Favorite Manga-ka Art Styles (and least favorite)

[Blacklight]

Okay, I think that it would be easier for me to just list some artists that I have an opinion on, and say what I like/dislike about it than to make two or three lists that say which I like and which I dislike.
So... here goes...
(Note: nowhere in here am I bashing anyone.)

I made a few mistakes in my first post; like saying Oba Tsugumi,(or Tsugumi Oba? or is it Ouba?) instead of Takeshi Obata.
And then Makoto Shinkai, instead of... Mizu Sahara, was it? who did the manga adaption of Voices of a Distant Star... I liked the art.
(Rating scales 1-4)

CLAMP:
(Tsubasa Chronicles/xxxHolic)
I have a bit of a mixed opinion of their art style, yes, I may indeed prefer their "stick characters" over their older "triangle men" style.
(If you don't know what I mean by triangle men... just look in Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth... I think those are the only ones that I've read/read part of.)
My favorite parts are really the eyes, hair and clothes.
(3/4)

Ai Yazawa:
(Paradise Kiss... Various titles that I've seen the art for that I don't remember the names for.)
The eyes aren't bad, but I don't like how long and skinny their legs are; they make me think of some kind of doll that I'd seen a long time ago that I don't remember the name of.
(1.5/4)

Rumiko Takahashi:
(InuYasha)
As I said, the art grew on me, and I usually don't like the "fluffy" hair in some styles, but I ended up liking the art in InuYasha.
(As I said, minus the excessive nudity though.)
(3/4)

Hiromu Arakawa:
(Fullmetal Alchemist)
Once again a style that I really like.
I can't think of anything I dislike about it.
(4/4)

Matsuri Akino:
(Pet Shop of Horrors)
Overall, the art is very pretty... even the blood is pretty.... heck, the exposed organs and dismembered limbs are pretty. 0.o
I like the feel the style itself gives, I just love her art style.
(4/4)

Matsuri Hino:
(Vampire Knight, Captive Heart... etc.)
Her art isn't really my favorite, the eyes always seem to have the exact same expression, which I never liked in manga art; a downside to a lot of shoujo manga.
(1.5/4)

Kaori Yuki:
(Ludwig Kakumei, etc...)
Now, I like how the art can be 'gorgeous' while also looking dark, but I REALLY don't like when I can't tell if a character is male or female...
(Prince Julius, anyone? How about how Ludwig was confused for a woman?)
I'd also like to comment on how sometimes the characters lips look chapped.
(Anyone know what I'm talking about?)
(2.9/4)

Arina Tanemura:
(Full Moon o Sagashite)
I have a stance against eyes that take up the whole face... I'm sure I could get past it if the story were good enough, but I don't know.
(Let me just clarify that I haven't actually read the series, I've just seen her artwork.)
(1/4)

Yuu Watase:
(PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING... I mean, Ceres: Celestial Legend, Imadoki!... many, many others.)
Her artwork is... interesting.
I think her mouths are too small, and the guys are a bit too sparkly... but the art can look really good in some places.
(I was just kidding about the "PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING" comment, but there are so many titles that I hear about, and then see the art for, and then I'm like, "Hey, this artwork looks familiar...")
(2.4/4)

Bisco Hatori:
(Ouran High School Host Club)
This qualifies for 'too much sparkle'.
It is interesting sometimes... but doesn't suit my tastes.
(I kind of dropped the series though, neither the story nor the art was enough to hold my interest...)
(1.5/4)

The author of Elemental Gelade... What was her name again?:
I kind of picked this title randomly, like I did with a lot of other titles.
Her artwork has a decent amount of pretty, and looks plenty interesting, but yet again the fanservice is running amok... well, it's there, so it's running amok.
(Not NEAR as bad as InuYasha though, although a character is constantly wearing a skimpy outfit, and there was a scene or two of rear nudity...)
(2.7?/4)

Natsuki Takaya:
(Fruits Basket)
I don't care for her artwork so much... it doesn't really interest me at all... except, comparing the art in the middle and the end, to the beginning, I though it was interesting how it had changed.
(1.5/4)

Peach Pit:
(Rozen Maiden)
I always liked this art style, not "too pretty", far from ugly...
and I give it a...
(3.5/4)

Oh, yeah... and to finish up with some previously mentioned names:
Mizu Sahara = 3.7/4
Takeshi Obata = 4/4

I tend to like different art styles for different reasons, so I couldn't easily choose just plain 1 2 3 or 4 for many of them.

