contextual research (older version)

1. Contextual Research

2. Research
My main area of research in terms of the contextual section is ‘artists’ and ‘illustrators’,
more specifically I’ve decided to look at magazines that are centered around the topics of
‘manga’ and ‘mangwa’ which are two different types of comic books and graphic novels
that include imagery.
There are a variety of different artists and each one of them all have their own specific
types of styles when it comes to their work and the products they create in the process.
These are the kinds of things I want to and plan to explore during my FMP and my
research. I hope to take away all that I have learned and develop them into my own
product later on. I don’t think that there is just a specific type of art/artist that I would
want to focus on, so when doing my research I think it would be best to focus on what
interests me the most.
I hope to find a variety of different styles that I’ll be able to implement into my
experiments and then later on in my final production as well. I also want to make sure
that the different kinds of styles and techniques I find are stuff I’m capable of doing since
I wouldn’t want to get to my experiments and/or production and have no idea as to how
to go about re-creating these same styles.

3. Because of the Christmas break and the extended few days we’ve had due to now being in
quarantine, I’ve had a large amount of time to decide on what I want my FMP to be and what I
would like to produce.
I had originally planned to create a short film/documentary regarding mental health and other
social issues but due to quarantine I don’t think that it’s something I’d be able to produce well
due to the lack of resources I have when stuck indoors. However, I remembered that I enjoyed
creating a fanzine in my previous factual work and decided that this was a better idea since it’s
something I’m able to do easily at home. I decided that the overall theme for my fanzine
would be something that I enjoyed e.g. a hobby and/or something I enjoyed looking/reading.
During my previous time creating a fanzine I struggled to come up with a good theme that
could also produce a good product. However I don’t think that I was able to do that with my
previous work due to lack of time and overall lack of motivation. I think that if I’m creating a
product around something that I like and enjoy, I wouldn’t lose any motivation and create the
best work that I could.
I have decided that I would create a fanzine centered around art and illustration or rather
centered around a particular type of art used in particular products i.e. manga and mangwa
which, by definition, is a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels that are typically
either aimed at children or adults. When doing research into these two specific styles I found
a variety of different magazines that are centered around these two topics. An example of this
being ‘Weekly Shōnen Jump‘, a magazine that is typcially aimed at male readers. I think that
creating my own magazine centered around these similar topics is good idea since it will allow
me to create a rather large product with a large amount of informtation that I have either
found or that I already knew. As I have created a fanzine before I think that I‘ll be able to
create a product that will work well during my final major production.

4. Aka Akasaka – Manga Artist/Author
In order to create a fanzine centered around the different art styles used in manga and
mangwa, it’s most important to know about the different kinds of artists and their own takes
on the product(s) that they make. Although I know a variety of different techniques used in
art and illustration, I think that it’s better to look into professionals and see their own takes.
By doing this I’ll be able to see why they choose to do things in certain ways and how they
go about it.
For example Aka Akasaka is a Japanese manga artist, one is his most notable works being a
series titled; “Kaguya-sama: Love is War”, which was published in Shueisha’s ‘Miracle Jump’
between May 2015 and January 2016 but was then transferred to ‘Weekly Young Jump’
starting from March 2016. The story is noted for being quite ‘realistic’ with it’s relatable
characters and overall funny storyline that follows it’s characters. The manga later on went
to be adapted into a 12-episde anime series by A-1 Pictures which aired in Japan between
January and March 2019. Which was followed by a 12-episode second season that
premiered between April and June 2020. A ‘live-action’ adaptation of this, directed by
Hayato Kawai, was also released in Japan during September 2019.
When released into North America, the manga was licensed in English by Viz Media, whilst
the anime adaptation is licensed by Aniplex.

5. Aka is also the author of various other works such as; ‘ib: Instant Bullet’, ‘Oshi no Ko’ and
others. A lot of the art I’ve seen from Aka is rather simplistic but also includes a variety of
different colours. I believe that Aka’s work is helpful when looking at a variety of different
artist since they can range from ‘minimalistic’ and ‘simplistic’ to ‘over-the-top’ and ‘in-your-
face’. I think that finding a variety of different artists rather than just focusing on one or two
who use similar art styles is good since it will allow me to go into detail with my own
magazine as to why certain techniques work with certain themes and looks. I believe that
using a variety of different artist would also make my magazine look more impactful and
unique rather than just using similar images and colours, which is something I had done
when I previously made a fanzine. Because of this, my fanzine didn’t look as I had originally
wanted it to look and also looked rather simplistic.
I will continue to look at Aka’s work when doing my final production as inspiration when
thinking about colour schemes but also when writing my articles.

6. More
Images

7. Hiro Mashima – Manga Artist
The next example I will be using comes from another manga artist by the name of Hiro
Mashima. Born May 3rd 1977, Hiro Mashima is a Japanese manga artist who gained
success with his first work ‘Rave Master’ which was published in Kodansha’s Weekly
Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to 2005. His best selling work, Fairy Tail, which was
published in the same magazine from 2006 to 2017 has become one of the best selling
manga series with over 72 million copies in print. Fairy Tail even won the Kodansha
Manga Award for shōnen manga in 2009.
The manga was later on adapted into an anime series produced by A-1 Pictures,
Dentsu Inc., Satelight Bridge and CloverWorks which was then broadcast in Japan on
TV Tokyo from October 2009 to March 2013. A second series was later on broadcast
from April 2014 to March 2016. A third and final season was aired from October 2018
to September 2019. A prequel by Mashima, Fairy Tail: Zero, was also aired later on
before the final series broadcast in 2018 to 2019.
The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired an English-language version of the
anime for seven seasons from 2010 to 2015.

8. The 175 episodes of the anime that aired from October 2009 to March 2016 were made by
the studios A-1 Pictures and Satelight. However the animation after those episodes changes
due to a change of animation studios (A-1 and Bridge) which is why the animation style
looks different around episode 176 and onwards. The original animation from around 2009
to just before the studio change was colourful. The amount of vibrant colours used in either
the background(s) or even the characters stood out. However in the newer episodes with
the new studio the vibrant colours aren’t seen as much and the overall feel of the show is a
lot darker than it was previously.
I think that looking at two different types of artwork has helped show me just how different
each studio is and how different their own styles are when doing animation. This also
applies to things such as manga and even magazines. These types of styles are something
that I should think about when creating my experiments and with even my final product if I
plan to implement them into it.

9. More Images