Jennifer Gong, a sixth-grade student at Kings River-Hardwick Elementary School, is an aspiring artist who watches Japanese movies to help her draw that country's unique Manga characters.

So, when this 11-year-old heard of a weeklong class at Kings Art Center that teaches 8- to 14-year-olds how to draw basic Manga faces, eyes, hairstyles and the anatomy, she jumped at the chance to improve her artistic skills.

"I watch Japanese movies," said Gong. "I remember faces so that I can put it in my art."

Gong, along with 12 other students, enrolled in "Manga for Beginners," taught by local Kristina Lendrum. The weeklong session of five classes concluded Friday at the Kings Art Center.

"Draw bangs really low," Lendrum said to the class as she sketched on the board. "It will look more like a full head of hair if you do that ... Feel free to mess around with length."

Kyle Mannix, also an aspiring artist, took the class to be near his friend.

It was Gong's mother who told Mannix about the class as their parents are friends.

"I like to draw," said Mannix, a fifth-grade student at Kings River-Hardwick. "I love this class."

What exactly is Manga that these young artists are learning?

In general, the word Manga is used by English speakers to address Japanese comics, though in Japan the word Manga is more likely to be associated with a certain genre of Japanese comics.

Manga in general is drawn with smoother lines and not as much detail.

Most Manga is in black and white. It uses a style known as Japanese Anime, where the art is to show as little detail as possible. It also uses sound effects incorporated into the pages and different "emotions" are used with the characters within the story. The main stereotype for Manga is its "out of this world" style of drawing humanoids (like the eyes, nose, and hair).

Manga usually has one or more continuing plots that are at least chronologically ordered with a beginning, middle, and an end. In popular American comics, the story never really ends.

In Manga, the emphasis is often placed on line over form. The art can be incredibly realistic or cartoonish, it is often noted that the characters have large eyes (female characters usually have larger eyes than male characters), small noses, tiny mouths, and flat faces. Large eyes have become a permanent fixture in Manga and Anime since the 1960s when Osamu Tezuka started drawing them in this way, mimicking the style of Disney cartoons from the United States.

In Lendrum's class, Mannix has learned how to draw bodies, hands, hair, feet, head and eyes.

"Making the body is my favorite," said Mannix, who prior to this class only drew airplanes. "I didn't know how to draw real life bodies before this class."

In fact, this 10-year-old takes this class so seriously that he works on his craft at home.

"I hang up my picture on my wall," Mannix said. "I look at it to see how I can make it better."

This is music to the instructor's ears.

"I want the kids to leave this class with the foundation," Lendrum said. "If you know the basics of something, then you can mess around with it."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2423.

(June 14, 2008)