Image Styling in Yoshiro Tatsumi's Work

One of the thing that struck me most when reading the anthology of Tatsumi's work was the overall graphic style in which the stories are presented. Classmates have posted blogs about the maturity and intricate nature of these short stories, as well as the clear literary approach to the narrative. Others have talked about the sophisticated juxtaposition of text and images employed in these works. I feel that, behind both his approach to storytelling and his skillful use of text and imagery is the intricate and emotionally charged styling with which each panel is imbued.

I think it's clear to see that each panel evokes the graphic style of the modern woodcut movement, popularized in China as a response to events such as the May the Fourth Movement of 1919 and the Sino-Japanese war. A representative work that exemplifies the basic tropes of the modern woodcut movement can be seen below:

To the Front! (1932) by Hu Yichuan

From its inception, this graphical style was intended to be visceral and emotionally evocative. Artists would intentionally leave strokes in the image so that one could picture the artists aggressively attacking the image with their knife (or, in Tatsumi's case, their pen). Although more tame and graphically harmonious than works from the modern woodcut movement, Tatsumi's work draws a clear inspiration from this style. The black and white imagery, the exaggerated and obvious strokes of the pen, and the grim content of the panels I believe take on a character of their own. 

With a different image style, I believe the stories would not be as evocative or emotionally poignant. Given the subject matter of Tatsumi's work, I couldn't think of a more appropriate artistic style with which to approach these narratives, and I think Tatsumi's selection adds a level of depth and poetry to his graphic narratives.