Ooh.....good thread.
I would have to say my all time fav.
mangaka would be Watsuki, Nobuhiro who created
Rurouni Kenshin. The way he draws is just so good. I mean, his lines are clean, his shading is unique and well done, his drawing overall is just great, especially positions and moves. His colored drawings are very gorgeous too, since he blends in traditional Japanese prints along with his characters. The colors are bold most of the time, but it's also very mellow and calming. There are also several other
mangakas I'd like to mention, though they're not my favorites:
Takeuchi, Naoko who created Sailormoon. Okay, so there are not that many fans of Sailormoon, but I would have to mention her because it was this series and her drawings that got me into
anime and
manga to begin with. Her colored
manga drawings are so beautiful, especially the colors, the scenery....it all blends very well together and she just creates stunning pieces.
Watase, Yuu who created
Fushigi Yuugi because her stories (except for
Ayashi no Ceres, that was not that great) are very good and dramatic. While her
manga drawings are not that appealing to me, the story is still very good and she draws vedry realistic like, with a touch of
manga in there, so it's kinda unique.
Tanemura, Arina who created
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Her drawings are absolutely angelic and very beautiful. It's much different than Naoko's because her lines are more darker and stronger and it brings out the picture, while Naoko's is more pastel and soft which gives you a dreamy feelling. Arina's drawings are also colored very well, the backgrounds, and the way she draws her character's eyes....so unbelievable.
Nightow (or Nito), Yasuhiro who created Trigun. Wow....his drawings are soo cool! While the
anime drawings were good, I thought his
manga drawings are much better because they were more neat and well drawn. I dunno...Vash seemed very handsome in the
manga. The girls are excellent too, because he didn't draw Meryl or Millie (or Milly) too wimpy or too thin looking, which fits in perfectly with this series. While he drew Millie quite large (which suits her perfectly) he also drew Meryl large, but also slightly small and delicate enough to let the audience know she was also very female, but tough. Tough girls in this series suit it much more than wimpy ones.
Okay, those are some of my favorite
mangakas....I have a few more, but I don't want to bore the living daylights outta you guys, so I'll stop.