How is Fujimoto’s storytelling ability? Are there any manga artists whose storytelling ability is similar to or better than Fujimoto’s?

This question can be divided into two parts. The first part is to evaluate Fujimoto’s ability in storytelling, and the second part is to talk about some other excellent examples of storytelling. This kind of controversial topic must be asked by us, right? After all, what is the point of everyone doing Tai Chi? I will throw a brick for you. In the future, you will definitely be able to write better discussions about my content.

Because what I write is more direct, and then it is more difficult topics. It is inevitable that there will be mistakes in writing, so please don’t like it, and don’t give professional certification or the like, because we are amateur readers, so we dare to talk like this. Opinion , I still have a number on this matter.

The image power of Fujimoto

“Mirroring power” is a rather narrow term, so I use the term ” image power “. For cartoonists, their work can be divided into the following two major parts:

concept image
draw images

So the evaluation here is naturally divided into two parts:

What a good image you can come up with
How well is the image drawn?

The so-called “storytelling power” is a part of “drawing images”. To evaluate the storytelling power and the ability to draw images, in the end, you have to figure out what kind of images the cartoonist is imagining. And it is obvious here that if the cartoonist’s original imagination is very simple, and it is not easy to draw well, then it is difficult to distinguish whether it is not “conceiving image power” or “drawing image power”. After all, there is not only the situation of “can’t think of the picture”, but also the situation of “can’t draw it, so it’s easier to think”. If there is a limit and an insurmountable point of our appreciation, it is here.

Let’s talk about a general conclusion first, Fujimoto is a cartoonist with first-rate image conception and second-rate image drawing ability . This conclusion is the result of the current (2022.8) observation and is also the view of the current vine tree (rather than the vine tree of a certain period in the past).

Basically, the newly emerging cartoonists who have been recognized and loved by Chinese-speaking readers in recent years are all better at conception than drawing. Everyone likes to say “it’s okay to draw badly but the content is good”, but it’s actually inaccurate. There are very few popular works that can’t really be drawn. Everyone gives various examples, such as Isayama, one, Yu Feng… They are all cartoonists with good image conception , and they are not “good” but “very good”. The works that have been well-reviewed in recent years are relatively ordinary in terms of drawing. In fact, I feel that it is “Miss Kaguya Wants Me to Confess”.

In the final analysis, everyone’s understanding should not be polarized. For comics, ” painting and content ” are inseparable. Except for very special works, they are inseparable at all. Everyone’s appreciation should also be separated from the most basic and common Chinese discussions in the past few years. The appreciation theory of ” cutting a picture and saying that the mirror is good / the painting is good “, if we have the conditions, what we should appreciate is actually: read a paragraph/word comic , grasp the content of the image that the author wants to draw, and infer the level of his drawing through the content of the image .

So, I will use a few specific examples to illustrate this topic for you. Let me tell you three points of criticism and three points of appreciation . I won’t touch on Ah Shu’s works before “Flame Fist”.

When writing praises, let’s start with the shortcomings, and let’s take it slow.

Criticism 1: Construction of Spatial Locations

Appreciate the source: “Chainsaw Man” Chapter 15

There are two main events to draw in this part, one, the circulation staircase ; the other, the circulation room .

For the circular staircase, Fujimoto’s idea is to use the crowd as a reference, and let the characters continue to climb the stairs and then meet again. There is no problem with the idea, but the drawing is quite general . Especially the drawing of the first passerby man going down the stairs, it is very casual. Can you see that the middle frame is actually drawing “character turning” ? Some details, such as the wrong direction of the character’s body and limbs (you can compare the different head directions of Himeno and passerby characters), put them aside for the time being. This kind of ” adventurous encounter ” has no atmosphere at all in the work. Why, many details can be said, but the biggest reason is the “plan view” style mirror design . This kind of adventure, you don’t have to have a subjective perspective or an over-the-shoulder perspective and then bring some perspective and light and shadow painting. What do you mean by drawing this floor plan?

The design of the second “circulation room” is even more clumsy in design, and the complete error in the spatial position will not be mentioned (can you see that Xiaohong is standing at the entrance of the stairs), and it can be done without any problems. The atmosphere is really good too . Twist the perspective to Xiaoxiaohong’s subjective perspective. One page is divided into three grids. The first grid is Xiaoxiaohong watching Qiu rush into the room. The second grid is closing the door. Do you think it can’t be opened like this ?

