Suggested tutorials/excercises for budding mangaka

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Suggested tutorials/excercises for budding mangaka

Postby Ashley » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:27 pm

Anyone out there know any good tutorial sites, daily drills, etc? I'm trying to practice my drawing every day, but it might be more beneficial to hear from the "pros" about what I should be doing to help. I already know about polykarbon and the Julie Dillon tutorials at How-to-Draw manga.com, thanks. And no, I'm not gonna go buy a book, unless it's really really really good.

So, all that said, any suggestions? Also, anyone know of any tips I should know, like how to scan well or what kind of pens work best? I'm willing to take any and all advice, so thanks in advance!
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Postby Hephzibah » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:39 pm

Well... the thing that I do is 'draw lines', along with little sketches daily. Ok, it sounds really dumb, but apparently that is the best way to learn how to draw. :grin: I'll be watching this thread... I need advice too :D
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Postby Ashley » Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:02 pm

Draw lines? What's that? O.o
Have I mentioned I can't draw a straight line WITH a ruler?
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Postby Hephzibah » Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:17 pm

:P
By drawing lines (or attempting to), you increase the control you have over the finer drawing skills. Several of the pages in my sketchbook are just covered with lines ;)
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Postby Mave » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:59 am

I don't know whether this will help but I'll share what I have done so far.

Equipment:
- Mechanical pencils: I rarely use real pencils now unless I'm doing portrait sketches (which I don't use often anyway haha). I use those cheap mechanical Bic pencils that sell 5-6 per packet. I used both 0.7 and 0.5 mm lead size.
- Ink Pens: I've tried fountain pens before, like I told Riku before, but I prefer using fine point marker pens. I used Sakura pens before, they're good but I would use cheaper marker pens for practice first. I've found that once you've mastered inking, the type of pens you use doesn't really matter, IMO. Size: 0.5, 0.3, 0.2 mm (most frequently used = 0.3)
- Software: I use Photoshop CS but I've found that the version doesn't really matter. Whatever I use in my manga are the basic functions available in most Photoshop versions and even other graphic programs. I think I've seen chibi-chan pull off pretty good stuff off PaintShop Pro.
- If you're going digital, I would suggest a tablet. Expensive as they are, they were the best thing that happened to me as an amateur artist. I use Intuos 3 (9x12), the baby costed me almost $400. (Super ouch but hey, I'm reaping the benefits). There are smaller ones, which cost ~ $100-200 I think.
- Paper: I use printing/photocopy paper, A4 size. Doesn't make much of a difference to me.
- Eraser (for pencil work): Ever seen those retractable eraser types? The long tube-like ones? I love those erasers since they get into the tiny parts you wanna erase out. Apart from that, I haven't really compared erasers but if I recall properly, I use Staedler (sp?).

Scanning:
I usually scan at 250 dpi although I've heard ppl recommending 400-500 dpi for publication. But if it's a webmanga (Inky might have told me this), you're good to go at ~ 200. I guess we don't want our manga page files to be too big now. At the moment, after screentoning, my files can reach ~200 kb. 0.o; After scanning, I like to play around with the brightness/contrast function in PS to help clean up the scans. My manga pages are usually drawn on A4 paper and reduced to width = 800 when I use the 'image size' function.

Random tips:
- Trace: Some professional artists may scoff at this advice but hey, I did it many times and it was useful in helping me start off.
- Copy: A higher level of tracing but just as useful
- Keep your old stuff: I don't know why some ppl throw away their drawings. I never do that for 2 reasons, (nuts, I even keep drawings I did when I was 4-5 years old) 1) It's always nice to have something to compare with and to monitor your progress 2) Your old ideas can always be used in the future
- Post your stuff: Start your own artwork thread or harass certain ppl to give you feedback :lol: Seriously, it helps to monitor your progress throughout the thread.

That's all for now. I could ramble on and on especially on the digital part but do you have anything specific you want to ask for now, Ash? Feel free to ask anything else. :)
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Postby Mave » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:09 am

Erm...sorry for the double post but hey, I just wanted to add that IMHO, you don't really need those "How to draw manga" books. Well, at least, for myself, I don't use them. Manga itself serve as great references and anyway, you want to develop your own style, right?

In developing your own style, I guess it comes along the way as you practise. I select certain manga styles I like very much and try to imitate them before branching off from them. Rurouni Kenshin (manga volumes 13+) and Black Cat remain my benchmarks up to this day. I don't know whether my artstyle really looks like those manga titles *weak laughter* but those benchmarks served well as a source of motivation and guidance for me. ^__^
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Postby Raiden no Kishi » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:17 am

Hee...my Rurouni Kenshin manga (vols 3, 4, and 5 - yes there's a story, PM me if you care to know) has been a big help for faces.

