Does Being an Anime Artist Mean You Can't Draw Realism???

This assumption really gets on my nerves, because I was personally discriminated against in high school for being an artist who also drew anime. There was an unfair assumption on the part of the art department in my school that drawing anime meant that a student wasn't capable of drawing realism...that all that person could do was copy from an existing style.

I was rejected twice from the art honor society in my school for the assumption that just because I liked drawing anime, I wasn't a real artists, and thus not up to par with the other artists in the club who drew more "legitimate" things.

However, they make it sound as though drawing decent anime were an easy thing to do. BUT newsflash...its NOT. Drawing anime is just as hard, if not harder than drawing realism. Case in point, drawing realism is just copying from real life anyways. If you don't have the techniques and practice, you wouldn't be able to draw decent anime anyways. Drawing anime means that you should have a grasp on human anatomy, not to mention perspective and what not. I don't think its fair to relegate artists who draw anime as JUST anime artists, because I know for a fact that many artists who draw anime are just as good, if not better at drawing realism.

The first quarter of AP studio art, my teacher gave my an A+ in the class for my work. After my parents let my teacher know that I drew anime during parent teacher conferences, I never got an A+ again...

Does anyone else feel discriminated against for drawing Anime?


Example of my realism art:




Example of my anime art:




My feeling is that drawing realism and drawing anime go hand in hand. If you're good at one thing, you get better at the other. Its kind of like cross training in sports.

*irritated* right so i have a few questions for you! now did you happen to show any of you actual anime influenced work to this teacher? or they just took it on what your parents said. and also you were still doing the same type of stuff as before then ne?

cause if those two are the case then you should take this up with the dean. thats being incredibly biased. a teacher cannot GRADE you work based on what you do on your free time. they are only allowed to grade on whats being turned in. and if what your doing is like your first example then the teacher can honestly get in very serious trouble for being such a biased prick.

quite honestly i would bring you parents with you and speak to the principle. what you choose to do in your free time shouldn't be a basis for your grade.. that will transfer to university's, and later possibly a job in art.

*fumes* i think your teacher is a complete and total ass. like you i also believe that a lot of styles in art go hand in hand and in improving one you are ultimately improving all the styles you draw in. Look out on the job markets today. the thing in art thats up and rising IS anime influenced art.. THATS what sells! *bitch slaps your teacher*

0__0

Wow. That... teacher... it would be hard to pin it on him though since you can't prove what people think. Unless people who were obviously doing more poorly than you ended up getting better grades. I can't say that I've ever had that problem, on the other hand I don't think my normal teachers know that I draw anime that much and the fact that I don't tell them probably means I don't want them to know? :F... But in high school my art teacher was REALLY supportive of everything I did even if it had hints of anime in it. So I guess I've had it pretty good.

I do get the feeling that many people view anime as an inferior art. I don't understand that. It's a style like any other style. Like you mentioned, there needs to be good understanding of anatomy in order to bend it to your liking and still have it look good.

Actually by now even the term "anime" is getting on my nerves when it's applied (sometimes incorrectly) to such a broad spectrum of things and then labeled as that "other stuff" and not considered with the rest of art >__<;;

Oh wait I just remembered that my parents are the ones who did the looking down upon D:... they always said something like "are you drawing that japanese crap again?" and told me that it'll never get me anywhere and something about flipping burgers for the rest of my life. They turned out to be a lot more supportive nowadays though.

/joins in with jitsumi at the bitchslapping of your teacher >O/

I really hate the "us and them" mentality that so many artists have when it comes to style, media, subject matter, etc. I consider myself a realism artist (in my painted works, at least - my sketches are more cartoony, I think) and there are tons of anime artists who can draw circles around me! I feel that some artists look down on others to make themselves feel elite rather than simply embracing the shared joy of creating and acknowledging the underlying talent.

I hope you someday have the opportunity to have a "nanner nanner na-na" moment with that teacher as you're enjoying great success with your work. If you're not already, you definitely will soon! Your work is beautiful, both styles!

