Thought I might as well start a collection of Q&A since I'm apparently getting known well enough on here to have people ask me for advice. XD So here's to question 1!:

NOTE: All questions will be anonymous and I will constantly be updating this with each question and answer when they come.

Q1)When you say you learned how to draw a manga, did you use a book or a website? If you did can you tell me so I can try to get some tips before I start mine?

A)Haha, by learned I mean I pretty much taught myself. To learn how to draw manga, a great idea is to study anime, since anime comes from the picture form of manga. Anime is created through a series of simple lines that are well placed and give the drawing form and character. For me, learning to draw manga was split into three different groups.
1) Studying anime. Generally I just stared at a lot of different anime pictures and took note of what lines were used and how the different eyes were created, etc. I also read a LOT of manga and studied how emotions were shown, how eyebrows affected what the face was seen like, etc. After spending a lot of time just seeing what manga and anime was, I then moved into step two.
2) This is the stage most artists are uncomfortable with facing. Copying. I redrew a LOT of pictures. I drew other artists eyes, noses, mouths, faces, clothes, characters, etc. Most of them were not much more than doodles lost in the piles of paper in my room. But it gave me learning experience putting paper to pencil and creating what others have already created that I wanted to create something similar. This led to step three.
3) The most important step of all, practice. I drew a lot. And a lot. And a LOT. I still draw in every class period, every day, on whatever paper is in my hand. Last year, there wasn't a page of my Biology notes that didn't have at least two doodles on it. I've been drawing anime/manga for at least a year and a half before entertaining the idea of actually creating a manga. So for a beginning artist, I would suggest studying your favorite manga/anime and look at the lines, not the pictures. Then try redrawing the characters a few times. Then try drawing your own characters and /don't give up/! Yes, they may look bad the first 20 times you draw them, but eventually, they will look a lot better. And, the next drawing is always better than the last. Don't be afraid to go look for tutorials on here or YouTube. They are there to help people just starting out. I've used my fair share. ;D

Only other thing I would suggest when creating a manga is have a story idea in place already. Know how it begins and if it is something that will keep you interested in. Also be sure you can draw your characters from multiple different angles, or at least have a general idea of different faces, angles, and movements. It will make the drawing of the pages SOOO much easier. Outside of that, good luck and have fun! Don't labor over your work. Just let it rip! You can come back later and edit it.

If you want to ask something about me, my art, my cats fur color, etc, send me a note! ^-^

Manga artist in training,
-Jake Kelton

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