Manga - Introduction to Japanese Comics, 1 500 CZK

"Let's get to the mysteries of creating Japanese comics…"

What is Manga? Manga is a name for a Japanese comics. By current statistics, about 450 000 000 Manga novels are sold in Japan every year (this doesn’t include Manga-magazines, comics notebooks, and comics e-books). The rising popularity of Manga not only in Japan but also in Europe and USA lead to a new form of Manga called West Manga which oftentimes looses it's visual quality. With this wide range of variants and styles, it is important to distinguish the classic forms of Manga so that we can choose a high quality Manga book to read. 

• Where? Atelier Balbínova 28, Prague 2
• When? 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (with a lunch break)
• How much? Membership fee C (1500 CZK)
• Art supplies: All art supplies are included
• Reservation is necessary
• Scheduled dates: 11.10.2025 and 10.1.2026

Manga is mainly based on beauty and simplicity of Japanese drawing and Japanese love for stories, which can be tracked down to medieval ages (12^th century). The Stories on scrolls were developed by image series, which were improved by a short text. Despite the fact that Manga as a product of Western society was created between 19^th and 20^th century, factors which influenced the final look of Manga can be found in rich Japanese art, mainly in graphics and monochrome painting. From the first illustrated books for children at the beginning of 20^th century Manga rapidly got in the bestselling and most popular publications in Japan (and not only for children) but also worldwide.

A good comic artist is able to bring the reader into the story the way that he has a feeling that he really hears all that´s going on in the story. Astro Boy, Maki Miyako, Genius Bakabon, Doraemon, Akira, Dragon Ball, Bakuman, Blade of the Immortal, Lone Wolf and Cub and many other comics become popular worldwide. Why is that and how these stories differ from Western narrative understanding? We will try to find an answer to this question on whole-day workshop dedicated to Manga.

What can we expect from the workshop? 

• Introduction to Japanese comics: evolution, the most important historical milestones, authors and their work.
• Finding the answer to a question: how does the Japanese comics differ from Western comics?
• Introduction to Manga and Japanese comics rules and forms of “speech”.
• Presentation of interesting samples of different Japanese comics genres and types.
• Creation of a story from the text of a Japanese short story.
• Development of visual and narrative skills.
• Consultations 

What are we going to learn? We will get to know: 

• the most interesting Japanese authors of Manga
• different approaches and processes in comics stories
• basic rules and characteristics of Manga
• how to build a comics story
• what is important for creating Manga
• how to do comics phases
• what to not forget in a story finalization