I wanted to do some research on this to get a better understanding of the way of Shoujo, but Google hasn't been very helpful for me thus far. I'm not looking to learn how to draw Shoujo. I'm trying to learn the art of Shoujo ( "Shoujo-do?" )

I've read many types of Shoujo from Sailor Moon to Fushigi Yuugi, and I've noticed many consistencies in the styles in which they're done, which is what has sparked my curiosity to better understand this.

1. Line widths - I understand that using very thin lines is to give off that 'delicate' and 'graceful' effect, but is this pretty much 'law' in the Shoujo world? Is it better to have as little bit of lines as possible on the page? If so, why? Also, I've noticed that inking techniques are used in that some lines aren't fully connected. For example, when drawing an arm, part of the line for the forearm is 'broken' and not connected to the rest of the arm, if that makes sense. Why is this done?

2. Backgrounds - I've noticed that there are usually little to no backgrounds in Shoujo. I'm still trying to figure out why. Wouldn't the reader get lost as to where the scene is taking place without having some form of background as a small reminder?

3. Toning - This is a big thing that I'm trying to understand more. I've noticed that very little screentone is used in pages. Is there a reason for this? There is far more whitespace and thin lines on the page and not enough toning to give it a bit more depth, from what I've noticed. What is the reason for this method being done?

4. General layout - Is it pretty much standard for shoujo manga to have no more than 4-5 panels on a page at a time? Also, is it standard for the comic panels to be dynamic in size (for example, no consecutive perfectly-square boxes)?

5. "Sketchy" linework - Another observation about linework was how 'sketchy' they tended to look, and not really "clean" and straight, per se. Is there a reason for doing this?

Are these methods pretty much "law" of what defines the Shoujo style? I'd like to learn more as to why these methods are done and what effect it is intended to have on the reader.

I don't think there is any "law" with shojo manga. It's comics for girls basically.

Fushigi Yugi was once considered the exception to many shojo comics at the time because it featured battles and an adventure plot.

I think you should look deeper and read some more shojo comics to get the better idea.

What about Red River, Please Save My Earth, or Full Moon wo Sagashite?
There is a lot of detail put into those comics.

If you are thinking minimal art. His and Her Circumstances really lacked the backgrounds and showed mostly head shots and chibi figures.

What about the symbolical use of flowers in shojo manga?

There's a lot to think about. Read more Shojo manga.

There was a How to Draw book on Shojo as part of the How to Draw Manga series. I found it to be one of the better ones back when I was trying to draw my own work.

Yeah I forgot about the use of flowers. What's the reason for using flowers? Do certain types of flowers mean something? The Japanese culture is amazing and there is so much that they do in their art that I still don't understand. These are the types of things I'm trying to learn and research about in Shoujo manga.

And I forgot about Red River! It's among my favorite ones! I've read many kinds of shoujo, but I still don't understand why things are done the way they are artistically. I mean, it looks nice when it's done, but is aesthetics the only reason for doing certain things?

What I've noticed about the How to Draw books is that they focus more on HOW to draw things, but they never really explain WHY you draw these things in manga. Take the flowers for example. Yes, you can learn how to draw a flower, but why do you draw certain flowers in certain scenes? Do the flowers have a deeper meaning than aesthetics?

Man, you're REALLY overthinking it.

All the subdivisions of manga (shonen, shoujo, seinen, kodomo, yosei, yuri, yaoi, etc) are little more than demographics used to determine which anthology is the work going to be published in, and therefore which audience is it going to be sold to. When some author sends a pitch to a publisher, the editors look at it and say something to the effect of "I think young girls would like this, so let's publish it in our shoujo magazine" or whatever anthology is appropriate, and that's what makes the work be shonen, shoujo or whatever. There is really no conection between works besides that, except that the creators are influenced by what is published and emulate it in later works, which are approved for the same anthology, thus creating a sort of unintentional "house style".

