Japanese girl (first real try at pixeling, shading etc.)

[A�rendyll (formerly Yurina)]

I like this sprite. I really do.

About Japanese people, they like the west. About me, I like Japan. Makes sence, doesn't it?

[Kinoko]

Wow, uh... where did you guys get this idea? They like a lot of western stuff, but Japanese people have QUITE a thing for their own stuff too. I depends who you talk to and what you're talking about, but I can assure you that in my limited experience over here, I've experienced more people telling me how great the Japanese way is than the other way around.

[bspeers]

It is a common myth that the colourful hair in Anime and Manga is a result of worship of the west.  Naranjas is probably referring to other issues, but on this particular one, the myth is really not grounded in reality.  My understanding of the history is that because manga was all black-and-white, inking hair became a real pain.  Everyone has black hair, making a lot of black ink.  For simplicity, artists began leaving that area blank.  It now looked as if their characters were blonde or somesuch.  As colour came in, artists began to play around with it, since the hair was not black anymore anyway, with reds and yellows and purples.

It should be noted that non-japanese rarely have bright purple or pink hair anyway--and if they do, it may be a colouring style indirectly influenced from Japanese pop-culture.

Japenese trends do emulate North America and Europe sometimes, but probably about to the same degree (or less) that North America are now emulating Japan, from their workplace programs (more popular in early 1990's and 1980's), to popular culture and animation styles.

Back on topic, the problem with the original sprite is that it doesn't have the level of abstraction of "classic" manga, or the realism depicting an actual Japanese face.  Obviously Manga is diverse and you can do any style you like, but from a first glance of something "attempting" to be something else, it feels a bit too in between.  The paintovers take the art in a more realistic direction (I think, the origial sprite isn't appearing for me), but you could go far more abstract as well, larger mouth, differently shaped head, perhaps taller.  You may not like this idea, but it more apes what we generally see in the Manga style over here and thus will seem more "mangaish" going the other way, towards "authentic" Japaneseness will mean black hair, black eyes, etc.

I think it's a very nice sprite, and I can see you going either way.  Which is what other people have said, more or less, probably making this a useless post.

C'est la vie.

[Helm]

My understanding of the history is that because manga was all black-and-white, inking hair became a real pain.  Everyone has black hair, making a lot of black ink.  For simplicity, artists began leaving that area blank.

No, sorry. This is incorrect. Invest some time in studying what rasterized comic tone is and how the almost industrialized application of such in japanese comics makes the situation you describe an improbability. The quantity of ink isn't an issue really, because japanese comics are 20% ink, 80% comic tone. If someone inks the outline of the hair and doesn't feel like filling it in, they can (and did) use comic-tone in about 10 seconds and move on.

If there is truth to the western-influenced colour of hair, it should be discussed in a different context than the technical.

Tezuka clearly stated that the big eyes he helped make famous in the medium were directly influenced by Disney, for example. Maybe a similar situation occured with hair?

[Las Naranjas]

hence the "anti nihonjinron" comment kinoko. So much comes from a bizaare melding between the national inferiority complex and the chauvanism of nihonjinron. Both are stupid and Japan would be the better for shedding both of them.

Also, there's the highly irritating fact that the majority of Japanese women I've met claim "white guys look better" [probably a higher proportion since they've travelled here for some reason]. That's just fucking stupid.

[Kweepa]

Also, there's the highly irritating fact that the majority of Japanese women I've met claim "white guys look better" [probably a higher proportion since they've travelled here for some reason]. That's just fucking stupid.

What's so stupid about that?
The average non-caucasian girl is more attractive to me visually than the average caucasian girl.
Plus, cross breeding leads to healthier children, so it makes sense from a natural selection point of view.

And why does it irritate you? I thought you were a "white guy".

[Totoro]

Maybe he is gay?     (Just kidding, don't be angry please!)
I am really suprised my sprite really caused a lot of discussion about manga-style realistic style etc. To be honest I did not think of Manga style at all, but I was not going for something realistic either. Maybe when I get more used to pixel-art I can really start thinking more about a certain style. For the moment I am just happy when they look nice in any way 
Thanks again for all advise 

[Kinoko]

Stupid? It's an opinion. I think latin girls look better than asian girls in general. I didn't have any interest in Japaese guys until today. It doesnt mean anything.

And look, manga is the way it is because it was a gradual change over the years, with lots of different influences. Sure, Tezuka was influenced by Disney a lot. Tezuka is one of a gazillion manga artists though, and they didn't all spring forth from him. They're all different people, they have their own personal influences, and a great deal of it didn't have crap to do with the west.

Totoro, your sprite looks really good ^_^