I want to do a manga called INK which is about a dude named natsuji who has some type of reality manipulating powers in a artistic way (hard to explain).

Here's a drawing I did of him that took me I think 1 hour to draw and 1 and a half to color.

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=natsuji#/d358hge

I like to draw in a realistic shonen style with cartoony look still. What do you think of my style? I know the drawing has alot of problems but I liked mostly how it turned out :D He also meets a guy who, at wil,l controls lightning and can't be killed by electricity because his body just absorbs it.

pretty cool, mate. I'm still not sure exactly what styler you're going for, but so far, it looks pretty darn good.

I like the eyes and facial structure. They're a bit different from the norm, but in a refreshing way.

Your art is coming along nicely, but you might want to think about your story a bit more too. Like, if you're going to set it in a fantasy place, maybe make the name a little more fantastical. If you have a typical Earth name, like Natsuji, then it may be good to have a background on why? I know if I were writing, I would make the name a mysterious part of the character, where even other people around him also wonder why his name is so atypical. And then later we find out he's from our Earth, and it ties into the plot somehow and makes sense. Of course, even that can be a little clichéd, but I'm just trying to throw ideas your way. =)

Anyhow, looking forward to seeing more art and plot ideas for your manga once you come up with them.

Actually Natsuji is a working name, I have to go through the process of creating a lexicon thing to make great sounding fantasy names that sound original, The story takes play in a smallish town which has modern conveniences and such. I haven't been into the art lately but I need to get back into it and draw more concept art :) I also like how the color scheme turned out, blue hair with a beige-yellowish jacket, green sleveless shirt and Blue jeans turned out nicely.

Actually Natsuji is a working name, I have to go through the process of creating a lexicon thing to make great sounding fantasy names that sound original, The story takes play in a smallish town which has modern conveniences and such. I haven't been into the art lately but I need to get back into it and draw more concept art :) I also like how the color scheme turned out, blue hair with a beige-yellowish jacket, green sleveless shirt and Blue jeans turned out nicely.
Yeah, the color choices were good. Looking forward to see your other characters and background drawings.

Are your characters going to travel or will they stay in the same town?

Keep working on that story. It can't hurt to reference other fantasy manga too, for inspiration. And don't be afraid to use characters of various ages (rather than have them all around the same age group). If done well, it can add to the uniqueness of the story.

Thanks, I really need to work on my backgrounds to show the fantasy world and all, but for the most beginning they'll stay in the town mostly but later on I had this idea about other dimensions they might travel to? hmm... The cool thing about a made up world is you get to create any type of culture you wish.
Typically it's a action, comdey, drama, adventurish manga shonen style and would be in shonen jump if it was published. I'd love some of your ideas for powers, abilities and such because the whole morphing reality is difficult to limit and still make it cool because it's original :D Actually their's this girl who's mom later on becomes a main support character who can kick hard butt :) Trying to get around to making and uploading some more sketches.

this girl who's mom later on becomes a main support character who can kick hard butt :)
Yes. This is good. You're starting to understand how to appeal to the male demographic. Make sure she's a single mom... or divorced, widowed, separated, etc :-D

And it's okay to throw in an older guy too. Having sort of a balance between the sexes can often work out better than the over-used harem theme. They don't have to be perfectly balanced, but just so long as it's not one or two guys surrounded by a dozen or more women.... It's okay for other people to have relationships in a manga, rather than only the male lead having tons of women (and sometimes men) vying for him. Of course these are just my opinions and you're obviously free to ignore them and do it your own way as well. Just trying to steer you away from certain clichés. =) [Although I think some clichés are nice, like the single mother one I mentioned. But it's all a matter of opinion in the end]

Yeah, she's single, her husband was killed about 6 years before series start, why and how, well theres some story for me to work with :sweat: Now about older men, hmm, I was thinking this skinny, muscular biker dude who smokes and has a this beard and wears black and a hat who knows alot about the stuff like how (so-called: natsuji) controls reality. He's about 31 I think.

Also his friend he meets is kind of more mature than him, (natsuji) is not too in to girls ( not gay or doesn't like them), but he's just not occupied with them like his friend( who controlls lightning) is a more mature and tries to get girls to like him but seeing how he's pretty muscular and exercises alot, and plays tennis :D it's not too hard for that to happen. also his friend is like the more mature, older, tougher guy compared to natsuji but his friend is not mature in acting as he is childish and cuts up alot but he's intelligent as well. I think that right there is some great character contrast creating tension in the story :lol: I was thinking this character could be named Rebael Nojrafye (how's that for fictional names?) Keep in mind that Rebael is also 15 like natsuji :) Now I need a great name for natsuji hmm...

ooooh, this looks interesting! ^-^

Keep it up!