Take Weekly Manga Action, for example. this magazine has serialized, among many others, the following manga: Lone Wolf and Cub, Lupin the Third and Crayon Shin Chan. The fact that they were published there makes all of these manga seinen manga, even though there are wide differences in art style, mood and storytelling. The same way, Nakayoshi magazine has hosted the prototypical Magical Girl manga, Sailor Moon, and Ohayo!Spank, a story about orphans and their pet dogs. Not much in the way of similarities there.

So, in short, there is no such thing as "laws" for shoujo manga, because shoujo is not a defined genre per se but a target group. The reason why so much of it tends to look somewhat similar is because people tend to emulate, and editors tend to approve, the styles that are commercially successful.

Also, manga is made at such a breakneck pace, the authors don't really have the time to think of everything. Things are done pretty much mechanically and as knee-jerk reactions. Why so little backgrounds? because there is no time to do elaborate ones (if you looked at a wider picture, you'll notice that most manga in general is very sparse with backgrounds) Why flowers? Because Japan is not a politically correct culture and they work on assumptions such as "girls like fowers", "boys like martial arts" and the like. Why so little toning? Because girls don't like dark things or places. Big panels? Girls like big and pretty pictures. And so on and so on. You could also notice a general lack of speed lines in shoujo, but that's not a stylistic thing, it's just that most shoujo stories are not heavy on physical action, so there is no need to use speed lines.

So, basically, there is no need to look for the "hidden meaning" of shoujo like you are Tom Hanks in The DaVinci Code. When you say you want to do a shoujo manga what you are saying is that you want to do a Japanese-looking comic that appeals to girls. And girls have a very wide range of tastes, so it could cover a whole lot of different subject matters, styles and issues. So the best thing you could do is ask the girls you know what they would like to see in a comic. Or a manga, if you need to call it that. It's the same thing, you know.

Thanks for that post.

Perhaps I may be just overthinking things, but I just wanted to research the anatomy of the 'whys' of shoujo manga. I just thought there was a deeper meaning as to why artists use certain techniques for that genre.

You're welcome. Glad to be of help.
Personally, I know how frustrating it is to browse the web trying to find that "how to make a successful comic" tutorial article or video, that magical answer that tells you exactly how to do it and how to avoid the many pitfalls that are along the way. In the end, though, it all comes down to one simple rule: do something that you enjoy. If you like it, perhaps other people will like it too and you'll make a fanbase. But if they don't, and that happens more often than not, at least you had fun doing it.

This is not to discourage you from doing your research on shoujo, though. I think it is admirable and very useful to give an analytical view to what you enjoy, to understand it better. You have already come to some important conclusions that will prove very helpful in achieving your goal. Just don't try to find universal rules in art, because art, at its very essence, is subjective and personal. The moment there are universal rules for it, it ceases to be art.

Well the way I see it is that if you have a better understanding of something, then it helps you to appreciate it more. Case in point, I would like to better understand the art of shoujo so I can be mroe appreciative of the art because it has always intrigued me.

it's not a specific art, weeabo. it's just a genre. there's a certain approach to the atmosphere because it works, but in and of itself it's mostly the writing that determines it.

and understanding does not always lead to appreciation.......

http://www.onemanga.com/Fushigi_Yuugi_Genbu_Kaiden/8/11/

Look at the action in this comic! And this is a shojo manga.

I think some genres of girls manga are moving towards more action scenes like shonen manga. Another example could be Clamp's Tsubasa series.

Well,My translated comic "Pink Lady" have a lot of beating up but it's still a shouju comic!!!

I doon't think you really have to study shouju comic.I think you should nake your own drawing style.It will be easier for people to remember it and so on...

JillyFoo
I think some genres of girls manga are moving towards more action scenes like shonen manga. Another example could be Clamp's Tsubasa series.