[AnimeGirl]

Favorites

Megumi Tachikawa - "Dream Saga"
Art style....is....SO CUTE!!!! I've only read 1 volume of this manga, and it's the only manga I read from her, but man, it's just so cute and beautiful! The eye detail is just stunning.

Inkhana - "Game Plan!" and "Steelblood"
So she's not a Japanese manga-ka? she's a GREAT manga artist! "Game Plan!" was my first ever manga I ever read. The detail on the eyes is beautiful. And though her unfinished "Steelblood" didn't have as good of art, it was still amazingly drawn, especially the color pages.

Calbhach - "Heaven Bound"
Ink's sister, her art style is very similar to Ink's with the great eye detail, but the expressions differ just a bit. The art in HB was just fantastic, hopefully we'll see more from her someday.

CLAMP - "Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles" and "xxxHOLiC"
Besides having awesome, emotional, riddle with twists and turns plots, their art is amazing and beautiful! And the best part, is TRC and XH just get better each volume, the later volumes are drawn more beautifully then the earlier. And the TRC illustration book is full of gorgeous pictures.

Lisa (forgot her last name) - "Shelter of Wings"
To believe this is her first manga, it's unbelieveable! The artwork is just plain gorgeous. It's a wonderful style, and hopefully, she'll make more mangas.
Pretty good for a manga not from Japan.

Foxie - "Advocate Voice"
This is still a work in progress at CM, but the style is just beautiful. I really love Foxie's artwork, and hopefully she'll finish this project.

Takeshi Obata - "Bakuman"
The art style in this is pretty good, and the storyline (by Tsugumi Ohba) is good, too! I can't wait to read more in Shonen Jump...

Dislike

Hiroyuki Tekei - "Karakuridoji Ultimo"
I saw this manga in Shonen Jump, which is like a collab with Stan Lee (he did original concept). I didn't even finish reading it, 'cause I wasn't highly interested, and the art is a bit...weird. Not that it's bad, but I don't favor it.

Eiichiro Oda - "One Piece"
I'm not very fond of the art style of this. It's very, very strange. I guess the normal looking characters are alright, but there's alot of really weird characters that...I don't know, I don't really like the art in this manga. I read it in Shonen Jump.

[airichan623]

Like:

Takeshi Obata (Death Note & Bakuman)-
Realistic for manga art, great panel formation, b&w shading and full coloring are PHENOMENAL

CLAMP-
People have to keep in mind that there are two main artists, one specializing in cutesy (Chobits, Wish) and the other for the others (Magic Knight Rayearth, Code Geass, Tsubasa, X/1999), but they created the art for xxxHOLIC together. And what can I say? I like bishies. XD But, there speech bubble ordering technique is terrible.

I cant hate on them too much because my art style is very similar to theirs. XD

Masami Tsuda (Kare Kano)-
I really like the mouths and hair for this series. Not really sure why I like it so much.

Natsuki Takaya (Fruits Basket, at around volume 13 or so)-
In the beginning of Furuba her art had too much screen tone and too skinny boys, but later (v. 23), the art became too simplistic. The middle ground was my favorite era of her art.

Kiyohiko Azuma (Azumanga Daioh & Yotsuba&!)-
Cuteness galore! Drawn by a man too!

Matsuri Hino (Vampire Knight, MeruPuri)-
Detailed, beautiful costumes, fantastic strong-looking but beautiful boys, cute girls- even if I hate the storyline, her art pulls me in.