Anime is way harder to draw than R/L objects :]
anime drawers have a real talent and have worked hard

Originally Posted by Rawrr__x

Anime is way harder to draw than R/L objects :]
anime drawers have a real talent and have worked hard

I disagree. I find RL harder to do than anime, actually. -.o But if you find realism so very easy to do I'd love to see a sample of your realism vs. your anime. I'm curious. Explain how you do your realism such that it is "way" easier than anime?

I enjoy doing both, both are different to work with, but RL takes more time, for me. It is also considerably more annoyingly difficult for me. I think that depends on the person though. For me anime takes about 1/3rd the time it takes me to do realism, and that is why when I do commissions, RL, or for online, I charge a considerable amount less for the anime than for realism. For me, I charge based on two main things: Cost of materials, and the amount of time & effort it takes.

Portrait RL
Anime--Chobits
Hybrid

Originally Posted by ScarletStratholme

I disagree. I find RL harder to do than anime, actually. -.o But if you find realism so very easy to do I'd love to see a sample of your realism vs. your anime. I'm curious. Explain how you do your realism such that it is "way" easier than anime?

I enjoy doing both, both are different to work with, but RL takes more time, for me. It is also considerably more annoyingly difficult for me. I think that depends on the person though. For me anime takes about 1/3rd the time it takes me to do realism, and that is why when I do commissions, RL, or for online, I charge a considerable amount less for the anime than for realism. For me, I charge based on two main things: Cost of materials, and the amount of time & effort it takes.

Portrait RL
Anime--Chobits
Hybrid

Hmm, I think both have their hard points. For me, it would depend on what sort of realism and what sort of anime I were drawing at the time that would determine which one were harder. I think both have the potential to be difficult to draw.

I wouldn't jump to the hasty conclusion that anime is always going to be easier than realism.

I think it depends on the person and what they work the most with. Some people are really speedy at realism and may struggle at other styles while other people may speed through comic or anime style, but be painfully slow at realism. I'd think you'd be fastest at what you were most comfortable with, though I could be wrong - it's probably different for everyone. I think a lot of people also just clump all non-anime styles into the realism department, when they're actually not so much.

I think it takes great skill to do either. I admire anime artists - that's a style that I've never been able to really pull off!

I think it depends on the person as to which is more difficult for that person. I think for me, one is easier than the other, but I wouldn't go as far to say that either are "easy." Cause truth be told, neither are really "easy."

But for me, anime is quicker, smoother.

Realism sometimes is a pain in the ass. I've rarely had the case where the anime piece was so complicated, so weird that I dropped it because of difficulty. I've dropped realism pieces, because it was so frustrating, so annoying at times. =/

For me, anime is more flat, so it is easier for me to do than realism. Realism is a bit harder I'm not sure why exactly. Part of it may be I keep wanting it to be more and more and more and more real. It results in me adding more and more and more and more and more detail. And still sometimes it feels not finished.

For me, anime stops when the line stops. I color it in, I shade it however I like, I add small details, but it is more precise for me, it feels more clean cut. Realism for me is a little like a blob, like clay. You shape it and shape it and shape it and STILL there is more to be shaped. And if you change the angle a bit, you're not so sure you like it anymore. =/

Ah, I see.

As for me, I've been trying to change the way I draw anime, and add things that I learned while drawing realism into it.

I really admire squareEnix's style, because although their style is still considered "anime-esque", it is also heavily HEAVILY influenced by realism as well. I hope that I can also sucessfully blend the two together into a cohesive whole like square has been able to.

:3 I generally like semi-realism... I guess my style was never straight anime to begin with though. Then again its very hard to define "anime".

Hmm. I dunno. One is more difficult for me than the other, but weirdly realism is rarely as gorgeous as anime. Anime still holds the sparkles, the shine, the soft glows etc.