(yeah, sorry, don't have much of a comment >.>')

I was thinking this character could be named Rebael Nojrafye (how's that for fictional names?) Keep in mind that Rebael is also 15 like natsuji Now I need a great name for natsuji hmm...
You should make the names a little more pronounceable. They seem a little silly right now, like you're trying too hard.
Some anime names I thought were cool were:
-Ciel Phantomhive
-Sebastian Michealis
-Ayanami Rei
-Ikari Gendou
-Kamina
-Yoko Littner
-Lisa Hawkeye
-Winry Rockbell
-Edward/Alphonse Elric
-Roy Mustang

Notice they're all easy to read, and most of them aren't even Japanese sounding. Just because you're doing a manga, doesn't mean your characters have to have Japanese names, or even be Japanese!
And is English your first language? I don't want to offend you, but your spelling and grammar could use some work. Most people won't take a manga seriously if it has bad spelling or grammar, no matter how interesting the story is. The story does sound fun, though, so keep working at it. =)

Yeah, she's single, her husband was killed about 6 years before series start, why and how, well theres some story for me to work with :sweat: Now about older men, hmm, I was thinking this skinny, muscular biker dude who smokes and has a this beard and wears black and a hat who knows alot about the stuff like how (so-called: natsuji) controls reality. He's about 31 I think.
Wow, yeah. I guess we think along similar lines. =)

Like the older tutor/senpai guy. Sort of like Auron from FFX or Kakashi from Naruto. I'm not too sure about teh smoking part though. Perhaps consider a way of signifying the tough-guy persona without using cigs? Just something to consider.

Looking forward to some sketches of the MILF and the biker dude once you get some solid ideas in your head about what outfits and body/facial structures to give them.

Notice they're all easy to read, and most of them aren't even Japanese sounding. Just because you're doing a manga, doesn't mean your characters have to have Japanese names, or even be Japanese!
And is English your first language? I don't want to offend you, but your spelling and grammar could use some work. Most people won't take a manga seriously if it has bad spelling or grammar, no matter how interesting the story is. The story does sound fun, though, so keep working at it. =)

Ok first, I don't care for my native language as much as japanese, I don't like most of the names in english although I may have a character named something sid or Tom occassionally. Two, did you even read the name "Rebael" that's not japanese. I know you're not trying to offend me but dude, I know I definately type with grammar errors and such because I don't care to really fix grammar in a forum, like sentence structure, how many people do that? I'm aware that I may have spelling/type errors but if I do something serious like a book or manga or website, I double check spelling and grammar carefully. Also, I want to make the names sound very original, nojrafye is pronounced: No - jra - fyu How about zae,(pronounced sort of like zai) is that a good name for someone?

俺、日本語が話せますんで、日本語の名前よく使う　：D　　　　

Yeah, don't worry about your spelling/grammar too much yet. You can always edit it later. I think HopelessComposer was just trying to nudge you toward making your sentences a little clearer, perhaps.

But I think your names are fine. That said, it can't hurt to look in a variety of places if you need inspiration for name ideas. Consistency is good if the setting calls for it.

I know you're not trying to offend me but dude, I know I definately type with grammar errors and such because I don't care to really fix grammar in a forum, like sentence structure, how many people do that? I'm aware that I may have spelling/type errors but if I do something serious like a book or manga or website, I double check spelling and grammar carefully.
Nobody fixes their grammar and spelling for forum posts. I'm just saying that if your spelling and grammar are usually this bad, you might have some problems writing a manga. My suggestion to you was that you should make sure you're a good writer before starting a manga; it's as important as the artwork! Do you have any pages written down yet? You might be a good writer like you say, but it's impossible to tell with just your forum posts. Do you have a site or anything for us to look at yet? I love reading new webcomics =D

Also, I want to make the names sound very original, nojrafye is pronounced: No - jra - fyu How about zae,(pronounced sort of like zai) is that a good name for someone?
Again, that was my advice to you. If you have to explain to someone how to pronounce it, I wouldn't use it as a name. There's no problem with making up original names; I just don't think the one's you're using are very good, because they're a little *too* original.

俺、日本語が話せますんで、日本語の名前よく使う　：D
Just because you know a few words in Japanese doesn't mean you have to use Japanese names in your comic. Also, there's a rule about writing in Japanese on these forums. ;P

Anyway, looking forward to seeing some of your comic. The artwork is okay, but like you say, it's hard to critique the writing and such when we haven't seen any yet. XD

I know story is just as important as art but I think it's a great story so far. What do you mean there's a rule about writing japanese on the forum? I can't type japanese or something, why? It's not like I talked to you in japanese, I'm not using japanese names but I can read some japanese and speak in full sentences I've studied for years, I can do more that type a few words. :sweat:
Sorry, no website, currently all I have at all online, is a deviant account and a youtube account for my piano transcripitons.
How about a name like: yoksan or doreiya , is that easier to pronounce? I swear, I'm terrible with names :\

What do you mean there's a rule about writing japanese on the forum? I can't type japanese or something, why?
You can use foreign languages, but only if you put an English translation too.

Read here (http://forums.ichigos.com/faq.php?faq=faq_post#faq_new_faq_item) "All posts must be in English. If you are to type in a different language, provide a translation so everybody can read it."

I know story is just as important as art but I think it's a great story so far.
Don't get me wrong, it sounds like a good story so far, but the way you're describing it in broken grammar isn't very assuring. I should've said "the writing is as important as the art," so my mistake. I just meant that readers will be easily distracted if you use incorrect grammar or spelling. It'll take a lot away from the hard work you put into the rest of the manga.

