chopper went from being kinda fat with smaller head to having a tiny body and huge head (and he's super adorable that way too). Only one I can think of off the top of my head where the change seems really deliberate is Reborn! The series started off with a shoneny look, and now it's really playing up the bishonen styles and softer colors are used on the color pages and covers. I think this happened because it gained a big female fanbase and I guess the mangaka(who is supposedly female) decided she would run with it. As for Naruto, personally I think the current style is rather dull. I've never been a huge fan of his artwork, but I think his earlier style had more personality. The current style isn't bad at all, but it's just...there. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I see what you mean, but his current style looks more traditional to me. His earlier style had more emotion/life (not that his current one doesn't), but I'm one of those artistic types that prefers cleanliness without clutter (or sloppiness), so it's an improvement, imho. |
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HMMcKamikaze
 Posts: 189 |
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It seems reasonable that over time an artist's style will change (as many have said before here).
Sorry to go off topic, but did anyone notice the enormous changes in drawing style in Ai Yori Aoshi? The later volumes just look horrendous in my opinion. I don't really understand why the artist ever drew like that because if there ever was an intentional change, that must have been it. |
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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A good example is Ah! My Goddess. huge evolution in style since the beginnings of the series. To be honest I like the style about the middle of the series. A good example is the OVAs.
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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The biggest change in style I can think of is Murakami Maki in Gravitation. If you put the first volume up beside the last volume, characters are hardly even recognizable anymore.
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rti9
 Posts: 1241 |
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Thankfully we have the view of the girls too. I still remember the shock of reading the initial volumes of Berserk once again. It is interesting to think of the change in drawing style as an evolution, but it should also be interesting to notice the side effects of becoming popular. I'd really like to know how the pressure from the industry and the fans affect the authors. Did any of the mangas mentioned had this change in the character design reflected on the anime version? |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Hey, I'm a girl too! 
Only in the first few episodes of Naruto does the art style look a lot like the manga's original style. Then somewhere after season one, the animators had more consistency in drawing the way the manga looks now. It's almost as if the anime influenced the manga. But I'm not saying that really happened. |
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Shadowrun20XX
 Posts: 1936 Location: Vegas |
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Over his 10 plus years of illustrating Naruto,his style will change.I love Naruto as much as any other fan but I want to see him do something else.He said he was tired of the story line quite a while ago.He also had a Hitman series that I want to see.Hope he gets around to it.
I had a playstation game of Naruto back in 2000.I remember the Manga coming out around 1999.That's just about nine to ten years since he was licensed(counting before he was picked up).Check out the pilot issues of Naruto.His style was really rough then. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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When exactly did he say this? To my knowledge, he hasn't lost any enthusiasm. If you have proof, I would love to see it. (This isn't meant as an attack, I am honestly curious as to when and where he said he was tired of the story.)
You mean the mafia one? I wonder if he's still planning that. 
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Shadowrun20XX
Posts: 1936 Location: Vegas |
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Yeah the Mafia one.I'll see If I can dig up where I had read it.It's was before the second movie was made.He also said something when his brother was making Satan 666.His brother ended that and moved on.I'll look for it. [Update] - I read through a ton of interviews and Kishi plans on fleshing out more of the Naruto universe.He kept mentioning"Next Year"during a 2008 Fiesta Jump interview.I'll have to eat that post until I get up the gall to read through every Naruto manga again.I'm pretty sure what I had read,was in one of Kishimoto's Manga journal entries spread through out the series.According to the Fiesta Jump interview below,Kishi is not going to make mangaka after Naruto is done.Saying he wanted to try other things,video games and messing around with different technology. It sounds like he will drag the story out even more spoiler[(even though it feels like it's wrapping up).He has separate stories planed for Sasuke(current),Sakura and Kakashi.The interviewer asked"Umm,what about Naruto?"Kishi says"Naruto will have to wait."  ] I like the cleaner art style of Shippuden but Kishi's art style will probably change again by the time he gets back to Naruto.IMO,I'm going to say Kishimoto will be pulled back into Manga and Anime,if and when he tries to leave.Kinda like how Hideo Kojima was pulled back into Metal Gear by fan demand.
Link or Google Fiesta Jump 2008 http://www.mangahelpers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=74713#post74713 |
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