2013 Shonen Jump International Manga Competition

[QueenTroll38]

oh wtf....1.5k entries....only 1 from USA and honestly, not even sure if those manga are really the "best ones" IMO...they look...so....not unique.

[hisoka hxh]

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

[Kyousouka]

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

[Vegapunkprime]

If people haven't already, listen to Podcast #31 of the SJ Podcast- American Editor-in-Chief Andy explains how the semi-finalists and finalists were picked.

There were originally six from America (or perhaps "English" speaking entries?) that were picked by the Viz team, then translated and taken over to Shueisha in Tokyo. There were 6 from the Japanese entries, and 5 from Chinese entries. Those were picked down to the six we see.

[hisoka hxh]

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

wait, what was your list of pointers again?

I don't consider you a d!ck so don't worry.

I enter another manga calld "Alter"

[hisoka hxh]

Vegapunkprime

If people haven't already, listen to Podcast #31 of the SJ Podcast- American Editor-in-Chief Andy explains how the semi-finalists and finalists were picked.

There were originally six from America (or perhaps "English" speaking entries?) that were picked by the Viz team, then translated and taken over to Shueisha in Tokyo. There were 6 from the Japanese entries, and 5 from Chinese entries. Those were picked down to the six we see.

they should at least reveal who those "semi finalists" are. cause what we see now is that the selection is bias towards asia, which is very confusing.

[Vegapunkprime]

Yeah, it would be nice to know who the semi-finalists were but I guess we'll never know.

Oh well, onto the next thing!

[Kyousouka]

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

wait, what was your list of pointers again?

I don't consider you a d!ck so don't worry.

I enter another manga calld "Alter"

I posted a critique in your thread about your comic. It's still on the first page of Comic Creators so you can look for it there. I mainly talked about your trasition problems and rushed-looking art (you disagreed with that last part).
If you want additional advice: Study anatomy some more, and think about the role of value in composition. These are online tutorials and books about both of these subjects, if you're the type of person who needs guidance. Your art is rather lacking in these two areas, and brushing up on those will go a long way towards making it presentable. Your lack of understanding in these two areas contributes to the "rushed" look of your art, I think.

[hisoka hxh]

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

wait, what was your list of pointers again?

I don't consider you a d!ck so don't worry.

I enter another manga calld "Alter"

I posted a critique in your thread about your comic. It's still on the first page of Comic Creators so you can look for it there. I mainly talked about your trasition problems and rushed-looking art (you disagreed with that last part).
If you want additional advice: Study anatomy some more, and think about the role of value in composition. These are online tutorials and books about both of these subjects, if you're the type of person who needs guidance. Your art is rather lacking in these two areas, and brushing up on those will go a long way towards making it presentable. Your lack of understanding in these two areas contributes to the "rushed" look of your art, I think.

do you have the links to the tutorials?

[Kyousouka]

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

wait, what was your list of pointers again?

I don't consider you a d!ck so don't worry.

I enter another manga calld "Alter"

I posted a critique in your thread about your comic. It's still on the first page of Comic Creators so you can look for it there. I mainly talked about your trasition problems and rushed-looking art (you disagreed with that last part).
If you want additional advice: Study anatomy some more, and think about the role of value in composition. These are online tutorials and books about both of these subjects, if you're the type of person who needs guidance. Your art is rather lacking in these two areas, and brushing up on those will go a long way towards making it presentable. Your lack of understanding in these two areas contributes to the "rushed" look of your art, I think.

do you have the links to the tutorials?

You shouldn't rely on other people for things that you can easily obtain yourself. Or anything, really. Though it's not ideal, as artists, we really don't have very many people we can count on for help, advice, etc. It's essential to learn to find all sorts of resources on your own, as well as to learn to see the problems in your own work.

As for tutorials specifically: the sort of tutorial that will work best for you depends on how you learn. The best thing to do is to look at all sorts! DeviantArt is a good place to start. But remember, people who make tutorials are fallible, and there are some people out there making tutorials that they really have no business making. Also, there are as many ways of doing things as there are artists. Never assume any tutorial to be the "right way", no matter how skilled the artist appears to be. What works for you might ruin someone else's work, and vice versa. Look around, experiment, learn from everything.

[hisoka hxh]

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

hisoka hxh

what the hell?

only 6 finalists?

and 4 are from china/taiwan?

what the hell?

1 from north america?

what the hell?

this is international, isn't it?

come on, shonen jump, don't be like that...i worked in total of more than 40 hours for this....

