The Evolution of Art in Naruto 

Small note! I somehow completely forgot to mention that another reason why Kishimoto's artwork shifted over to looking more like the anime was because he genuinely liked the art style of Tetsuya Nishio, who he hand picked personally to oversee the character designs for the anime adaptation. Nishio's work really took a big influence over onto Kishimoto's art, especially when it came to how he drew clothing (such as folds and wrinkles). Didn't want to leave out any information in this video, but somehow I did 😷 Sorry about that!

My favorite thing about Kishimoto's art in Naruto is, and this is kinda weird, the proportions. You can tell Naruto is short. You can tell he's 12-14. You can immidiately tell that Kakashi is an adult. I really like it for some reason, some anime art styles have difficulty communicating height and age. Also his art feels really really consistent. It's almost scary...

I was just thinking about last night how Kishimoto’s character designs are so simple. But it’s amazing how those simple designs stand out to be the most strongest in his work. 🗣

Early Naruto art is by far my favourite era of Kishimoto's art. It's so simple yet so incredibly dynamic. The exaggerated angles, crazy poses, and being able to keep the expressions with as much plasticity as possible while not being too detailed and keeping the design consistent. I also have a soft spot for debut Naruto because its just so charming, stylized and unique. Its not all about making the characters somewhat conventionally attractive. He allows them to look short, dorky, slumped over and ragged which is a very refreshing and fun experience to read through.

Bro i respect kishimoto and other artists that did weekly manga for so many years It is a pretty stressful job

I think one thing I always appreciated about Kishimoto is that he never tries to overstuff panels so it's always clear to me what's going on.

I’ve noticed when reading shonen manga, most series end up having a sharp style by the end. It’s mostly because the stories being told are dramatic and adding angles helps emphasize that.

For me i like more part 1 art simply because how creative every fight was. I feel like kishimoto was at his most creative either be story or art. Like when shikamaru got hit with the chain of Fantasia genjutsu in the sasuke rescue arc or gaara ‘s face breaking apart or rock lee Drunken Fist… etc

What I love about reading comics (manga, manhwa) is that I never notice how much the art style has changed, it just slowly does. Whenever I finish something that's completed or on-going, and then return back to its first chapter, I always get shocked at how much has changed. Just when I thought the art style was great, it was slowly getting better and better without me realizing.

that man's art inspired me to draw for years! I drew so much trying to copy it but ended up with a weird hybrid style that I don't hate but wish were a lil better. thanks for pointing out the details that can bring a whole art style together. I always loved kishi's simplistic yet somewhat realisticness to his art. his characters feel like they actually have a weight, a heavyness with the way he draws bodies and clothes. I don't know how to properly express myself in words. Naruto really helped me through the starting stages of my depression, and yeah I still have depression even now, Naruto's smile kept me grounded! Thank you, kishimoto-sensei, for sharing your amazing art and story with us!

I actually really like kishimoto's new art style. The one with the simpler look. It shows that he has an amazing grasp of what is I'd drawing and knows exactly how he wants it to be portrayed. I love the way that kishimoto draws hands folds in clothing, it's something that i try to replicate in my own art. I think that the simpler art style works well because kishimoto has a simple shading style for majority of his work. I think that having more detailed clothing would have been waste of given how simple his shading is. The details wouldn't carry over. His new art style works especially well for volume covers where he can flesh out details using the different colors. I think kishimoto's art style is just one that looks better in color rather than black and white. For his backgrounds i do agree that during the war arc are some of his least impressive works, as he could have just simply used screen tones to better separate it from the characters. They look bland because there isn't much contrast in and the lack of line variety causes everything to just meld together. But i believe that kishimoto was aware of this and used Kaguya's dimensions as a solution.

Wait a minute, what the hell? This was uploaded almost a month ago and only 1.3k views? Thats bullshit, very well spoken and edited essay, and you deserve many many more views and likes for this one. Good luck.

