Illustration

The Influence of Japonisme in Western design 

Anime

• A drawing style that originated in japan which consists of vibrant and colouring graphics
• Usually shows characters in in action filled environments with themes such as fantasy and futuristic

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Traces of this art style can be easily identified in modern films and video games, especially from the start of 2012 up until now, where by modern films directors started bringing comic books into motion pictures, thus becoming a trend, one can see that this was easily inspired and influenced by graphic novels such as Death Note and Apple Seed, because they where one of the first comics to be brought into motion picture.

Manga

•  A style of graphic novels or comic books developed by the Japanese aim at adults and also children dating back to the 12 century.
• The characteristics of these comic style is that the characters have a very western influence to them and illustrated with exaggerated emotions.

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If one looks at contemporary art, one can see the influence from manga, the same way western art influence manga. The key aspect in this is the use of exaggerated features to convey a message or to bring focus onto something.

Otaku

• A term used to describe major fans or followers of manga and Anime
• they are stereotypically believed to be anti social and untidy.

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This type of life style is quet popular in todays world, a perfect example would be hard core gamers such as myself, I can spend hours locked in my room gaming. This has influence the art of gaming and game design in a huge way because the more people practise this life style, the high the demond on the quality of video games.

Kawaii

• This Japanese term simply means "Cute" 
• its also used to describe men who have a cute personality (androgynous)

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This has became a movement in todays world, everything is becoming cuter by the day especially in fashion, a simple example would be a proudly South African Street wear brand Called GALXBOY, one can see "Kawaii" in the brands identity, the use of cute illustrations.

Japan helped western artists to fully break away from classicism, paving the way for modern innovations. Japanese art was seen as a model of “economy, simplicity and functionality”. Later the West started to use these principles in their advertising materials to make them more effective. These principles have become increasingly global in its reach. For instance Japanese contemporary art takes many forms such as: architecture, advertising, video games etc. The Japanese art and design is very urban and offbeat. That is why they have such an immense influence and contribution in design and modern art in general throughout the world. Many of the design work in Japan is sleek, futuristic and very minimal. Also on another level, are many of their designs super cute, childish and wacky. All of these aspects mentioned is clearly noticed in Western contemporary design.(carienvermaak: 2012) (source)

When we look at kawaii, there is no doubt that it has influenced the Western design. Look at the toys and games that are manufactured. Everything has this “cute” aspect to them. This style is also seen within advertisments, magazine layouts and especially posters. (carienvermaak: 2012) (source)