Of course, I haven't done profile or 3/4, and my bodies suck, but my hair's improving.

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Postby Ashley » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:30 am

Wow Mave, thanks a lot! As far as software and equipment go, it's good to know I'm on the right foot. Right now I use bic .7 mechanical pencils, Penstix "india ink quality" pens (.3, .5, .7), kneeded rubber erasers and photoshop 7. So I'm not that far off! :lol: The scanning thing I'm still working on, I appriciate the tips about size and contrast.

As for the random tips, you're right, the only way to get better is to sit down and DO it! That's part of the reason I started Lobster Tales--I had a lot of ideas to share and I just wanted to sit down and start, even if I'm not very good at it yet. I'm hoping this will be the training grounds for greater projects for the Lord, which is where my heart is. Ink, my veritable sensei of webmanga, is always around to look at my practice and tell me I'm getting better, so that's helpful too. ^^;
<--loves Inkhy dearly

Mave, I've asked other artists and I'd like to pose the same question to you: how do you go about drawing your manga panels? I'm struggling because I draw them all on one page (about 6" by 4") and then I struggle with details because they're so squished! I know Gypsy tends to do her work on seperate pages and then combine, so how do you do yours? How do you get over that?
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Postby Uriah » Sun Jan 02, 2005 2:36 pm

Yea, just drawing different lines and learning to control the tool is essential.

As for pens.. There's simply no beating the professional japanese pens, like the G-Pen. (The ones with nibs that you dip in ink, the nibs are interchangeable.). There's a variety of nibs for different types of lines. They are hard to master, but these pens produce unbelieveably smooth lines if used right. They arent too expensive, either.. I got mine at Akadot http://www.akadotretail.com/shop/shop_showsupplies.php

I havin't tried any of the deleter products, mine are all I.C. , so that's all I can speak for. If you just want to try them out, get a bottle of black ink,a free size nib holder (I'm not certian if different brands of nibs work on different brands of holders.), and some nibs, they give a general explaination of what each type of nib does. Depending, this all shouldnt be much more than $18.. And just so you know, nibs do wear out, but they last a long time, and arent to expensive.

I usually scan my drawings at 300 dpi, open them with photoshop (if you don't have photoshop.. I can't help you here..) and go to image/adjust/curves. and play around with that.. that usually removes any remaining pencil traces.. After I'm done with the drawing, I usually reduce the size a bit, it makes the lines look nicer.

Hope this helps.
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Postby Mave » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:14 pm

Hmm...Uriah, I might check out those G-pens you talked about eventually. ^__^ I suppose they're quite different from fountain pens?


Mave, I've asked other artists and I'd like to pose the same question to you: how do you go about drawing your manga panels? I'm struggling because I draw them all on one page (about 6" by 4") and then I struggle with details because they're so squished! I know Gypsy tends to do her work on seperate pages and then combine, so how do you do yours? How do you get over that?

oh boy...panelling. >_<;; Well, there isn't really any clear cut guide for that. I use an A4 page sheet per manga page, consisting of approximately 6-7 panels (note the 'try' lol). In general, for the sake of uniformity and convenience, I mostly use squared panels (like Naruto) but you and I know that many manga titles have pretty complicated panels (different angles, shapes, layers etc.) In general, shonen manga have less panels, especially when they enlarge action scenes.

It's somewhat tricky planning out panels especially when you have a page limit per chapter. I guess that's why we do storyboarding, which to me is just sketching everything out to see the flow of the whole chapter. I don't really understand what you mean by Gypsy's method, though. How does she combine it?

I also try to keep the number of pages per chapter consistent. KCome (~10-13 pages) while Home (~21-23). But yeah, don't try to squeeze everything into limited manga pages, it's just plain messy. A perfect example would be KCome Chapter 1. I still have much to learn about panelling but so far, I think the readers have more air to breathe in the more recent chapters :lol:
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Postby Ashley » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:56 pm

How does she combine it?


She can feel free to correct me here, but I understood her to do a drawing on one page full scale, then another panel on another page, etc. and in photoshop combine them into 1 manga page.

I'll try to keep what you suggested in mind for my future projects, Mave. Right now, LT is more of a comic strip--short one-page scenes more aking to Azumanga Daioh than a true manga. I chose to do it this way so I'd be easier to get started, easier to release, and less stressful planning wise. Thinking in terms fo 4 panel stories over 20 something seemed a little better for a beginning artist, to me. However, I do plan on full length future projects so what you said was very helpful. ^^
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Postby Mave » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:51 pm

Ashley wrote:She can feel free to correct me here, but I understood her to do a drawing on one page full scale, then another panel on another page, etc. and in photoshop combine them into 1 manga page.


