A manga artist, also known as a mangaka, is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan.

A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons or comics. Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice.