VK's quality of drawings/graphics

Is it my idea or during the last chapters Matsuri Hino's drawings instead of becoming better during the years, they are becoming worse??
I saw a discussion in another forum, about Rosario+Vampire, some members were praising how the drawings are becoming better and better during the chapters and the artist seems to really try a lot to become better. They compare 2 pictures, one of the early chapters and one of the last ones and I tell you that they were right, I hadn't noticed it but the drawings were really far more better.
So I did the same thing with Vk and the results were the opposite..

this

Spoiler:

is from chapter 4!!! look at the details, their uniforms, the floor, the wall, the window....

and this is from chapter 66

Spoiler:

where is the background??? and where is the perspective of the background???.. it's so hasty.....it's like a draft not the final sketch!!!!

and it's not that I tried too hard to find images to compare, I just chose a random page from an early chap and a random page from a recent chap ...

I agree with you. Every manga i've read so far had changes in the upcoming chapters, positive changes.
Noblesse is a great manga, people love it and it had great
positive changes!

The picture on the right was at the start of the manga and as the story progressed, so did the graphics. The left one is the same character, but more polished and more handsome.



I don't know whats wrong with Hino, but i'm seriously starting to loose my interest in Vk.

@Anna you want a perspective? Here we don't have a background...LOL
I am just kidding. Yes backgrounds have elapsed currently, also many details are missing that would gave more of a perspective and life yo the characters.

Also I wanted to ask about the eyes, is it fashion or art to be missing? You know the iris inside...
Even though the art in variety of details and surroundings has decreased what do you think about the characters? I see improvement in that field...

Zero is far better than what he was originally and Kaname looks more mature along with Yuuki.
Perhaps Hino has got tired of drawing all the details, that's why we get the drafts result. What do you think?

Of course, it is true. The chapters are in very various levels. It is not make worse but sometimes there are weaker drawings and whole chapters. It is sad. :suspect:

I'm starting to believe that Hino 's got a little bored with VK!!!! or that someone other, maybe an assistant is responsible for the drawings in some chapters...

@Juliet yes, I agree that the characters have developed in depth but as it seems this is against the quality of their drawings...maybe there isn't enough time for a better script and good art?? :suspect:
I think that the thing with the eyes is a technique like the trend "less is more" in interior design I know for sure that in cases where you want to project more a character and the others around him/her are just "fillers", you can draw all the fillers without faces at all

Huh. I think her drawings have gotten better over the volumes. I like how they look now better than the first few volumes.

(but with the backgrounds and groupshots and stuff, i think she's taking alot less time on them.. just trying to get the manga out sooner, i s'pose) *shrug*

Like Anna said, I was always under the impression that mangaka's had assistants to draw backgrounds and the little details....? While the main artist drew the characters. At least thats what I know about Western cartoons and things, but that could be totally different I'm probably wrong

And maybe the lack of a detailed background isn't all bad. For one thing it draws your attention to the characters more, and it also might save time if Hino is worried about getting each chapter published in LaLa in time..??


Anyway, even if the backgrounds havn't improved all that much, I think the character improvement more than makes up for it Kaname and Zero especially They've both gotten so hot in recent chapters I don't even really know who I want Yuuki to end up with anymore

anna wrote:Is it my idea or during the last chapters Matsuri Hino's drawings instead of becoming better during the years, they are becoming worse??
this is from chapter 4!!! look at the details, their uniforms, the floor, the wall, the window....

The first 9 chapters are scanlated from the books, which hino has gone back and added more detail. But I do think its still not as good.
http://www.mangareader.net/104-2101-7/vampire-knight/chapter-10.html

The panel shots and stuff used to be way more varied. Lots of different angles and stuff to make things to notice.
http://www.mangareader.net/104-2092-6/vampire-knight/chapter-7.html
Yagari's introduction is so expressive.

http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-6/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-9/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-10/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
In the above, Yuuki in the top panel only varies slightly, so boring!!!@ Most of the panels are profile or straight on and incredibly repetitive. lots of wasted panels. I actually think ch66 was one of the worst for that because it was mostly just 2 characters talking. more actions gives her more variety...but still, she chose the action...