What do you mean there's a rule about writing japanese on the forum? I can't type japanese or something, why? It's not like I talked to you in japanese, I'm not using japanese names but I can read some japanese and speak in full sentences I've studied for years, I can do more that type a few words.
This is an English-only forum, since most of the members here only speak English. A lot of people find it annoying when members have conversations with themselves or others in languages they can't understand, because they feel like they're being left out. And it seemed to me you were addressing to me. I told you you didn't have to use Japanese names, and you said "because I can speak Japanese, I want to use Japanese names." Who else would you have been talking to? =P

How about a name like: yoksan or doreiya , is that easier to pronounce? I swear, I'm terrible with names
*Shrug*, I guess they're better. It's just, honestly, when an English manga uses Japanese sounding names, I think a lot of people will take it less seriously. Use them at your own risk!

Let us know when you get some pages done. That'll be the fun part to look at. =D

Edit:
Read here "All posts must be in English. If you are to type in a different language, provide a translation so everybody can read it."
lol, yeah. And if you're going to post a translation, there's not much reason to post in the other language in the first place, right? XD

kentaku, just work on your manga for awhile. Me and my fellow armchair critics could give you advice for hours on end, but I think you should just plow ahead at it for awhile and listen to your own voice. Then, after you have some new material, you can ask us again for more opinions on how to tweak and possibly improve your art and story.

I know there are a lot of artists around here, so hopefully they'll come and give more critiques on your Natsuji drawing. My own advice probably won't help you improve it (since all I did was praise).

Sure thing, I can't wait to get some good concept sketches done :lol:

kentaku, just work on your manga for awhile. Me and my fellow armchair critics could give you advice for hours on end, but I think you should just plow ahead at it for awhile and listen to your own voice. Then, after you have some new material, you can ask us again for more opinions on how to tweak and possibly improve your art and story.

I know there are a lot of artists around here, so hopefully they'll come and give more critiques on your Natsuji drawing. My own advice probably won't help you improve it (since all I did was praise).
"Measure twice, cut once." The more critique, the better! ~___~

Sure thing, I can't wait to get some good concept sketches done
I'll wait for them. =)

It's interesting reading the conversation and looking at the art. :lol:

Alright, I'm not much of an artist, yet alone that I barely have time to draw now of these days. (No wonder why my art thread isn't updated yet. >_>) So... Great start on the characters and story. Best way to keep it up is to draw constantly. And seriously, if you plan on doing a manga, it doesn't have to be in Japanese. A great example would be Maximum Ride manga and the Rachel Morgan series manga. They came from English authors who wrote the series and their characters name aren't in Japanese. Manga really doesn't mean only Japanese. :)

Like I said before about the "drawing constantly" thing, the best practice to creating your own character is to draw other anime characters. It doesn't mean you steal their ideas, but personally, you gain a better knowledge of how the arms look like in a certain position, the hair style, shadings, etc.

Well... This is all based on my opinion. I still have much to learn and I need to draw soon. ^^;

Like I said before about the "drawing constantly" thing, the best practice to creating your own character is to draw other anime characters from life. Second best is to draw real people from photos.
Fixed. XD
Even pros make mistakes. If you copy anime, you'll be learning people's mistakes. Best to draw the most realistic thing out there: real people!

You might be right about that then. My fault. Thanks for catching me there. :)

Best way to keep it up is to draw constantly. And seriously, if you plan on doing a manga, it doesn't have to be in Japanese. A great example would be Maximum Ride manga and the Rachel Morgan series manga. They came from English authors who wrote the series and their characters name aren't in Japanese. Manga really doesn't mean only Japanese. :)

Like I said before about the "drawing constantly" thing, the best practice to creating your own character is to draw other anime characters. It doesn't mean you steal their ideas, but personally, you gain a better knowledge of how the arms look like in a certain position, the hair style, shadings, etc.
+1 Good advice.


Best to draw the most realistic thing out there: real people!
Also good advice. Drawing real people is good, great even. Many things can be learned from it.

That said, manga/anime has it's own style, which departs from realism in various ways, so I think drawing both real people and manga characters is important. I'd personally recommend you do both.


With that said, as I mentioned before, Kentaku, just draw how you want to draw and write your story the way you want. You can't please everyone, so first and foremost, please yourself. Draw the characters you like, go with story elements you like, put it in the setting you like, et cetera, ad nauseum.

When us critics say things such as "do this" or "do that" (as I'm doing now), you DON'T need to feel compelled to do it. Just consider it friendly ADVICE which you can choose to either follow or not follow. Most importantly though, do it your own way first, because if you don't, you might end up with something you dislike, and then give up on it in disgust, which I think would be really unfortunate.

At the same time, be mindful of criticism. Unfortunately, you'll eventually encounter people who give nothing but negative criticism, so look first and foremost for the constructive criticism. After that, you can look through some of the negative criticism, and if it doesn't help you, just ignore it. Don't even respond to it. You'll be less stressed and more happy with your work if you don't let negative comments get to you. When it comes to your story, your characters, and your artistic vision, you ultimately answer only to yourself. Sure, it's important to appeal to the tastes of other people too, because otherwise no one except you will want to read and enjoy your art. But, don't try to follow everyone's advice if it proves too costly to your own grand vision.