:eh: One page for each panel? That could be awfully time-consuming unless Gypsy has some special technique she hasn't revealed yet. As it is, it's already killing me to release pages.

Glad that whatever I share seems helpful. ^__^ Good luck and do your best, Ash! I know you can do it XD XD
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Postby Ashley » Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:13 am

Just FYI I ended up giving in and buying one of those "how to draw manga" series books. I flipped through it several times in the store, and it seems to have some good advice....we shall see if it really helps or not.
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Postby mechana2015 » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:31 am

I own a lot of those books for various subjects and all of them have become invaluable to me (sometimes manga just dosnt have the poses or clothes I want;ex: not many people have non toned drawings of leather clothing in the manga I own but I find examples in those books. You just have to be careful, since some of the books can get pretty risque. :sweat: It's also helped with lineweight and whatnot. I'm trying to figure out how to put my pages together too... I'm thinking multiple panels on different pieces of paper into photoshop, since I tend to go for the detail like it's running away from me... <.<;;
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Postby Mave » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:13 pm

Ashley wrote:Just FYI I ended up giving in and buying one of those "how to draw manga" series books. I flipped through it several times in the store, and it seems to have some good advice....we shall see if it really helps or not.


Which one? ^_^ There are so many, I don't have the time to go through any one of them. (-_-);;
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Postby Ashley » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:15 pm

I was REALLY torn between "mastering bishoujo characters" and "More How to Draw Manga: Vol 1. The Basics of Character Design". I ended up going with the latter; while I loved the first and I'll probably get it in the future, the second book also included male figures, adult vs. chibi proportions, and a broader general base. The bishoujo characters were just different types of girls/situations, and had nothing to do with men at all. :lol: Helpful, but I felt I needed a broader starting point. I almost went for the bishoujo characters one because of the fantastic "conversational gestures" pages in the back. O.O!
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Postby Gypsy » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:03 pm

Ashley wrote:She can feel free to correct me here, but I understood her to do a drawing on one page full scale, then another panel on another page, etc. and in photoshop combine them into 1 manga page.

Eep! Goodness, no, that would be awful! :sweat: I think the ones you saw were panels that would take up 1/2 or more of the page itself - then I'll draw the whole scene on one 8"x11" stock paper page. Generally, I can fit 2-3 panel's worth of art on one page. Then I scan them and fit them to the size and shape the panel needs to be for the layout.

And Mave, I've found that I can't live without those stick erasers. I started using one about 2 years ago, and I don't sit down to draw without one now. And I've also found the Sakura's work the best (I use 005, 03, and 05's the most, although my 03's see the most use) for inking. They last a long time, hardly ever "flick" (I'm sure there's a technical term for ink pens spritzing outside of the smooth line) and go to a thinner line when they start dying (rather than skipping or writing lighter).
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Postby Maledicte » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:05 pm

Human anatomy books I've found are quite useful, as are lighting and shading books. I would recommend Burne Hogarth's dynamic drawing series, no matter what you are drawing...they are well worth the money. (or jack one from the library, whatever.)
My arrangement of inking tools simply sucks, and I have no idea what I am using.
I do use acrylic ink though, and I like F.H. (I think that's the name) or Rollerball inks.
I use a wide variety of caligraphy pens and thin brushes for inking...the superbly cheap kind. I don't even know the brand, or what width they are. but I am good at using them, that's all that matters.
I find 0.07 mechanical pencils to work the best for me. No sharpening, no leads breaking, and have a handy little clip on the side.
Must use MAgic Rub Eraser!!! they are the best, rarely tear the paper and don't leave the annoying uneraseable smears. Also keep a good kneaded eraser around...the ones that look like gray silly-putty. Replace when it begins to look unedible.
PAper...anything I can get a hold of.
Trace, and copy anything that looks cool. Have no shame. Just don't pass it off as your own.
Keep older drawings. I do throw some away, because there is no space in neither my room nor the garage. Often, you can find the seeds of a good idea in an older drawing, but were simply unable to carry it out to fruition at that time.
look at lots of pictures. KEep books and magazines, ads, and clip out your favorites and leep them in a folder. or lots of folders.
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Postby Hephzibah » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:13 pm

Also keep a good kneaded eraser around...the ones that look like gray silly-putty. Replace when it begins to look unedible.

Yay! I have one of those things :D I still haven't gotten it out of the packet though...

Anyway, Ash, was the book very helpful? If so, I might see if they have any in Aussie
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Postby Ashley » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:36 pm

Woo, so many replies!

