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Cartoon Artist

Cartoon artist

A cartoonist is an artist who specializes in drawing cartoons. The term can also be applied to those who produce comic books, anime, manga, as well as comic strip creators and those working in animation. Those artists whose work is said to have a "cartoony" style are also called cartoonists. A cartoonist traditionally sketches the picture out roughly in pencil first, before going over the sketches in black ink, using either brushes or metal nibbed pens. Cartoonists whose work is intended for online publication increasingly work in digital media. Large comic book publishers (such as Marvel or DC) utilize teams of cartoonists to produce the art (typically one doing the pencil work and another doing the inking, with the coloring added digitally by colorists). When a consistent artistic style is wanted among different cartoonists (such as Archie Comics), character model sheets may be used as reference. Traditional animation houses employ specialized cartoonists, called "inbetweeners", to draw the motions connecting the broad movements of a character.

See also


- List of cartoonists
- Editorial cartoonist
- Comic strip creator
- Comic book creator
- Mangaka

External links


- [http://www.cartoon-crn.com/index.htm Cartoonists Rights Network] Category:Art and design workers
- Cartoonist ja:漫画家 simple:Cartoonist

Cartoon

A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another.

Historical

In its original historical meaning, a cartoon (from the Italian cartone, meaning "big paper") is a full-size drawing made on paper as a study for a further artwork, such as a painting or tapestry. Cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to accurately link the component parts of the composition when painted onto plaster over a series of days. Such cartoons often have pinpricks where the outline of the design has been picked out in the plaster. Cartoons by painters such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci are highly prized in their own right.

Print media

Leonardo da Vinci In modern print media, a cartoon is an illustration, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these drawings was Mr Punch's pencillings and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the self-aggrandising posturing of Westminster politicians. Modern gag cartoons are found in magazines and newspapers and generally consist of a single drawing with a caption immediately beneath or (less often) a speech balloon. Many consider New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon (as did Arno himself). Gag cartoonists of note include Charles Addams, Gary Larson, Charles Barsotti, Chon Day and Mel Calman. Editorial cartoons are a variation of this, found almost exclusively in news publications. Although they also employ humor, they are more serious in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a visual metaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social and/or political topics. Editorial cartoons often include speech balloons and, sometimes, multiple panels. Editorial cartoonists of note include Herblock and Mike Peters. Comic strips are found daily in newspapers worldwide, and are usually a short series of cartoon illustrations in sequence. They are not as commonly called "cartoons" themselves, but rather "comics" or "funnies". Nonetheless, the creators of comic strips - as well as comic books and graphic novels - are referred to as "cartoonists". Although humor is the most prevalent subject matter, adventure and drama are also represented in this medium. Noteworthy cartoonists in this sense include Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Scott Adams, and Mort Walker.

Motion pictures

Mort Walker Because of the stylistic similarities between comic strips and early animated movies, "cartoon" came to refer to animation, and this is the sense in which "cartoon" is most commonly used today. These are usually shown on television or in cinemas and are created by showing illustrated images in rapid succession to give the impression of movement. In this meaning, the word cartoon is sometimes shortened to toon (which may be a corruption of "Looney Tunes" and was popularized by the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Although the term can be applied to any animated presentation, it is most often used in reference to programs for children, featuring anthropomorphized animals, superheroes, the adventures of child protagonists, and other related genres. Animated material which does not fit the traditional conventions of Western animation, such as Japanese anime can also be called cartoons.

See also


- Anime
- Comics
- Manga
- Animation
- Animated cartoon
- Figure drawing
- List of cartoonists
- List of comic and cartoon pairs

External links


- [http://www.punch.co.uk/ Punch website's history of cartoons]
- [http://www.cartoonbank.com New Yorker's Cartoon Bank]
- [http://www.cagle.com/ Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com Don Markenstein's Toonopedia]
- [http://www.bcdb.com/ Big Cartoon Database]
- [http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/ Golden Age of Cartoons]
- [http://www.toon-cycle.com/ Toon-Cycle: Cartoon community and media resources] Category:Art genres Category:Film ja:%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%82%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3 th:การ์ตูน

Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book containing the sequential art in the form of a narrative. Comic books are often called comics for short. Although the term implies otherwise, the subject matter in comic books is not necessarily humorous, and in fact its dramatic seriousness varies widely. The term "comics" in this context does not refer to comic strips (such as Peanuts or Dilbert). In the last quarter of the 20th century, greater acceptance of the comics form among the general reading populace coincided with a greater usage of the term graphic novel, often meant to differentiate a book of comics with a spine from its stapled, pamphlet form, but the difference between the terms seems fuzzy at best as comics become more widespread in libraries, mainstream bookstores and other places. The earliest comic books were simply collections of comic strips that had originally been printed in newspapers. The commercial success of these collections led to work being created specifically for the comic-book form, which fostered specific conventions such as splash pages. Long-form comic books, generally with hardcover or trade-paper binding came to be known as graphic novels, but as noted above, the term's definition is especially fluid. Like jazz and a handful of other cultural artifacts, comic books are a rare indigenous American art form, [http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=004133] [http://www.disinfotainmenttoday.com/darenet/comicbook.htm] though prototypical examples of the form exist. American comic books have become closely associated with the superhero sub-genre. In the U.K., the term comic book is used to refer to American comic books by their readers and collectors, while the general populace would mainly consider a comic book a hardcover book collecting comics stories. The analogous term in the United Kingdom is a comic, short for comic paper or comic magazine.

The comic book in the United States

Since the invention of the comic book format in the 1930s, the United States has been the leading producer, with only the British comic (during the inter-war period through the 1970s) and Japanese manga as close competitors in terms of quantity of titles (although, Japan outweighs America currently in overall sales by a vast margin). The majority of all comic books in the U.S. are marketed at younger teenagers, though the market also produces work for general as well as more mature audiences. The history of the comic book in the United States is split into several ages or historical eras: The Platinum Age, The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Modern Age. The exact boundaries of these eras, the terms for which originated in fandom press, is a debatable point among comic book historians. The Golden Age is generally thought as lasting from 1938's introduction of Superman until the early 1950s, during which comic books enjoyed a surge of popularity, the archetype of the superhero was invented and defined, and many of comic books' most popular superheroes debuted. The Platinum Age refers to any material produced prior to this. While comics as an artform could arguably extend as far back as sequential cave paintings from thousands of years ago, comic books are dependent on printing, and the starting point for them in book form is generally considered to be the tabloid-sized The Funnies begun in 1929, or the more traditional sized Funnies on Parade from 1933. Both of these were simply reprints of newspaper strips. The Silver Age of Comic Books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the dormant superhero form — the debut of the Barry Allen Flash in Showcase #4 (Sept.-Oct. 1956) — and last through the early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. The beginings of the Bronze and Modern ages are far more disputable. Indeed, some suggest that we are still in the Bronze Age. Starting points that have been suggested for the Bronze Age of comics are Conan #1 (Oct. 1970), Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 (Apr. 1970) or Amazing Spider-Man #96 (May 1971) (the non-Comics Code issue). The start of the Modern Age has even more potential starting points, but is most likely the publication of Alan Moore's Watchmen in 1986. Notable events in the history of the American comic book include the psychiatrist Frederic Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent, which saw the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency investigate comic books. In response to this attention from government and the media, the U.S. comic book industry created the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, a move which saw the particularly targeted EC change its satirical comic book Mad from comic book to magazine format in order to circumvent the Code.