The content design is very good, and the image I think is not bad, but the painting is smudged. Regarding this kind of delicate design in the room and stairs, please read more about JOJO , especially recommend the “soft and wet” stand-in battle of “JOJOLION” to see how to design and draw complex, anxious, Wonderful adventure.

Fujimoto during this period was the most confused and the worst period in his career, and soon he stopped drawing this kind of plot .

Criticism point 2: there is no way to draw the action

I have talked too much about this before, as long as you are a little familiar with Ah Shu’s works, you will know this basic fact. It’s really not a good idea , and it must be regarded as the overall level among jump cartoonists.

As a manga artist who can’t draw shoes well, I think he is also very distressed. The most disheartened period is the early stage of “Chainsaw Man”. When did Ashu fans realize that the early stage of “Chainsaw Man” was basically Asshu’s black history, when did it really count as progress.

In the later stage of “Chainsaw Man”, Fujimoto gradually explored the way to play poses. Fortunately, he felt very good about drawing poses and large leaflets, so he also produced a lot of well-received content.

Please note that “action drawing” is an extremely broad concept. If one person can’t draw actions alone, it may involve a lot of joint problems . Mirror Design:

This is a typical manga where the basic image understanding is immature, and even the characters and the direction of movement of the screen cannot be figured out immediately , just trying to draw the horizontal PAN mirror in his mind on the paper, how can you draw manga like this . This kind of messy storyboard that appeared in the early stage of “Flame Fist” and “Chainsaw Man”, you will see it in the second part of “Chainsaw Man”, “Looking Back”, “Goodbye Pear”, and “Chainsaw Man”. ?

But I have to tell everyone that the video is still beautiful .

Criticism point 3: The “sense of air” in the works is not strong

This is a bit mysterious. Different people have different understandings of the word “sense of air”. In my discourse system, it means that the silent emotion in the air is not strong enough .

Here I bring you a set of comparisons, the two sides of the comparison are:

Chainsaw Man Chapter 80 “Dog’s Mood”
Naruto Chapter 405 “The Remaining People”

The plots in these two episodes are: Qiu’s death and Jiraiya’s death, depicting the mood of Denji and Naruto . Coincidentally, these two words have a very similar storyline – eating ice cream . Let’s first take a look at the play of “Chainsaw Man”:

Do you think the painting is good? Come and see “Naruto”, which is despised by everyone :

From the arrangement of the lines, the drawing of the panels, and the content of the interspersed scene panels , I don’t think there is any suspense at all that it is a high-level design . This is “Naruto”, which is said to be “mouth gun ninja” and “does nothing except fight well”. In contrast, “Chainsaw Man” is simply long-winded + dependent on lines + will not be divided .

Let me show you a stronger one, from the 26th chapter ” Here ” in ” Night of the Fools “. This episode is about the protagonist’s friend who suffered a stomach injury and was critically ill, and the protagonist was worried about his friend’s physical condition and had nightmares .

What is the gushing emotion ! In the content of several consecutive pages, the male protagonist hardly has a line, and there is not even an obvious change in expression. And the complex, strong and majestic emotional changes of the male protagonist, don’t you understand deeply ?

Fujimoto, who is considered by many readers to have extremely delicate emotional expression, is not delicate in his emotional expression. In my opinion, the emotions of Fujimoto’s works are huge, rough but complex and accurate . Fujimoto can deduce very good character emotions in the works, but it often requires a series of plots . To give some examples where Fujimoto is particularly strong, for example, the super classic “Lesser” of “Chainsaw Man”, and the 52nd chapter “Loveless Flower Chainsaw”, this chapter is very strong as a whole, but this chapter is not special. Strong or very strong emotions .

The reasons for this are very complex , mainly the following three points:

Fujimoto is not particularly good at using scenery and environment to express
The plot and character design of Fujimoto’s works have special needs
Fujimoto will be more inclined to design a series of lyrical paragraphs

For the first point, this is a relative evaluation . Compared with Fujimoto’s first-class emotional expression ability, his comprehensive utilization of scenery and environment is indeed relatively backward. I think this is mainly because Fujimoto is not particularly good at drawing backgrounds, environments and scenes, which makes the overall sense not so good . Later, I will introduce you to Yukio Nikaidou , an up-and-coming manga artist who is particularly good at borrowing and expressing emotions. You can see how a manga artist who has a good sense of background and environment and is good at drawing expresses emotions by reading her works.

