Deviant art style?

Wherever you go, unless you go to Japan or Asian country, Anime will be looked down upon. whether it's just Anime, or Anime drawing style(Manga) or just anything related to anime.

But what I'm going to talk about in this post, is the deviance of anime style in the eye of westerners and western artists(mostly, and I'm not saying that all of them look down on anime art, but many do so).

I started to notice this problem when I started to attend university. I do not consider it a big problem, but I don't really feel comfortable when someone look down on anything I do ( since I draw in anime/manga style.) months ago, we had to draw a still life for our drawing class, Alhamdulle-Allah, my drawing was turning out quite well. My teacher noticed that I was doing pretty well so he approached me and asked whether I drew in regular basis or something, and I told him, "I try to draw everyday, I like to draw in anime style." just after I told him that, I felt like his face changed (not in a positive way) so, I just stopped talking after saying that sentence.

Not only that, but I get that negative vibe from some students as well. So I try not to talk about drawing with others unless I thought a person might not give me that vibe.

But since I have online friends from all over the world, I know that this problem is not only here, but it's rather spread. I have found blog posts about people with the same problem. (1-2)

People usually think that manga and anime style is just some people who just copy the Japanese animation and think of it as art, they think that each anime is the same and the style is just a copy of another. (But what if it was a copy? people actually learn many things from copying other works, it can also be called "inspiration", you can always copy but you can never claim that the piece you did is original. Artists back in Florence has been copying Roman architecture and monuments. why? because nothing produced is original, everything is a copy of a copy, of another copy.)

But what did they know? how can they say that all anime style is the same? [see picture below]

Why do some realism/drawing artists/professors think anime art is the 'lazy' style? why is it deviant to them? I seriously cannot comprehend that. I draw anime style, and I know what a person has to do to become better at drawing. First they should learn the anatomy (of almost everything, and how things work and function) and every professional anime artist practice anatomy, very much. Just like any kind of artist. Anime art requires hard work as much as any other form of art. It's certainly not lazy.

The Examples(pictures) above is mostly taken from anime series, but how about I show you anime art with a message and meaning to it?

Yuumei, is an anime artist who tries to convey messages and spread awareness through her art. Such as global warming, divorce, and many other subjects.

To conclude this post, I want to ask once again, why is anime art style considered deviant to many other artists? is it because the stereotype of anime style is the shiny-big-eyed-huge-forehead-cute-girls characters? or is it because it doesn't carry a meaning(which I should consider invalid, seeing Yuumei's art) or is it because people think it doesn't require hard work? does it do any harm to the society(I think not, just in some cases which is individual's fault, not the style) or is it because it's stylized and not realistic? (if that's the case, then why is Picasso considered one of the most well-known artist though his art was not very realistic?) But in the end, everyone has their own definition of 'Art' but they do not have to look down on certain styles with no good reason. 

AnimeQtr Event

Last week an Anime event has been held in VCUQ's atrium. The event was organized by a group of people, some were students from education city, and some others out of education city(they formed a group in FB long time before planning the event)  And I got the chance to participate in the event by selling my artworks/drawings.

The event mainly consisted of different events where people would gather and solve quizzes, play video games, or show their artwork or sell goods.

I noticed that at the event, people basically didn't know one another, yet they've interacted with each other as if they knew each other for a long time. I'm going to try to see it in a sociological way, and that these people bonded with each other without much thinking(which lead us to social interaction, a method of way people interact with one another.) They formed an in-group; group of people who share same interests(which is interest in Japanese animations and cartoons in this case.) and they're also classified as otakus(which is a term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly, anime, manga, and video games.)

I think these people were acting very friendly with one another because they shared the same social status or position at that event, they all got the chance to cosplay, participate in the events there of video game tournament and some quizzes. And also as fans. They probably wouldn't have acted the same way if they were around people of different interest(I know I wouldn't) they know that not everyone is interested in anime and even some people consider anime fans "weird"(I actually heard that from a classmate just before the event started, and I became defensive, because I'm also a fan of anime, so thats the solidarity that I felt with other anime fans) and I'm going to quote what that person said to another person while talking about the event, " I've never really seen an anime fan that's normal, they all act weird."
Since I participated in this event as a person who sells their work, I got to meet different people. It was really interesting to see that even though they all share same interest, they came to me with different motivations. Some people came to talk to me about business opportunities, while some others wanted to buy my work, and some just wanted to look at what I had. Even though they shared the same interest, they were all different.

Finally, I want to say that I think the event was a really successful one, it's the first of its kind in Qatar, even though it was not sponsored it was a success alhamdulel-Allah. Plus what I also think made the event succeed was the big number of people who gathered for it (I believe more than five-hundred people visited VCUQ that day/night) I think it's just that when people share the same passion+position, things can work out very well (though people were from different ages and professions, I believe that they were considered equal that day, because they gathered as fans that day, not as professors, students, nor anything else.)
I hope that in the future, more events like this one will be held. It's really nice to see people of the same interest interact with one another.

Cosplay- A Lifestyle?

Anime and manga have a huge following all over the world, and a significantly large one in Qatar. Interestingly, those anime and manga subcultures that exist all over the world have their own subculture cosplay, which is when Otakus, fans obsessed with manga and anime, dress up as their favorite characters and live out the world in cosplay gatherings, conventions or even restaurants and bars. However, this particular subculture isn't one that exist all over the world and is mainly situated in Japan. While I myself am a fan of Anime and Manga I find the idea of cosplaying weird, yet I understand the reasons behind cosplay as a way to live the lives of your favorite characters, escape society and live out ones childhood.

This subculture is a very serious one in Japan, they have official photoshoots for cosplayers, contests, and roleplaying. To the naked eye this may simply seem like when people dress up as superheros in Comicon, after all it both involves a bunch of adults dressing up in costumes. However, it is far from a similar thing, in cosplay people don't simply dress the part but live the part. If two characters have a relationship in an anime, two people who dress as the character live the romance, even if they may not know each other or if two characters have a rivalry the two cosplayers will stage a fight.

Japan has a specific area known for cosplayers, such as the Akihabara District, as well as cafes, nightclubs and amusement parks specifically for cosplayers to meet, socialize and live out their fantasies. Furthermore, some cosplayers dress up as characters of the opposite sex, crossplay, in order to live out a certain fantasy. These crossplayers are a subgroup to cosplayers and have their own set of rules and hobbies.

These cosplayers have certain norms and regulations. For example, one more would be that when in battle, or a performance the cosplayer must never get out of character. A folkway would be that when in costume the costume must be true to the character. Cosplayers spend months perfecting their costume, the better the costume the more respect the person gets in his or her community.

In Conclusion, cosplaying is more than just a hobby, rather it is a way of life. Cosplayers gather socially in cosplay nightclubs, cafes and bars they have social networks related to cosplay for dating and friendships.