So yeah, this is merely some friendly advice from me to you. If it helps you, great. If it doesn't, then just ignore it. =)

That said, manga/anime has it's own style, which departs from realism in various ways, so I think drawing both real people and manga characters is important. I'd personally recommend you do both.
Huh? Were you an artist? I wasn't aware. It's not good form to offer advice on things you don't know anything about.
As someone who's been drawing almost ten years, and who regularly talks to pro and/or pro-level artists, I can safely tell you that drawing anime is going to teach you how to draw people (even anime people, lol) a hundred times slower than drawing real people will, and will even teach you a ton of bad habits that you'll have to unlearn later on, since a lot of anime artists (frankly) don't draw people accurately. The fastest and easiest route to drawing anime is to simply draw from life, and then branch off into any style you want, since learning realism first will allow you to tackle any style you please quickly and easily.

So yeah. Solphar's right, Kentaku-sama - you do need to be careful of who you take advice from. There are a lot of people who like to give advice on stuff they don't know the first thing about. Usually they'll go around sugar-coating everything for you, telling you whatever you're doing is perfectly fine, when really there are much better methods out there. If you want to improve (with any decent sort of speed), don't listen to them!

And of course, Solphar is right when he says you should draw what you want, to an extent. It's definitely important to enjoy drawing, but you also need to do some serious practice if you want to get good at it. If you played piano and did nothing but play the same song over and over again (because you liked it), you wouldn't improve very quickly, if at all. And in the end, the pianist who plays a bunch of etudes is going to improve much faster than the person who sits around playing easy pop songs all day (because they like them). In the end, the harder working pianist will also probably enjoy piano much more than the pop-player, since the harder working one will be a much more versatile musician, giving him the freedom to play anything he likes. Drawing is the same way. You need to decide on a balance between enjoyment and improvement - just remember that the sooner you get the hard work out of the way, the sooner you'll be able to truly enjoy the freedom your craft offers to its more experienced practitioners!

@Animefans: No problem. Drawing anime will teach you to draw anime too, obviously, but learning from life is much faster and better. Someone who learns from life and then goes into anime will draw much better than someone who just starts with anime, and they'll get better sooner. I'd suggest you do some life drawings too, if you're looking to become a good artist. It's a lot of work, but you'll see it paying off in surprising ways soon enough! =D

No need to take offense. I said it with the intent to help him keep an open mind on what sources to use for inspiration. I certainly wasn't saying that your advice was wrong, so I think you may be acting offended unnecessarily.

Ultimately, I was trying to say that's up to Kentaku to choose the ways that he thinks are best. You seem to have read too much into what I wrote. =/


My advice was given with the recognition that he's currently trying to draw a manga right now, at the present time. Not a number of years from now. Will it be pro quality? No, of course not, because he hasn't invested the time that you have. But it's a learning experience and he'll probably enjoy doing it. Personally, I want to support what he's doing now, and not just what he'll be capable of doing in the future.

No need to take offense. I said it with the intent to help him keep an open mind on what sources to use for inspiration. I certainly wasn't saying that your advice was wrong, so I think you may be acting offended unnecessarily.
Who's offended? I think you might be reading too much into things. The only thing I find offensive is when people give others bad advice on things they don't know about. Bad advice is going to waste a lot of kentaku's time.

Ultimately, I was trying to say that's up to Kentaku to choose the ways that he thinks are best.
Indeed, what he decides is best is going to shape what kind of artist he ends up as. That's why I don't want people telling him to study anime. If he decides that's what's best, it's going to slow him down a lot.

My advice was given with the recognition that he's currently trying to draw a manga right now, at the present time. Not a number of years from now. Will it be pro quality? No, of course not, because he hasn't invested the time that you have. But it's a learning experience and he'll probably enjoy doing it. Personally, I want to support what he's doing now, and not just what he'll be capable of doing in the future.
What's "the future" to you? A month of hard life-drawing practice will earn him five times more experience than drawing anime will. Even if he wants to draw a manga soon (or right now), he should be focusing on what's going to help him learn to draw anime the fastest: realism.

Of course, it's all up for him to decide, like I said in my last post. It's important to keep drawing enjoyable, otherwise there's no point in doing it. But if he wants to draw a good looking manga anytime soon, his best bet is to start drawing realistically for practice, and then draw his anime panels for his comic on the side. Practicing with anime isn't nearly as fast!

We're off-topic, though. Sorry Kentaku. Post more art so we can help you with it! XD

You insist that kentaku should only draw from real-life, and refrain from drawing manga or anime characters. But I've been saying that he should continue to draw manga, while also spending time on real human figures. You insist that I'm wrong, and you declare that your art experience qualifies you to put me down (clearly your words were those of an offended person).

Yes, he will be less likely to make anatomical errors if he draws from real-life, but if he doesn't draw manga characters too, then how can he be a manga artist?


Allow me to draw insiration from your piano analogy.