Underground comics

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of underground comics occurred. These comics were published and distributed independently of the established mainstream, and most reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many were notable for their uninhibited, irreverent style; their frankness in graphic sex, nudity, language and overt politics hadn't been seen in comics outside of their precursors, the pornographic and even more underground "Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were virtually never sold on newsstands but in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, and by mail order. The underground-comics movement is often considered to have started with Zap Comix #1 (1968) by Canadian cartoonist Robert Crumb, a former Cleveland greeting-card artist living in San Francisco. Crumb later created the popular characters Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, and published Gilbert Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

Independent and alternative comics

The rise of comic-book specialty stores in the late 1970s created a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics"; two of the first were the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic-book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974-1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, published from the 1970s through the present day. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics, though were generally less overtly graphic, and others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artists. A few (notably RAW) were experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the world of fine art. The "small press" scene continued to grow and diversify. By the 1980s, several such independent publishers as Eclipse Comics, First Comics, and Fantagraphics were releasing a wide range of styles and formats from color superhero, detective and science fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism. A number of small publishers in the 1990s changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press.

Decline of serial comic-book format

In the early 2000s, sales of standard monthly comic books declined while graphic novels made increasing headway at retail bookstores. Along with the shift toward graphic novels among comics publishers, traditional book publishers such as Pantheon have released several dozen graphic novels, including works originally released by comics publishers with much less publicity.

The comic of Europe

Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics are comics written in Belgium and France. These two countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are called BDs (from Bande Dessinée) in French. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch are influenced by the francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but have a different feel. La bande dessinée is derived from the original description of the artform as "drawn strips". It is not insignificant that the French term contains no indication of subject matter, unlike the American terms "comics" and "funnies," which imply an art form not to be taken seriously. Indeed, the distinction of comics as the "ninth art" is prevalent in Francophone scholarship on the form (le neuvième art), as is the concept of comics criticism and scholarship itself. Relative to the respective size of their countries, the innumerable authors in the region publish huge numbers of comic books. In North America, the more serious, Franco-Belgian comics are often seen as equivalent to graphic novels, for various reasons, but whether they are long or short, bound or in magazine format, in Europe there is no need for a more sophisticated term, as the art's name does not itself imply something frivolous. In France, most comics are published at the behest of the author, who will work within his self-appointed time frame, so a wait from six months to two years between installments is common. Most books are first published as a hard cover oversized book, usually 48 or 64 pages, with later re-releases in soft cover.

The British comic

Originally the same size as the comic book in the United States, although lacking the glossy cover, the British comic has adopted a magazine size, with The Beano and The Dandy the last to adopt this size in the 1980s. Although generally referred to as a comic, it can also be referred to as a comic magazine, and has also been known historically as a comic paper. Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884), the first comic published in Britain, was marketed at adults, publishers quickly targeted a younger market, which has led to most publications being for children and created an association in the public's mind of comics being somewhat juvenile. Popular titles within the United Kingdom have included The Beano, The Dandy, The Eagle, 2000 AD and Viz. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also been published within the United Kingdom, notably Oz and Escape Magazine. The content of Action, another title aimed at children and launched in the mid 1970s became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons, and although this was on a smaller scale to such similar investigations in the United States, it also led to a moderation of content published within comics, although such moderatiuon was never formalised to the extent of a creation of any code, and nor was it particularly lasting. The United Kingdom has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originated within the United States. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black and white reprints, including Marvel's 1950s monster comics, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and some other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician and the Phantom. Several reprint companies were involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter. Marvel eventually established a UK office, with DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opening offices for periods in the the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has been less frequent, although the Tintin and Asterix serials have been succesfully translated and repackaged in soft cover books.

The comic annual

At Christmas time publishers will repackage and commision material for comic annuals, hardback A4 books. DC Thomson also repackage The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4 books for the festive season.

Italian comics

In Italy, comics (known as fumetti) made their debut as humouristic strips at the end of the 19th century, and later evolved in adventure stories inspired to those coming from the U.S. After World War II, however, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax imposed Italian comics to an international audience. "Author" comics contain often strong erotic contents. Best sellers remain popular comic books Diabolik or the Bonelli line, namely Tex Willer or Dylan Dog. Mainstream comics are usually published on the monthly basis, in a black and white digest size format, with about 100-132 pages of story. Collections of classic material for the most famous character, usually with over 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the french BD format, with an example being Pratt's Corto Maltese. Italian cartoonists have and receive great influences from other countries including Belgium, France, Spain and Argentina. Italy is also famous for being one of the foremost producers of Walt Disney comic stories, particularly. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, known in English as Superduck, was created in Italy.

Other European comics

Although Switzerland contributes less to the body of work, it is significant that many scholars point to a Francophone Swiss, Rodolphe Töpffer, as the true father of comics. This choice is still controversial, with critics feeling that Töppfer's work is perhaps somewhat unconnected to the genesis of the artform as it is now known in the region.

The graphic novel

The term graphic novel was first coined by Richard Kyle in 1964, mainly as an attempt to distinguish the newly translated works from Europe which were then being published from what Kyle saw as the more juvenile publications common in the United States. The term was popularised when Will Eisner used it on the cover of the paeprback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (1978). This was a more mature work than many had come to expect from the comics medium, and the critical and commercial success of A Contract with God helped to establish the term "graphic novel" in common usage.

