So You Want to Get to Work...
Practice is the key to gaining skill in the manga field. Here is my ultimate guide for inspiration and projects that will get you one step closer to being a mangaka:
Drawing Quest 1: Join a Forum-Based Website
Sites that let you have an avatar and chat on a forum are great for drawing practice! Many of these kinds of sites are anime-oriented and include many budding artisits. Gaia Online is probably the best one. I gained a lot of digital art experience with it.
- Join Art Contests: Many of these sites have "Art Arenas" where you can submit art to have it judged. Also there are always forums where people hold art contests for items or gold.
- Become an Itemist, Colorist, Lineartist, Bannerist, est.: Lots of people start their own Breedable Pet stores and need others to make art for them. You could draw the lineart of each stage of the pet, be the colorist for someone else's lineart, make items (see images below) or make advertisement banners.
- Join a "Draw the avatar above you" Thread: In an avatar-based forum you can find threads that are for avatar art. Basically someone posts and the next person to post draws their avatar. You can choose whatever art style you like and keep drawing as much as you like. Also you'll get your own little avatar portraits too!
- Start your own shop: These communities are full of commerce. People make shops for signature art like moving gifs, avatar portraits, banners for shops, and much more. If people need it and use it, you can find a way to draw it and sell it to them (with forum gold of course).
- Draw for a story: Make a story and draw the maps, or co-op with someone else writing a story and be their artist. Characters, maps, houses, action scenes are all possibilities.
Drawing Quest 2 : Make a Short Childrens Book
Try out a different or simpler style. Don't feel pressured for it to look perfect. Just have fun, make a little story, and be colorful! I made a short book called Raguna's Credit Card problem for economics class. Yes I know it's not very child-like to talk about credit cards but it was an interesting experience.
Drawing Quest 3: Make Logos and Business Cards
This will not only get you practice in the Graphic Design field, but could yield a new logo for your own projects. Try out several styles, consider who you are marketing to, and try making some letterheads and business cards. Graphic Design is very important in making manga, even though most may not realize it. I suggest taking at least one class on it. You'll learn the basics of professional type settings, how to balance your images, and how to make crisp designs. Adobe Illustrator is the tool of choice. A lot of digital manga artists create designs and logos in Illustrator and then add them into a manga image onto a characters clothing or accessories. This adds a lot of spice and professionalism to a drawing.
WARNING: The image below is a tasteful artistic nude drawing.
Drawing Quest 4: Draw From Life, No Really, Do It.
"The Curse's Toll" by Kafae
Yes, EVERYONE tells you to do this: Your teachers, your drawing book, your favorite artists. They tell you that for a reason. Many can become rebellious in art classes because they don't understand how drawing the 'boring classic way' can help them draw manga. Figure drawing, for one thing, is one of the most helpful classes an artist can take. You learn to draw the essence and movement of a shape, not just a figure/person. Try this: Draw from life until you learn something new, like how an objects lines curve a way you didn't expect, or how muscles look. Draw that until you learn something and then keep drawing until you feel that you have that technique in your head pretty well. Next, draw that thing in manga form, or apply it to manga in some way such as drawing a robot the way you drew an object. Drawing from life gets you to understand WHY manga lines form the way they do. It is a stylized version of reality. When you get that you can make up your own style! Good luck <3!
<-- Learning proper anatomy allows you to realistically manipulate it.
<-- Learning proper anatomy allows you to realistically manipulate it.
Drawing Quest 5: Sculpt or 3D Model
Sculpting helps you understand the 3D aspect of a character or an object. You will look at something in a brand new way when you try sculpting it. Maya is the 3D modeling and animating program of choice for many studios. It's very expensive but if you take a class for it in college you can use the computer labs and make all kinds of things! In my final project I animated a DDR battle and modeled a girl wearing lolita in a bakery. ;)
Drawing Quest 6: Try Animating!
Try making some pixel animations, 3D, or hand drawn animations. Flash is fun as well.
Drawing Quest 7: Play The Sims!!!
Yes. I just told you to play a video game. Actually I make my own Sims (with the help of about a bajillion downloads of course), take a screenshot of them, and trace over that. It's actually a really fun way to take a twist on life-drawing. You can take pictures and all different angles and never need an poseable-anatomy-mannequin again! I prefer The Sims 2 Because the models can be manipulated a lot by downloaded content ( Modthesims2.com ) and are simple enough for anime features.
Make Settings Too, and Edit!Feel free to color these images. Make new Sims and try drawing them. I downloaded all kinds of ears, wings, outfits, eyes, hair styles, accessories, and much more so I could make fantasy Sims. I love this game. I also make almost all of my houses i feature in manga in The Sims first. It gives me a realistic vision of how to proportion things, and makes the overall result much more realistic.
I also use Soul Calibur's character editor to practice drawing armor. I make a nude character and look at one piece of armor, then draw it from different angles until I understand how to illustrate it. I spent a whole day on gauntlets! Try it out! Also you can use your Sims as pose mannequins if you pause while they are active. -->
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Don't forget to keep drawing real people too! Although, amazingly, I improved my drawing just by playing with the Sim editor so much. You can learn how and where facial features work. Edit, customize, draw, and repeat! Have loads of fun! This is great way to take a bit of a break from hardcore working and still feel productive!
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Drawing Quest 8: Go Chalk Drawing in the Park
Find a park, a good day, and buy some chalk. Any old chalk will do. Crayola sells some that seems to have wax in it. This is good for dark colors. The key to making something look good on the sidewalk is blending. Take all the dust and blend blend blend! Have fun! Children are bound to compliment you. :) It's a great outdoor practice activity and ego-booster.
Tepig Chalk Funtimes
Tepig Chalk Funtimes
Drawing Quest 9: Experiment with Watercolor
Watercolor is extremely useful for manga art. Especially used in shoujo, it is fun to practice while still training your ability to control. Lots of manga covers are painted with watercolor, along with digital art (Digital Watercolor Tool in Corel Painter). Watercolor pencils are also useful. They provide a hard line that can be faded out with water, or you can draw your own paint pallete! Always begin with the lightest tones first, then move on to darker. Leave the white areas untouched by paint - watercoloring allows the color of the paper to be the lightest points of the drawing. I usually do skin tone first and add blush while the paper is still a little wet. I use a very tiny brush when working with manga because crisp outlines are very important.
Make sure to use watercolor paper so it will not wrinkle. Experiment with the paper wet or dry before you add paint. I tend to sketch out my image in pencil and never ink it because the lines stay light like the color. If you do ink, make sure you use a pen that will not bleed. India Ink usually works fine. You can ink before or after you color, and always allow each separate color to dry before adding a new one (unless you want them to blend together).
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Drawing Quest 10: Try Digital Art
If you have a tablet digital art is an amazingly efficient way to experiment. You don't have to worry about drying time or supplies. The only downside is the cost of programs like Photoshop, Corel Painter and such. Manga Studio is a great program and it's quite cheap compared to the latter. College bookstores give amazing discounts though!
Drawing Quest 11: Experiment with Pen
Try drawing only with pen.
Pen can be frustrating at times but give it a try! When you mess up what you were trying to draw turn it into something new! Also, traditional manga is inked with a nib pen, meaning the kind that has changeable tips that you dip in an ink bottle.
>This drawing was done at 2 am in between laser tag matches. |