Promising Young Manga Artists' Advice from One Piece Creator

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda advised promising young artists on how to create good manga.

The One Piece manga has been a tremendous success since its release in July 1997, achieving the impressive feat of becoming the #1 best-selling manga worldwide with over 516.6 million copies sold. As one might expect, this popularity has not gone unnoticed; both the series and its creator have won numerous awards and honors over the years, including being named as a finalist for several Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes between 2000 and 2002. In fact, Oda himself has participated in this prestigious event as part of the Tezuka Manga Award Committee- an organization aimed at recognizing exceptional talent within the medium while seeking out new innovators who can help shape its future. Recently, Redditor Ok-Cut-5743 even shared a translated version of Oda's inspiring message to aspiring young artists that he delivered during the 105th edition of these ceremonies.

Oda's Advice For Up-and-Coming Artists

It's great that there are many promising young manga artists from now on," Oda said. "My overall impression is that there are many series in which the writers clearly know what they want to write, which is very encouraging." However, I believe that it would be beneficial if they could focus on creating easily understandable illustrations and include necessary explanations to engage readers. Without losing sight of what they want to draw, I want them to do their best.

Oda has become well-known for his distinct approach to creating manga. More recently, he has expressed disapproval of shonen manga's overly serious tone and believes that artists should incorporate more playful elements into their works. Oda laments the loss of characteristic symbolism in manga storytelling, such as a light bulb appearing above a character's head or their legs spinning around. He acknowledges that battle manga increasingly strives to meet reader expectations by taking itself too seriously, which Oda dislikes.

At present, Oda is using his distinctive creative approach to assist Netflix with the development of their forthcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. Recently, progress reports have been provided to fans by the company which included images of specific items such as Luffy's infamous hat, Going Merry - his ship and its recognisable emblem. As an instrumental figure in the production process, Oda has reassured supporters that any initial bumps in the road have now been ironed out and all those involved are effectively collaborating together. Additionally, he has made it clear that he will not release One Piece until he himself feels content with it.

Stream the popular anime series on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll or buy the One Piece manga from VIZ.

Reddit source