Regional categories


- American comic book
- Argentine comics
- British comics
- Indian comics
- Manga (Japanese comics)
- Manhua (Chinese comics)
- Manhwa (Korean comics)
- European comics
  - Franco-Belgian comics - Bande Dessinée, BD
  - Italian comics - Fumetti
- Brazilian comics - Histórias em Quadrinhos, HQ

Other Forms


- Tijuana bible (aka 8-pagers)
- Underground comics
- Alternative comics
- Adult comics
- Political and religious comics

Genres

Note: As with film and literature, genres are rarely pure and often blend. Frankenstein, for example, is a science fiction/horror novel; The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. is a Western/comedy TV series. Not all superhero comics are necessarily science fiction; Marvel Comics' Daredevil, for example, despite an initial science-fiction premise, may be more usefully classified as a crime drama.
- Action/adventure comics (of which superhero is a sub-genre)
- Adaptations of narratives in other media, often movies
- Anthromorphic/funny animal comics (see also furry)
- Autobiographical comics
- Crime comics
- Dramatic adventure comics
- Historical comics
- Horror comics
- Humor comics
- Journalistic comics
- Religious comics
- Romance comics
- Satiric comics
- Science-fiction comics
- War comics
- Western comics

Some particularly notable comic books


- 2000 AD (British)
- Acme Novelty Library (United States - Fantagraphics Books)
- Akira (Japanese)
- Asterix (French)
- Batman (United States - DC Comics)
- The Beano (British)
- The Dandy (British)
- Donald Duck (United States - Disney)
- Eightball (United States - Fantagraphics Books)
- The Fantastic Four (United States - Marvel Comics)
- The Incredible Hulk (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Lone Wolf and Cub (Japanese)
- Lucky Luke (Belgium - Dupuis and Dargaud)
- Monica's Gang (Turma da Mônica) (Brazilian)
- Mortadelo y Filemón (Spain)
- Mickey Mouse (United States-Disney)
- Raw (United States - Raw Books)
- The Smurfs (Belgium - Dupuis)
- The Amazing Spider-Man (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Sandman (United States - DC Vertigo Comics, 1988 World Fantasy Award (unique win for a comic-book series)
- Spike and Suzy (Belgian Flemish, originally called Suske en Wiske)
- Superman (United States - DC Comics)
- Tintin (Belgian - Casterman)
- Viz (British)
- Wonder Woman (United States - DC Comics)
- X-Men (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Zap Comix (United States-underground comix)

See also

Comics - the sequential art form in general


- Comic strip
- Graphic novel
- Webcomic
  - Sprite comic
- Storyboard
- Cartoon
  - Political cartoon

Comic book awards


- Eisner Awards
- Harvey Awards
- Ignatz Awards
- Kirby Awards
- Prix de la critique
- Angoulême International Comics Festival Prizes (aka Alph'arts) and the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
- Tezuka Awards
- Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards

Miscellaneous


- Cartoonist
- Comic book creator
- Comic book collecting
- Comic-Con International

Lists


- List of comic creators
- List of comic books
- List of comic book publishing companies
- List of comic and cartoon character pairs
- List of comic strips
- List of cartoonists
- List of comic and cartoon characters named after people
- Comic books in dialects

References

Inge, Thomas M., "Comics as culture" Journal of Popular Culture 12:631, 1979 (not online)

External links


- [http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=695 Database of Comic Book Sales Figures]
- [http://www.heritagecomics.com/common/worth.php How To Figure Out How Much Your Comics Are Worth]
- [http://www.comicbookdb.com/ ComicBookDB.com]
- [http://www.comiccovers.com/ ComicCovers.com]
- [http://www.cbgxtra.com Comics Buyer's Guide]
- [http://www.comics-db.com/ The Big Comic Book Database]
- [http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/ Comic Book Galaxy]
- [http://www.cbr.cc/ Comic Book Resources]
- [http://www.comics.org/ The Grand Comics Database]
- [http://www.crimeboss.com/history03-1.html The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]
- [http://www.gweeb.com/ Bronze Age 1970s Comic Book Cover Showcase]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com/index.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
- [http://www.knightmare6.com/faq/ Fan Site: Comic Book FAQ]
- [http://www.boldcomicsstudio.com/main/ Bold Comic Studios - A site for the independant comic creator]
- [http://www.nostalgiazone.com/doc/zine/ Comics Fan Zine: articles on comics in pop culture] Nostalgia Zine
- [http://ichibancomics.blogspot.com First Edition Comic Reviews at Ichiban Comics] ja:漫画
- Category:Comics Category:MagazinesCategory:Entertainment

Manga

:This article is about the Japanese medium. For other uses see Manga (disambiguation) Manga (disambiguation) Manga (漫画) is the Japanese word for comics and/or cartoons (not necessarily animated, this includes print cartoons); outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese comics. Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western styles of drawing, and took its current form shortly after World War II. A small amount of the total manga output of Japan is adapted into anime, which is usually created afterwards, once a market interest has been established. Stories are often modified to appeal to a more mainstream market or meet broadcast regulations.

Origins

anime Literally translated, manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures". The word first came into common usage after the publication of the 19th century Hokusai Manga, containing assorted drawings from the sketchbook of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. However, gi-ga (lit. "funny pictures") drawn in the 12th century by various artists contain many manga-like qualities such as emphasis on story and simple, artistic lines. Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western art movements. When the United States began trading with Japan, Japan tried to modernise itself and catch up with the rest of the world. Thus, they imported Western artists to teach their students things such as line, form and colour (things which were never concentrated on in ukiyo-e as the idea behind the picture was normally considered more important). Manga as people know it in the 20th and 21st centuries only really came into being after World War II when government bans on non-propaganda were lifted and many publishers sprang up. In the 20th century, manga came to refer to comics, though in Japan, the word is more commonly used to describe children's animation; the English word (comic) is actually the main term in use. Though roughly equivalent to the American comic book, manga holds more importance in Japanese culture than comics do in American culture. Manga is well respected both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Like its American counterpart, manga has been criticized for being violent and sexual; however, there have been no official inquiries or laws that have tried to limit what can be drawn in manga, except for vague decency laws that apply to all published materials, stating that "overly indecent materials should not be sold." This freedom has allowed artists to draw manga for every age group and about every topic.

Manga format

20th century Manga magazines usually have many series running concurrently with approximately 20–40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These manga magazines, or "anthology magazines", as they are also known, are usually printed on low-quality newsprint and can be anywhere from 200 to more than 850 pages long. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and various four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series can run for many years if they are successful. Manga artists sometimes start out with a few "one-shot" manga projects just to try to get their name out. If these are successful and receive good reviews, they are continued. When a series has been running for a while, the stories are usually collected together and printed in dedicated book-sized volumes, called tankōbon. These volumes use higher-quality paper, and are useful to those who want to "catch up" with a series so they can follow it in the magazines or if they find the cost of the weeklies or monthlies to be prohibitive. Recently, "deluxe" versions have also been printed as readers have gotten older and the need for something special grew. Old manga have also been reprinted using somewhat lesser quality paper and sold for 100 yen each to compete with the used book market. Manga are primarily classified by the age and gender of the target audience. In particular, books and magazines sold to boys (shōnen) and girls (shōjo) have distinctive cover art and are placed on different shelves in most bookstores. Japan also has manga cafés, or manga kissaten. At a manga kissaten, people drink coffee and read manga. Many things appear in manga format, including wanted posters for criminals. Traditionally, manga are written from right to left. Some publishers of translated manga keep that format, but some switch the direction to left to right, so as not to confuse Western readers.