The environment that Ashu is good at is relatively limited as a whole. In some relatively special scenes, such as movie theaters, windows, doorways , Fujimoto can play very well, no problem. But what about other than that? Relatively speaking, it is not that prominent.

Regarding the second point, I wrote a special article discussing Ashu’s “alienation” and “role performance” before, and the reason is roughly the same.

Regarding the third point, I think this is easier for everyone to understand, and this is also the relatively prominent ability of Fujimoto .

Generally speaking, everyone who reads Ah Shu’s works will feel a little “shriveled” and “stiff”, the emotions in the air are not full, and the behavior and thinking of the characters will have a little “sense of glitch” .

Of course, these problems are almost non-existent in “Suddenly Looking Back” . Fujimoto’s two short stories prove too many things, it’s really amazing.

Appreciation point 1: The narrative progress is particularly good

The biggest advantage of the Fujimoto tree in drawing is actually this point that looks and draws no cents.

Compared with the weekly serial works that most of you read, Fujimoto’s speed and ability to advance the story are quite outstanding . You can think that he draws well, you can think that he draws rough, but the overall progress and explanation of the story is absolutely guaranteed.

Some friends may say, oh, if the emotional expression was simpler, the plot twists were harder, and the plot design was simplified, of course the narrative would have a better sense of progress!

It is like this, the feeling of this point is felt by the whole sentence, the whole paragraph, and the whole work. I say that a particularly simple and outstanding reading experience is that you will not feel “squeezed” and “rushed” when you read Fujimoto’s works . The narratives of the first episodes of Fujimoto’s three full-length serializations are all frighteningly stable , which is in stark contrast to those works that are full of power and filled with the first episodes. Of course, the two long-length serializations that were safely completed within 100 episodes can better illustrate this problem .

How to divide the content into 20/50 pages, how long each part should be, and how to draw the grid , this is the basis of the comic narrative, and it is also a question of special details in appreciation, and it must be divided into “images”. Let me explain and everyone will know. Do you think the drawing of dialog boxes cannot be counted as “image design” ?

After reading a chapter, synthesizing the content of the whole chapter, whether the configuration of all aspects is appropriate. There is no fixed answer to this “appropriate”. Every manga artist has an appropriate so-called “rhythm” in each story, and Fujimoto is often very regular and organized in his very “distinct” rhythm .

Of course, a work like “Looking Back” that has a clear rhythm without being rigid, I think it has countered a lot of doubts about Fujimoto’s methodology.

Ashu’s good narrative power, combined with his “a series of lyrical plots”, often makes the plot expression very secure . Even when he was very young and immature, Ah Shu’s expression was quite stable.

Regarding this part, I can’t think of a good example that can make everyone understand at once. The appreciation of each chapter is a better way to talk about this topic . Unfortunately, I wrote the appreciation of each chapter casually before, so I can’t post the link. If you have the energy, let everyone do weekly appreciation during the weekly Ashu time.

Appreciation point 2: The image concept is particularly good

This is a point that people often talk about. Ashu’s image is well conceived, not because of how many masterpieces he has paid tribute to, but because he can design good images with the help of famous works .

This can be seen from the beginning of the serialization of “Flame Fist”, and the image in the brain is quite good. It gradually matured in the back, and everyone who has strong clips can see it at a glance. Devil of darkness, I didn’t go to school, Halloween, Pava crashed, you can think of specific pictures when I say it?

Although the Fujimoto tree has only matured in the last 1-2 years in the comics, the Fujimoto tree’s feeling of time is accurate very early. The sense of time is accurate, the grid cutting is accurate, and the cutting is comfortable . If the drawing is accurate, the narrative will be smooth . What I want to tell you is that the grid of comics is very similar to the key sheets of the original paintings. The sense of time in comics is not to divide the moving images into equal parts and then cut them according to the time in the mind, but to divide them according to the content elements and the reading speed of the readers. The reasonable division of , is the magic of keeping images of unequal area and time on paper .

Fujimoto has no problem with the sense of time early on, so even if he will cook on the details of the technique for a while, the final product will not be much worse . This principle is applicable to many cartoonists, such as ONE.

Oops… In this part, I really feel the limitation of language. I think it will be more accurate to make a frame display video to let everyone feel the sense of time of reading, which is much more accurate than taking a cross-page drawing and drawing lines or some dynamic comics. Of course, it needs to be pointed out to everyone that dynamic comics have their unique value in letting everyone feel the sense of time in the work. It does not mean that we who read comics despise dynamic comics.