Hiromu Arakawa (FMA)-
Strong looking characters, simpler but expressionful faces- love it. her attention to costume detail is astonishing.

Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)-
Great Looking Cast, with good backgrounds

Dislike:

Mia Ikumi (Tokyo Mew Mew)-
Ruined my art style forever b/c it was my only manga for a long time- its disportionate, too cute, and kinda stupid looking

Sai Kawashima (Be With You manga)-
scratchy looking, kinda irratating

The artist of the Gundam Seed manga- its just plain generic- same face every time, with posing Gundams everywhere, not looking like they are in battle.


Undecided:
Chico Umino (Honey and Clover)-
Cant decide if I love the scratchyness or hate it But it tells the story well.

[Atria35]

Art I Like:
Anything by Naoki Urasawa- it's like stylized realism. I love how it looks. It's like he took a rough sketch of a picture, made the lines of that sketch solid, and put them in a book. It's amazing.

Peach-pi- The lines are solid and clean, and it just overall looks really good.

Housui Yamazaki (Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service)- Stylistically one of my absolute favorites. It's drawn in more of an American-comic book style, but with cleaner lines, without really rough shading that tends to show up in American comic books.

Most things by CLAMP- the characters all look nice, and fairly realistic (if you can excuse the big, expressive eyes). And the detail put into the clothes and backgrounds is amazing!

Kiyohiko Azuma (Yotsuba&)- Yeah. It's adorable. And I love it.

And many others that I probably don't have room to list. I have quite a few that fall in the indifferent-to-like-but-not-love catergory.

Art I Don't Like:
Your and My Secret- Awful, awful art! The chibis are hideous, the lines are thick and rough, and even when the characters are drawn regularly, they're badly out of proportion.

Calbhach (Heaven Bound)- This has mid-range doujin-quality work. The lines are a tad too rough, the characters are just a tad too much out of proportion (esp. hair-wise. They must have amazing hairgel for that effect!). And if you're lucky to have a background in the panel, then it's as bare-bones as you can get- not too much detail to be had.

[VerityDemortem]

Like: CLAMP They aren't always realistic in their anatomy, but that's only because they seem to put making every line beautiful first. Their expressions are amazing . . . same goes for the panel arrangements.

Dislike: Can't really think of any . . . I haven't seen any really bad artwork yet.

[ShiroiHikari]

Has anyone in this thread mentioned Urasawa Naoki? I like his art in Pluto a whole lot. It's not too flashy; it's not sparkly or overly pretty. It does have some style even if it is a little more on the realistic side. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's unpretentious and yet it's high quality. It doesn't distract me from the story. And I like that.

As for Takaya Natsuki, I hated her art at first, it got better for a while, and then it crossed over into "dislike" territory again. Her layouts and speech bubbles got more confusing as the series went on and it was really distracting to me.

[Atria35]

[quote="ShiroiHikari (post: 1392505)"]Has anyone in this thread mentioned Urasawa Naoki? I like his art in Pluto a whole lot. It's not too flashy]

That's even better than how I put it! (yeah, I mentioned him in my post, but as Naoki Urasawa- switched the first and last name).

[airichan623]

Forgot Peach-Pit for my undecided pile.

[Blacklight]

The author of Elemental Gelade... What was her name again?

Mayumi Azuma... I just NOW went and looked it up... << Procrastinator ;_;

[choklit]

I love Yoshiki Nakamura. Her style was a bit strange and took some getting used to, but I ealized how much I loved it, and her stories, after a while. The guys look deformed at first, having such long faces. But I grew to appreciate it.