Kishimoto's art is something to marvel at. I can't overstate just how much i love the visuals of Naruto. My two favorite things from his art style are the backgrounds and the dynamic character poses. There's just something so unique yet so familiar about the way he draws Konoha(especially in early Naruto) that brings me such a feel good vibe. It's such a messy and chaotic, yet beautiful world, and i can't get enough of it. The character poses is another thing that just grabs my attention. They feel so alive and fluid, with such cool ways of moving around. I could go on and on and on about the things i love about his art style and keep sucking Kishimoto's balls, but the video summed it up nicely. Great video Mikeyuubi, would love to see more about manga art around here👊

Man, do you even understand how good your videos are? They are so entertaining and I love watching them! U use such good words with a very good voice, that not a lot of people would be able to pull off.! Even tho your not that big of a channel, you deserve so many more subs and views! Your with no doubt my most favorite youtuber on this platform! If you Keep making videos then Im sure that you'll become a much bigger youtuber! I never really comment stuff like this to people, but you truly are amazing and deserve this comment! Love your content, love everything you do, keep it going and bye!

The side by side at 9:30 was just perfect. Also, the way you explained Kidomaru’s killing blow at 12:30 was super interesting. Well done man!

Kishimoto's publishers and advisors also kept pushing him to continue the story and change it in ways he didn't originally intend, and personally I think that by the end of the series he lost a lot of the passion he had at the start. The simplest way to see this is in the covers imo - early on, they were basically single shots of characters doing whacky stuff with crazy looking weapons, props, outfits, etc. Literally just rule of cool, and it WAS cool. By the end though, it felt a lot more movie-poster, with characters pasted in different places and sizes in the frame, and the actions more closely related to the story itself but losing a lot of that energetic and creative feeling. Even if his earliest style was less "refined," it felt so much more emotive and 3-dimensional - especially with how he drew the kids' faces and how different they all looked. His anatomy may have gotten more "accurate" but it restricted their dynamicness. I think that as Naruto got more popular, Kishimoto felt more restricted in general, and so he made some "safer" choices with the art style that ended up taking away from its charm. Also your point about the backgrounds is spot-on - but I also think that in the early days he was more mindful of character placement within the background, where characters would be against in a blank spot even if the rest of the background was detailed. It made them pop more and made the panels a lot clearer, even in comparison to the Sasuke retrieval arc tbh.

I honestly think I like the design from the first 13 volumes more than later on, there was a nice grittiness to it that matched the violent content.

Phenomenal video, it really goes in depth with Kishimoto's artwork that most never cover. I was especially surprised to learn he changed his art style to match the Anime's.

Hell yeah another video, looking forward to it.

Also a “evolution art Series” sounds like a great idea for contact you can go into great detail about how the series art improves or Decreases and how they affect the story visually.

the early hand drawn stuff warms my heart

0:34 Damn, how did Kishimoto do all this, for a weekly manga? What a beast.

This video is absolutely awesome dude. Great work, this was amazing!

Blown away man! The attention to detail in your script and editing is truly something special 👊🏼

THIS IS SO INTERESTING!!!! I HOPE YOU GET TO 1000 SUBS BY THE END OF THE YEAR!!!!

You honestly produce content well above the 100k mark this is extremely motivational as a content creator

Amazing video bud, I didn't know that about the Kidoumaru pages, that was cool!

I have been looking for a long time for an analysis of the Kishimoto style. Thanks

DADDY MIKEY HAS UPLOADED!!! Good timing because I just made coffee XD ☕

thanks for making this video, Ive been waiting for someone to do a video like this.

Idk how to describe how great this video is but its by far one of my fav manga videos, so continue with the great work!

Great video. There aren't many videos that have really delivered good analysis when talking about manga art. I'm also glad that you brought up Kishimoto trying to imitate the style of the anime. It actually took me a while before I learned that and saw the changing point.

This video started playing by accident due to autoplay and then i just started watching it. Didn't realise you were such a small channel! Great observations and keep up the good work!

Always glad to see manga art discussion, since most content tends to focus on the stories or themes. Great vid my guy!