When I write the appreciation of each episode of “The Chainsaw Man”, I will chat with you about the video conception of each episode. If you are interested, you can take a look. Of course, it’s still a bit random.

Appreciation point 3: It feels good to have a large leaflet

As a whole, Fujimoto does not rely on or focus on the type of large leaflets and large spreads . As far as my personal experience is concerned, with the improvement of drawing ability, Fujimoto gradually increases the proportion of large leaflets and large spreads . Basically, with or without large leaflets, Fujimoto trees can be painted more brilliantly. However, even in terms of the performance of the big leaflet, Fujimoto is still very good .

When the drawing time is relatively sufficient and there is a choice, the current vine trees tend to draw more large leaflets . Please take a look at the first episode of “Chainsaw Man”, the next two short stories and the current second episode, there is no problem.

Generally speaking, Ah Shu’s comprehensive imaging ability is not much to say, at least it is the best of jump and jump+ at the moment .

In a new generation of cartoonists (debuted around 2010), picking faults is picking faults. I really think Fujimoto can’t do it. You can name a few that you think are better than Fujimoto’s overall image quality . Let’s make some exclusions for everyone first. Isayama Chuang, Yufeng, Yasuda Yasumi, タイザン5, and ONE are not as good as comprehensive ones. Fortunately, Nikaidou has not drawn a long serial . Specifically why, in the next section.

You ask me who is the young manga artist better than Fujimoto, I really don’t know, if you know, you can recommend me or leave a message.

The problem with Fujimoto’s current images is that the writing is not hard enough . Weekly serialization has been running for a long time. For example, Ma Qima in the later period has one face and one face. How can it guarantee the level of performance .

Other great cartoonists

Nikaido Yuki

The young manga artist who pressed Ashu on the comprehensive image is probably Yukio Nikaidou.

Regarding Yukio Nikaidou, we recommend her short story collection ” Say Thank You ” (especially the fifth episode “RUN!”) and “Raccoon Dog in the Rain ” (especially episodes 21, 24, and 50). Not only is the ability in the storyboards good and the character drawing beautiful, but Yukio Nikaidou’s level of comprehensive content such as clothing, scenery, animals and plants, and the use of scenery to express the atmosphere of the work are very mature and appropriate, especially of “exquisiteness” . As a comparison, there is a work in this year’s “NEXT Comic Awards” called “Xilin on Riverside Street”, and the heroine in it is described as ” like a man from the moon ” in the work. I can only say that this kind of content expression is really afraid of comparison. Compared with the female characters drawn by Nikaidou Yuki, the heroine in “Shirin on the River Street” is really special, tacky and mediocre, uh, please Allow me to take this relatively unpopular example.

In addition, please enjoy the various scenery of the spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons drawn by Yuki Nikaidou, and feel the various delicate emotions she expresses with the scenery.

Some doubts about Yuki Nikaidou’s ability are mainly that she has not drawn weekly serials and long stories. And if you only compare the comprehensive image quality of the short works, there are almost no new serializations in recent years that can overwhelm the works of “Looking Back” and “Goodbye to Painted Pears” . “Looking Back” is a work that can compete for the 2021 annual championship, and “Goodbye Drawing Pears” is a work that competes for the 2022 annual championship. If you see something better, please recommend it to everyone. Ashu’s comprehensive performance in serialization and long-form works has changed a lot at present. After all, “Flame Fist” – “Chainsaw Man” early stage – “Chainsaw Man” in the middle and late stages – “Chainsaw Man” Part 2 , their levels are not the same.

Yufeng

In my opinion, Yu Feng is the so-called ” incarnation of talent ” (laughs), a real born cartoonist. Even if Ashu is also called “Ghost Talent” (the same is true in Japan), I am more willing to say “Yu Feng is the most talented young manga artist”.

There are two main points that Yu Feng stands out. The first is that he is a really fucking genius of storytelling. , not to mention.

The outstanding point of Yufeng’s image power is the genius-level large leaflet sense . I wrote an article and talked about it : https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/50 2978663 , you can take a look if you are interested.

But I have to point out to everyone that we talk about Yufeng about “talent”, and Fujimoto is a manga artist who has already realized his talent . Yufeng’s maturity is far inferior to the current Fujimoto tree, or even the earlier Fujimoto tree of “Flame Fist”. This is not just the difference in drawing power, but all the bottom power except for the large leaflet . Fujimoto tree is not enough to draw movements, and Yufeng can’t!