Let's say we have an aspiring young jazz pianist. When she was young, she loved listening to jazz recordings, and admired many jazz artists. After some time, the girl feels inspired to try playing jazz, so she asks her parents for a piano, and they happen to find a used one for a low price. And so she bangs away on it, using her ears as best she can to try to imitate other jazz artists and even makes some attempts at composiing her own jazz. But in the end, she recognizes she is not becoming skilled fast enough on her own. So she desperately asks her parents for piano lessons. They are not wealthy, but the parents love their daughter, and want her to pursue her dreams, so they plan a way to set side some of their monthly budget for her sake, and enroll her in a nearby piano school. Upon arriving there, she is informed that there are two available teachers. Both of these teachers have been classically trained, but they both have different teaching styles. The girl informs the two prospective teachers that she wishes to be an excellent jazz pianist and jazz composer.

The first teacher says "I will teach you the to be a very skilled pianist by working you towards learning the most difficult of lcassical pieces, and once you can play those well, you may focus on jazz. It may take a number of years, and you will have to give up on playing jazz tunes at the present time, but you will be a much better pienist in the long run."

The second teacher says, "I too will train you to be a skilled pianist, able to perform many difficult classical pieces, but I will also put some time into our lessonds for you to go over some of your favorite jazz pieces, since that is your passion, and I'll even help you compose some jazz tunes."

The first teacher interjects, "If this girl plays non-jazz, she is will become mediocre later. She must focus only on classical for now, and not waste any time on jazz."

And so the young girl is udnerstandably torn. She does aspire to be a famous jazz pianist, wanting to be the best jazz pianist she can be, so after thinking a while, chooses the first teacher. The teacher gradually trains her up, adding ever more difficult classical pieces into her repertoire, which she studies in her weekly lessons. She tries to play some jazz in her free time, but her teacher gets angry and yells at her when she shows up for her lesson without having spent enough time on the 3 classical tunes she was assigned to practice during the week.

The girl is strong-willed, and persists with her teacher, but between schoolwork and time spent with friends, she finds she has less and less time to spend on the jazz she so loves, and eventually has no time at all to play it. She slowlygradually finds herself not enjoying piano as much as she used to, before she had a teacher. Still she does not lose sight of her goal and studies for 3 years. She can play some of the most beautiful and complicated classical at recitals, but by this time, she has become bitter and started even to dislike piano.

One week, she chooses to not practice piano at all. When she shows up at her lesson, the teacher asks her to play, but when she does, she only goes a few measures in before it's clear that she isn't playing the assigned piece correctly. The teacher angrily shouts, "Have you practiced at all?! Play it properly!" and angrily shoves her off the bench. He takes his seat and hisses, "Watch carefully, I will show you how it's supposed to be played. The girl says nothing as she watches the teacher. The rest of the lesson time transpires with the teacher either playing the assigned music, or berating her when she attempts to do so herself. she Still she manages to keep from crying.

After the lesson, the girl goes home and cries. When her grief subsides, she insists to her parents that she won't return to piano school. Her confused parents say "But you've spent so much time, and we spent so much money!" Nevertheless, she insists and rebels in every way she can, until finally after a few days, they angrily relent and withdraw her.

The girl has gone back to playing jazz without a teacher. She finds she can play a bit better with the lessons, but she still in lacking the will and drive she once had. She still finds some time to listen to her favorite jazz tuens and jazz musicians, but she is unable to enjoy piano anymore, stops playing it altogether. She spends the extra time with her friends and tries new hobbies. But gone is her will to be a great jazz pianist.


Now notice the difference between the two teachers. The first teacher, to his credit, wanted what was best for that student, and thought that his way would allow the student to gain the most amount of skill in the least amount of time. The second teacher also wanted what was best for the student, but he recognized that the student's passion for jazz is what drove the student to become a student in the first place. So while he too would have fostered the development of high-level piano skills through complex classical repertoire, he would also set aside time for the student to develop her actual passion, and not merely great skill. Sure, the student would take longer to develop pianist skills with the second teacher, because of spending less time on the difficult classical pieces, but the student would also have more dedication to piano, because she would be able to continue pursuing her true passion, and thus would be more committed to ongoing piano studies.


My point is: A jazz pianist who only plays classical pieces, and never plays jazz, is not a jazz pianist. A manga artist who only draws from real-life, and never draws manga, is not a manga artist.

In the end, it really depends on what kentaku wants to be. Not what you, I, nor anyone else wants him to be.

Eh,

Art's different:

Drawing real things will teach you to draw everything else.

Drawing real things will teach you to draw everything else.
That's true, but my point was that I feel kentaku shouldn't forsake drawing manga now for the sake of developing skill. As I said before, I think he should continue to draw manga while also drawing real things.

Yep.
Anyway let's not hijack the thread.


Kentaku: That picture has a good vibe to it. What could make it even better is if you worked on the anatomy a little bit. The arms (especially from elbows down) are coming out a little awkward... The rest looks good though.

Post more pics!

@Animefans: No problem. Drawing anime will teach you to draw anime too, obviously, but learning from life is much faster and better. Someone who learns from life and then goes into anime will draw much better than someone who just starts with anime, and they'll get better sooner. I'd suggest you do some life drawings too, if you're looking to become a good artist. It's a lot of work, but you'll see it paying off in surprising ways soon enough! =D

That's true and I've done a couple of life drawings, so thanks for the advice. I'll take it into consideration. :)

You insist that kentaku should only draw from real-life, and refrain from drawing manga or anime characters. But I've been saying that he should continue to draw manga, while also spending time on real human figures. You insist that I'm wrong, and you declare that your art experience qualifies you to put me down (clearly your words were those of an offended person).