40-50 hours for a 20-ish page comic isn't very much. In any case, they don't pick based on effort, they pick based on results. They also don't pick based on country. If they think the Asian entries were better, then of course they should pick them! That said, some bias is inherent since the Japanese judges can likely connect better with entries from culture that are more similar to theirs than the US culture is.

I don't know what the judging is like for this competition compared to Kodansha, but I recall reading that the judges for the Kodansha competition were disappointed in how the American entries were all trying to be "manga" instead of developing an understanding of stylisation and stylising in their own way. There's a noticeable difference between people who draw in a manga-esque style because they know how to draw anything and choose to stylise in that way, and people who draw in a manga-esque style because they don't know how to draw in any other way. Most of the American entries presumably fell in the latter group. That was probably the case in this competition too. The reason for that is because it's called a "manga" competition, using manga in the broader Japanese sense. However, most Americans understand it in the narrower western sense, and so people with great skills but styles that aren't heavily manga-esque don't feel like they can apply, even though they can. And the people who do apply are mostly the people who draw manga just because it's manga :/


And I hate to be a d**k, but... your art is not that good. You lack an understanding of many basic things, and it shows in your art. Your style is also a Frankenstein's monster of shounen manga styles, instead of a fluid melding of understanding and influence. I've critiqued your comic before, so you should be aware of at least a few of the problems and how detrimental they are. Even if the comic you entered into the competition wasn't Sheol Reset, I think those same issues would still show up.

Instead of being upset that you weren't ranked along with comics that are much better than yours, take some time and really work on your skills. You've got a lot of basic skills to learn, and the sooner you get to working on those, the sooner your art can stand along with this year's finalists or even kick their butt!

wait, what was your list of pointers again?

I don't consider you a d!ck so don't worry.

I enter another manga calld "Alter"

I posted a critique in your thread about your comic. It's still on the first page of Comic Creators so you can look for it there. I mainly talked about your trasition problems and rushed-looking art (you disagreed with that last part).
If you want additional advice: Study anatomy some more, and think about the role of value in composition. These are online tutorials and books about both of these subjects, if you're the type of person who needs guidance. Your art is rather lacking in these two areas, and brushing up on those will go a long way towards making it presentable. Your lack of understanding in these two areas contributes to the "rushed" look of your art, I think.

do you have the links to the tutorials?

You shouldn't rely on other people for things that you can easily obtain yourself. Or anything, really. Though it's not ideal, as artists, we really don't have very many people we can count on for help, advice, etc. It's essential to learn to find all sorts of resources on your own, as well as to learn to see the problems in your own work.

As for tutorials specifically: the sort of tutorial that will work best for you depends on how you learn. The best thing to do is to look at all sorts! DeviantArt is a good place to start. But remember, people who make tutorials are fallible, and there are some people out there making tutorials that they really have no business making. Also, there are as many ways of doing things as there are artists. Never assume any tutorial to be the "right way", no matter how skilled the artist appears to be. What works for you might ruin someone else's work, and vice versa. Look around, experiment, learn from everything.

which tutorials do you use?

[Kyousouka]

hisoka hxh

Kyousouka

You shouldn't rely on other people for things that you can easily obtain yourself. Or anything, really. Though it's not ideal, as artists, we really don't have very many people we can count on for help, advice, etc. It's essential to learn to find all sorts of resources on your own, as well as to learn to see the problems in your own work.

As for tutorials specifically: the sort of tutorial that will work best for you depends on how you learn. The best thing to do is to look at all sorts! DeviantArt is a good place to start. But remember, people who make tutorials are fallible, and there are some people out there making tutorials that they really have no business making. Also, there are as many ways of doing things as there are artists. Never assume any tutorial to be the "right way", no matter how skilled the artist appears to be. What works for you might ruin someone else's work, and vice versa. Look around, experiment, learn from everything.

which tutorials do you use?

...are you serious? Did nothing I said in that post get through to you?

We're getting quite off-topic here, so I think you should continue this in your own thread if you want. Honestly, I see nothing worth continuing. Go look for things!
You will always need to look for references, tutorials, etc. Even when you're already good, it's useful to see how other people do things. Better learn how to find them!

[UrbanCloud]

Honestly saying that they're biased to submissions from other Asian nations seems like we're just mad that there aren't more submissions from our country and/or continent. You guys do know just because China & Taiwan are in Asia doesn't mean Japan would favor them. They don't look at each others as 'brothers' or anything. They don't share the same culture (Though they may seem similar at times), and to them they're cultures & life style are very different. Though to the untrained western eye it may look the same. So they wouldn't favor those submissions just cause they're Asian. If their was any kind of bias or favoritism then their would be more submissions from Japan...But I will agree that these one shots weren't that great. They had some interesting and unique concept, but the stories themselves were only ok. Makes me wonder what the other submissions were like if this lack luster bunch was chosen....