Manga outside Japan

Manga has been translated into many different languages in different countries including Korea, China, France, Germany, Italy, and many more. In the USA, manga is still a rather small industry, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation has made in the USA. An example of a manga publisher in the United States is VIZ Media, the American affiliate of publishers Shogakukan (小学館 Shōgakukan) and Shueisha (集英社 Shūeisha). They have many popular titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyō!, Rurouni Kenshin, YuYu Hakusho, (Yūyū Hakusho), Yu-Gi-Oh! (Yūgiō) and the various works of Rumiko Takahashi. The UK has fewer manga publishers than the U.S. Since Japanese is usually written from right to left in works of fiction, manga is drawn and published this way in Japan. When various titles were first translated to other languages, the artwork and layouts were flipped and reversed in a process known as "flopping", so that the book may be read from left-to-right. However, various creators (such as Akira Toriyama) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception. Translated manga often includes cultural notes for details of Japanese culture that may not be familiar to foreign audiences. Another company, TOKYOPOP, is producing manga widely in the United States, with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point. They are widely credited with starting the current boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. Many also frown upon the company for their frequent localization changes, including additions such as American slang, excessive swearing that is not to be found in the Japanese originals of the same titles, and joke rewrites, among others. However, even their critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success of manga in America have been considerable. France is noted for having a particularly strong and diverse manga market. Many works that are published in France fall into genres that aren't well represented outside of Japan, such as adult oriented drama, or experimental and avant garde works. Authors such as Jiro Taniguchi who are relatively unknown in other western countries have received much acclaim in France. Part of the reason for the sheer popularity and diversity of manga in this country is due to it having a well established and respected comics market of its own (see Franco-Belgian comics). The company Chuang Yi publishes manga in English and Chinese in Singapore; some of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are imported to Australia and New Zealand. In Indonesia, manga has quickly become one of fastest growing consumer industries, and Indonesia has become one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo, Acolyte, Gramedia. Manga has greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry. In Australia, many popular Japanese and Chinese language manga and anime are distributed by Madman Entertainment. Another popular form of manga distribution outside of Japan is through the Internet as (mostly illegal) scanlations, also known as scanslations. Typically, a small group of people scan the original version of a series with no current license in the language which they wish to translate it to, translate it, and freely distribute; usually through the use of IRC or BitTorrent. Most scanlation groups request that downloaders cease distribution and purchase official copies in the event that their projects become licensed, though it is a common concern that readers will continue to use these unauthorized copies. Many readers prefer scanslations due to the frequent changes found in official translations, though scanslations are more likely to have some unintentional mistakes due to the varying degrees of skill employed by the unpaid translators. Some scanslators do make edits, though it is rare, especially compared to the official manga translation industry. In Korea, manga can be found in most bookstores. However it is also common to read manga online for a much cheaper price than a concrete copy of the comic. Publishers such as Daiwon and Seoul Munhwasa give out most of the popular manga in Korea. In Thailand before 1992–1995 almost all available manga was fast, unlicensed, poor quality bootlegs. More recently, licensed translations have begun to appear, but are still inexpensive compared to other countries. Thailand's manga publishers include Vibunkij, Siam Inter Comics, Nation Edutainment, and Bongkouh. Manga has proved so popular that it has led to other companies such as Antarctic Press, Oni Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP and even Archie Comics to release their own manga-inspired works that apply the same artist stylings and story pacing commonly seen in Japanese manga. The first of these such works came in 1985 when Ben Dunn, founder of Antarctic Press, released Mangazine and Ninja High School. While Antarctic Press actively refers to its works as "American Manga", not all of these manga-inspired works are made by Americans. Many of the artists working on Seven Seas Entertainment series such as Last Hope and Amazing Agent Luna are Filipino and TOKYOPOP has hired a variety of Korean and Japanese artists to work on titles such as Warcraft and Princess Ai.

The manga style

The most popular and recognizable style of manga is very distinctive. Emphasis is often placed on line over form, and the storytelling and panel placement differ from those in Western comics. Panels and pages are typically read from right to left, consistent with traditional Japanese writing. While the art can be incredibly realistic or cartoonish, it is often noted that the characters look "Western", or have large eyes. Large eyes have become a permanent fixture in manga and anime since the 1960s when Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and considered the father of modern manga, started drawing them that way, mimicking the style of Disney cartoons from the United States. Being a very diverse artform, however, not all manga artists adhere to the conventions most popularized in the west through anime such as Akira, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Ranma ½. A fair number of manga artists do not feel that their stories and characters are set in stone. So a set of characters may build relationships, jobs, etc. in one set of stories ("story arc") only to have another story arc run where the same characters do not know each other. The Tenchi series in particular is known for this; there are more than thirteen different pretty-much unrelated story arcs based around Tenchi and his friends.

International influence

Tenchi Manga has long had an influence on international comics and animation the world over. American alternative comics artists such as Frank Miller and Scott McCloud were somewhat influenced by manga in a few of their works. Other artists such as Americans Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan (Demo) and Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley (Lost At Sea) are heavily influenced by the mainstream manga style and have received acclaim for their work outside of anime/manga fan circles. These artists have many other influences that make their work more palatable to non-manga readers. These artists have their roots in the anime/manga subculture of their particular regions. American artist Paul Pope worked in Japan for Kodansha on the manga anthology Afternoon. Before he was fired (due to an editorial change at Kodansha) he was developing many ideas for the anthology that he would later publish in the U.S. as Heavy Liquid. As a result his work features a strong influence from manga without influences from international otaku culture. In France there is a "Nouvelle Manga" movement started by Frédéric Boilet which seeks to combine mature sophisticated daily life manga with the artistic style of traditional Franco-Belgian comics. While the movement also involves Japanese artists, a handful of French cartoonists other than Boilet have decided to embrace its ideal. In addition, there are many amateur artists who are influenced exclusively by the manga style. Many of these have their own small publishing houses, and some webcomics and webmanga in this style have become very popular (see Megatokyo). For the most part, these artists are not yet recognized outside of the anime and manga fan community. Many people outside of those circles view those works as being too focused on the American anime subculture, and not focused enough on telling stories that resonate with a wider audience.

Off the main path

Some manga artists will produce extra, sometimes unrelated material, which are known as omake (lit. "bonus" or "extra"). They might also publish their unfinished drawings or sketches, known as oekaki (lit. "sketches"). Unofficial fan made comics are called dōjinshi. Some dōjinshi continue with a series' story or write an entirely new one using its characters, much like fan fiction. In addition other dōjinshi is produced by small amateur publishers outside of the mainstream commercial market in a similar fashion to small-press independently published comic books in the United States. Comiket, the largest comic book convention in the world with over 400,000 gathering in 3 days, is devoted to dōjinshi.

Types of manga

Many of these genres apply equally well to anime (which very often includes adaptations of manga) and Japanese computer games (some of which are also adaptations of manga).