No least favorite soming to mind thus far... But I do dislike the YuGiOh manga.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Jun Mochizuki
(Pandora Hearts, Crimson Shell)

The art is absolutely fantastic. It's easy to tell what exactly is going on in each panel, she pays a lot of attention to the expressions and stances of all the characters, and each background is beautifully drawn. I've never seen a lazily drawn anything from her. It's the only manga I keep up with anymore as its the only one that really appeals to me so much. I even imported the Japanese versions of the manga because I didn't feel like waiting for it to come out in the US and to fully support her and her work. <3

[steenajack]

Like:
Takashi Obata- I don't have much to say here that hasn't already been said except......OMGOSH! The patterns in the clothing, they looked like stuff that people actually would wear! The airplane that looked like a REAL airplane in a REAL airport with REAL people! It's anime meets realism, and I feel like I could meet his characters in real life. XDDDDDD!!!!

CLAMP (Tsubasa and The One I Love): I keep hearing people say stuff about how they don't like their earlier work. Personally, I thought it looked lovely and detailed. I like the art in Tsubasa more. For some reason, I really like the long style. I don't think it makes them look like stick-people, but it makes them look tall, slender and artistic. I also like the way the bodies seem to flow naturally and beautifully into each motion, which could be do to the slender look. Oh, and I love the characters Fai D. Flowrite and Kuro-puu. *IT'S KUROGANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DX!*

Inkhana: I love her work very much. I especially love how she draws her eyes, expressions and emotions. Her characters' poses appear a bit stiff at times, but her wonderful story-telling, lovable characters, and fun comedy make the slight stiffness not a problem.

The Lady who did Shelter of Wings: I did not read much of the manga, but what I have seen was just plain gorgeous.

Mori Kaoru: Detailed, beautiful, and adorable all at the same time. I love her work in Emma, and would love to read more.

Other Manga styles I like:
Kingdom Hearts
+Anima
Aria

and several others I can't name because I can't quite remember at the moment. lol

Dislikes:
Note: I have not read these, I've just seen the art.

DragonBall Z: I don't know, it's something about the way the characters look like exaggerated action figures that just doesn't quite appeal to me.

One Piece: Eh-he.....It's a bit odd. It's interesting seems to suit the tone of the manga well, it's not my favorite though.

Wallflower: I speak mostly for the anime than the manga for this reason (Note: These ARE all guys no joke) http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Sueric/forum_stuff/yamanadenotext.jpg They look a bit more masculine in the manga.....but still: http://alia.i.ph/photo/d/477-2/PGEv04c15p004.jpg I can take girly looking guys to an extent but yah......guys should NOT have lady lips.

[Atria35]

I can take girly looking guys to an extent but yah......guys should NOT have lady lips.

LOLOLOLOL I had the most WRONG image in my mind when I read that! Now pardon me while I try to forget ><"

Also- Aria's art is gorgeous too, and every volume I read only reconfirms that.

[Wyntre Rose]

Styles I love:

Naoki Urasawa - Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto

What can I say that hasn't already been said? His work is superb.

Takeshi Obata - Death Note, Hikaru No Go, Bakuman

I adore his artwork. I just do.

CLAMP - xxxHolic, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, X/1999, Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura

I can't help it. I just eat up anything they write. Even though for nearly every series they do I have a "Oh, man, did they HAVE to put *insert obj. content here* in there? Geez..." moment. If not many. lol. I've always liked their old stuff with the "triangle men" as Blacklight put it so succintly, and the overly made up tsurime (see Tokyo Babylon, X/1999 and Magic Knight Rayearth), but I also really like the "noodle people" look in xxxHolic, Tsubasa and Code Geass. Have to say though, I usually have NO idea what is going on in their action scenes...lol.

Nobuhiro Watsuki - Rurouni Kenshin, Buso Renkin

I like how vibrant and energetic his stuff is. Kenshin was my first shounen ever, and I'm really glad that's the case. I doubt I would have been as eager to try others if I hadn't started with one I ended up loving so much.

Megumi Tachikawa - Saint Tail

Saint Tail was my first ever manga, and her style is so sweet. Sure, there are only about...5 faces in all her works, if even that...but they are super cute. lol. And I probably have a soft spot for this, just because it was my first.

Hiromu Arakawa - Fullmetal Alchemist

I'm pretty sure it's obvious why she would be here. Her art is amazing.

