UK Manga exhibition in London – 6 August-5 September

'Goneril', a page from Ilya's
 'King Lear' sketchbook

From West to East and East to West, the hybrid artform that is manga (the Japanese for ‘comic strip’) continues to develop in many different directions. The exhibition at Idea Store Whitechapel will present some of the best manga produced by British artists, contextualising it with authentic manga from Japan. Visitors will be able to see original story-strips by UK artists – influenced and inspired by their love of Japanese manga – and enjoy a celebration of one of today’s liveliest art forms, now popular worldwide.

The annual competition Manga Jiman, organised by the Embassy of Japan to foster and encourage British-based talent, will be running at the same time as the Ideas Store exhibition and potential entrants will find plenty of inspiration in the show.

The exhibition is curated by SelfMadeHero artist, Ilya, who illustrated King Lear in our Manga Shakespeare series. His publications away from SelfMadeHero include The Manga Drawing Kit, Best New Manga and a novel The Clay Dreaming, which was published earlier this year.

Events organised alongside the exhibition include workshops for children and adults. The children’s workshop will take place on Saturday 7 August 2.30 - 4pm. For more information on those, contact Sotiris Kyriacou at the Ideas Store.

King Lear is available to buy from our online store for only £5.99.

If you can't get to the Ideas Store exhibition then you can still gain a great insight into how manga is produced in the UK by reading Ilya's 'the making of King Lear' which first appeared on Manga Shakespeare Ning where Ilya blogged about each aspect of his work:

Part One – The best of all possible worlds

Part Two – Aaand the winner is...

Part Three – Drawing style for King Lear 

Part Four – Layout and panelling

Part Five – Bibliography

[they are so good that re-post some of them here!]

Original artwork from King Lear is currently on exhibition at London's excellent Cartoon Museum.