By target audience


- Josei (or redikomi) women
- Kodomo children
- Seinen men
- Shōjo young and teenage girls
- Shōnen young and teenage boys

Genres


- Alternative (See also: Garo)
  - Gekiga (dramatic pictures)
  - La nouvelle manga (Franco-Belgian/Japanese artistic movement)
  - Semi-alternative (popular publication individualistic style)
- Battling companion (not an official name)
- Magical girl (mahō shōjo)
- Mecha (giant robots)
- Moé (also mahō kanojo or magical girlfriend)
- Shōjo-ai (or Yuri, lesbian romance)
- Shōnen-ai (or Yaoi, gay romance)
- Dōjinshi Fan-art or self-published manga

Popular shōnen manga series


- Bleach (manga) (Spiritualism/Action/Adventure/Comedy)
- Dragon Ball (Fantasy/Action)
- Fullmetal Alchemist (Science-Fiction/Fantasy/Action)
- InuYasha (Action/Fantasy/Romance)
- Love Hina (Comedy/Romance)
- Naruto (Fantasy/Ninja)
- One Piece (Fantasy/Pirate)
- Ranma ½ (Action/Comedy)
- Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai Epic)
- Saint Seiya (Action/Mythology)

Popular shōjo manga series


- Nana (Drama/Romance)
- Ceres, Celestial Legend (Ayashi no Ceres) (Paranormal/Romance)
- Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) (Drama/Romance)
- Fruits Basket (Comedy/Romance/Paranormal)
- Hana-Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimi-tachi e) (Comedy/Romance/Drama)
- Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances a.k.a. Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō) (Comedy/Romance/Drama)
- Marmalade Boy (Comedy/Romance/Drama)
- Please Save My Earth (Sci-fi/Drama)
- Revolutionary Girl Utena (Action/Drama)
- X/1999 (Paranormal)
- Nana (Romance)

Popular seinen manga series


- 3x3 Eyes (Mythology/Comedy/Horror)
- Akira (Sci-Fi)
- Angel Densetsu (Drama)
- Berserk (Medieval/Fantasy)
- Blade of the Immortal (Samurai Drama)
- Ghost in the Shell (Sci-Fi)
- Lone Wolf and Cub (Samurai Drama)
- MONSTER (Horror/Drama)
- Hellsing (Action/Horror)
- Eden: it´s an endless world (Sci-Fi/Futuristic)

Distributors of manga

Major Japanese distributors


- Akita Publishing Co., Ltd.
- Chuokoron Shinsha
- Hakusensha
- Kadokawa Shoten
- Hayakawa Publishing
- Kōdansha
- Shinshokan
- Shodensha
- Shōgakukan
- Shōnen Gahōsha
- Shūeisha

Major English-language distributors


- ADV Manga
- CMX (an imprint of American comic book company DC Comics)
- CPM Manga
- Dark Horse Comics
- Del Rey Manga
- DrMaster
- TOKYOPOP
- VIZ Media (formerly Viz, LLC)

Other English-language distributors


- Blast Books
- BLU (an imprint of Tokyopop)
- Broccoli Books
- ChuangYi Publishing (Singapore) [http://www.chuangyi.com.sg/english/]
- ComicsOne (defunct)
- DH Publishing
- Digital Manga Publishing
- eigoMANGA
- NitenKyoso
- Kodansha (Once published bilingual editions of manga)
- Ponent Mon/Fanfare
- Raijin Comics (defunct)
- Seven Seas Entertainment
- Studio Ironcat (defunct)
- Vertical Publishing
- Madman Entertainment

Major Chinese-language distributors

Traditional Chinese


- Daran Books (Taiwan)
- Tong Li (Taiwan) [http://publishing.com.hk/org/orgdetail.asp?orgid=h03000020020503237]
- Sharp Poing Publishing (Taiwan)
- King Comics (Hong Kong)
- Culturecom Comics (Hong Kong) [http://www.culturecom.com.hk/comic]
- Comicsworld (Hong Kong) [http://www.comicsworld.com/]
- Jade Dynasty Publications Ltd
- Jonesky Limited
- Kwong's Creations Co Ltd
- Rightman Publishing Ltd

Simplified Chinese


- ChuangYi Publishing (Singapore) [http://www.chuangyi.com.sg/chinese1.html]

Major French-language distributors

French-language
- Asuka
- Casterman
- Delcourt
- Génération comics
- Glénat
- J'ai lu
- Kana
- Kabuto
- Pika Édition
- Tonkam
- Végétal Manga

Major German-language distributors


- Carlsen-Verlag
- Egmont Manga & Anime (EMA)
- Planet Manga
- TOKYOPOP Germany

Major Indonesian-language distributors


- Elex Media Komputindo
- M&C Comics
- Level Comics

Major Spanish-language distributors


- Glénat
- Planeta DeAgostini
- Editorial Vid México
- Norma Editorial

Major Italian-language distributors


- d/world
- Dynit
- Flashbook
- Hazard
- Star Comics
- PlayPress
- Planet Manga (part of Panini Comics)

Major Polish language distributors


- [http://www.jpf.com.pl JPF]
- [http://www.waneko.pl Waneko]
- [http://www.egmont.pl Egmont]
- [http://kasencomics.com Kasen Comics]

Major Brazilian Portuguese-language distributors


- [http://www.editorajbc.com.br JBC - Japan Brazil Communication]
- [http://www.conradeditora.com.br Conrad Editora]
- [http://www.animanga.com.br Editora Animangá]
- [http://www.paninicomics.com.br Panini Comics Brasil]
- [http://www.escala.com.br Editora Escala]
- [http://www.editoratalisma.com.br Editora Talismã]

Major Vietnamese-language distributors


- [http://www.nxbtre.com.vn Nha xuat ban Tre]
- [http://www.nxbkimdong.com.vn Nha xuat ban Kim Dong]

Major Malay-language distributors


- Comics House
- Tora Aman

List of manga magazines

See: List of manga magazines

Language notes

Because nouns in Japanese don't change based on pluralization, manga is the form for both plural and singular. It is also commonly called コミックス(comics) in Japanese. Mangaka (漫画家) is the corresponding Japanese word for a manga author/artist.

See also

For an extensive list of Japanese manga and Webmanga, see List of manga, List of manga by Japanese title, and List of dōjinshi (manga). For a list of Manga artists (or Japanese Cartoonists), see Mangaka. For an international list of manga magazines see List of manga magazines. For a list of pornographic manga, see List of H manga, and List of H dōjinshi (manga). See also: List of anime games.
- Dōjinshi
- Anime game
- Anime
- Dorama
- Gashapon
- Hentai
- Weekly Shonen Jump
- Manhua (Sinosphere)
- Manhwa (South Korea)

References


- Gravett, Paul. Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. New York: Collins Design, 2004. ISBN 1856693910.
- Schodt, Frederik L. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1996. ISBN 188065623X.
- Schodt, Frederik L. Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics. New York: Kodansha International, 1983. ISBN 870117521, ISBN 4770023057.

