Many yaoi mangakas censor their work (some better than others). But when censoring is done well it can produce something, which although you know it has been censored, looks just as good and as if the picture had not been censored. Personally I think it is an art form in itself the ability to censor a picture without detracting from the original image.
After reading many yaoi mangas I have come across several ways (good and bad) as how an image can be censored.
- Put a massive black rectangle over the area.
My opinion:This has to be one of the worst ways to censor a picture since it totally distracts from the composition of the page. It grabs the viewers attention and holds it on that area as opposed to letting the viewers eye wander around the page's composition in a natural way.
- Having the area blurred / pixelated.
My opinion:Again like the massive black rectangle method this can also effect the page's composition. Although not as bad as black rectangle method, it still creates areas of the page which just stand out as being different and not fitting in. Also you are spending your time drawing something in detail just to then blur it to the point it is not recognisable. Seems a bit counter productive to me. Only useful if you are censoring a page but will need the uncensored version for something else.
- The invisible penis
My opinion:For me the invisible penis option is the best way of censoring I have come across for many reasons. Firstly it does not detract from the composition of the page since you can work the empty areas into the composition. Secondly it uses the concept of less is more. It leaves something to the readers' imagination. Thirdly, since the penis is invisible it can therefore show, for example, what a hand is doing from a view point which would not normally be seen (due to it being obscured by the penis).
Due to the above thoughts, this is why when applying censoring to my yaoi manga I opted for the invisible penis option. To see my attempt at this method see chapter 1 page 25.