*Tilts head to one side & shrugs* I like em both. I just suck more at one than I suck at the other, and it effects the amount of time and effort I have to dump into one vs. the other. It isn't a "zomg anime is better" or "omg nuh uh, realism's better!"..it's just a "For Scarlet, realism's harder." :) It varies, like everyone's already prolly said and thought, depending on your background. Things like what you started with, how you prefer to paint, or draw, and what you watch lots of, what you love doing most...cause what you love you will do better in usually.

My appologies. I never meant any disrespect, Prodigy Bombay; sorry if it came out that way. I really do love your lines, your style, your anime; I admire it greatly. Yours was the first headshot I bought for one of my favorite WoW characters ever; I spent over a year on that character, and she is better geared than even my grand marshal, which several thousand PvP kills to his name. She's one of my favorite healers. Wouldn't have asked for her to be in anime if I didn't like anime.

Oh wow, this topic... >.> I have a looot to say on this.

I've been lucky. My teachers have always been kind to me in terms of style because I always make sure to include both in my portfolio. i've grown up in an art world that's not draw0what-you-see. it's "make-something'more". So I've taken that into account and I'm trying to go beyond both.

However, it just leads to uneducated people - that is, my PEERS - to think "oh, anime artist" or "oh, realism artist". Get this, at school, I lost yearbook editor position because they thought I'd do an anime yearbook despite my having taken graphic design at a university level. And on Gaia, people always think my style isn't cute enough. Haha.

SO, like, cater to the elite, and I'm fine, but cater to the masses and they can't help but stick you in a slot because it's easier for thier dumbass brains to remember.

I'm SUPER bitter about this if you can't tell.

Oh, and personally, in terms of being harder. Realism is harder simply becaus eI need to pay more attention while drawing and coloring (like Strath said, flats are quick). It also requires a lot more research effort (yes, research for art *GASP*) than just making something up right out of your head. Then again, I cen never make my anime drawings look in anime-proportion or shiny enough. So realism takes longer, and I find it to be more rewarding, but anime I can't get right.

That said, I think pure, stereotypical anime's uglier than realism. Those girls, in real life, would break thier limbs just walking down the street - I can't be attracted to that. Same with those OMFWTF eyes. Like, you put eyes taht big on someone real and it's not cute, it's DISTURBING. (yes, I like art that I find persoanlly attractive, lol. I am terrible).

That all in all said, I like artwork that I can tell who did it. Fuck categories. "this work is strath's" "this work is PB's". That's in my mind, waht makes a good artist.

Originally Posted by ProdigyBombay

Ah, I see.

As for me, I've been trying to change the way I draw anime, and add things that I learned while drawing realism into it.

I really admire squareEnix's style, because although their style is still considered "anime-esque", it is also heavily HEAVILY influenced by realism as well. I hope that I can also sucessfully blend the two together into a cohesive whole like square has been able to.

I honestly see the Squeenix style as realism rather than anime. The only thing being that it has the Asian-association (anime being asian, squeenix also being asian), and also the ideal/attraction points touched on by Squeenix designs are akin to those found within anime culture. (girly boys, large-breasted but prepubescent-looking girls, BESM, etc).

;__; I'm so sorry to hear that pb! T__T That teacher...ptw?! I've gone through a lot, but it was always for the better. My teachers have all been supportive of me, but that didn't mean they ceased to critique me. I've been critiqued so much as well as had 90% of my painting painted over by a teacher to the point I couldn't stop crying. Lost many contests and looked down upon for drawing anime too.
But, there was always someone who admired me for being able to do realism as well as anime. My 5 art teachers in hs are like that right now so I get a lot of support from them so I'm really blessed with great teachers. I wish your teacher would learn from my fine arts teacher who is 100% traditional and hates anime-esque drawings, but she knows I'm learning and wanting to learn the traditional as well so she accepts my non-traditional drawings as well (though I think I'm the only one she approved of so far for digital drawings ^^;; ).

8D;; About the anime vs. realism thing..I personally think both are equally difficult in different ways. For me, both the same amount of time to get the same amount of quality. Realism, the detail and the subtleness of shading in just the hand is painstalking. However, in anime, it's much simplified. So where to get that "ompg.." reaction from? To come up with that solution alone is painstalking DD8;;. There's so much more that can be listed, but I'm too tired and need to stop typing but draw >3<;;; byes~!

