Original Characters

[Deiji]

i've thought of a plot for these characters and i want to TRY to make a manga based on them, but i always have trouble making mangas. I can draw the pictures, i just don't know how to do the manga style shading, and i have trouble with making the manga page layout and speach bubbles, ect. Anyway here's a little poster-like image i drew. It's nothing really special, just a rough sketch..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v338/Deiji/OC-2.jpg

By the way, if anyone knows how to use the pen tool (for outlining this pic) on photoshop, could you please please help me? Thanks.

[Ariadyne]

Heh, they're really good! ^^ Have you ever played Xenosaga? The girl in the picture reminds me of KOS-MOS. However, I think that those markings on her face look abit off, the bottom one mostly, but that could just be me....*looks closely* and I'd made her ear bigger.

I noticed you did add a bit of shading to it, very lightly ^^ Don't be afriad to but the shading in! What I do for shading (if I don't know exactly where it would go) would be to picture where the main lighting in the place the person is at is in, then see what parts of their features would be shown and which parts of them would be shaded.

That probably doesn't help much, but if all else fails, get a flashlight and a mirror, lol. (joke). I'd love to help you with your photoshop inquiry, but I only draw by hand and probably know less about it than you, lol.

Well, keep up the good work and I wish you the best of luck with the manga! ^^

[Deiji]

Thanks for the advice. I usually shade much darker but this was only a quick sketch and i wanted to learn about the pen tool before i enhanced/added any detail. And no, i've never played Xenosaga, i never really even heard of it. I haven't actually got any anime/manga games to be honest, although i want to get some. The markings on her face (i'm not sure if you're comparing her to the character from Xenosaga you think she looks like, or not) might look a little off, and now that i look at it in that way, i understand where you're coming from ^^; but they're supposed to be a bit like that, one higher and slightly smaller than the other. I'll probably draw more pics in the future. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v338/Deiji/OC.jpg this was my first design/sketch of her (you can probably tell since the proportions aren't very good and it's unfinished) i had trouble designing an outfit lol. Anyway i'll probably draw more pics of them

[Aelf]

I like them. I think those markings are a personal taste thing.

I shouldn't worry about whether you're doing shading, panelling or speech bubbles right. Be original and just do your own thing, find your own way of doing it. And if you have to do it by hand and cut and paste, well so be it. It's the content that will carry you through. You could have an absolutely perfect piece of work but if the content is not there, then most people will tire of it very quickly.

I'd suggest getting a rough draft done of each page in pencil then you can start experimenting with photoshop or whatever. Just use very simple shapes to represent everything so you can move things about to get the composition of the page layout. Use tracing paper, or a lightbox to help you do this. Once you get the hang of drawing up the composition of each page, you can move into experimenting doing the same thing with any PC software.

I'm from the old pen and paper days, so I don't know how to do the pen outline in Photoshop either. I'd be interested in how that's done too, if someone else can help.

[Deiji]

Thanks very much for the advice, Aelf! I have actually attempted at making a manga before http://www.voiceacting.co.uk/board/viewtopic.php?t=2455 although it was my original plot and the 2 main chars were original, it was based on Fruits Basket, so it wasn't really an original creation. Also you can probaby tell the drawings aren't as good as i can do now. It was a project i did for a college presentation in December (2003) for Digital Art, which i got away with because i edited it on the comp (the speach bubbles and text). I did all the drawings by pencil (then later outlined with graphic pen). I just wanted to know how to outline on photoshop with the pen tool because i've seen work done with that technique, and it looks much cleaner and neat. I think the only reason i didn't want to do layouts by hand again was because on my last project it took between 2 hours and 7 hours to complete just one page, and that was when i had time to do that. At the moment i'm quite busy and dawing is only an option in my spare time. I can imagine it taking a week to do just 1 or 2 pages, so i'd lose interest very quickly. Anyway, if i did do it again, i wouldn't use japanese words like i did last time (except for maybe -chan/-san/senpai, etc with a note of the meaning).
Anyway thanks again for the advice and i'm sure i will try doing this project when i find how to use the pen tool or i'll just do it by hand. But would anyone be able to recommend a certain type of pen(s) to use for outlining, shading and background detail?
Thanks

[Aelf]

That work looks good. I know it's hard work and takes ages, but it was well worth it. Your work looks very neat and well laid out as it is, but I understand where you're coming from. That's the thing isn't it, you need the time and motivation, (I have the same problem) but I'd say persevere.

BTW- I notice you live in Crawley! I only live half an hour away! I go to Crawley quite a bit.