New upload let's goo

The simplicity of his art yet so detailed is my inspiration when drawing. He literally apply the less is more quote.

i'm lost for words, I love your videos mate

Very lovely explanation here :) thank you, makes me love Naruto even more

Good job! Really cool video !

Man you're underrated as hell, your analysis is top notch 👍👍👍 keep it up 🥳🥳

You deserve more man, keep up the good work

Great analysis, I really wish there were more videos taking a deep dive into specific artists art styles

always dropping bangers bro keep up the good work

Your channel is sooo underrated considering the quality of these videos

This dudes channel is peak content, the music is calming hes just so entertaining

Great analysis video

WAKE UP BABE, NEW MIKEYUUBI VIDEO 🗣 LETS GOO

This video must have taken a lot of effort to make. I am greatly impressed, I hope this gets more views in the future coz u truly deserve it!

Awesome video!! I only discovered your channel today but I already love it! Thank you so much for putting in all this work into these videos

Bro thank you so much for this video I can watch your Naruto videos all day.

This is such a high quality video. Great job!

Another great video. Thanks

Incredible video as always. Kinda took a while to try to explain my thoughts on the artwork in the series. I’ve always found Kishimoto’s artwork for Naruto to be one of the most interesting evolutions in manga history because his art has always been consistently amazing, but the early artwork was definitely more sketchy-like and, I think towards the end of the Searching For Tsunade Arc was the time his art sorta began to meld with the art in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and then from the Sasuke Retrieval Arc onward is when it becomes what the series is best known for and that point going forward is definitely my favourite period of artwork, especially since I first saw Naruto in the anime so having the manga look like that, and just look the way I much prefer and I think fits Naruto perfectly, just makes reading through it all the better and more enjoyable and Kishimoto more impressive since he was able to take that style and keep going. Having it keep that consistency definitely helped later on, even in point near the end where it kinda felt like his art was getting stiffer and a bit flatter, although still fantastic work regardless. And his style is easily one of my favourites in manga history and makes him one of my favourite manga artists next to Oda, Toriyama, Miura, Arakawa and Togashi.

You've got awesome editing skills and I really liked listening to you talk about the art, you just gained a sub bro

Great video bro, love the editing

Well edited video and great analysis! Subscribed!

Link papa does some amazing backgrounds. Hes worked with backgrounds on a lot of stuff.

Great video! Naruto will probably always be my favorite manga.

Man I'd really like another video where you break down what you like and dislike in other art styles from other artists. I just think you did a really good job in that and I need something to listen to while I do things around the house anyway

FINALLLLLYYYYYYY

Loved the video, I love Naruto and the art from the early Naruto and Sasuke fight.

The only thing that I miss from the first art style is the hair, since before it hand more strands

Dude you should have so many more subscribers, very in depth video. Love the format and how they are edited.

Being someone who draws, and hopes to one day draw their own manga; I love videos that actually go into composition and page layouts like this. People are often, understandably, more focused on the actual art style alone when talking about manga art, that composition often goes neglected, even though its arguably even more important for a smooth reading experience. Also, the editing here is really well done, even with 79k views this is still underrated.

His volume covers are pretty great as well

Great video!

sasuke retrieval arc is truly the peak of kishimoto art, I remember being blown away at his use of fish-eye lenses, the dynamic angles, and the amazing particle effects of the rasengan/chidori. It's such a shame that the pressure of the job gradually devolved his art over time, it feels like he's lost the motivation to draw. Especially after seeing Samurai 8, which is drawn entirely by his assistant. IMO Kishimoto is mechanically one of the best mangaka in terms of knowledge of perspective and dynamic angles and poses, second to maybe only Oda. Even then Oda doesn't really use fish-eye lens and Kishimoto has cleaner linework and IMO better character designs for the heroes.

Just discovered your channel on my recommended. I see you don’t have a lot of vids so I hope to see more

Naruto art was heavily influence by samura and especially in Shippuden but early naruto has some otomo influence ! His influence is samura and otomo !