Oh yeah, Your right, I draw my characters while using photos to improve anatomy and such and I really need to work on my art every single day!! My anatomy is pretty bad but nothing some practice can't fix, I do have some expierience as an artist thought because I've drawn on and off for like 3 years at least, not to say that's nearly enough time :D

So I haven't been able to do any pics but here is some more notes of mine. Ok so first let me describe a little of what Rajiul is:
Yup, His name in now Rajiul, not too hard to pronounce and is not japanese nor english :)

Rajiul is what's known as a "Drifter". A drifter is a person who manipulates one of the 11 elements of Ziaq (q is always pronounced like a k) Stay with me here: So he has the 6th element which is the Spatial Manipulation or "Takje" Basically Takje users control reality and space around an objects and so forth. A Takje is pretty rare due to simply it being uncommon, it's not like they died out of anything. But in the world he lives in, being a Drifter is basically one of those things people wouldn't believe, think you joking or faint if they found out. IOW: Just like our world :D However there are other places where it's known quite alot.

Being the person I am, I wanted to make a system for the fighting /supernatural abilities wierd, interesting, and nothing like anything else I've seen: So here are some of the forms of Manipulation (this applies to all Drifters not just Takje, but but but, some elements can only do certain ones, some can do many, it varies...)


Draging - To move matter or an element along a path created by drifter
Pausing - To cease an action, physic, or effect of a matter or element
Augmenting - To create matter or an element
Subtracting - To remove or Destroy matter or an element
Drifting - To move the place of matter or an element
warping - Changing the form of an element

And some rare obscure ones:

Blurring - To change to properties of an element (imagine bluring the effect of physics just like blurring a picture)
Scratch - To send an object through something without breaking it
Charge - To Rapidly load an element into something
Drive - To overload the amount of energy

Think of it like the jutsu system in naruto with Genjutsu and Taijutsu ect...

So... Rajiul... Will that sound like Rajewel? Am I close?

Pretty much, yep, just make sure the u is pronounced like ("pool") kind of like: [rajeewiul] and the w sound is subtle :P If interested, it means Time in their native language, my conlang :)

Ooooh, I like this! Sounds very original! The more I look at it, the more I like it! Keep it up!

Kentaku: That picture has a good vibe to it. What could make it even better is if you worked on the anatomy a little bit. The arms (especially from elbows down) are coming out a little awkward... The rest looks good though.



I'm really working on drawing arms and legs so that should be better next time I do a drawing I hope :heh:

I'm really working on drawing arms and legs so that should be better next time I do a drawing I hope :heh:
Yeah, this is where HopelessComposer's advice will help you, since practicing drawing real human bodies will help you get a handle on the relative anatomical dimensions.

Hmm, I can't upload any pictures because Dell is greedy and force you to have color ink to even use your scanner or print black and white! So it'll be a little while.

Story update: Ok so Rajiul controls reality can that I've decided is unique to him and such an ablility has hardly been heard of so it's rare and cool. His friend Kaed (the one who controls lightning at will) also is a unique ability and isn't common. The main system of the Manga strays far from their abilities. I thought of a girl character who may be named "Koji". She has Reddish-pink semi-long hair and Orange eyes. She only knows how to use a technique called "slicing" which is preformed by using the shift control technique to cut apart the molicules of something by a path created using the persons body. (ex: hands) She is skilled enough to slice through a thin, fairly hard peice of metal but extremely advanced could cut through a 5 yard density of titanium. :heh:

Awesome stuff. How far are you from attempting to draw and write the first page of the manga?



girl character who may be named "Koji"
Koji is a dude name in Japanese, but since your characters aren't Japanese nor in Japan, you're all set. *thumbs up*

Unfortunately farther than I wish to be. I'm heavy into studying porportions, anatomy and such and I'll hopefully be able to post the pilot chapter (which will proabaly be about 30- 40 pages) late this year. <_< I have to take the process carefully and get my characters ready, plot ,story and first arc. But I will post lots of stuff here in the mean time. :D Do you think my art will improve as the manga progresses like real published shonen manga? Also I was thinking about publishing it after it's ended. I know the idea of manga being published after being finished instead serializing and doing it progressively is unheard of but I have no time to publish right now!

Unfortunately farther than I wish to be. I'm heavy into studying porportions, anatomy and such and I'll hopefully be able to post the pilot chapter (which will proabaly be about 30- 40 pages) late this year. <_< I have to take the process carefully and get my characters ready, plot ,story and first arc.
Oh, I was kind of expecting you to make a rough draft, but taking your time and doing each page carefully seems like it could be a good way to approach it too.


Do you think my art will improve as the manga progresses like real published shonen manga?
I think that's up to you really. You'll get out of it whatever you invest into it.


Also I was thinking about publishing it after it's ended.
I guess all I can say is, good luck! And I hope you find a publisher once it's done.


