Hokusai’s works are the origin of manga is a well-known opinion, even though this view is still debated nowadays. However, no doubt, Japanese modern mangas are popular today, they are spread rapidly all over the world. When Katsushika Hokusai lived, he developed a new dynamic art style that took the era by storm. Notably, his works’ composition is always imaginative and powerful, and they are still unique and innovative today.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Ghost of Kohada Koheiji, about 1833.
He spent lots of time contributing to making ‘picture manuals’, the purpose of these ‘picture manuals’ is to provide vivid pictures for copying and learning his art style. Due to these manuals, his style spread widely to the public rapidly throughout Japan, the most famous of the series was ‘Hokusai manga’.
Without dialogue and story in the ‘Hokusai Manga’, they are more like random sketches, these sketches include anything such as landscapes, ocean waves, buildings and working people of different kinds of occupations etc. Katsushika Hokusai possesses magical powers, he can capture the spirit of each object precisely with the brush. Not only that, he shows perseverance in artistic realism, especially in the portrayal of people and nature, even the legendary world ( god, goddess and monster).
Visiting the museum is one of the methods I seek inspiration, I knew Katsushika Hokusai from a special exhibition in terms of Ukiyoe. Katsushika Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ is widely regarded as a masterpiece, most people also have known him from this work. This print portrays three boats sailing in huge waves with the background of Mount Fuji. His special technique of depicting big waves and the bold use of colour have influenced the subsequent art world to nowadays.
However, when I research further about Katsushika Hokusai, I was attracted by his ‘Hokusai Manga’. Although these sketches do not like his Ukiyoe stunning when you see them for the first time, you will be shocked by the appearance of the objects accurately and the powerful moments of action while you appreciate them longer.
I am especially interested in how he drew people’s series of movements like he was life drawing, I think they are like simple animations if you connect each movement. So I like to look at his sketches and learn how to draw vivid and not clunky movements, this helps me a lot when designing character movements.
He not only focused on the overall appearance but also recorded the details like people’s expressions and facial features. The faces of exaggerated stretch andsquash let me link with the animation.
I like to find inspiration from these exaggerated and interesting expressions, these sketches not only record the appearance of objects but also convey strong emotions to the readers. I think that is what I want to learn when I make animations.
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