Wow, this is such a great video. I cannot say I art is my strong suit, my draw to the Naruto manga was the compelling and wonderful story, but at the back of my mind I always appreciated Kishimoto's clean and flowing drawings. This video, however taught me to how to look closely at the art and understand it so much better! I know now why I love the manga so much- the composition, the show of emotion, great panel arrangement, great visual manifestation of each character... Thank you so much, I wish more videos were that educational. Great job!

Yo great video I'd be very down for another video on another series in this style

This was an excellent video. I came to know and consume the series via the anime. I didn’t read the manga in full, I only read select volumes from various points in the story here and there (I only own three lol), and watching this video made me realize the evolution of the art over the course of the series that I subconsciously recognized but never actually thought about in full. We have something in common as that period of the manga also has my favorite art. It’s very defined and confident, as opposed to the loose and sketchy style of earlier and somewhat later parts of the story, which has its merits but just isn’t as consistently captivating. GREAT point about the backgrounds too during the war arc cause looking at them I was thinking that before you even said it

I don't know if you know this, but your pov perfectly matches with the Naruto anime franchise icon Hiroyuki Yamashita who directed Kakashi vs Obito. After watching this I realised why he thinks so. Shitty weekly schedule really put affect on Kishimoto's art, it's sad to know that.

Great video a really solide analysis. I especially appreciate the panels of Deidara while discussing how art is subjectiv :3 I completely agree with the sentement, that the art style used to be better. Back when I was in highschool Naruto was my favourite manga and this still shows in my own artstyle. But going into the 4th ninja war I started to find it difficult to really sympathize with characters and get hyped aboute revelations. I think you just put some of the reasons into words for me.

Honestly underrated analysis

very underappreciated video, i wish kishimoto would see this!

Although some words were not the nicest towards kishimotos art it just shows how big of a fan of him you are (idk how it works lmao) Wish u all the best and hope more people discover your amazing content

When you switched to 2nd composition of Kidoumaru's attack I immediately thought "WHoa those trees add a lot of intimidating power to him since they almost give the vibe of giant cannons aimed at the target!" Super cool video :D

Mikey-san's analytical skills are godly Did a right thing by making u my editor Also, 19:38 my favourite panel in Narooto

Art evolution through out a series is so fascinating. Another great example of this evolution is from a comic called Gunnerkrigg Court.

My goal is to be a manga artist one day. You have no idea how much your video touched me because I remember reading Naruto back when I was in 8th grade and analyzing every panel. I even make animation videos that were largely inspired by Naruto. I remember back then, it took my friends about 1 hour to read a manga book, but it took me 2 hours because I was actively studying the layouts, lineart, character designs, etc. I agree with you that the Tsunade Arc and Sasuke Retrieval arc had the best art.

Hey, finally got around to watching this video. I really loved your breakdown, it's really great! I loved seeing it. And I do share your thoughts on some of it, the mid stages of Naruto's art are awesome, really detailed and inspiring. I've started reading a book of a certain mangaka, where he explains how editors tend to often tell the mangaka that his drawings/story elements and ideas suck and that he needs to shift them in a different direction since his idea wouldn't be appealing. This does take a huge toll on the mangaka, since he has to abandon what he wanted to make and now relies on something someone else told him to. Tho the author of the book said that if you have to be persistent and do what you want even if they reject your art and ideas, go on and do the ideas that you would've wanted, not what they would've. It seems Kishimoto took a few ideas from the editors and had to abandon some of his ideas, so that's why some of later parts of shippuden are so stretched and feel rocky compared to his previous work. As an example, I'm a reader of Black Clover and Yuki Tabata's art has gone significantly better through the chapters, but his story direction and ideas shifted greatly since the beginning of his second big arc for the story, he started including much more fan service with the female characters and shifted the story to be somewhat more generic like "new stronger big bad guy just did something unimaginable" as if he's following the typical power escalation trope with no substance, the villans are not thought out and at the moment only one thing keeps me reading the series onward and it's a certain mystery. I'm not sure what's going on right now with him, though it might be that Black Clover has to end soon, maybe shonen jump wants it out of the magazine as it's not rocking the sales. As for the art changes, I know I mention Shaman King often, but it's a great example. The author started the series with a somewhat of an older looking style, comic-like, quirky, which is because him and Oda who makes One Piece worked together as assistants. Later in his mid stages his art improved tenfold, it's looking darn near perfect and it's one of the best looking parts of SK. Then it transitioned into a stage where he started changing his art and it felt bland in many cases. So he ended the manga on chapter 284 because he wanted to take a break and end the series when he is ready. It took a couple years, but once he returned, his art changed completly, it was hard to believe that it was drawn by the same guy, and that art style change is amazing to me, the ending feels all the more special because of this.