Knightmare wrote:
http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-6/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-9/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
http://www.mangareader.net/104-58423-10/vampire-knight/chapter-66.html
In the above, Yuuki in the top panel only varies slightly, so boring!!!@ Most of the panels are profile or straight on and incredibly repetitive. lots of wasted panels. I actually think ch66 was one of the worst for that because it was mostly just 2 characters talking. more actions gives her more variety...but still, she chose the action...

I actually think chapter 66 is pretty good compared to other drawings because of its emphasis to yuki's expressions its probably the pointedly single emphasis on Kaname and Yuki that made it horrible. for example this
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-1.html
is a great cover, even sideways you can see the emotion in their eyes...

here yuki looks childish, then lustful on the same page
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-13.html

later on she looks very mature and adult here:
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-15.html

and childish again here:
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-17.html

she changes aura/feel per page, its like we're seeing different emotions in one chapter. and here kaname has a new expression thats so cute and quite unlike him, its very light
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-17.html
a faint hint of surprise, then smile the chapter is very light and comedy for both kaname and yuki, and possibly this is a chapter where you can see the variation of expression

--
@topic
I prefer the latest chapters drawing now for the following reasons

>>EYES: in the first few chapters the drawings had large, marbly eyes, so large and bright it looks more like stones than actual eyes (reminiscent of hino's previous work such as Wanted and Meru Puri, the eyes are the same)
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-3-page-28.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-3-page-30.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-6-page-9.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-7-page-42.html
unlike the recent ones the eyes had more luster/sparkle and expression than this, it seems like the ones who work the expression in the first few chapters are the eyebrows, not the eyes lol

>>HANDS: the hands are drawn uncannily large and claw-like that lacks grace
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-7-page-24.html

>>HAIR: kaname's hair has a literally wet, drippy look, as if he just got out of bath and didn't dry it
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-5-page-27.html
ack.

>>PROFILE:
It looks just as if Yuki is staring into space.
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-5-page-32.html

>>HEIGHTS: and the heights stayed true to fanbook so the end result is Zero looks like a giant while Yuki looks like a 10 year old instead of 16
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-6-page-32.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-6-page-31.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-15-page-24.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-21-page-30.html

---
GRADUAL CHANGE
around volume 3 the changes began to take place and you can see it developing
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-14-page-22.html
the eyes had a more gentler, innocent feel that was totally absent in vol1-2

this continued until the second arc, with much more emphasis on drawing details hence compromising the number of paneling in each page
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-49-page-15.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-49-page-17.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-49-page-31.html
the expression of the eyes is superb, and the amount of detail placed on it.
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-69-page-28.html

there's more detail on the hair movements
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-49-page-30.html

the hands are more graceful and the heights are appropriate, the shadowing adds to the feel of the moment
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-49-page-32.html

the bad thing:
-Zero's expression became sooo blank now his expression was totally killed. there's hardly any change at all
here he looks like frankenstein because of the utter void in emotion
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-53-page-37.html
so ugly... he hardly changed expression and only did when he felt sarcastic or wanting to kill
this was an utter loss compared to the first arc, where he was shown to be the most expressive character due to his oppressive moments

-Yuki's long hair
sometimes looks like she wears a wig and it doesn't sit right on her head
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-36-page-37.html
if not it makes her look juvenile somewhat
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-68-page-23.html
here her hair looks so flimsy, it lost its full bodied feel before
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-71-page-18.html

-the large drawings take up most of the page and the amount of panelling is lost so there's so few things going on in a chapter other than Yuki's expressions.

-there are also few backdrops and details but I often see this midway on a long manga so its ok

but other than that things have gotten more interesting since the first arc and I love the drawings, it is after all what makes VK great I prefer the things going on right now despite its disadvantages~

I think the drawing is better compared with the beggining. in the first chapters zeki looked as child what lost his candy, he always had a grumpy face.
the characters look more mature now and i like it.

probably hino didn't insisted on teh details because these are not important.

I actually think Hino's work was "okay", then it turned really good, and then it got worse again. In early chapters Zero and Kaname's heads were oddly shaped, their hands were enourmous, and their noses pointy. Yuuki looked kinda dumb and her eyes were funny. Throughout chapters from 20 ++ to Rido's arc and a short while after I thought it was gorgeus. Everyone looked great and were drawn with lots of emotion and "passion". Then it started turning more bland and boring. Yuuki looked lifeless, Zero emotionless and Kaname like all his drafts were being repeated. Now with recent chapters however, I feel it's been picked up a little again, so I'm only hoping it keeps up like that. I'd hate to see Hino as one of those mangakas whose art becomes increasingly worse towards its end.

