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TheArtrix — Artrix's take on Naruto
Published: 2005-08-25 14:13:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 131491; Favourites: 1787; Downloads: 8624
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Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another episode of "Artrix's take on...", and today's subject is, you guessed it, Naruto.Yes, my first piece after EU2k5 is the Naruto pic I've been telling you about, it took me longer than Artrix's take on Teen Titans, but it's not CG'd. That's because the Naruto characters are, like many anime, a lot less stylized than their American counterparts. A lot of time was invested on sketching each and every character as shown on this deviation on sheets from my corny Mr. Bean callendar. After this extended research, I started to draw each character individualy, so I could use as much detail as I pleased. For this deviation I used east Indian ink, opposed to the Steadler pens I used in Artrix's take on Teen Titans. I scanned them, gave them the basic coloring in Photo Magic and composed all the characters in Corel Photopaint 11. This is where applied the thick outlines, something I haven't done before, and I must say: I'm pleased with the overal result, as I could never do the outlines as accurately as when using this technique. I might make another version with all the characters shaded, but for this piece, it looks cool as it is.
I'm also aware that some things are not entirely as they should be, I'm aware that Shikamaru's head is too round, that Naruto's thingy on his shoulder is not right, that some people are missing their ninja equipment and that Temari's air weapon thingy looks pretty ugly. There's probably some other stuff that I haven't mentioned, and I'm sure some of you are able to point them out.
In case you're not aware of what Naruto is, I suggest you keep a close eye to Cartoon Network USA as they will air the first two seasons of Naruto in their Toonami block starting in September, dubbed and sensored of course, so you might wanna look for the real stuff. I will now say who is who, which is completely unnesessary for those alrealy familiar with Naruto:
From left to right: Rock Lee, Hinata, Shikamaru, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Gaara, Temari and Neji.
On a final note, I do not support any "pairings" or whatever you people might come up with, the first one to comment asking this will receive the I-cannot-read award.
Edit: The outlines are now anti-aliased :]\
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Comments: 347
lol this is a crack up, i think you summed them all up perfectly. Fans probs deep down know its true
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You know, I've never imagined Neji as "girly" o3o
It's still great though, well done<3
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LOL facial expressions >D
I can imagine (sinse i have no idea how t spell his fucking name and is to god damn lazy to google him...)
the 'terminator guy' saying these things really angry.
:\
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Heh. You just sumarized all the characters.
Cartoony, smooth style depicting normaly anime characters makes this look good on my eyes, plus the face expressions. I love it.
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OMG! Neji's expression! XD
HAHAHAH!!!
this is so awesome!
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I think you did best with Lee, seriously, you defined him perfectly. 
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hmmm having mixed feelings about this I say.
I really like the fact that you made this comically and funny, but I can't help to think that the U.S is sensoring too much of your episodes... There are some things about this story and it's characters, that seems to have slipped past many from the U.S audience.
Mainly it's Neji - according to Japanese tradition and norms, he couldn't be more manly! 
Temari's "airweapon" is a big fan (white with 3 purple dots). Though I wouldn't place her as being "manly" she is very controlling and demanding - no doubt about that XD
Gaara's demonmark on his forehead is the kanji for "love" and the reason he has it, is because of the demonpossion by the Ich-bi biiju (the Tanuki demon) wich carries the essence of his deceased mother - very ironic for him to carry that mark, since he IS INDEED creepy! (in the first episodes anyway). Buuuut the kanji is ofcourse referen to his mother - who were the only person to love him as a child.
Sasuke is an emo? I don't know what you guys today call emo, but one thing is VERY certain - he is definitly NOT an emo. Real emo-kids are poetic and eccentric people - and I can't picture Sasuke being anything but a sore loser
Oh well, just a couple of thoughts.. I see that you generelly haven't replied to people writing comments on this pic, but I hope you'll still read it though
Take care ~ Maria
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The great irony is that I drew this just after a road trip through northern Germany and Denmark. I'm Dutch and thus I'm in pretty much the same situation when it comes to Anime, which is a strong reliance on torrented episodes. Don't worry, I've been assumed to be American on more than one occasion.
That said, I feel the need to point out that this is by far my best work ever, and that this was made relatively quickly in some sort of transition period between two art styles. I don't like it now, but it got me where I am now. Naruto actually influenced me greatly in my visual and narrative sense.
That said, your post turned out to be more interesting than I anticipated, especially where you explain Neji's appearance. And really, I couldn't tell his gender when I first saw him.
Other things you mentioned, such as Gaara's mark and Temari's air fan, were in plain sight to me. My sensibilities were different back then, and I deliberately misrepresented them for comedic effect. As for Sasuke being emo, aside from the misrepresentation thing, emos were a common target for jokes on the Internet back then. And yes, I do realize that real emos are a lot less two dimensional than their stereotype counterpart, but so are nerds and geeks and other subcultures that are often ridiculed.
Hope you liked this lengthy reply to a lengthy comment. I do realize that I don't respond much to my comments, especially for pieces like this where the average comment boils down to "lol, naruto".
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Thanks for replying, please know that I meant no offense in replying like I did - and sorry for calling you American - I looked at your profile afterwards for more pictures, and realized that you were in fact, from the same continent as me
oh.. and I actually meant, that many Americans never watch the Japanese (uncensored version). It's heavily censored here in DK as well... which sucks. Sorry for the lame response on that one - no one had a chance figuring out what I meant there
Back to topic - sorry
Hehehe Neji is quite "the man in Japan!" 
