Best Artwork

[doggygirl_10]

I think that Bleach is the best, personally. (D. Gray-man was second, hahaha. XD)

That is to say, the others are wonderful as well. But, to me, the details are a bit overbearing and take away from the characters, who are already somewhat bland. Kubo once said something similar, about not drawing backgrounds to put more focus on the characters, if I recall. In my opinion, just a simple lack of a background does not mean horrible art. And, when Bleach does show backgrounds they are quite amazing themselves. Plus, the characters are wonderfully designed and unique. Even if the shinigami all wear a uniform, you can still tell them apart easily. And then you have awesome effects, such as the power-ups and fight scenes.

[Roflkopt3r]

saying bleach artwork sucks because of lack of background is bad reason. yea it not the best ever but it got style of characters which is its art style which people find it is successful with.

To quote myself:

I don't mean to critise your choice as itself, but when compared to a work like Vagabond, I cannot see how Bleach could keep up in the depth of detail of all things.

All I said is that I disagree that Bleach has an extraordinary depth of detail, nothing more, I did not rate the overall quality nor said that it would be any bad in other areas than the amount of details.

About the backgrounds I specifically praised Vagabond, because it shows more backgrounds than any other contestant here, including Berserk and Vinland Saga. I don't know a single other manga showing that many - and so very detailled - backgrounds. It's not ment as a deficit for other manga, but as an extraordinarily good point for Vagabond.

I don't think that it takes too much focus away from the characters either, although that's a personal point. In many panels Inoue left a slight white aura around the characters, to distinguish them from the background. He did that pretty well imo, it looks really nice. Here's a really extreme example for it, usually it's smaller:
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...nd-1019746.jpg

[benelori]

Age groups shouldn't affect the art...of course the violence or certain details, yes...but the details of the background, of the characters, great characters are or should be independent...

[street_san]

I'm not going to vote in that section since I only read Bleach (yeah ima shonen-atic xD, but I'll start some of those Seinen manga, they do seem interesting)

But i just want to point something bout bleach since for me, with Fairy Tail, they are the best artwork in the Shonen category.

As some of you mention, it is true that the background of Bleach are quite basic. Nothing really spectacular. But the beauty of the art of Bleach rest in the characters design. I mean, each aspect of the character, human or hollow, are exagerate in a way that give us the possibility to understand the depth of the character, simply by looking at him. Before even hearing what he has to say, the reader is able to grasp a little bit of the philosophy of the character by his design. I don't really know how to explain this, but even though there's not a lot of text in bleach chapters, the art of each character speaks a lot, and give us, the readers, a lot information.

For me, the best artwork isn't only define by the beauty of the art or how much orgasm the image give to our eyes, but it should also be define by the essence of the image, and if that image speaks to the readers or not, and I think that Bleach succeed in that aspect

[Mr. Prince]

Since the Mods asked us to do so, I mashed some randomly chosen pics from my HDD together and put them together. Here is the slideshow:

http://img708.imageshack.us/slidesho...hp?id=057m.png

I tried to give a little overview of the variety that can be found in the masterpiece known as Vagabond. (Though I have to admit I couldn't cover all aspects of Inoue's art or I would have ended up with 30-50 pics. Especially his more abstract/experimenting stuff didn't make the cut here...)

What I tried to display was the generally high technical level of the art: atmosphere, characters, expressions, movements (fights!), backgrounds, architecture and some color pages to show how Inoue handles colors and how brilliant his sense for composition is.

[benelori]

Since the Mods asked us to do so, I mashed some randomly chosen pics from my HDD together and put them together. Here is the slideshow:

http://img708.imageshack.us/slidesho...hp?id=057m.png

I tried to give a little overview of the variety that can be found in the masterpiece known as Vagabond. (Though I have to admit I couldn't cover all aspects of Inoue's art or I would have ended up with 30-50 pics. Especially his more abstract/experimenting stuff didn't make the cut here...)

What I tried to display was the generally high technical level of the art: atmosphere, characters, expressions, movements (fights!), backgrounds, architecture and some color pages to show how Inoue handles colors and how brilliant his sense for composition is.

Awesome...I will make a Berserk one tomorrow...nice job...I will add the link to the opening post as well

[BleachOD]

BLEACH!!! Artwork is like sex on paper!!! It's so great I don't notice the backgrounds are missing till some ornery fan points it out

Kubo use of imagery to tell the story, character design, and epic stances is like wow

Yo how come Until Death Do Us Part, Nurarihyon No Mago and Air Gear wasn't considered? Wow...

[benelori]

BLEACH!!! Artwork is like sex on paper!!! It's so great I don't notice the backgrounds are missing till some ornery fan points it out

Kubo use of imagery to tell the story, character design, and epic stances is like wow

Yo how come Until Death Do Us Part, Nurarihyon No Mago and Air Gear wasn't considered? Wow...

This isn't about consideration...the MH Manga Awards had a nomination process, where members were given time to nominate their favorites in each category...the best 5 in each category, the 5 that got the most nominations continued to the final...the final 5 that you see here is the result of popular choice not individual pick or any kind od consideration

[BleachOD]

This isn't about consideration...the MH Manga Awards had a nomination process, where members were given time to nominate their favorites in each category...the best 5 in each category, the 5 that got the most nominations continued to the final...the final 5 that you see here is the result of popular choice not individual pick or any kind od consideration

Thanks for telling me. I usually just post the fruits of my stalking (color manga. I stalk all the best colorists for panels and I have them by the hundreds..literally) So I am ignorant the selection process

Were they even nominated? I am just wondering because those three mangas have really epic Artwork. Until Death Do Us Part and Nurarirhyon especially...so I was surprised they weren't in the running...