Out of curiosity which submission did you guys vote for?

[Kyousouka]

UrbanCloud

Honestly saying that they're biased to submissions from other Asian nations seems like we're just mad that there aren't more submissions from our country and/or continent. You guys do know just because China & Taiwan are in Asia doesn't mean Japan would favor them. They don't look at each others as 'brothers' or anything. They don't share the same culture (Though they may seem similar at times), and to them they're cultures & life style are very different. Though to the untrained western eye it may look the same. So they wouldn't favor those submissions just cause they're Asian. If their was any kind of bias or favoritism then their would be more submissions from Japan...But I will agree that these one shots weren't that great. They had some interesting and unique concept, but the stories themselves were only ok. Makes me wonder what the other submissions were like if this lack luster bunch was chosen....

Out of curiosity which submission did you guys vote for?

This.

I agree that the one-shots were lackluster, but I also think it's important to consider the context: This was Shounen Jump's competition. I'd imagine most of the people who knew about the competition were Shounen Jump readers, as I haven't seen it advertised to other audiences. My impression of that demographic is of one rich in concepts, but poor in writing skill.
Moreover, the competition was explicitly geared towards work that would "fit" with Jump's own content (I think they mentioned that in the rules, even), so I'd imagine they did have to weed out some entries that were well-written but not quite Jump-esque. Many of Jump's own manga start out with strong concepts and weak writing, but improve through the guidance of the editors, so I'd imagine they are a little forgiving in that regard too.

And of course, a lot of the people who are skilled wouldn't want to enter the competition because of its nasty little "we own all the adaptation rights" clause, and they might already be doing well elsewhere and don't need to deal with Jump. And those that would still participate would likely send in one of their weaker stories rather than something they've always wanted to make and care deeply about.


That said, I also wonder what the quality was like among the semi-finalists and other entries that were not clear "junk" entries (I'm sure they got a ton of those).


I didn't vote since none of the stories appealed to me.

[hisoka hxh]

Kyousouka

UrbanCloud

Honestly saying that they're biased to submissions from other Asian nations seems like we're just mad that there aren't more submissions from our country and/or continent. You guys do know just because China & Taiwan are in Asia doesn't mean Japan would favor them. They don't look at each others as 'brothers' or anything. They don't share the same culture (Though they may seem similar at times), and to them they're cultures & life style are very different. Though to the untrained western eye it may look the same. So they wouldn't favor those submissions just cause they're Asian. If their was any kind of bias or favoritism then their would be more submissions from Japan...But I will agree that these one shots weren't that great. They had some interesting and unique concept, but the stories themselves were only ok. Makes me wonder what the other submissions were like if this lack luster bunch was chosen....

Out of curiosity which submission did you guys vote for?

This.

I agree that the one-shots were lackluster, but I also think it's important to consider the context: This was Shounen Jump's competition. I'd imagine most of the people who knew about the competition were Shounen Jump readers, as I haven't seen it advertised to other audiences. My impression of that demographic is of one rich in concepts, but poor in writing skill.
Moreover, the competition was explicitly geared towards work that would "fit" with Jump's own content (I think they mentioned that in the rules, even), so I'd imagine they did have to weed out some entries that were well-written but not quite Jump-esque. Many of Jump's own manga start out with strong concepts and weak writing, but improve through the guidance of the editors, so I'd imagine they are a little forgiving in that regard too.

And of course, a lot of the people who are skilled wouldn't want to enter the competition because of its nasty little "we own all the adaptation rights" clause, and they might already be doing well elsewhere and don't need to deal with Jump. And those that would still participate would likely send in one of their weaker stories rather than something they've always wanted to make and care deeply about.


That said, I also wonder what the quality was like among the semi-finalists and other entries that were not clear "junk" entries (I'm sure they got a ton of those).


I didn't vote since none of the stories appealed to me.

that part was misleading and jump didn't meant it that way. I know this because my friend's wife used to work under jump as a regular staff in japan in 2009.

what really happens is that the creators will have a big share of the profit if the material would be popular enough to be marketable. so the truth is, the creators is actually "using" jump's "resources" to promote their works to the public. jump's staffs should've clarified this on their site at the starting date of this event.