Manga Style Progress

[notic]

Dave, Here is the progress I've been making on the manga style pictures I showed you when you were in town. The style is a bit awkward for me still, but I'm getting closer. Feedback would be great thanks!

Here is the original design to remind you where I was at before.



I did some face drawings with more detail in the eyes as you suggested. I'm also playing with some of the proportions a bit, such as the head being more of a manga size.



Last for today, is this picture I made while at work. I'm also working on line widths and am curious if there are any good references on the subject. I just sort of made it up as I went. Using a mechanical pencil and 'faking' the line thickness is a real pain and feels unnatural. I picked up a new drawing tool after work today to work on this but feedback would still be appreciated.



Thanks again for any feedback.

[yamabushi]

I really like the last one you posted. Very nice. The best refernce I can give for studying line thickness is Gary Martin's inking for comic books volume #1. I'll try to sketch some stuff out tonight for that eye thing I was trying to communicate. Upon seeing these new sketches I worry that you're loosing that classic "cartoon" style eye. But keep at- you're improving by leaps and bounds.

[notic]

I recently decided to change my primary drawing medium, I'm using 2mm HB lead. The mechanical pencils are starting to get on my nerves a bit. Every line has to be pretty much exact because it's difficult to erase the lines completely, so it's hard to explore when I draw. The book I recently read (Force - Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators by Michael D. Mattesi) has got me thinking differently about how I approach problems in drawing, and really just why I draw in general. Since what I'm working on right now is an exploration, I decided to can the Mechanical pencils except for actual cleanup and final drawings (I doubt I'm ever actual
ly going to use ink for inking, does that make me lazy?)

Finding a ballance between the two styles is pretty tough. It's like I'm working out a mental block or something. I've avoided a strait up manga style for so long it's like my head doesn't want to do it. I've made some inroads into it however. The other day I drew up some more drawings. These are fairly traditional manga style drawings. I figure If I can get my head around regular manga first, I can then try to come back and infuse it with the simplified style from that angle instead. . . Or I could just stick with the manga style, i had forgotten how simple it is to draw ><

So here is my manga progress for the last few days. (Note : Because of the 2mm lead and the lack of cleanup, these pictures are a lot lighter then what I usually put out. sorry if any of them feel hard to see and look a little dirty etc.)


The first manga style picture for our heroine Erin.


I like how this turned out.



Just playing with the manga style a bit. Erin's class mate Gertrude and her room mate Rochelle




Playing with the Chibi style a bit. This illustrates some of the yuri themes I'm going to play with in the story.



This last picture has nothing to do with manga, but I drew it too so I thought I might as well get some feedback while I'm at it. I'm working on a little more interesting armor for him. It's not symmetrical anymore, and I've incorporated a small flowing loin covering as well. I drew him a better sword too, he needed it.

[yamabushi]

I think you're about to experience a breakthrough! ;D I've been drawing with a B and HB lead pencil lately. I've only been using the lead holder for cleanup and it's been great. The next challenge will be to place figures into a background. Keep at it. I'm going to pick up this book I've never heard about it but the recommendations on Amazon are very positive. I recommended the Gary Martin book because it's goes into great detail about how line thickness helps to separate elements of a drawing spatially and also how to use line to suggest form and lighting.

[notic]

Actually I had a question about that book you mentioned. I couldn't' find an exact match, but I found this, is it the same book?

The Art Of Comic-Book Inking 2nd Edition (Paperback)

It sounds like the book is exactly what I need then though. I prefer explanations of what I'm seeing on the page, to understand the underlying logic, not just examples that say 'like this'.

I'll definitely pick it up if that's the book you were referring to.

[yamabushi]

Yep, and better yet- It's what was volume 1 & 2 in one complete book. Why didn't they just do this the first time? This one has sample pencils by Gil Kane and John Buscema in it. d**n. Mine don't have that. Definitely pick it up. It's pretty heavy on inking with a brush but it explains how to correctly employ thick & thin lines and more important why.

[yamabushi]

I've also got some stuff from an old "technique book" that's been out of print for years I'll scan and upload. I'll work on that this weekend. Keep working Notic you're doing good stuff. Before you know it I'll be asking you to draw BT.

[notic]

that sounds great. I'd love to get some of the stuff from that book. I'll go ahead and order the other as well right away. Thanks alot, I'm going to keep working to get better!

[notic]

Here is a brief update, just something I put together today.



I've been working out story elements for the submission I'm going to send in, and I was trying to think of some things I could do to make the culture my characters inhabit more interesting. I decided Erin will attend an all girls boarding school with an unusual dress code. The tradition of the school will be to wear dresses similar to Southern Belle style clothing. Although no specific uniform is required, it is necessary that all girls dress like a lady.