Yes, I've felt that a lot of people look at anime art as inferior to realism. I think they almost have a point since I personally believe realism is harder than most anime styles just because anime has less lines and there's such a wide variety of styles almost anything goes. Realism, you have to make it look believable; say you're trying to draw a human, for realism you can't just draw a "representation" of a human like you do in cartooning, you have to try and get an extremely accurate portrait of a human being. I find that really hard. Everytime I've tried realism I think I'm drawing a cartoon again. XD;; It's frustrating.
BUT, art in an "anime" cartoon style still has the power to impact people emotionally! So I do definately think it is unfair when people think you do not have true talent if all you draw is cartoon/anime style.

I think the younger masses who flock to drawing anime because it's "cute and simple" have biased the art world against anime artists. When I was majoring in art I used to get picked on by my fellow studio art and illustration majors because in my free time I did anime/manga projects. Because I wanted to go into animation (a major not offered at my uni--I was planning on transfering) I tried to do as many of my projects in a simplified style (that was closer to Disney than anime) as my professors would allow. The other students would be really harsh on me, especially during life drawing classes, painting, etc. They treated me like I'd never seen a real human before, never drawn from life before. I was constantly being accused of "copying"--they'd say things like my stills were good... for a copier.

Most of my professors were pretty understanding--they knew what my ultimate goal was and they were willing to help me get there. I didn't want to be a fine artists so they weren't pushing fine arts on me. It was my figure drawing II professor who had a problem--he down graded all of my projects, ripped apart my pieces like I had no idea what I was doing. He'd tell me that drawing real people isn't easy like drawing my "silly cartoon people" and that I better stop "playing around" or I'd never get ahead in the art world.

So when I couldn't afford to transfer and my uni passed on adding animation as a major, I switched majors and I stopped drawing for about two years.

I just don't understand: I may have started out drawing silly fanarts but that doesn't mean I can't do realism! They are just different stlyes. Each take years of practice and studying to master. Some people think that anime artists can't draw realism because when you first start out trying, yeah, your realism still has the look of anime for a while. You have to teach yourself a completely new skill, a new way of drawing new way of seeing.

I find the whole thing... discriminatory. Pointless, stupid.

My brain is going to explode. I Can't make sense of myself.

Originally Posted by ProdigyBombay

There was an unfair assumption on the part of the art department in my school that drawing anime meant that a student wasn't capable of drawing realism...that all that person could do was copy from an existing style.

technically isnt drawing realism copying an existing style since youre just drawing things the way they appear in real life

heh

unfortunately, for the most part people who learned to draw copying anime CAN'T do realism and it's only because they have anime-esque proportions engraved in their skulls and it's a thing they can't get over. they draw eyes way too big or the limbs too long or some bad habbit that was taught to them by drawing anime before they did realism.

there are a few who CAN, though that doesn't mean everyone who draws anime can do realism well. anytime someone is pre-programmed to draw a certain way it's hard for them to break out of that. anime people get the same shit thrown at them that marvel comics people do and they both have the same problem. they're brainwashed like zombies to do things a certain way and it's harder for them to learn to draw what's in front of them without thinking a lot about the form. 9 times out of 10 a person who has never drawn anything in their lives and is super disciplined catch on much faster than those who went to an art school knowing how to draw comics and such.

if a professor says that anime is "inferior" to realism i don't know what to say there. if someone spent their teenage years mimicking the style of beavis and butthead or king of the hill and everything they drew was the way that mike judd does then i'm sure they'd say the same thing [even though his proportions and facial variations are a little closer to life than anime]. anime is frowned upon because it's become so popular and because most people assume that if a person can draw anime they are god [this is of course until they go to art school and are constantly bothered for it]. i think it's fair in a way. that's the way you'll be treated once you try and apply for a job with an anime-styled portfolio. no one in the states will look at it, unfortunately.

realism is the basis for EVERYTHING! it doesn't matter what style you end up dipping into, if your realism is shit then everything else you do won't be as good as it can be.

light also got rejected by an art school...

