What exactly is the problem with Oda's Art?

[Kaiten]

I think the problem is that, at least for Americans, appreciation for art is always filtered through the Greco - Roman and Renaissance traditions which place a great deal of emphasis on symmetry and idealized beauty. Once upon a time the Baroque movements emphasis on sweeping lines and ornate themes was highly controversial. Even St. Peter's Square in Vatican City was controversial for being an ellipse, rather than a circle. Speaking of, Copernicus incorrectly believed that planets followed perfectly circular orbits around the sun. he believed this not because of scientific data but the belief that the paths of the planets must be perfect circles rather than flawed ellipses. Modern science began when Kepler grudgingly chose to concede that his data suggested elliptical orbits, not hoped for circular paths. As One Piece does not adhere to the ideals of classic art, it is often mistaken as bad art.

I do think there is merit in suggesting there are inconsistencies in his art. He does have a tendency to lose track of scale with characters. While I think he is usually outstanding at designing characters, he does draw the occasional duds. The Neptune brothers being good, recent examples. Not that I am complaining, Oda will make up for it later. Most of his characters are really fun and unique looking.

[hokageji]

Well I must say, I dont have a good eye for art and definately not the right person to judge where the flaws are up or not.

But I have my reasons why I think Oda's art is good.


Among all the mangas, I think Bleach drawings are the best. The characters are well defined and they kinda personify their background or fighting style.

For eg: kenpachi, he looks like a monster who can take in a lot of pain...
Byakuya looks like he belongs to a noble clan...

At the same time, some characters have similar drawings, I felt a lot of characters have almost the same facial appearance....I stopped following bleach and was never really into it, so I dont remm the names...

I cant say that about One Piece. Every character has a distinct appearance. Haachi looks different from Hyozou, though both are octopus fishmen, teh mermaids which cost the blood fountain of death for sanji, each and every mermaid looked unique.

Its my personal opinion that Oda's brilliance isnt about the character drawings, but about the uniqueness of it. Each and every Island is so well detailed, its like a world of its own. That is where One Piece is the best art form for me.

And when compared to Bleach, Naruto and HxH (now the art here sux), its definately the best artwork I see.

[Kaiten]

I also think that creating a unique world, both characters and settings, is one of Oda's strength. That is also one of his strengths as writer, at least in my opinion.

[okaneman]

19-pages a week is hard. 19 good pages a week is nearly impossible.

I'm an art student. A bad one at this point... but even someone as early in their career as me can appreciate exactly what comic artists have to go through. I actually think Oda is doing more favors for the medium than a lot of the "more manga looking" series out there.

I find the people who probably have never even heard of a G-pen or the subject of perspective and are ready to criticize pretty funny. The people who do all that and then read it entirely for free also are even funnier.

fyi for pro artist like oda himself, he got his assistants to do part of the drawings (background, tones, characters, etc.) to make his job easier. 19 pages for a week is a bit much even for pros. i bet he only sketch it and let his assistants do the rest as he chillin' with his whisky... )

[Schabrak]

Oda draws the characters and all moving objects/movement, backgrounds are obviously often drawn by his assistants. He's pretty famous for the white borders around his characters. :P If he didn't put his lifeblood into his work, it wouldn't have become 1#. Miura is just crazy. haha

[junjun2]

I love Oda's art, especially recent years of his color arts. But one thing I don't like recently about One piece is he draws female characters a bit too sexually, for example extreme big boobs and very low-cut pants with Nami, Robin, Shirahoshi, Keimi ..etc. Why does Oda need to do that way? I know he loves big boobs, but I don't want him to bring it to the most selling manga in Japan.

[tret16]

lol, you guys seem to be missing one of the main reasons he writes the manga... It's to make money, and most of the readers of the manga are boys and the best way to keep them interested from a selling perspective is having sexy female characters. I mean yes we care about the plot and the fights and how the story is overall, but you need to remember that he's making a paycheck and for him to make sales is to make sexy character. Give the readers what they want, and there more people that want that type of stuff in the manga then the people that don't. so he gives the readers what they want.

