Faculty of manga Comic Art Course

Comic Art Course

What can you learn in the Comic Art Course?

Comic art (manga) is a world-class Japanese entertainment that has spread world-wide. SEIKA’s Comic Art Course provides students with a shortcut to becoming leading manga artists. Students train to develop a creativity that can move the reader, studying manga drawing technique from our faculty members, who are themselves working professionals. Acquiring the techniques and social awareness essential for surviving as manga artists, students aim to create their own unique and original manga work.

Learning from professional manga artists

Our faculty members are top-ranked manga artists (mangaka): Keiko Takemiya, a leading artist in Shojo manga; Akira Saso, who brought fresh air into the world of comics with his unique themes; Shuho Itahashi, who has explored the potential of science fiction in manga. In the third year students have the chance to work alongside manga artists as interns. Witnessing the tension and intensity of the professional working environment, students will raise their self-awareness as artists. SEIKA is widely acknowledged within the industry; editors of popular manga magazines make frequent visits here to discover new talent.

Training in narrative construction skills

In order to become professional manga artists, not only are drawing techniques indispensable but also setting up interesting characters and themes, calculating panel layout, and story development skills. For this reason we have a comprehensive curriculum not only for cultivating drawing techniques, but also for acquiring methods to create and develop stories, such as a Scriptwriting Workshop. Furthermore, by exploring manga-based technique and methodologies, such as manga-style illustration, students enrich their flexible and creative manga imaginations.

Aiming to make their debut through hands-on lessons

The Comic Art Course offers hands-on programs that prepare students to become professional artists. During the course students experience the entire process of research, composition, production, and delivery through commissioned work for regional government and business. Instructors repeatedly check storyboards and give students advice before finalizing sketches with ink in lessons on contributing pieces to commercial comic magazines. Through these practical courses some students receive awards for best newcomer while still enrolled, and many are able to seize the chance to make their debut.

Four Years in the Comic Art Course

1st Year

Students become familiar with using pen and Indian ink, and fluent with techniques for drawing lines representing action and movement. After acquiring in-depth knowledge of human anatomy and muscle structure, students learn deformer and utilize their skills for creating characters.

2nd Year

Through production and scriptwriting workshops, students start creating more long-scale work. In the second semester students publish their manga works as a comic magazine.

3rd Year

Selecting a specialized course students then engage with further developing their work and editing magazines. While contributing to a comic magazine and becoming an assistant are included as a part of curriculum, students test out their knowledge and technique at the actual site of production.

4th Year

Based on their accumulated four years’ learning and experiences, students discover their own themes and commence graduation projects.

Site Facilities

Computer Room

Rooms for Windows and Mac computers are each equipped with forty terminals. Students use them for desktop publishing, computer graphics, and two-dimensional animation.

Studio

Every studio space is equipped with a projector and is also suitable for lecture-style lessons. They are set up in a way that students are able to freely demonstrate and critique each other’s work.

Career paths after graduating from the Comic Art Course

While many students pursue professional careers as manga artists, students’ drawing skills, unique imagination, and broad knowledge prepare them to work as researchers and critics, and even in fields outside of manga culture.

Work as a professional manga artist

Some students make their debut during their four years at Seika, and others refine their skills while working as an assistant for leading manga professionals. SEIKA is a pioneering institution in the field of manga education and attracts wide attention from the industry.

Work in the fields of character development, games, and broadcasting

Due to manga’s expansion as a genre, students now have career possibilities in character and product development at toy factories and game production companies, and production planning for TV programs and commercials at broadcasting companies.

Increase in corporate demand for people with manga vision

The content makers – film production companies, planning companies for amusement parks and events, and so on – are always searching for people with mangaesque sensibilities and imaginations.

Comic Art Course Faculty Members (in Japanese)