...

though light thinks it's mostly coz light submitted a crappy portfolio. lol.

anime and realism both have their own challenges as styles of art. i think. though depending on the audience, there's always bias pro and con the style. like woe said, communities like gaia, for example, has a bias pro-anime... whilst most ppl in rl has bias pro-realism. ish.

to heard that pb's art style got dismissed just because it's animeish is really making me angry though. > : (

BAH TO THAT TEACHER. BAH D: D: D:

Now Really,but you anime drawing style will affect you realistic style and vice versa But i like both examples but the anime style one surpasses the realistic one in my opinion.

Magaly: I kinda have to disagree there... Most of the "anime" artists I admire happen to be extremely good at realism... a lot of them improve dramatically with figure drawing classes (as should most people).

Stilettolover: It makes my brain explode to hear that too >_<;;

Honestly it's just a STYLE... no style is inherently worse or better than any other style. Other than realism, there's still SO MANY other styles out there like cubism, impressionism, abstract, pop art, surrealism I can go on, but the point is while I may not like all of the above styles I don't go around bashing people for attempting them. I think it's great and interesting to mimic different styles -> something that's actually encouraged in art classes sometimes so you can pick up on new skills etc.

Oh this is offtopic but some people seem to assume there is only realism and anime out there. They may not say it in direct words but the thought is there. And that's not true either :/.

Like I said before, most of my teachers were really responsive :f someone did a final design project on all of miyazaki's work and it was awesome to no end <3.

Originally Posted by magaly

unfortunately, for the most part people who learned to draw copying anime CAN'T do realism and it's only because they have anime-esque proportions engraved in their skulls and it's a thing they can't get over. they draw eyes way too big or the limbs too long or some bad habbit that was taught to them by drawing anime before they did realism.

there are a few who CAN, though that doesn't mean everyone who draws anime can do realism well. anytime someone is pre-programmed to draw a certain way it's hard for them to break out of that. anime people get the same shit thrown at them that marvel comics people do and they both have the same problem. they're brainwashed like zombies to do things a certain way and it's harder for them to learn to draw what's in front of them without thinking a lot about the form. 9 times out of 10 a person who has never drawn anything in their lives and is super disciplined catch on much faster than those who went to an art school knowing how to draw comics and such.

if a professor says that anime is "inferior" to realism i don't know what to say there. if someone spent their teenage years mimicking the style of beavis and butthead or king of the hill and everything they drew was the way that mike judd does then i'm sure they'd say the same thing [even though his proportions and facial variations are a little closer to life than anime]. anime is frowned upon because it's become so popular and because most people assume that if a person can draw anime they are god [this is of course until they go to art school and are constantly bothered for it]. i think it's fair in a way. that's the way you'll be treated once you try and apply for a job with an anime-styled portfolio. no one in the states will look at it, unfortunately.

realism is the basis for EVERYTHING! it doesn't matter what style you end up dipping into, if your realism is shit then everything else you do won't be as good as it can be.

Lol. I am really with you. Like, there are so many anime artists who can't do realism for crap and then rbag about how EFFIN' AMAAAAAZING they are, that they're giving those that can a really bad reputation.

And yeah, haha, waht can be the base of all art except that which is real?

8\ Yeah..about the people who CAN'T draw realism...those are the n00bs who THINK they know, who THINK they can draw anime, who THINK they have the right to be called anime artists. Those are the ones who give the rest who are actually serious about the so called 'anime style' (wtp IS anime style? It ranges so much...I'd like to think mine more as semi-realism) a bad reputation. But you know what? I think they do have the ability to draw realism if they weren't so narrow-minded and actually embraced realism. I've lived with anime all my life, yet I was still able to supress my love to draw rendered versions of reality and learn how to copy from life. If given the time and effort, anyone can learn realism.

No. I draw both styles just fine.

I'm actually better in still life realism than I am with anime traditional media wise.