Ah, see I thought perhaps I got Gypper's style wrong. Whoops. And Gypsy, I went through all sorts of trouble to find Sakura pens--NO WHERE around here has them. Even Texas Art Supply, which is a speciality store! So I had to settle for my cheapie knock-offs...which, while they are nice, I've begun to see they AREN'T nice at fine point stuff, like eyes and hair. =/

And yes, Talame, the book I have is WONDERFUL! It's taught me a lot of techniques I didn't even realize I should be thinking about/attempting, and helped tremendously; and it's so BROAD! The volume I got has everything from the very very uber basic (guidelines and such) to drawing figures--and everything in between! I'd highly recommend it; it's definately worth the 20 bucks. They assume you know NOTHING about drawing and offer step-by-step sections. My highest recommendations. :thumb:

And for the curious, here's a bit of a comparison. To the left is a pic I did a week or so ago (inked, screentoned, etc.) and to the right is some sketches I did tonight. Personally, I feel like I've gotten a lot better, although I know I've got a long ways to go. And is it just me, or does the profile sketch at the top remind anyone else of a certain Shatterheart? :lol:
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Postby Hephzibah » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:35 am

WAAAAHOOOOOO!!! Guess what? I just found out that my library has TONNES of 'How to Draw Manga' volumes!!! :dance: I am SOOOO happy! :D
(btw Ash, there is a big improvement, esp with the eyes and mouth. Great going Ashy! :D)
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Postby mechana2015 » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:51 am

Ashley wrote:And Gypsy, I went through all sorts of trouble to find Sakura pens--NO WHERE around here has them. Even Texas Art Supply, which is a speciality store! So I had to settle for my cheapie knock-offs...which, while they are nice, I've begun to see they AREN'T nice at fine point stuff, like eyes and hair. =/

And for the curious, here's a bit of a comparison. To the left is a pic I did a week or so ago (inked, screentoned, etc.) and to the right is some sketches I did tonight. Personally, I feel like I've gotten a lot better, although I know I've got a long ways to go. And is it just me, or does the profile sketch at the top remind anyone else of a certain Shatterheart? :lol:


Thats too bad... even our college bookstore carries sakuras. I cant really fathom inking without them actually... :eh:

I like the new stuff! Yeah that drawing does remind me of Steve a little... needs somthing though. Oh wait I remember...facepaint ;).
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Postby Mave » Fri Jan 07, 2005 6:36 am

Ashley wrote: And Gypsy, I went through all sorts of trouble to find Sakura pens--NO WHERE around here has them. Even Texas Art Supply, which is a speciality store! So I had to settle for my cheapie knock-offs...which, while they are nice, I've begun to see they AREN'T nice at fine point stuff, like eyes and hair. =/


Ahhhh how awful!! My college bookstore carries them as well, Mechana. Ash, do you shop online?

And for the curious, here's a bit of a comparison. To the left is a pic I did a week or so ago (inked, screentoned, etc.) and to the right is some sketches I did tonight. Personally, I feel like I've gotten a lot better, although I know I've got a long ways to go. And is it just me, or does the profile sketch at the top remind anyone else of a certain Shatterheart? :lol:

yup someone there sure reminds me of someone. ;) Keep it up, Ash!
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Postby Ashley » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:53 am

WAAAAHOOOOOO!!! Guess what? I just found out that my library has TONNES of 'How to Draw Manga' volumes!!!

Congrats Talame! My library here is like "manga?" :drool: Although I know of 2 bookstores that carry the series next time I want to make a little investment. ^^; I look forward to seeing your work too, Talame!

Ahhhh how awful!! My college bookstore carries them as well, Mechana. Ash, do you shop online?

I didn't think about my college bookstore--I live 30 minutes away from campus so it's never the first place I think. >.>; Although I'm going there today, perhaps I can look around. And yes Mave I shop online. You have a link I don't know about? =P

EDIT: After shopping at 4 stores today (not counting the 3 I already hit) I FINALLY found some Sakura pens! I didn't splurge for the 16 dollar boxset, but I did get some fine Micron 02 .3 mm pens...so we shall see if they help at all. ^^
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Postby Hephzibah » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:07 pm

*salutes*
As soon as the books come in (i had to place a request on them, but thankfully there aren't many people infront of me in the waiting line) I'll put up some before and after pics :D
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Postby mechana2015 » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:28 pm

Has anyone here seen the Sakura Pigma BR? its a disposable brush tip... I just got one and it looks really nice to work with ^.^
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Postby Kuro-Mizu » Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:31 pm

here is my number one tip about how to draw PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE thats the key to getting better, and as Ashley has done compare it to other peices of work, you will be inspired ot keep drawing and feel better about your ability. Also as Talame has said check out books from your local library, not just manga but anatomy and realistic drawing books . If you can learn to draw realistically learning to draw manga will be that much easier. i dont have very much more to say just Great job on the drawings you posted and keep practicing n_n
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