Really well crafted video man. Keep it up

I love Kishimoto's art. It's very expressive and dynamic although the burden of being a manga artist for so long gave him pain and discomfort. But I love him either way. Also your videos are awesome

This video is so well made that it actually going to make me pick up Naruto. I cannot believe you only have so little subs. Your videos are edited perfectly, your voice is great to listen to, and your script is overall just very interesting. Definitely getting a sub for me, and keep it going!!!!

I love it the way it is in shippuden! I think that art is great because it’s more simplistic yet so dynamic! He is amazing at drawing dynamic angles! One of the best at that for sure! Though my favorite manga art style is by Mashima & Kubo for sure.

Great video! You should definitely do this with other artist like kubo and horikoshi!

Absolutely wicked video mate, hope you can do this with Toriyama or other mangakas

I'm surprised you didn't point it out but even if Kishimoto burnt out over time, I find it funny that his panelling/page layouts actually improved with time. A great example of this would be the final battle between Naruto and Sasuke, the page layouts utilize symmetry whether it be panel sizes or actual images within the panels themselves, they all point to the fact naruto and sasuke are equals and we already know as readers, they're parallels as well. Not even just that but there's some creative layouts as well like the cluster of punches in the middle of one of the pages. I do think Kishimoto doing art in Boruto would've been the better choice (no offense to the current artist). P.S. It's nice Naruto's art is getting some praise, usually the series as a whole is being pooped on from what I've seen. Great video

Such a fckn good vid yo Def earned a subscriber

I absolutely loved when his style evolved around the Tsunade arc! I think I noticed the small, initial difference after Naruto defeats Gaara. I remember seeing how he was working his way towards streamlining the line art and carefully choosing where to emphasize line weight around that time. I haven’t read Part 2 but his shape language, to me, got a little boring when looking through some of it. It was kinda like how I felt with the later half of Eyeshield 21- the art was still good but aside from a few shots here and there I would easily gloss over it. Also you are a legend! Great analysis. 😁👍

Yessir he’s back

0:34 I'm really surprised you never spent time talking about this one. How did Kishimoto do this? It's probably my all-time favourite manga panel. The fact that he was able to get all of the Leaf Village in one shot and from that distance. Zoom in, and you can see any part of the village that you know. And this was just a manga panel from a weekly manga. Yeah, I know he must've had assistants help him with this.

The only thing that matters is that..... ART IS AN *EXPLOSION!*

weekly schedule is actually insane ~ Monthly or even 2 month periods would make sense

I really like Kishimoto, the manga was really interesting and it was very good it had all the genre's: super-natural, romance, action, adventure, drama and etc. He really put aton of effort to combine all of those into a story, the sadness the anger, and how well it connects is very very good, I'm suprised it isn't the #1 anime

Naruto manga is the reason I said "I want to be a mangaka" when I was 7 years old. At that time my mother bought Naruto vol 2. I, who at that time could only draw stickman, could only be amazed and said "so that's how to draw hands, so this is how to draw legs" and others. Naruto even became a textbook for me to draw. Even today it still shows a bit of Naruto influence from all my drawings.

War arc have some of my favourite panels,spreads are crazy

Let’s go new video

Somebody your voice is already a Part of your brand.i cant rember the Name of your Channel but i know how you are by Hearing your voice. Great Video