Every artist improves with time, nothing new here...

Worst panels of the main trio (imho) :

Kaname

http://www.mangareader.net/104-2158-23/vampire-knight/chapter-32.html

He looks girly (or excuse my french, a drag queen). Lips are ugly, horrible hairstyle, overall Kaname is a failure on it...Why Hino, why??? (maybe she was drunk that day )

Zero

http://www.mangareader.net/104-29253-37/vampire-knight/chapter-53.html

Bad shot here for Zero...flat hair, stiff neck, weird face, not as hot as usual...a total disappointment

Yuuki

There's too many actually, mostly after her awakening...hair needed to be tamed, huge eyes, lazy design overall.

Best shots of our main trio :

Kaname :

http://fairchildonrage.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/1024-by-768-127664-20070226002732.jpg

Kaname is hot on it, don't remember which chapter it was but it's one of my favourite shot of him

http://pics.livejournal.com/isilen/pic/0005y3yx

Latest chapter, Kaname is dashing here...simple design yet effective
It's a winner.

Zero

http://www.mangareader.net/104-2143-2/vampire-knight/chapter-25.html

Love this shot, gorgeous on it.

http://www.mangareader.net/104-2158-1/vampire-knight/chapter-32.html

This one is good too...tortured yet sexy

http://i4.mangareader.net/vampire-knight/69/vampire-knight-2052671.jpg

Good panels also.
Actually, there's too many for Zero since he is my favourite (first arc particularly was a feast for the eyes)...and I'm too lazy to search

Yuuki :

http://www.mangareader.net/104-29253-36/vampire-knight/chapter-53.html

My ultimate favourite, she is absolutely stunning on it.

Earlier design of Kaname was not that fantastic, fortunately it improved greatly after the awakening of Yuuki. Zero has his ups and downs, sometimes Hino tends to get very lazy with his design...Same for Yuuki.

sweetsolace wrote:
I actually think chapter 66 is pretty good compared to other drawings because of its emphasis to yuki's expressions its probably the pointedly single emphasis on Kaname and Yuki that made it horrible. for example this
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-1.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-13.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-15.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-17.html
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66-page-17.html

but other than that things have gotten more interesting since the first arc and I love the drawings, it is after all what makes VK great I prefer the things going on right now despite its disadvantages~

Well ok, I think chapter 66 art is pretty poor. I won't comment on those expressions you mention, cos we obviously have a really different interpretation of some of those and think they don't have much impact.

I do think the characters have been drawn more "prettily" as time goes on as Hino has changed her style, but that doesn't mean her art is actually better, her proportions still suck at times and the oversized foreheads still make me laugh. I actually hated the character styles when I first read VK, but loved the story, so I had to keep reading, plus the actions was drawn really interestingly, the style was engaging.

Now its so bland bland bland. Pretty characters don't get me very far, the novelty wears off and I need something interesting to look at. the characters have been expressive for a long time, they were more comical in the beginning, but plenty of expression in the drama scenes too. I don't need a dozen close ups of Yuuki's face to see she's experiencing some emotion. So bland, but as I said before, a lot of that is the plot for 66.

Kaname

http://www.mangareader.net/104-2158-23/vampire-knight/chapter-32.html

He looks girly (or excuse my french, a drag queen). Lips are ugly, horrible hairstyle, overall Kaname is a failure on it...Why Hino, why??? (maybe she was drunk that day )

Zero

http://www.mangareader.net/104-29253-37/vampire-knight/chapter-53.html

Bad shot here for Zero...flat hair, stiff neck, weird face, not as hot as usual...a total disappointment

Haha, those pictures are spot on for being the worst portrayals of them. Kaname looks like a woman in that picture (what's with the huge lips? O.o), and Zero just looks plain odd.

Well ok, I think chapter 66 art is pretty poor. I won't comment on those expressions you mention, cos we obviously have a really different interpretation of some of those and think they don't have much impact

I definetely agree on the art of 66 being awful. When I first saw it I thought it was the result of some bad scanning. There were no details, no tension, no passion drawn into the character, they were just... bland. Yuuki looked more like a doll than ever. It was as if Hino knew her art was pretty anyway so she just drew them and threw them in there. I'm just glad it improved from there again.