Er is there a thread that will tell me more about the nomination process?

[benelori]

Thanks for telling me. I usually just post the fruits of my stalking (color manga. I stalk all the best colorists for panels and I have them by the hundreds..literally) So I am ignorant the selection process

Were they even nominated? I am just wondering because those three mangas have really epic Artwork. Until Death Do Us Part and Nurarirhyon especially...so I was surprised they weren't in the running...


Er is there a thread that will tell me more about the nomination process?

Yep...check the OP of the general MH Awards thread...the nominations were posted in that thread,so you could search for them...

[Googlez_kun]

Bleach-Bleach is very stylish.Just take the newest color page as an example:

I like that aspect about Bleach,but that's not enough for me.As others mentioned before,Bleach lacks backgrounds and Kubo does not try to change that either.I mean,he used a desert setting for several years and most of the fights are in the sky,so that Kubo just has to paste a sky tone.The panels are too big,he often draws only eyes,the buildings are nearly completely white and most of the attacks are just white lazy beams or explosions.There is not really anything that amazes me.As for the colorspreads,they are pretty lazy as well.KT just chooses a random background and his characters stand around like models in nice clothes.Voting for it is like spitting on the other nominees for me(sorry Bleachfans^^').

Berserk
Berserk has a lot of details and the art is great,but it seems rather sloppy to me.Not that it's ugly,but it's not technically great.It has a rough style,which gives me that impression sometimes.However,this rough style does portray the world and all the monsters perfectly.The double-spreads are amazing and they have an epic feeling.I have to admit that i haven't read many chapters,so i just have a small idea of its art.

D.Gray-Man
I like it quite a lot.It's similiar to Tegami Bachi,which i nominated for this category.(Tegami Bachi's art is not that great,but i thought it at least deserved a mention.)D.Gray-man's art is a hit and miss.Hoshino is changing her art style a lot.Sometimes it looks wonderful(the Ark-arc had a neat style),but sometimes it might also look terrible(the latest chapters were not really my thing tbh).I like that she is constantly trying different things and that she tries to evolve,instead of sticking to one style.I also love the way she uses black and the color pages are always fascinating and kinda artsy.She lives this manga as an artist through and through,which is a joy,even though it has the disadvantage that you can't follow the manga sometimes...

Vagabond
Vagabond's art is so amazing it scares me.Inoue's artistic abilities are marvelous.The art is very detailed without looking like a mess.The correct anatomy,the shadings and the backgrounds make it seem very real,while Inoue still manages to include his own style.The action scenes are detailed,dynamic and make sense.Inoue also never dissapoints with his watercolor colors and his brushwork is awesome as well.Mr.Prince's little summary of his art gave quite a good idea of the art and there is more to it.You could even manage to read the whole manga even if you hate the characters and the plot,because of the magnificant art.I could go on and on and on and the others mentioned most of it already,so i disgress.I just love the art.
My vote goes to Vagabond.

Vinland Saga
I recently started Vinland Saga and the art impressed me.I like all of the little details like those little scars on their hands from working.The author also once mentioned that he wonder how they cut their nails or how they had healthy teeth without having toothbrushes.That interest in detail reflects in the art of the manga.The fighting scenes are amazingly well drawn and the backgrounds(which are kind of important for the story) are wonderfully depicted as well.I would put it on a similiar level as Berserk.There are some things i prefer in Vinland Saga and there are some things i prefer in Berserk.

[saladesu]

Greetings The MangaHelpers Manga Awards 2010 was concluded just a few days ago, and I'm sure all of you have had ants in your pants waiting for the results. Thanks to your nominations and votes, we now have our winners! Which manga won the award of Best Artwork? First, let us turn back the pendulum to when the Awards first began...

The nominees we had in this category were: Bleach, Berserk, D.Gray-Man, Vagabond, Tegami Bachi, Nurarihyon no Mago, Vinland Saga, Fullmetal Alchemist, Blame!, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!, Ultra Heaven, I''s, Mahou Sensei Negima!, REAL, Umineko Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch, Claymore, Hajime no Ippo, Me and the Devil Blues, XXXHolic, Blade of the Immortal, The Breaker, Trinity Blood, Air Gear, Ao no Exorcist and Oyasumi punpun!! Bleach led the pack once again with 7 nominations, with Berserk coming in a close second with 5 nominations.

The votes were terribly close, but only the top 5 made it to the voting round. Joining Bleach and Berserk we had... Vagabond (4 nominations), Tegami Bachi (4 nominations) and Vinland Saga (3 nominations)!

Before I tell you who actually won, let me tell you what our STARs and STAFF decided! STARs is our brand new ultra-cool term for our resident Scanlators, Translators, Artists and Reviewers!!! The MangaHelpers Staff includes MangaHelpers, Global Moderators, Administrators and MH Senpai! Interestingly, both these groups of people (votes counted separately) decided that the manga with the Best Artwork is...

A TIE BETWEEN...
VAGABOND!!!


AND...
BERSERK!!!

Alright then, let's get down to business proper! So without further ado... You, the invaluable members of the MangaHelpers community (by the way, this includes both the STARs and the STAFF) have cast your votes!! And the winner of the BEST ARTWORK category is...!!!

VAGABOND!!!

Congratulations to Inoue Takehiko for his breathtaking artwork in VAGABOND!! Vagabond truly deserves the title of Best Artwork, having won in all categories be it the STAFF, STARs or overall votes! You can watch a slideshow of Vagabond's great artwork here! Thank you Mr. Prince!

"Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye."
-Miyamoto Musashi

To all the members of MangaHelpers who nominated or voted, thank you so much for your participation in this project! This project would not have been possible without you!

Till next time!