Tsubasa is a shounen comic. Just because it's by CLAMP, it doesn't make it automatically shoujo. Thy do a huge variety of genres. Chobits is seinen and XxxHolic is josei, for example, yet a lot of people put these titles under 'shoujo' because they're by CLAMP and have pretty art and an emphasis on relationships and often hints of BL etc.
The traditional borders are blurring nowadays. As you may notice at cons, most fangirls you meet obsess over characters from shounen manga, such as Sasuke from Naruto, even though it's a shounen comic, its high bishounen quota makes it popular with female readers, same for 'Death Note' and 'Prince of Tennis'. For this reason, shounen manga creators seem to be encouraged now to include bishy characters. Plus you have female shounen creators making things like Tsubasa and Fullmetal Alchemist which have a pretty even readership.

Typical features of shoujo manga are finer inking, very little use of pure black (interestingly though, you'll see a fair bit of pure black in Josei titles like XxxHolic or Nana) but rather an emphasis on tones. Patterned tones give the soft inking more texture and depth (you'll almost never see patterned tones in shounen, with its chunkier inking, hatching and black fills). Heavy use of visual metaphor and symbolism to represent emotions, and very freeform page layouts. Since the plots tend to involve a lot more talking and emotional action than physical action, the pages don't need to depict physical sequences clearly, and so can get away with these loose page layouts without losing clarity.
The most prominent thing with a shoujo comic is that everything and everybody is pretty and elegant. There is no such thing as too much sparkly, no such thing as too pretty or too cute. Big sparkly eyes with long eyelashes, long elegant limbs, beautiful floaty clothes. Basically just think of your audience. You are creating the idealised fantasy world of a teenage girl, where all the boys are cool, but feminine and not too intimidating, everything is pretty, and drama is big and overblown but always happily resolved. Just get in touch with your inner teenager! ^_-

They all sorta look like this don't they?



Draw like that.

Mongoose: Thank you very much!! This is exactly the sort of information I am looking for!

Big areas of pure black are used, but in a different way from boys' manga. Large amounts of black in girls' manga are attuned to the goth or goth lolita aesthetic.

I doubt this will be helpful, but seriously, if you want a giant stereotypical old school "Shoujo" manga look at Naoko Takeuchi's stuff. You know the Sailor Moon lady. She did some comics other than Sailor Moon but they all died after about an issue or two.

Limited background use in Sailor Moon (a habit I had to break myself of with a metal baseball bat), and doilies. God the doilies are just everywhere in that. In addition, if you hit your local library Harlequin Romance has been releasing VERY old crappy love shoujo manga. Seriously, the old stuff from "Margaret" (a manga publisher) and stuff. I felt like I was on a time warp back to the 70's with those.

@Mitaukano
I am a fan of the anime sailormoon but if I didnt watch the show I'd have no idea what the hell is going on in the comic. action sequence? yeah right.

as for the question, umm... you as a reader of shoujo take what you liked about shoujo and do that. when I was younger, I liked light comedy, lots of pretty boys and a main girl that always punches the viewer. I also loved the sparkles, they detailed eyes, the bright colors, the 'everything flows in non wind', the hair the detailed clothes (except for ugly ones), ect.

Not all shoujo does this but what I dont like now that I'm older and read other genres, the little to no background on shoujos that are not produced in weeklies (some only coming out every 2 months, I think you can at lest put decent backgrounds), horrible 'action' sequences, to much boring dialog, fashion model like illustrations (with long thin bodies), guys who look like girls and vise versa, always being in a high school drama scene, generic character stereotypes..

all of this leads to my current style that I have. take what I like, leave what I don't.

There are a lot of things I like about shoujo, however, I was just more concerned about studying techniques used and why things are done the way they are in that specific genre. Thank you for the replies, though. This has helped me tremendously in understanding many things :)

I may be inaccurate here, but I'm under the impression that shoujo is more of a genre of manga rather than a strict, aesthetic art technique. You can draw shoujo in a wide variety of different styles as long as it falls into the typical shoujo storytelling conventions.

But, well, I only really dabble in Japanese comics and I don't think shoujo is really my thing. Take whatever I say with a grain of salt.