Howl4fun wrote:
I definetely agree on the art of 66 being awful. When I first saw it I thought it was the result of some bad scanning. There were no details, no tension, no passion drawn into the character, they were just... bland. Yuuki looked more like a doll than ever. It was as if Hino knew her art was pretty anyway so she just drew them and threw them in there. I'm just glad it improved from there again.

Hahah, yeah, I think Hino was bored too and going through the motions. Yeah, I think there's recent improvement too, but its still missing some of the most expressive elements that it used to have.

but I do love some subtle things like the scene where Zero runs out of the dorm.
http://shoujocafe.com/shoujos/VK72/Vampire%2072%2029.png
the empty stairs and open door in the top really gives me the impression of Zero running out of the place.

http://shoujocafe.com/shoujos/VK72/Vampire%2072%2008.png
The dark Zero shadow here is great, but I don't like the faceless Yuuki. :p

The first chapters were just a disaster at the faces now that I see them again but the panels were full of details. At the mid chapters the panels got less details but the faces got much better. Now it's just a matter of pressure to publish the chapter I guess. Some of them are good and some of them are really bad!

I agree that 66 was a bit of a failure in drawings, but I bow for

Kaname at 67

Spoiler:

Yuki at 69

Spoiler:

Zero at 72

Spoiler:

oh. Did anyone missed the Gururu monster?

Spoiler:

and here too
http://manga.animea.net/vampire-knight-chapter-66.5-page-8.html

but I do love some subtle things like the scene where Zero runs out of the dorm.
http://shoujocafe.com/shoujos/VK72/Vampire%2072%2029.png
the empty stairs and open door in the top really gives me the impression of Zero running out of the place.

I didn't notice the detail with the stairs and door opened before, wow you're right. It really makes it look like Zero ran out of there (poor guy )

Btw, they looked like good scans, where are they from? I usually read the chapters on mangareader, but it hasn't appeared there yet.

Knightmare wrote:

Well ok, I think chapter 66 art is pretty poor. I won't comment on those expressions you mention, cos we obviously have a really different interpretation of some of those and think they don't have much impact.

I do think the characters have been drawn more "prettily" as time goes on as Hino has changed her style, but that doesn't mean her art is actually better, her proportions still suck at times and the oversized foreheads still make me laugh. I actually hated the character styles when I first read VK, but loved the story, so I had to keep reading, plus the actions was drawn really interestingly, the style was engaging.

Now its so bland bland bland. Pretty characters don't get me very far, the novelty wears off and I need something interesting to look at. the characters have been expressive for a long time, they were more comical in the beginning, but plenty of expression in the drama scenes too. I don't need a dozen close ups of Yuuki's face to see she's experiencing some emotion. So bland, but as I said before, a lot of that is the plot for 66.

what art?
and what do you mean by bland bland bland? the 'art' or the expression? I don't see how chapter 66 could be repetitive or "worst", or a "bad" chapter, how so?

chapter 66 was confined in the mansion and focused on Kaname and Yuki, I believe the centric-ness was pointed on them as Kaname left her in chapter 67, which makes that chapter the last meeting they would have for 4-5 afterwards.


and what plot are you talking about? plot in chapter 66? huh?

You can really tell on the pictures she takes lots of time on that she's gotten better. For example her cover art. Everyone is much hotter now! ;D

well i think the art changed a little art in beginning was good but later it was reaally good. i really like the new art the characters look much better and nice. vampire knight art in chs from 55s is really good . i like it.i read the other works of this mangaka as well and by far vampire knight recent artwork is beautiful at least to me i never thought the artwork is bland. before the characters were more lean and thin in later chs its a little different but its good there faces are a little fuller and their eyes are full of emotion and very alive. this what i think . it clearly can be seen




and another one

yes there's a big difference between the characters in the early chapters and now, and of course now it's better. But I wasn't referring to that at all, I was referring from the start to the background... You may don't believe it but drawing a manga face isn't difficult at all I may say (because I'm taking drawing comic lessons), but in all stories, there is also a "place", the manga isn't just panels with faces/portraits, there has to be a background as well, they exist "somewhere". And in that "somewhere" Hino's work, during a period of time, wasn't as good as before.. I'm not sure if it has become any better during the last chapters because I was away for a long time and read the chapters I'd missed very quickly without noticing any details