I study Japanese culture and society in my freetime (and the language too) so I know quite a lot of things about animes such as Naruto, that people without the background knowledge of Japan, could never know. Naruto is packed with historical references to anchient Japan - even many of the names, are from the real world.
An example would be be Neji (lets just roll with this guy - he's so much fun). Neji's clan name "Hyuuga" is actually directly inspired by one of the 3 famous (and greatest) ninjaclans - the real Hyuuga Clan. The clanmembers of this clan had a high status in the shinobi world, and had great influence with the shogun's and daimyo's.
Another name that's pretty prominent is Sasuke - in the anime, Sasuke is a boy genius. The real Sasuke (last name "Sarutobi" - if that rings a bell) was also considered a genius and a very popular folk-hero.
Bleh... and I could go on and on and oooon with the references...but I think I just talked your ears off already XD
Oh well, the emo-thing is understandable... the average (fake) emo today, looks exactly like Sasuke!
Thanks for listening ^^
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I did not, at any moment, take any offense. It was clear from the start that no harm was meant.
My first encounter with Naruto is actually a good while before it was released in the US, and I only watched the first episode of the US dub when it was released. I started out with chapter 1 to 200-ish of the fan-translated manga, and then proceeded to watch the anime (after watching the mediocre first movie). Fairly early after the US release, it was clear to me that they handled the series much better than, say, One Piece, but that it was still heavily censored, so in that context, I understood what you meant by that.
On a lighter note, Naruto never seems to really get a hold on us Dutchies, as merchandise is rare and I haven't seen it on TV as far as I know (or care). My trip to Italy showed that them Mediterranean folk are batshit crazy about Naruto... and any other anime that features excessive amounts of fighting.
Looking at the massive size of Naruto, it comes with little surprise that it has such strong ties with Japanese history, and I thank you for pointing it out. I don't know if one could say that for, say, Dragonball.
Anyway, thanks for this interesting exchange of ideas. I always like it when art sparks things like this.
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I started viewing the anime and became interested in the story, and since I know that the person doing the manga and the crew that's usually hired to do the anime counterpart aren't the same, and the animation crew takes certain liberties while animating, the manga was the obvious choice if I wanted to get the best view of the original story and concept (often, things get cut out because of animation time). And then there's the added bonus you get when reading the manga - more than often, the artist write down or post sketches and personal thoughts between then chapters so that the reader has a better chance of getting familiar with the concept.
Hmmm mercendise isn't very big here either - however they have begun to air the first 20 episodes in Danish dubs on satuday mornings (they're awefull!) - at least they had enough decency to air the Japanese uncensored episodes at 00.00 pm on thursday nights as well.
hmmm I haven't watched much of DragonBall...it never really hooked me, and although my greatest mangaka idol (Masashi Kishimoto himself) is absolutely crasy about that series, I really think the drawing style is waaay to simplistic and unnatural for my liking - while Naruto has a more natural take on the shonen style and more balance between the different anatomy of boy vs girl. (shonen = manga for teenage boys, the style is heavily influenced by what boys like to look at. E.g. heavy muscles, skinny, pretty girls and super powers among other stuff)
I fint it more and more rare for me to engross myself so intriegetly (sp?) in one piece, but it was fun none the less
I have to apoligize for talking too much though ^^
~ Maria
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I apologize for not replying sooner. It's just work and my inability to keep my resolution to reply to deviantART messages early. I'll post this reply because you obviously had to get something off your chest.
To date, Naruto hasn't gotten any Dutch treatment, except for maybe some manga imports. I may be wrong, for I barely watch any of the kid networks nowadays. You guys are lucky to have unsensored dubs at night, we really don't take anime that seriously over here.
I simply grew up with Dragonball Z, it's part of my generation, whether we like it or not. It's like the gateway drug to real anime. I do admit that I like Naruto over Dragonball Z because it's just not as ridiculous (said with caution). I guess the mix between appeal to boys and girls is part of the reason why it's so popular.
I hope this reply provided some nice closure, but we both must admit that it really ran out of hand, whoops.
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*phew*
Sorry for the runner-mouth - I guess I could talk your ear off (or...maybe I already did? 
I really could talk about this topic all the way to the end of the world, so to close it here, would be a wise desicion.
Have a nice day, and thanks for replying anyway
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Determination times infinity. And Gaara's forehead is priceless, I haven't laughed this much all day.
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WHUT PAYRINGZ TO CHOO SUPPORT11!!!
(yeah, sorry, had to do it!)
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Sorry, the award is already gone, someone beat you to it (I think).
Clever observation, sir :]
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Naruto's face alone is worth the fav.
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haha! Sakura's painful to look at! great job!
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LoL that funny but i am afraid to say i am a fan of sasuke but hands down he does act like that but my god Rock Lee that smile is S0Oo funny
ohh and neji lool ha ha ha thats some funny stuff
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when i first saw neji i thought he was a girl
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MANLY GIRL ...GIRLY BOY...
soo friggin true though...
great job
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El-Oh-El~
haha the expression on Sasuke's face is friggin' awesome.
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