[junjun2]

lol, you guys seem to be missing one of the main reasons he writes the manga... It's to make money, and most of the readers of the manga are boys and the best way to keep them interested from a selling perspective is having sexy female characters. I mean yes we care about the plot and the fights and how the story is overall, but you need to remember that he's making a paycheck and for him to make sales is to make sexy character. Give the readers what they want, and there more people that want that type of stuff in the manga then the people that don't. so he gives the readers what they want.

I understand some fan services for boys are needed. But those are too much these years.
One Piece was the top selling manga from the start. Around volume 20, it reached to more than 2.5 million copies. Sexual parts of female characters were not that emphasized at that time. And another thing, half of the One Piece readers/watchers in Japan is women. There's no need to write many too-big boobs characters for making money. It's jut Oda's interest.

[tret16]

wheather it's his preference or not. people get bored and he's got to change things up. he's making it sexier. most boys like it, your among the few that don't. and i mean there is a lot more that like it.

[masubiladin]

lol, you guys seem to be missing one of the main reasons he writes the manga... It's to make money, and most of the readers of the manga are boys and the best way to keep them interested from a selling perspective is having sexy female characters. I mean yes we care about the plot and the fights and how the story is overall, but you need to remember that he's making a paycheck and for him to make sales is to make sexy character. Give the readers what they want, and there more people that want that type of stuff in the manga then the people that don't. so he gives the readers what they want.

Wow. If a person wanted to make money he would have chosen other job. The people that draw manga are the ones that love to do it. Consider how unlikely a person can make a living out of manga, a wise man would not choose this job if he does not love it. And this is Oda we are talking about. He is a genius. Now if you dont know what you are talking about then ****** you and #$@#%#$%# you.

Edit reason: also whoever make the poll should take a look at it. You are one of the minority. Sad Sad Sad

[Schabrak]

We've already got a sexy Alvida by chapter 100, so you're eleven years to late, One Piece always had some sexy long legged characters, especially from the Baroque Crew saga on, it's just that his style has evolved quiet a lot, that they looked so much better.

[tret16]

Wow. If a person wanted to make money he would have chosen other job. The people that draw manga are the ones that love to do it. Consider how unlikely a person can make a living out of manga, a wise man would not choose this job if he does not love it. And this is Oda we are talking about. He is a genius. Now if you dont know what you are talking about then ****** you and #$@#%#$%# you.

Edit reason: also whoever make the poll should take a look at it. You are one of the minority. Sad Sad Sad

um, wow ok there buddy. no need for swearing. i showed no hostility in my post and so i didn't deserve any in return. Also i said ONE of the reasons. not the only reason. of course you need to love your job if your a manga writter. but you also need to make money so that you can keep doin it. And if that means giving your readers what they like then usually you tend to do it. And from Oda's point of view he most likely doesn't hate giving them what they want when it comes to this type of stuff... lol

So again there was no need to get hostile and lucky for all of us that i'm more mature then most and am not goin to get into a big arguement fued with you for swearing at me and just leave it as you being the only hostile one. Everyone should be able to voice there opinions without having to fear being attacked by others.

[masubiladin]

Lol big argument on an online discussion?
Also the about drawing leggy figures, almost all of the shounen has somewhat that element in it. You know like fairy tail.

[UnknownMugiwara]

@Schabrak - He's style has indeed changed a lot

[meepers4982]

Bleach art can easily get lost in the generic and conventional manga art section (this does not mean to say that there's nothing unique about Bleach art), but certain moments in One Piece can easily seperate its art out of the rest.

uhhh...no. Bleach has a very specific style, just like one piece, its more realistic than others as well, its definitely not an art style i've ever come across upon outside of bleach. The art in bleach and one piece is different but both are very advanced and sophisticated.

on topic: One piece art is absolutely fantastic because it has so many extraordinary angles. Im rereading the manga now and i can just see how much the artwork has improved. I remember how i put off reading one piece for 2 year because of the art, then I started watching the anime to get past that and into the storyline and then i read the manga and its one of my favorite and partially because of the art. One piece has an art style that allows the characters to be super expressive and that isn't something you can get very often, if ever, in a manga.