This will allow me to create a great deal of characterization through the various styles of dress the female characters wear. A large part of the idea is that I can make my story appeal to a wider audience by including some of the popular Japaneses Gothic Lolita motifs in the dresses. I'll make it interesting and unique by blending that with the western southern belle dresses to create a style hybrid. Hopefully it will be popular, right?

I'm just doing a lot of experimenting at the moment so we'll see where this rabbit hole leads. Luckily I have some friends that are into the lolita community and can give me some honest feedback about some of the clothing I come up with. Your feedback is of course also greatly appreciated. Especially Micah too since I'm trying to make my designs appealing to a both male and female readers. I should have more stuff tomorrow.

[notic]

Here is today's sketches. Fleshing out some new characters. Here is one of the male leads, Brandon Swift.



Brandon is an upper classmen at the all boys school that shares a campus with the all girls school mentioned in my previous post. Here is a drawing of Erin and Brandon in a romantic moment. I haven't really drawn these sorts of images before so it's a start.



Brandon's room mate is Stephen Rodgers, an expert in heavy fire arms and counterpoint love interest.




All the male characters are works in progress. I would definitely like to make them look a bit more interesting. I'm going to work on them tomorrow.

Last here are some other clothes Erin wears at school. The really big, elaborate dresses are for "elegant Fridays" where as during the rest of the week they can wear clothes that are a bit more manageable.



I'm going to keep working on refining my manga style. I don't think I'm really there yet. Every day I feel like I get a little closer though. Thanks again for any feedback in advance.

[neenjah]

Wow, man your work is looking great!

I'm going to have to pick up a couple copies of Force- one for me and one for my niece.

Here's a couple tips to always keep in mind when inking.

Pick a light source. It's usually from above and to one side a bit- but could more to one side or even from below.

If you're inking with a brush or going to mimic it with pens, vary your line weight (thick and thin) by making lines toward the light source thinner than those that are away from the light.

Also, remember that things get smaller and less detailed the further away they are. You could use a thicker line to ink closer foreground objects, a medium one for middleground objects, and a thin one for distant background objects. This will give you a good depth of field and sense of distance.

There are other things to think about like reflective light/rim light surfaces, and more when inking, but the book Dave mentioned can explain it much better than I ever could!

Keep at it. I'm really impressed.

Lin

[notic]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to getting that inking book in. It should arrive in a few more days (stupid slow super saver free shipping >< )

I've recently noticed a problem with the amount of content I've been turning out lately. The way my scanner is set up (and how small it is) I can't actually scan my sketchbook, I have to remove the page to scan it. The problem is my ratio of pictures I think are worthy of keeping has increased quite a lot lately, and It's getting to where I'm pulling out nearly every page from my sketchbook.

I need to think of a different way to organize my pictures (Right now I just put them in the front of the sketch book, which puts strain on the cover (Some of my sketchbook covers have fallen off because of this in the past). Besides the black portfolio books, is there any other good ways you are familiar with to store 11x14 loose sketchbook pages? Once I actually start working on pages for this submission, I know I'm going to need to do something different.

And speaking of which, I have a few more new images for today. The first is of Brandon Swift demonstrating why his nickname is 'the bulldozer' (Not to be confused with the Marvel villain I just read about on Wikipedia.)



This was just an experiment with action shots since I have very little experiance with them. The profile angle for this was a pretty stiff angle though, next time, something a bit more dynamic. The theme of this image is 'Jock punches cowboy'. I bet I could write a series just about that theme.

I continued working on the Male protagonists a bit. Here is Brandon and Stephen in a picture. There will be a few more male characters, but these are the leads. Once i get those other guys figured out, I'll post them up too.



Not really much to the picture, I've found I just enjoy drawing them for some reason.

Next up is a picture of Erin (female protagonist) and Brandon on a summer date. I wanted the image to express an idea, hopefully it comes across as I had intended.



And last, here is a character design for one of the other female characters. All of the girls in my story will favor different dress styles, and this girl favors strait up EGL (Elegant Gothic Lolita). Complete with her Super Dollfie, she's a bit of a cliche, but that was actually the idea anyway.



Any Feedback is as usual appreciated.

[notic]

I finally got the inking book in the mail. I read it yesterday and here is my first inking test. I'm going to have to tinker with finding the right scanner settings to get the cleanest possible scan. In the mean time, here is the first attempt, pencils then 'Ink' (aka pencils on a light table).



Since this is a manga style, I kept the spot blacks to a minimum (although I did experiment with hatching the feathered shadows like they mention in the book). I drew in the shaded areas so it would be easy to paste screen tones in. Should be the exact same process as doing color flats.

What is the process you guys use? It's been awhile since I saw your inking panel way back when and don't remember all the details.