External links

Websites with descriptions and informations:
- [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ Anime News Network]- A huge database of information on anime as well as manga.
- [http://www.animeinfo.org/animeu/hist102.html Anime University - History of Manga] History of Manga article from AnimeInfo.
- [http://www.manganews.net/ Manganews.net] - Contains a large database of manga titles with useful descriptions, and also lists recently scanlated manga, with manga news and reviews updated daily.
- [http://www.mangaupdates.com Baka-Updates Manga] Lists manga title and author information, and has information pertaining to manga scanlations.
- [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JAPAN_SUNDAY_COMICS?SITE=TXDER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT U.S. Papers Adding Japanese-Style Comics] Websites of News:
- [http://www.mangalife.com/ Manga Life]- Manga reviews, news, and information updated daily.
- [http://www.mangajouhou.net/ Manga Jouhou]- Manga news
- [http://manga.3yen.com/ Manga.3Yen] - Daily news and info on Manga from Japan.
- [http://www.mangareviewer.com Manga Reviewer] - Reviews, previews and mangaka bios. Websites with illustrations:
- [http://mangallery.pl/ Mangallery]- A big Manga and Anime Gallery in Poland.
- [http://lyhana8.free.fr Lyhana8]- Huge database of pics, able to illustrate this article.
- [http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial.html How to draw manga] - A popular series of art instruction books. Here the tutorial page. Others websites:
- [http://www.imaf.co.uk/ IMAF] - International Manga and Anime Festival, County Hall, London
- [http://www.fansubbers.com Fansubbers.com Online Manga] Manga online by Fansubbers
- [http://www.mangaka.co.za Mangaka.co.za] A South African manga community site with artist profiles, video manga tutorials & forum discussions.
- [http://www.noated.net/ Noated]: Very active community forum, including anime/manga db, book store, and site directory.
- [http://www.thegioimanga.com The gioi Manga] - Community forum on Manga and Anime of Hong Bang University - Vietnam.
- Category:Comic books ko:일본 만화 ja:漫画 simple:Manga th:การ์ตูนญี่ปุ่น

Animation

Image:Animexample.gif
This animation moves at 10 frames per second.
Image:Animexample2.gif
This animation moves at 2 frames per second. At this rate, the individual frames should be discernible.
Animation is the illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static elements. In film and video production, this refers to techniques by which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually. These frames may be generated by computers, or by photographing a drawn or painted image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed, there is an illusion of continuous movement due to the phenomenon known as persistence of vision. Generating such a film tends to be very labour intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process. Graphics file formats like GIF, MNG, SVG and Flash allow animation to be viewed on a computer or over the Internet.

History

For a more in-depth look at the history of animation, please see the Wikipedia articles "Animated cartoon" and "History of Animation". The major use of animation has always been for entertainment. However, there is growing use of instructional animation and educational animation to support explanation and learning. The "classic" form of animation, the "animated cartoon", as developed in the early 1900s and refined by Walt Disney and others, requires up to 24 distinct drawings for one second of animation. This technique is described in detail in the article Traditional animation. Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and movies comes from professional animation studios. However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry. Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized (some say exploited) by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television. television

Famous names in animation

Famous names of the past

Famous names of the present day

Animation studios

Animation Studios, like Movie Studios may be production facilities, or financial entities. In some cases, especially in Anime they have things in common with artists studios where a Master or group of talented individuals oversee the work of lesser artists and crafts persons in realising their vision.

Animation studios of the past


- Bray Productions
- DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
- Filmation
- Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios
- Grantray-Lawrence Animation
- Hanna-Barbera Productions (now Cartoon Network Studios)
- Harman-Ising Productions
- Leon Schesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. (a/k/a "Termite Terrace", now known as Warner Brothers Animation)
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Rankin-Bass
- Soyuzmultfilm
- United Productions of America (UPA)
- Van Beuren Studios
- Walter Lantz Studio
- PannóniaFilm Ltd. - http://www.mediaguide.hu/pannoniafilm/

Animation studios of the present era

Styles and techniques of animation


- Traditional animation
  - Character animation
  - Limited animation
  - Rotoscoping
- Computer animation
  - skeletal animation
  - Per-vertex animation
  - Cel-shaded animation
  - Onion skinning
  - Analog computer animation
  - Motion capture
- Stop-motion animation
  - Cutout animation
  - claymation
  - Pixilation
  - Pinscreen animation
  - Puppetoon
- Drawn on film animation
- Special effects animation

See also


- Animated series
- Anime (Japanese animation)
- List of movie genres

Further Readings


- Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Disney animation: The Illusion Of Life, Abbeville 1981
- Walters Faber, Helen Walters, Algrant (Ed.), Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940, HarperCollins Publishers 2004
- Trish Ledoux, Doug Ranney, Fred Patten (Ed.), Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory and Resource Guide, Tiger Mountain Press 1997
- The Animator's Survival Kit, Richard Williams
- Animation Script to Screen, Shamus Culhane

External links


- [http://www.lollipopanimation.com Huge Cartoon Character Database]
- [http://www.3dnauta.com Anamorphosis 3D and others Animation - The roman walls of Lugo SF.]
- [http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.2/3.2pages/3.2student.html Animating Under the Camera]
- [http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/eat/handouts/Pictures/CutSandPaintRules.pdf. Experimental Animation Techniques]
- [http://www.abc.net.au/arts/strange/workshop/style.htm Drawn Under-Camera Style Animation]
- [http://www.writer2001.com/animtech.htm Media & Techniques in Animation]
- [http://www.mattworld.2ya.com Matt World - Web-based animations from animator Matt Greenwood]
- [http://www.keyframeonline.com Keyframe - the Animation Resource]
- [http://www.nftsanimation.org The Animation Department of the National Film and Television School UK ]
- [http://www.animationnation.com Animation Nation - a forum for professional animators]
- [http://www.miyechi.com Anime Roleplaying]
- [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rllew/chronint.html Chronology of Animation]
- [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rllew/animelinks.html Animation links collection]
- [http://www.fh-wuerzburg.de/petzke/zagreb.html Zagreb Film]
- [http://www.safcakovec.com/ SAF], Čakovec school of animation
- [http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Animation/ Animation Directory]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com Don Markenstein's Toonopedia]
- [http://www.bcdb.com/ Big Cartoon Database]
- [http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/ Golden Age of Cartoons]
- [http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato Hints and tips for the animation hobbyist]
- [http://www.acmeanimation.org ACME Animation]
- [http://www.awn.com Animation World Network]
- [http://www.animationarena.com/principles-of-animation.html 28 Principles of Animation]
- [http://www.animationmeat.com Animationmeat.com - Notes Model Sheets and Reference material by Professional Animators]
- [http://sjolander.homestead.com/SVENSHOGEXHIBITION2004.htm Ture Sjolander: The Artist that invented Computer Animation] Category:Film ko:애니메이션 ja:アニメーション th:แอนิเมชัน

