Senior Capstone Project

Throughout my capstone class, I have explored the history of the modern manga, and its fascinating roots in Japan’s traumas. These include the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and later US occupation. This work shares my wonder for manga by highlighting its expressive use of lines and marks.

Each drawing takes inspiration from different genres and artists of modern manga. I abstracted these different visual styles to create my own original compositions. This was a way of exploring the sensibilities these lines and marks convey. I eliminated all narrative elements to reduce each drawing to manga’s core visuals.  Each drawing was also cut into different shapes to mimic the panels in a manga.

In the traditional style of this Japanese medium, my work should be read from the right to the left. The first set of drawings begin with line work inspired by Osamu Tezuka. The rest continue through artists following after until the late 1990s. This work shares my appreciation for Modern Manga as sophisticated line art.