It’s the third day of our manga series - and this time it is Jack Wilshere who receives a very special design!
Arsenal play two games in Japan later this month as part of this summer’s Asia Tour, and to commemorate our visit we have mocked up some of our biggest stars in comic-book form.
Manga is a Japanese comic art form depicting a wide-ranging set of genres, including action, romance, sports, fantasy, historical drama and horror. It is hugely popular, appealing to people of all ages and every level of society and the industry is worth hundreds of billions. It also has a significant worldwide audience and is especially popular in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.
"The design needed to be dynamic and energetic but also had to have impact, so we posed him in a classic manga/comic cover style"
Morgan Lewis
We have been working with artist Morgan Lewis to produce a series of manga animations, and over the past two days we have revealed Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla’s fresh new look.
For the Wilshere image, Morgan based her design on the ‘One Piece’ style of manga. The point was to focus on a visual style that would be immediately recognisable - and the popularity of ‘One Piece’ made it the obvious choice.
“One Piece is essentially a high-seas adventure title following the exploits of a young man travelling the world in search of treasure,” Morgan says. “It's been regularly published in Japan since 1997 and is currently serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, probably the most popular Japanese publication of its type.
“The design needed to be dynamic and energetic but also had to have impact, so we posed him in a classic manga/comic cover style. There are several Japanese words that would adequately describe the style, but I don't think they have English equivalents unfortunately!”
Jack Wilshere
Remember, we also want to see YOUR manga creations of the Arsenal squad - all for the chance to win a very special prize!
Simply send your design to @Arsenal or @OfficialAFC_JP on Twitter, using the hashtag #ArsenalManga, and we will publish a selection of the best on the website and Facebook. Not only that - the winner will receive a signed copy of the Arsene Wenger animation created by our designer!
So start working on your unique images of the Arsenal players - you have until Monday, July 8 to enter our competition. Good luck!
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