Brush

The term brush refers to a variety of devices mainly with bristles, wire or other filament of any possible material used mainly for cleaning, grooming hair, painting, deburring and other kinds of surface finishing, but also for many other purposes like (but not limited to) seals, alternative traction systems and any other use imaginable for this tool. In the industry it is possible to find many configurations such as twisted in wire (like the ones used to wash baby feeding bottles), cylinders, disks (with bristles spread in one face or radially) or in any other shape needed. There are many ways of setting the bristle in the brush: the most common is the staple or anchor set brush, in which the filament is forced with a staple by the middle into a hole with a special driver and held there by the pressure against the walls of the hole and the portions of the staple nailed to the bottom of the hole. The staple can be substituted with a kind of anchor, which is a piece of rectangular profile wire that, instead of nailing itself to the bottom of hole, is anchored to the wall of the hole, like in most toothbrushes. Another way to set the bristles to the surface can be found in the fused brush, in which instead of being inserted into a hole, a plastic fiber is welded to another plastic surface, giving the additional advantage of optionally using different diameters of tufts in the same brush, and a considerably thinner surface (sometimes the bristles can be set this way to the outer surface of a plastic bottle!). See below for some other common kinds of brushes.

Hairbrushes

Main article: Hairbrush Brushes with rigid bristles are often used in hair care, to comb human or animal hair. Brushes are more useful with longer hair, while combs are typically used for shorter hair.

Brushes for cleaning

Brushes used for cleaning come in various forms and sizes, such as very small brushes for cleaning a fine instrument, toothbrushes, the larger household version that usually comes with a dustpan, or the broomstick . Some brushes, usually used for professional cleaning could be even bigger, like some hallbrooms, used for cleaning wider areas. A very important usage of cleaning brushes can be found in the industry. Thousands of different cleaning brushes can be found in the food industry like brushes for cleaning vegetables, washing glass, or even other special uses like finishing tiles or even sanding doors for example. Those brushes are unique ones, made specially for a given machine by the manufacturer of the machines or a few special companies dedicated to make custom designs.

Paintbrushes

Paintbrushes are used for applying ink or paint. These are usually made by clamping the bristles to a handle with a ferrule. Paintbrush may also refer to the digital equivalent one would find in a bitmap graphics editor, i.e. a virtual brush that can modify a digital picture. Paintbrushes can have three shapes:
- Round: The long, closely arranged bristles of these brushes enable them to hold more paint than other similarly sized but differently shaped brushes. This is why many artists prefer them for painting large areas and for color washes.
- Flat: These spread paint well
- Fan-shaped: These mix paint well. Various types of brushes are used for painting pictures:
- Brights are flat brushes with short stiff bristles and can be useful in impasto work.
- Filberts are flat brushes with pointy ends. You can vary the width of the stroke by applying more or less pressure.
- Hakes are larger flat brushes used for covering large areas.
- Riggers are round brushes with longish hairs, and were traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. They are useful for fine lines.
- Spotters are round brushes with just a few short bristles. Image:Filbert.png The paintbrush has appeared as a charge in heraldry.

Brush care


- Paint must be cleaned from brushes immediately after use. This is especially true for oil and acrylic paint because removing dry, set residue can take bristles off or ruin a brush's shape.
- Never leave brushes bristle-end down in a container of water, turpentine, or any other solvent (if you want to clean them, do it by hand or with a wet cloth). This is because the bristles of the brush spread out against the bottom of the container and, will, if left too long, set that way (like hair).

Sizes and materials

Decorators' brushes

The sizes of brushes used for painting and decorating, usually given in mm or inches, refer to the width of the head. Common sizes are:
- ⅛ in, ¼ in, ⅜ in, ½ in, ⅝ in, ¾ in, ⅞ in, 1 in, 1¼ in, 1½ in, 2 in, 2½ in, 3 in, 3½ in, 4 in.
- 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100 mm. Bristles may be natural or synthetic. Natural bristles are preferred for oil-based paints and varnishes, while synthetic brushes are better for water-based paints as the bristles do not expand when wetted. Handles may be wood or plastic; ferrules are metal (usually nickel-plated steel).

Artists' brushes

Artists' brushes are usually given numbered sizes, although there is no exact standard for their physical dimensions. From smallest to largest, the sizes are:
- 7/0 (also written 0000000), 6/0, 5/0, 4/0, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30. Sizes 000 to 20 are most common. Bristles may be natural -- either soft hair or hog bristle -- or synthetic.
- Soft hair brushes are made from Kolinsky sable or ox hair (sabeline); or more rarely, squirrel, pony, goat, or badger. Cheaper hair is sometimes called camel hair... but doesn't come from camels.
- Hog bristle (often called china bristle) is stiffer and stronger than soft hair. It may be bleached or unbleached.
- Synthetic bristles are made of special multi-diameter extruded nylon filament. Artists' brush handles are commonly wooden, but the cheapest brushes may have moulded plastic handles. Many mass-produced handles are made of unfinished raw wood; better quality handles are of seasoned hardwood. The wood is sealed and lacquered to give the handle a high-gloss, waterproof finish that reduces soiling and swelling. Metal ferrules may be of aluminum, nickel, copper, or nickel-plated steel. Quill ferrules are also found: these give a different "feel" to the brush.
- [http://www.passionforpaint.com/Paintbrush.html The Invaluable Paintbrush] Category:Tools Category:Painting materials ja:筆

Pen

A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. Pens may be categorized by the kind of tip on them. The main modern types are ballpoint pens, fountain pens, and marker pens. Ballpoints, fountain pens and Gel Pens are sometimes erasable: their ink may be erased. The ball pen was first patented (invented - according to some sources) on January 24, 1906 by Croatian scientist [http://www.penkala.hr/en/about_penkala.html Slavoljub Penkala].

Terms and expressions

Originally the word meant quill, and is derived from penna, which is Latin for feather. This is because early pens were made from goose feathers by carving the feather with a penknife. Pen is also used as a verbal expression of "to create" or "to write"; for example, "Today, I think I'll pen the Great Canadian Novel." Pens may also be known, although not very commonly, as frindles. This word was invented by the author Andrew Clements in his novel Frindle, the premise of which is that a schoolboy decides to call pens "frindles" and the usage becomes common throughout America.

The ballpoint pen

Andrew Clements] There are two basic types of ball point pen: disposable and refillable. The ball point pen was invented in 1938 by the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro (in fact, the translation for ball pen in Argentina is birome because the inventor lived there for many years; also, biro can be used to refer to a ballpoint pen in British English). It was originally invented for the British RAF, as problems occurred with fountain pens due to the low air pressure aboard planes in flight.