Styles I'm not so fond of:

Eiichiro Oda - One Piece

Honestly, though I've heard some really great things about the story, the look of this series turns me off every time I pick it up to start it.

Osamu Tezuka - Astro Boy, BlackJack, Metropolis

Ok, I know, I'm gonna get stuff thrown at me for this one. Sigh. I've tried so hard to get into his works, since so many people have raved about him. But...it's just not my thing.

[blkmage]

Kozue Amano (Aria, Amanchu!)


Kiyohiko Azuma (Azumanga Daioh!, Yotsuba&!)


Asano Inio (Solanin, Nijigahara Holograph, Oyasumi Punpun)


Hitoshi Ashinano (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)

[Nate]

"I don't like this artist because he draws everyone looking the same!"

"I don't like this artist because he draws everyone weird!"

:l

Try as you might, you can't save people from themselves.

[blkmage]

:l

Try as you might, you can't save people from themselves.

[Cloud500]

Naoki Urasawa:

His work has a distinct anime style and yet his characters have a sense of realism to them. He is able to portray a wide range of emotions through his characters and makes them look believable. I also like how when he draws a Japanese person, they actually look Japanese; whereas many other artists will draw every character the same regardless of nationality.

Hiromu Arakawa:

Honestly, I can't think of many specific reasons as to why I like her art so much. It's not that it's so amazing that I'm speechless, but I'm just having difficulty finding the right words. The designs are somewhat simplistic and yet they work. Her artwork complements her storytelling very well.

Eiichiro Oda:

Yeah, yeah. Many people think his artwork is strange and weird; probably because it doesn't look like some generic manga/anime series(which for some reason people seem to prefer ) Anyway, I find his art to be unique and very enjoyable. His villain designs are especially unique. In my opinion, Oda is one of the more creative manga artists working today.

Osamu Tezuka:

Another artist people complain about because his work apparently "looks weird." Many people seem to not like his art because it doesn't always look Japanese. He was able to pull off "American cartoon"-looking characters better than most Americans do with their often mediocre "manga-styled" works. I also love early cartoon designs, so that makes his art that much more enjoyable for me.

[Fish and Chips]

[SIZE="4"]

Good Mangaka

[/SIZE]

Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys, Billy Bat, Happy!, Master Keaton, Monster, Pluto, Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl

Urasawa's style is simple, human, but dynamic. No heavy stylization, just people and places you could have sworn you'd seen before, with a soft edge to accent the sharp content. And indicative of a lot of my taste in Manga, everyone has something catching about them, even side characters who appear for a grand total of three pages before never being mentioned again.



Hirohiko Araki
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

If you've been on this board for any length of time, you knew I'd post this. Youthful immortal that he is, Araki is a man of shifting tastes, of evolution. A sort of a refined metrosexual Grecian statue-esque Glam Rock air accompanies his work, not even accounting for the varied and adequately bizarre powers and locations he throws in. Araki is a man who's made an entire career out of making it up as he goes along, and he is good at it.



Hiromu Arakawa
FullMetal Alchemist, Hero Tales

Hiromu Arakawa needs no justification and will receive none. Read her, love her, read her again.



Eiichiro Oda
One Piece

HATERS GONNA HATE. If there's one thing a lot of popular Shounen lacks, it's heart - something One Piece has in spades. You remember people in One Piece, everyone is distinctive, and with a style like this, Oda's will never run out of character designs. It's the sort of thing that could only exist in a comic book, which is sort of the reason we're supposed to read comic books I think.



Takehiko Inoue
REAL, Slam Dunk, Vagabond

Despite his predilection for writing sports Manga I couldn't care less about, Inoue is perhaps one of the most realistic artists in the business. His Vagabond series, in particular, is beautiful in form and presentation. My only difficulty is continuing to think of things to say about it to express how much I really like his stuff.



