Compositions & Panel Layouts: “Koma-Wari” for Manga & Comics

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at being a manga artist, if even just for an hour? Similar to the way film and television attempt to convey mood and atmosphere on the screen, manga ambience and pace is created on paper. How is this done? One tool is paneling or “Koma-wari”. In manga, the story is told sequentially through images in small frames called “koma” in Japanese. Through the arrangement, size and composition of these frames, or panels, the artist can control how a scene unfolds, guiding the pace and emotion of the story.

In this workshop Illustrator/Animator MinoMiyabi will offer comic enthusiasts, and aspiring artists of all ages, fundamental tutorials on how to compose and frame scenes of a story using page splitting and camera angle techniques to introduce emotions and tension within a story. Participants will learn how to balance a page through “Koma-wari”, on the way to creating their own short manga. Paired with a post workshop curator-led ‘This is MANGA – the Art of NAOKI URASAWA’ exhibition walkthrough, participants will gain insight into the process and techniques used by manga artist Naoki Urasawa to create his incredibly tense and exciting scenes.

What are you waiting for? Grab a marker and follow along with MinoMiyabi!

Artist Profile

Workshop instructor MinoMiyabi is a Los Angeles based animator and illustrator with an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Originally from Japan, he is currently in the US continuing his art focused on a balance of aesthetics and developing consistent formats for communicating the spirit of his characters. After spending time as an artist/animator at SPRITE Animation Studios contributing to “Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures” for Disney XD, he began his freelance career with clients such as Walt Disney Imagineering and Shinca Entertainment. He is a regular speaker at annual workshops on character design and manga drawing at Anime EXPO (Los Angeles) and Comic-Con International (San Diego). MinoMiyabi is currently continuing his freelance work with a number of his own original projects in development.

About the Workshop Series

JAPAN HOUSE has a fun and interactive lineup of programs complimenting the North American debut of the ‘This is MANGA – the Art of NAOKI URASAWA’ exhibition, displayed in its gallery from January 23 – March 28, for the internationally acclaimed Japanese artist, Naoki Urasawa . These workshops will offer guests the opportunity to nurture their own drawing skills, while connecting with the manga art form and the artwork of Urasawa.

Naoki Urasawa is considered a modern manga master, combining dynamic storytelling and transcendent artistic skill in his development of rich and sophisticated characters. His stories touch upon the hopes, dreams, and at times underlying fears of humanity. This retrospective exhibition will introduce Urasawa’s thought process and drawing skill through an extraordinary presentation of more than 400 original drawings and storyboards. Selected stories from seven of his major works to date will highlight the breadth of the artist’s narrative styles, including: YAWARA!, MONSTER, 20th Century Boys, PLUTO, BILLY BAT, MASTER KEATON ReMASTER (Story by Takashi Nagasaki), and MUJIRUSHI (The Sign of Dreams, with the cooperation of Fujio Productions).

Registration

Registration has closed.
*Recommended for those 15 and above, minors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
*The $10 fee includes drawing material.