Quirky Japanese animation

BY SANDRA SIAGIAN 

EXPECT big eyes, spiky hair and outrageous fashion when you spot a manga drawing.

The distinctive Japanese-style cartoons, usually seen in Japanese animation on TV, are characters that are colourful, stylish and pretty interesting.

Manga characters require an artistic skill to understand the three-dimensional shading effects, proportions and the action poses, says art teacher Julie Stapleton. The owner of Kids Art Academy — with classes at Menai, Oatley, Hurstville and Engadine, Miranda and Bundeena — started specific manga classes at her studio following student requests.

“It’s trendy among the pre-teens and teenage age group,” Miss Stapleton said about the Japanese animation. “I’ve been running classes for about a year now and at the moment students have been working on doing self-portraits and portraits of their friends in the manga style.”

The students learn how to draw these entertaining characters in one-hour classes each week. Miss Stapleton said some of the dramatic action poses could be quite complex, requiring the use of geometric breakdowns.

The academy has manga classes on Mondays and Tuesdays at Menai, and on Saturdays at Hurstville. People can submit their availability on the website for future classes.

St George and Sutherland Shire Leader.