Hiroaki Samura
Blade of the Immortal

Samura employs a very rough, sketchy style, something I've always had a quiet fascination for. Like Inoue, he sides heavily on the realistic side of the realism vs. exaggeration scale, which is always useful for people who think all Manga is big eyes small mouths.



Kentarou Miura
Berserk

Allow me to preface this by saying I could have picked a much better picture for it - however, for the short on time, it does illustrate something Miura does exceptionally well, that being the little details. Bustling port cities, cavernous forests, legions of soldiers and monsters and ridiculously defenseless villages, each and every individual and thing uniquely realized. His work output (HA. HA HA HA) may suffer as a result, but few things on paper are more satisfying.



Yoshiyuki Nishi
Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation

The only thing I would like to say about Nishi is I think he draws some of the creepiest, most creative monsters I have ever seen in Manga - which is completely awesome.



Kouta Hirano
Drifters, Hellsing

Hirano is a man who knows how to draw things slick and refined. He's a sucker for the details, despite changing them frequently in his spare time, giving his later work a glossy feel, which really adds to the flavor of the action scenes. Too bad he's notoriously lazy.



Kaoru Mori
Emma, Otoyomegatari

From what scant pages I've read of her material, Mori has a certain warmth instilled in her style, matched only by the intricacy of her design. The people and locals she presents really breathe off the page, giving them new life in the privacy of wherever you're reading. I also salute the cultural research she puts into it, the majority of what she's famous for taking place outside the small island nation of Japan.



[SIZE="4"]

Bad Mangaka

[/SIZE]

Tite Kubo
Bleach, Zombie Powder

Tite Kubo's is a tragic story. It's evident that - at some point - he cared for his work, but like the crushed childhood love he is, that point is past. Increasingly lazy character designs, sparsely nonexistent backgrounds, and that's without getting into his plotting problems. He used to have his art going for him, but now - whatever.

I was supposed to have more here, but my mind's blank. That or maybe there's just not a lot of Manga I read long enough to dislike the art.

[blkmage]

Tite Kubo
Bleach, Zombie Powder

You forgot the picture to go with this!



Other than that, A+++++ would read again post.

[Fish and Chips]

You forgot the picture to go with this!]

Other than that, A+++++ would read again post.

CAA only allows ten images per post.

Given the choice between posting ten completely awesome artists vs. nine completely awesome artists and one unspeakably terrible one, I think I made the right decision - though coincidentally, I originally intended to have more stuff under Bad Mangaka to spare Bleach being all alone. Oops.

[Blacklight]

CLAMP (Tsubasa and The One I Love): I keep hearing people say stuff about how they don't like their earlier work. Personally, I thought it looked lovely and detailed. I like the art in Tsubasa more. For some reason, I really like the long style. I don't think it makes them look like stick-people, but it makes them look tall, slender and artistic. I also like the way the bodies seem to flow naturally and beautifully into each motion, which could be do to the slender look. Oh, and I love the characters Fai D. Flowrite and Kuro-puu. *IT'S KUROGANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DX!*

Dislikes:
Note: I have not read these, I've just seen the art.

Wallflower: I speak mostly for the anime than the manga for this reason (Note: These ARE all guys no joke) http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Sueric/forum_stuff/yamanadenotext.jpg They look a bit more masculine in the manga.....but still: http://alia.i.ph/photo/d/477-2/PGEv04c15p004.jpg I can take girly looking guys to an extent but yah......guys should NOT have lady lips.

(About CLAMP)
Very very true]really wide shoulders...[/URL]
(That's what I meant by "triangle men"; that, and their jaw. They're shaped like triangles. XD Although, I didn't choose a very unflattering picture to make my point.)

(About Wallflower)
Tomoko Hayakawa. XD
I can't believe I had forgotton about her; the first time I started reading The Wallflower, I couldn't tell that they were guys for a while.
(I second that "guys should NOT have lady lips".)
And they do look a lot more girly in the anime, but I guess just about any art style can be... gotten used to.