Pens in culture

According to urban legend, NASA spent millions of dollars during the 1960s to develop a space pen, which could work in the absence of gravity and air pressure, and in extreme temperatures (The usual, comedic punch-line is "The Soviets used a 50¢ pencil"). In truth, the pen was developed long before the space program, by folks that wanted a pen that would write upside down. Prior to its discovery by NASA, American space missions did rely on lead pencils, but they tended to break, creating dangerous floating debris that could get in an astronaut's eye or create a short circuit, and they were prone to burning in a high-oxygen atmosphere. After a failed break in the music career, Hollywood actor Johnny Depp became a pen salesman. American Idol singing competition finalist Jon Peter Lewis was mocked by judge Simon Cowell as looking like a pen salesman, a moniker that stuck on him throughout the competition.

See also


- Pencil
- Dip pen
- Fountain pen
- Writing and drawing
- Quill
- Pen spinning
- brush

External links


- [http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp Urban Legends: the "Space Pen"] Category:Writing instruments Category:Stationery ja:ペン simple:Pen

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics, (AKA Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Characters, Inc., and Marvel Enterprises, Inc.) sometimes called by the nickname The House of Ideas, is an American comic book company. Its best-known comics include The Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and X-Men. Since the 1960s, it has been one of the two largest American comics companies, along with DC Comics. rightrightright

History

Origins

right), the first comic from Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Art by Frank R. Paul]] Marvel Comics was founded by established pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in 1939 as an eventual group of subsidiary companies under the umbrella name Timely Comics. Its first publication was Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), featuring the first appearance of Carl Burgos' android superhero, the Human Torch, and the first generally available appearance of Bill Everett's mutant anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. The contents of that sales blockbuster were supplied by an outside packager, Funnies, Inc., but by the following year Timely had a staff in place. The company's first editor, the writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with soon-to-be industry legend Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes, Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a major sales hit. While no other Timely character would be as successful as these "big three", some notable heroes — many continuing to appear in modern-day retcon appearances and flashbacks — include the Whizzer, Miss America, The Destroyer, the original Vision, and Paul Gustavson's The Angel. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, Powerhouse Pepper. Sales of all comic books declined drastically in the post-war era, and the superheroic übermensch archetype popular during the Depression and the war years went out of fashion. Like other comics companies, Timely — generally known as Atlas Comics in the 1950s — followed pop-cultural trends with a variety of genres, including funny animals, Western, horror, war, crime, humor, romance, spy fiction and even medieval adventure, all with varying degrees of success. An attempted superhero revival in 1953-54 with the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America failed. In 1957, Atlas nearly closed its doors due to the bankruptcy of its distributor, American News Service. This summer of 1957 debacle is infamously known as the "Atlas Implosion". The final comic to bear the famous Atlas Globe on its cover was Dippy Duck #1, the only "Atlas" comic with an October 1957 cover date. The Atlas "one-shots" of 1957 reveal that Martin Goodman was attempting to open a new range of "kiddies" titles just as the ax fell. Goodman switched to the distributor Independent News on constrained terms that allowed him only a limited number of titles per month. The surviving sixteen titles are sometimes referred to as the "sweet sixteen" (published bi-monthly, eight titles per month), the first of which to bear the new "Ind." label was Patsy Walker #73, ironically (like Dippy Duck) bearing an October 1957 cover date. The sixteen survivors of the summer of 1957 (the two fantasy and two war titles clearly were simply using up left over "inventory") reveal that the best selling titles were westerns (Kid Colt Outlaw starring in two titles) and girl humor (led primarily by Millie the Model along with Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe). The two fantasy titles (Strange Tales and World of Fantasy) clung on printing "inventory" (stories stored away in summer 1957) from late 1957 until late 1958. At the end of 1958 Martin Goodman attempted a new direction (after recently reviving Journey into Mystery) by launching a short-lived space fantasy sci-fi range of stories in six titles :Strange Worlds #1, World of Fantasy #15 , Strange Tales #67, Journey into Mystery #50, Tales of Suspense #1 and Tales to Astonish #1. The space fantasy tales were unsuccessful and faded out after less than a year, but by the end of 1959 most of these titles (Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy were both cancelled) were now sporting covers featuring great hulking monsters and featuring a line-up of Jack Kirby-drawn stories (often inked by Dick Ayers) followed by Steve Ditko's wonderful mysterious "ooky" tales and Don Heck's very atmospheric rendering of jungle/prison escapes and weird adventures. The Kirby/Ayers monster stories were riding on the coattails of popular movie trends of the time with a science fiction bent. Ind-Marvel also expanded its line of girls humor titles in 1959-61 with Kathy the Teen-Age Tornado (Oct 1959) and Linda Carter, Student Nurse (Sept 1961). This fact along with the fanstasy title expansion of late 1958 (and the addition of Amazing Adventures, cover dated June 1961 -- a title which eventually became the Lee & Ditko showpiece Amazing Adult Fantasy before becoming Amazing Fantasy #15 which in turn led to Amazing Spider-Man #1) clearly reveal that Martin Goodman and Stan Lee were looking for ways to expand their comics line.

1960s

Stan Lee), the cornerstone of Marvel and the introduction of a new style of superhero. Art by Jack Kirby.]] In the wake of DC Comics' success reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with The Justice League of America, Marvel decided to follow suit. Editor/writer Stan Lee and freelance artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four, vaguely reminding one of DC's adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown. The book was a success, and Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and anti-heroes as the Hulk, Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men and Daredevil, and such memorable antagonists as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Galactus, the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. The most successful new series was The Amazing Spider-Man, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Marvel's comics were noted for focusing on characterization to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them — Spider-Man in particular, its young hero suffering from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager. Marvel superheroes are often flawed, freaks, and misfits, unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some of the Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters. In time, this non-traditional approach would revolutionize comic books. Peter Sanderson, in an October 10, 2003, column for IGN.com [http://comics.ign.com/articles/595/595576p1.html], said that
"DC was the equivalent of the big Hollywood studios: After the brilliance of DC's reinvention of the superhero ... in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it had run into a creative drought by the decade's end. There was a new audience for comics, now, and it wasn't just the little kids that traditionally had read the books. The Marvel of the 1960s was in its own way the counterpart of the French New Wave.... Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in the process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond. Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further."
Lee became one of the best-known names in comics, with his charming personality and relentless salesmanship of the company. The "voice" of Stan Lee is what one senses in so many of the Marvel Comics of the first half of the 1960s. His sense of humor and general light-hearted manner, and the depiction of the Bullpen (Lee's name for the staff) as one big happy family. In later years it became clear the artists often had as much to do with Marvel's product and success as Lee. Jack Kirby in particular is often credited as the creative well from which sprang many of the cosmic ideas and characters of The Fantastic Four and The Mighty Thor (such as The Watcher, The Silver Surfer and Ego the Living Planet) while Steve Ditko is recognized as the driving artistic force behind the moody atmosphere and street-level naturalism of Spider-Man and the surreal atmosphere of Dr. Strange. Lee, however, continues to deserve great credit for his well-honed skills at dialog and story sense;