In the manga Yotsuba&!, artist Kiyohiko Azuma draws characters in a stylized, not-so-realistic way. But the backgrounds, however, are insanely realistic.
According to Spoon & Tamago, in a 2014 interview, Azuma explained this contrast, saying, “I lean toward realism, but at the same time, it’s not like I’m trying to make things actually realistic–what I’m going for is more like having a somewhat strange character within a realistic world. Now, that’s pretty standard in manga, but what I’m aiming for is to strike the right balance of being ‘somewhat’ strange–not too out there, but not too normal, either.”
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