Naoki Urasawa's Manben and comic drawing inspiration

[xaviersaxonart]

Hey everybody!

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the japanese documentary series "Manben"? If you draw a manga-style comic or are simply into creating comics I'd highly recommend it. The host of the series is Naoki Urasawa (creator of 20th Century Boys, Monster, Pluto, etc.) and in each episode he interviews a different manga creator while watching footage of them drawing. He has episodes with the likes of Junji Ito, Chiba Tetsuya, Daisuke Igarashi.

I won't post links here since there's no "official" translation and I don't want to get flagged. But it's easy enough to find if you're interested. It's my favourite show and source of inspiration so I thought I'd share.

Are there any shows/books/movies that inspire you to make comics?

[allenT]

Nice!! I've watched near dozen of Manben videos and they're definitely inspirational!

[allenT]

My 1st comic I made was heavily inspired by 90s Sonic cartoons. Then I came across YuYu Hakusho & Ushio & Tora, that dictates my early gory shounen comic phase (I've passed that). I also love the character artstyle of Shaman King. But Hunter x Hunter would be my biggest inspiration by 'learning the manga way'. as a Togashi fan I like to study his panelings.

Story-wise, I like emotional stories from a young person perspective. I like arthouse movies of the 90s~2000s, and also some anime movies.

[thepenmonster]

Manben is a pretty well made look into the process for these guys. Interesting to see how large some of the staff can get and I'm glad they're not completely glossed over to perpetuate some Every Cartoonist is John Galt nonsense thinking.

[sushy00]

never heard of this before, sounds interesting!

[Caro]

I’ve been following it and pushing it on everyone who might be interested since around the time it first came out before there was an english translation but my husband and I are always looking for this type of stuff. Over a decade ago when my husband and I first met we were big fans of the Tezuka documentary Manben was inspired by. I also hoard weird and obscure manga documentaries in general though almost none of them have subtitles.

[MelancholicOtaku]

Yes I use too love watching Urasawa interview manga artist that I knew nothing about,it’s how I found one of my top mangaka Inio Asano

[Kuma]

Manga in Theory and Practice is a great source of inspiration. Is the manga manual by Hirohiko Araki of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Fame. Great resource for comic-book writers and really funny once you realize how many potshots he is taking on half of his contemporaries.

And Understanding Comics by Scott Mccloud is a MUST READ when it comes to sequential art.

[Nugtown]

Hell yeah.

Manben introduced me to Igarashi Daisuke, who makes some of the best stories i've ever read. I really loved the short story Umwelt and the Witches anthology, they are must reads.
Manben also helped me to understand a few more things intrinsic to drawing comics I didn't grasp before.

@Kuma
My favorite part of the book was when Araki talked about getting dogpiled for drawing the wrong kind of train? There are so many good lessons to absorb from this book even if you aren't a shonen author. His book is what helped me to craft a better hook for my own story and to put more emphasis on it in general. I think I gained even more respect for him as an author as well, and I don't even read JJBA.

[Kuma]

You also get the distinct impression he hates Toriyama with a burning passion.

[xaviersaxonart]

Igarashi is awesome! He's been a huge influence on how I draw backgrounds and nature. though I've only read Children of the Sea so far.

[xaviersaxonart]

I gotta check that out. I loved Understanding Comics.

[irresponsiblepics]

Manben is great. Always pop one on to watch if I want to get in the right frame of mind before inking. Fascinating docs and not enough in my opinion.

[VersusVII]

I knew Manben exists but I've never watched it just to not get depressed seeing how the senpai works Maybe I will look for some episodes

[allenT]

Here's Urasawa's channel if anyone's interested. (no old Manben episodes though)

浦沢チャンネル -URASAWA CHANNEL-

[kvlmiv]

dude i used to always watch the inio asano episode on repeat! major inspirations on there

[xaviersaxonart]

The Inio Asano one is maybe the best episode. His dedication is nuts and the way he uses photos is super cool. The Kazuhiro Fujita one is also one of my favourites.

[irresponsiblepics]

They're here to watch online subbed in case anyone wants to be inspired
https://www.naokiurasawa.com/

[river121693]

here's Akira Toriyama full drawing process. Such skills. Hilarious too.

It's from a show called Jump Ryu which is similar to Manben. There're a few vids from the series on Youtube

[powerplantanimations]

If it weren't for Into the Spider-Verse I wouldn't be where I'm at with my career. That inspired me to restart a webcomic I'm currently working on into something more than it is. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is like THE show for me. I love analyzing episodes and small moments whenever I get the chance. Part 5 changed my outlook on how to write villains like the concept of Diavolo and how literally of his men can easily kill him. La Squadra also made me re-evaluate how I have my villains interact with each other. Villain and hero deaths. I thought the idea of doing it anti-climatically was groundbreaking... especially since a lot of shonen anime that I've watched seem to keep a character alive as long as possible. Jojo is anti-fan-service.

The Bible would probably be the ultimate thing for me atm. I'm studying it constantly not just so I can have a firm grasp on my religion... but because I didn't expect it to be like the greatest thing ever narrative speaking? I became obsessed with the idea of books constantly switching prophets/judges/kings and all that frequently. Morality is also interesting because you think figures like Balaam or Absolam would STAY the good guys....until they end up having ulterior motives and wind-up dead. You also got SAUL who I did not expect to turn into a complete psycho to the point where God LEFT him. He was essentially a chosen one... SPEAKING OF WHICH David. Just... David. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON JUDGES. That's like the wild west of the book. Whenever I finish a passage I'm like "MAN, THIS IS GOOD MATERIAL". I can see why my home country is obsessed with this stuff :v

Uhhhhhhh let's see... Prince is actually a big inspiration for me thematically speaking. Same with Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, and Rick James. They taught me how to BE FUN with myself when writing. Bootsy Collins I recommend watching his documentary in "Behind the Tour Bus". The man gets very spiritual with his music. Funk has a very fascinating philosophy behind it that I think more people should probably research? Also I try to make my characters larger than life just like the singers I listed because they act like REAL CARTOON CHARACTERS.

SPEAKING OF WHICH. CHUCK FRIGGIN' JONES. I'm OBSESSED with the Looney Tunes and his "reality kicks in" rule. Also his cartoony artstyle.

Uhhhh... let's see... I take a lot of inspiration from My Name is Nobody when I want to be whimiscal. Macross Plus taught me to do storytelling WITHOUT dialogue... Steve Ditko to think hard to come up with crazy stuff... Suda51 also for over the top characters. James Gunn for blending humor with dark topics while remaining optimistic.