I know the idea of manga being published after being finished instead serializing and doing it progressively is unheard of
Not necessarily. Anyway, are you going to finish the whole manga, or just the first volume of the manga?


but I have no time to publish right now!
Well, more than time, you need someone willing to publish it, unless you decide to self-publish, which is not cheap, and there's no guarantee that you'll get a return on your investment, which is why most authors use a publisher. Of course, if you can't find a publisher who thinks it will sell, then you'll have no choice but to self-publish. But, that's at least a few years away if you're going to finish the entirety of the manga by yourself.

I have to take the process carefully and get my characters ready, plot ,story and first arc. But I will post lots of stuff here in the mean time.
That's smart of you. You can draw really shitty, sketchy names just to get a feel of what you're going to do for now, though. That'd probably be more helpful than just typing out the dialog and stuff, since you'd be able to see how things will flow on your actual panels.

But I will post lots of stuff here in the mean time.
Cool. :3

Do you think my art will improve as the manga progresses like real published shonen manga?
If you study really hard (doing anatomy exercises every day, like you said you are), you could probably be around pro level in five years or so. If you study lazily, 10+ years. My estimate just going by what I've seen of other artists. =)

Keep in mind that a manga doesn't necessarily need amazing artwork. People will put up with some pretty crappy art if the story is really interesting.
But you're doing a battle manga, which IS heavily dependent on very strong artwork. To be up to pro level in THAT field, with all the dynamic angles and stuff, really *might* take you closer to ten years, even if you study hard. If you want to get up to the art-level of Bleach or Naruto, I mean.

If you wanted to pass off your manga as more "professional" looking, I'd start with something in the slice-of-life genre for now. Lots of talking heads and stuff in that genre, and a lot less dynamic angles, so it'd be easier to make it look passable as an actual published manga. Your readers will be more forgiving too, since your manga will be all about the story, and less about cool looking powers and explosions and such. Keep in mind it'd probably also be worse for practice purposes, though, because like I said, there aren't many tough angles or anything you'd be drawing, unless you purposely crammed them in there.

Whatever you end up deciding to do, good luck. You've got a long road ahead of you, and then after that, a huge mountain, and then after that... XD
Keep at it, though. I'm sure the view from the top of the mountain is pretty amazing. That's what you're fighting for, right?! =)

You can draw really shitty, sketchy names just to get a feel of what you're going to do for now, though. That'd probably be more helpful than just typing out the dialog and stuff, since you'd be able to see how things will flow on your actual panels.
Yeah, I agree with this.

kentaku, personally I'm hoping you'll practice putting together panel layouts and dialog boxes and such, so you can eventually put up a first draft of the the first page or two (or three) for comments. You can always change the whole thing later, so it's not like you're committing to anything by doing it, and the only thing you'll lose is the time it takes you to put it together. And if you draw it with minimal attention to fine-detail, probably won't take long.

You might not be ready for this though, but when you feel you are ready, I know that I'd look forward to seeing it.

Yeah, I agree with this.

kentaku, personally I'm hoping you'll practice putting together panel layouts and dialog boxes and such, so you can eventually put up a first draft of the the first page or two (or three) for comments. You can always change the whole thing later, so it's not like you're committing to anything by doing it, and the only thing you'll lose is the time it takes you to put it together. And if you draw it with minimal attention to fine-detail, probably won't take long.

You might not be ready for this though, but when you feel you are ready, I know that I'd look forward to seeing it.

Yeah, sketchy stuff like that is usually really fun to look at, and it's best to critique things BEFORE the artist gives us the finished pages, so he can change things with almost no work or time wasted. I'm really hoping he gives us some names to eat. X3

Not necessarily. Anyway, are you going to finish the whole manga, or just the first volume of the manga?

The whole manga, I want to have full control of the covers, chapter covers and such though without assistance and company backing me up it's much more work and money on my part :shifty: Yeah, hopefully once I get some stuff settled I'll be able to do some sketchy names for some rough out scenes.

I take your advice to do a slice of life manga and it's probably easier but too boring in my opinion. I'm the guy who loves fantasy,action, epic scenes, drama, deep interesting stories. I find that bleach, naruto, and One peice are the only 3 manga in existance that I know of having the qualities they have. Meaning: An ongoing long-winded action, comedy, drama series. I wish soul-eater was one, although the art is great the story is lacking a little, though I haven't read too much of the manga. I love dynamic angles and I have so many ideas for worlds and buildings, fantasy stuff. And I will tone in Photoshop because I've tried hand toning and in america it cost like 8.00 a sheet! and it's difficult (but fun :D ) to do. What I need now is some more art supplies XD And study and practice :)

I take your advice to do a slice of life manga and it's probably easier but too boring in my opinion.
Yeah, like I said, that's only my advice if you want to make your manga as believably pro looking as possible. You would almost definitely find drawing a battle manga more exciting, haha. =)

I know it's been a while since I posted on this but here's a prologue Idea I had:

Prologue:

A tall woman raced down the narrow hall. The hall was Brightly lit and made of a semi-metalic metal. On the wall were patterned large triangles that were embossed. The floor was Black with strange, white Lit up symbols. She ran for a small white door with a glass doorknob attatched and a doormat underneath. She jerked open the door and flung into the room. The room was a little bigger than a normal bedroom; it had furniture and lamps but every single thing including the walls, floor and ceiling was made of transparent glass. Through the walls she could see millions of abstact looking lines moving all around. Some bumped the walls occasionally. She panted as sweat dripped down her face. There was a good sized floating letter of some strange alphabet in the middle of the room. She lunged to grab the letter when she was jerked backwards to hit her head on the floor. She held her head as she looked up to see what made her fall. A man in all white stood infront of her looking at her smiling evily. He wore long pants and a white suit and white gloves and had white hair with a white cane and a white hat. “Oh my, that wasn't cool, no that?” He said as he leaned on his cane. “Y'all can't do that...” She tried to get up but he stepped on her hand hard. She yelled. “Ahhh! ”
“See der, I said ya can't do it, if ya try, again it'll be worse” He walked up to the letter that hovered over the floor and grabbed it. He slipped it into his coat pocket the said: “Well, I guess i'd better be on my way.” “NO!” She yelled. She tried to move again but her leg was broken. The man then grabbed a pocket knife and jabbed it into the air making it ripple like water he struggled a bit then finally ripped a hole in the air. “I'd best be goin now, sorry, Viara” he said in a confident tone. He slipped a large zipper into the hole in reality and dragged the zipper away making a sound like zipping a jacket from the hole making a gash big enough for him to slip through, he placed a foot in the hole then jumped through pulling the zipper with him. The hole dissappeared with another ripple. Viara had failed, and she knew it...

Tell me what you think, Obviously I didn't edit it or really worry about grammar or how it's presented because I'm doing a manga not a book so I'm not too concerned with the rendering of it. It's suppossed to be a really surreal and abstract like story. :lol:

Well, it's a start. Seems pretty good so far.

I'm kinda iffy on the southern accent, but that's just my opinion, so if you really want that, then go with it.

Would be cool to see the whole scene (roughly) drawn out in panels over 3 or 4 pages.


Btw, how'd she break her leg? I thought she hit her head? You should probably find some way for the force of the impact to be absorbed by her leg, instead of her head.

I don't know about the prologue, I don't like it at all now that I read it. But I've been doing alot of work on the story. I've decided to avoid a universal system altogether and just have different characters with totally different abilities. Nakol and his mother, Zaria are what's called a "toner" Toners have the ability to control spatial time. [I don't really care what the physicist say about demensions beyond the 3rd but in my manga I can make up what I want] Spatial time is the 4th demension which is what our 3d world is part of. Spatial time is not Linear time which is the 5th demension. Toners can manipulate this "spatial time"
Linear time is what we actually call "time" but spatial time is how objects interact with each other. One thing Nakol learns to do later on is "Side-step" which is to move into the fourth demension. By being able to control spatial time they can also control the 3rd demension and below as well. His mom actually has a clock which can tell spatial time instead of standard time.

It has 13 numbers on one half-circle arm with 4 arrows each one indicating a X Y Z or W axis. The numbers indicate the degree of which the axis it toward. There is another Half circle with 5 characters on it. The first character indicating the clock is in the cell where we live and the 5th indicates the farthest cell. (a cell is a 3d plane.) Unless traveling in the fourth demension, that arm remains on the first character. I like using alot of physics stuff in my manga.

His friend Seota, is a shifter. She can move these things called Bui and out them into inanimate objects and make them into the bui's body. I want to use this as a comical thing cause she moves a grumpy bui into a chair and this will be one of my mascot characters.

I don't know about the prologue, I don't like it at all now that I read it.
Hm. Didn't seem so bad to me (other than that southern accent, heh), but you're the author, so it's up to you. =)

It seems you're still in the process of defining concepts and aspects of your manga's universe. Seems, okay, but it's a little difficult for me to grasp without an additional visual reference. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more sketches and drawn ideas if you have the time for those.

Hm. Didn't seem so bad to me (other than that southern accent, heh), but you're the author, so it's up to you. =)

It seems you're still in the process of defining concepts and aspects of your manga's universe. Seems, okay, but it's a little difficult for me to grasp without an additional visual reference. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more sketches and drawn ideas if you have the time for those.

I'm gonna try tomorrow to get some things down on paper and hopefully upload them. :sweat:

So you said that your main character was 14 or 15? The character you drew looks a little bit older than that, maybe 16 or 17. I was just wondering about that.

So you said that your main character was 14 or 15? The character you drew looks a little bit older than that, maybe 16 or 17. I was just wondering about that.

Actually he's 16. Alot of times in shonen manga the appearance of age is exaggerated. Look at ichigo from bleach, his age is 15 at series start and he looks like he could be in college. I thought 14 or 15 was too young.

Actually he's 16. Alot of times in shonen manga the appearance of age is exaggerated. Look at ichigo from bleach, his age is 15 at series start and he looks like he could be in college. I thought 14 or 15 was too young.

lol, it's true. Anime characters never look their real age for some reason. Ichigo looks (and sounds) like he's in his mid-twenties or something, hahah.

Probably cause it's easier to work with older people.

Wowww I love how you drawed him, it's really light and the shadows are good! So are the colors =)
I left a comment btw