After 5 years, Yu Fengneng’s comprehensive literacy has reached Ashu in the early stage of “Chainsaw Man”, then he can definitely brush all the major Japanese comic awards. But after all, Yu Feng will not be 30 years old after 5 years. Everyone knows it. He is a good friend of Chinese readers for the next 30 years .

Isayama

Isayama’s work has been pulled, but the comprehensive ability is really quite powerful in the new generation.

At the peak of the giant, many people said that Isayama’s storytelling was good and his expressions were delicate. This is purely because the reader’s filter has been developed. The laudable point of Isayama Chuang is mainly in the content. The performance in the drawing can be said to be ” good/excellent ” in the middle and late stages. In general, it is definitely impossible to compete for the top few. Giant’s more prominent, is what we talk about “narrative progress”, and Ashu are two styles, there is really a point worth appreciating . But other than that, there’s really nothing to brag about.

Isayama’s drawing is closely related to the highs and lows of the story content. It is especially prone to the situation that the content arrangement is not smooth, and the drawing is also followed. The last dozen or so chapters of the giant are too typical. Creation can also get a better evaluation on the image, such as the feeling of a large leaflet. However, it finally pulled. I think it will be difficult for Isayama to break through the shackles of “Attack on Titan” later, and he is still far from being “the best of a certain generation”

Yasuda Yasumi

The most powerful young manga artist in the comprehensive video who slaughtered the Fujimoto tree as a whole, compared to Nikaidou fortunately, he has drawn a long-term serialization, and the subject matter is more similar. The only problem with him is purely – not as creative as Fujimoto .

As long as you have watched “Night of the Fools”, you will know how powerful this work and the creator are. We have also cited a short section of this work for everyone to feel. It ‘s almost impeccable in all aspects . If you go up to this level, I can only talk to you about area 51 and Matsumoto Dayang. Isn’t this scary, my friend? However, the content of the story and the creative power of the images were held back . Even if we put aside the content and subject matter of the works, Yasuda Yasumi’s narrative is not so comfortable for everyone to see. Compared with Ashu, who has formed his own set of narrative, rhythm, and sense of time, I still think Yasuda Yasumi’s synthesis is incomparable.

Of course, the so-called “completeness of work” is also very important. The regret of “Night of the Fools” is that it has the opportunity to reach a particularly high level, whether it is a painting or a story, but it has almost been completed. heat . In general, this is a manga artist and work that is very worth looking forward to. I expect him to have more hope than manga artists such as Ken Obata and Yusuke Murata .

タイザン5

タイザン5 was relatively general before “Original Sin of Octopus”, “Original Sin of Octopus” is simply super-evolutionary, a very good short-term serialization .

I don’t like this work very much, but in terms of the overall feeling of the drawing of this work, I think there are many points worthy of appreciation and appreciation. Unfortunately, the last few words are still a bit messy , otherwise The technique is really good, it’s a good sketch. This work is based on gimmicks and reversals, and the high degree of unity of drawing power and key plots gives a very good look and feel.

However, as far as the content of 200-300 pages is concerned, looking up, “Goodbye to the Pear” and “Looking Back” are almost the same. If you don’t say “Goodbye to the Pear”, you really can’t beat “Looking Back” .

ONE

The former benchmark ONE teacher doesn’t seem so typical now. Overall, I think ONE and Yufeng are more similar. The painting power is similar to that of a layman (of course, ONE has improved a lot now), and then he has his own set of things in painting. ONE has a very special understanding and performance of the drawing of fighting, and Yufeng is the overall narrative design of the big spread, and then both of them have their own set of narrative arrangements. But when combined, they are still incomparable .

Summarize

In general, I think:

The Fujimoto tree has many shortcomings, but the overall is really powerful
You don’t have to agree with Fujimoto, but it’s really hard to find cartoonists of the same generation who are better than Fujimoto.

This is a preliminary opinion, roughly the same, the writing is not very good, after writing it, I feel that I need a better set of speech system (laughs) I will talk about the good content later.

Source: Zhihu www.zhihu.com

Author: TOTOLO

[Zhihu Daily] The choice of tens of millions of users, to be a big cow of new things in the circle of friends.
click to download

There are 8 more answers to this question, see all.