Sweatdrop Studios turn 6 years old

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatdrop_Studios">Sweatdrop Studios</a> recently celebrated their 6th birthday. Having been in operation since 2001 and at the very forefront of the "UK manga" movement, this independent UK comics publisher regularly releases manga-style graphic novels drawn by artists located in the UK. In addition, Sweatdrop is also involved with organizing and writing a number of self-help workshops, tutorials and books about manga. Unfortunately, their official website is currently offline due to a series of "random hacks", but their <a href="http://www.sweatdrop.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9846">forums are back online</a>.
 
It's very sad and irritating that our forums have been targetted so much recently - we were holding a sale and prize draw and everything! But I guess that's what happens with big traffic T_T

We are in the process of re-designing and upgrading so hopefully these site downtimes will become a thing of the past. I will let you all know straight away when things get sorted.
 
Congratulations, but doesn’t this perpetuate the idea that there is a ‘manga style’ of drawing? There is no such thing as ‘UK manga’, never has been and never will be. I think it’s a great idea for people to showcase their talents, but not through misrepresentation. Having big eyes and a sweat drop on a character doesn’t make the comic a manga, it is the fact that the manga-ka is Japanese that makes it ‘manga’.

Family Guy and Futurama are animated in Korea, does that make them Manhwa? Of course it doesn’t. We need to stop thinking that the term ‘UK comic book’ or ‘UK graphic novel’ is a negative term and celebrate those how are talented.
 
sonia_leong said:
It's very sad and irritating that our forums have been targetted so much recently - we were holding a sale and prize draw and everything! But I guess that's what happens with big traffic T_T

We are in the process of re-designing and upgrading so hopefully these site downtimes will become a thing of the past. I will let you all know straight away when things get sorted.
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It's a problem that comes with the territory, I guess. During 2006, these forums were hacked. Every message was deleted and the forum was flooded with racist abuse! It wasn't too hard restoring everything, but it just goes to show how some people are willing to exploit anything for a cheap laugh. Anyway, I hope you guys come back stronger, and I'm looking forward to the new layout :)

HiroYui said:
Congratulations, but doesn’t this perpetuate the idea that there is a ‘manga style’ of drawing? There is no such thing as ‘UK manga’, never has been and never will be. I think it’s a great idea for people to showcase their talents, but not through misrepresentation. Having big eyes and a sweat drop on a character doesn’t make the comic a manga, it is the fact that the manga-ka is Japanese that makes it ‘manga’.
Click to expand...

Though I understand your point of view, I'm probably starting to see "UK manga" and "Japanese manga" as two separate entities. I mean, when I look at, say, Sonia's work, it obviously looks like "manga". There's no other way to describe it because the UK manga artists prescribe to this "stock" style of drawing. Therefore, "UK manga" describes that visual style more than anything else.

On the other hand, "Japanese manga" doesn't prescribe to any stock visual style at all. Probably my favourite manga-ka is Taiyō Matsumoto, and his work looks more like French comic art than Japanese, but it's still manga because it comes from Japan. That's the key difference, "UK manga" is simply the visual style, but Japanese manga is more of a cultural thing. It's rather complicated, I guess, but the fact remains, there's no easier way to describe the work of people like Sonia than simply saying it's "UK manga".
 
Yay, forums are back at Sweatdrop.com!!

LOL, call mine and my colleagues' stuff whatever you want, we don't really mind - as Paul says, it's just a categorisation that is meant to help customers and book stores so that they know what type of work we produce, and where to put it on the shelf.

^_^

Kind of like manga, kind of not, but original UK-produced comics, some with anime/manga-style character artwork, most with Japanese story-telling techniques, but always very different looking from mainstream Western/Alternative comics.

Quite a mouthful! So we just tried the strapline "Original UK Manga Studios" in 2001, and it's stuck since.

Believe me, I would cry with joy when general manga fans celebrate "UK comics" and not discriminate against non-Japanese creators. My colleagues and I mix with the Western comic scene a lot too, we're all getting sick of the whole manga vs non-manga, Japanese vs non-Japanese, popular style vs originality etc. etc. debate. We all just like making comics, in whatever style we like! Sweatdrop's members just happen to make comics with a very Japanese look.

(For me personally, I've been reading Japanese comics since I was little, growing up in Malaysia and Thailand. I also read American and British and French and Chinese comics. When I eventually put pen to paper, I drew - and it came out looking like manga. It wasn't a conscious decision to copy copy copy OMG I HEART ANIMU sort of thing XD)
 
Wow. I just came to say "Congrats and happy birthday Sweatdrop!" There seems to be a lot of expression in this topic now. :p

I see manga as a visual thing rather than something that comes from a certain area. You can get Orthentic Manga from Japan, but artists from Korea, China and the east are still pretty much manga to me. And now the Western side is trying it's go. It's not orthentic, but the style can be manga if it visually looks like it.
If the same rules apply to it, then Surrealism is still Surrealism. And Manga will be Manga. Yet art is done in numerous places, but it's the same subject with the same name.

Then there's comics. Manga (today) is a comic. It's just a clash of the same thing from different sides of the world, yet the Japanese had to call it one thing, and Americans (etc.) call it another. Like 2 different inventors making a electric light product. One can call it Elp, while another calls it a lightbulb.

Anyways, hope Sweatdrop continues its journey. As a fellow artist, I wouldn't want my comrades to fall short. (Ok... I'm not in your league, but I'm still rooting for ya.) :D
 
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