[goldenspines]

This panel has brightened my day. ;w;


In defense for One Piece, sure, not everyone is going to like it. For a while, I didn't like it either, because it was really...weird and not pretty (like it should be?). But that's what made it great. Honestly, I get tired of seeing the same shonen art styles over and over again (all clean cut, angular, and not very exciting: e.i. Bleach, Naruto, and Death Note. No really, Death Note's art is boring. >_>; ). Oda takes it to the next level in One Piece and that's why I eventually grew to love his artwork.


Fun fact, the opposite of Eiichiro Oda is Arina Tanemura (her characters all look the same, no really), but who's art style I also like. XD


Adding a second note since someone brought up Wallflower. I don't love the artwork, but I think it matches the series quite well and I can respect it for that.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

in One Piece, all the male characters are distinctive

Fixed =p

Not hating on One Piece or Oda here. It's one of my favorites, and I really like the art a lot (never found it weird). You gotta admit, though, most of the female characters (up to the point I've read anyway) look like Nami.

[blkmage]

Also, have I mentioned how happy it would make me if more people read Asano Inio?

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

[SIZE="4"]HATERS GONNA HATE. If there's one thing a lot of popular Shounen lacks, it's heart - something One Piece has in spades. You remember people in One Piece, everyone is distinctive, and with a style like this, Oda's will never run out of character designs. It's the sort of thing that could only exist in a comic book, which is sort of the reason we're supposed to read comic books I think

Tegami Bachi has [B]heart.

And I read Solanin, does that make you happy?

I'll post mine later when I'm not feeling lazy.

[choklit]

I don't know if he officially counts as a mangaka, since I don't think he made any manga, but Kazuaki Morita.
Yoshiki Nakamura. A strange style to be sure, and very shojo-y, but I like her eye for detail, and she's very funny. Mizuho Kusanagi. Mmmm... That's all that come to mind thus far.

[Atria35]

I don't know if he officially counts as a mangaka, since I don't think he made any manga, but Kazuaki Morita.

Checked- he hasn't made manga, he's not a mangaka. Doesn't count

Maybe we should make a thread in Anime about 'fave character designs'?

[choklit]

Gotcha. Thanks.

It sounds like a good idea. I don't watch too much anime myself though, so I can't say much about it. I'm a manga person. But I do enjoy watching what I can lay my hands on. Avatar, for instance.

Hmmm, more to add to the list. I also like Rumiko Takahashi. My earliest drawings had a noticeable Takahashi influence. Arina Tanemura. Izumi Asuka has a very sweet style.
I notice I'm listing a lot of shojo mangaka. For some shonen: Kubo Tite and Ookubo Atsushi.

[ich1990]

It has been long enough that I think my list needs an update. Here are my favorites:

Hiroaki Samura (example from Blade of the Immortal). Lots of scratch marks and heavy shading, although not usually to the level shown in the example below. Bonus points for the crazy realistic looking weaponry that probably wouldn't work in real life.



Naoki Urasawa (example from Pluto). While his art is very realistic, he does stylize the faces somewhat, which makes it easier to keep a myriad of different characters straight in the reader's mind. He also draws a lot of ugly people, which I really like. My only complaint is that he seems to recycle faces throughout the series.



Kaoru Mori (example from Otoyomegatari). I haven't read much of her work, but I don't really need to. The fantastic artwork speaks for itself.



Hirohiko Araki (example from Steel Ball Run). His art (in this series at least) goes from kind of detailed and realistic all the way to that is real creepy dude. It took a long time to grow on me.




Yuki Urushibara (example from Mushishi). While the art is not the most realistic in the world, and even at times seems to be unrefined, it fits supernatural aspects of the series perfectly. It is at its best when weird things are happening (like below).



Takeshi Obata (example from Death Note). The highly detailed backgrounds and use of large blocks of dark and light areas make for a unique and enjoyable style. Couldn't find a good picture, unfortunately.



Dislikes are pretty much any of the super-deformed art styles and any shoujo titles.