Just a curious question. While I've written horror fiction works, manga has been a bit of a passion for me and recently have felt the itch to try my hand at it. If there are some of you here, what has been your creation process? Is it best to write everything out first as detailed as a novel? Thanks everyone.
Manga has writers? Kidding... are you an artist? I'd think that without the artwork the writing would be ludicrous. And I don't think manga artists are going to want to illustrate your writing, if that's what you're thinking. They probably have their own stories already. At least every graphic artist I've ever met does. The writing is almost an afterthought.
Manga just means comic in Japanese. But do you mean in the Japanese style? If so than not so much anymore. I still use manga elements like speed lines and the big eyes and tiny nose but only on babies. Creation process is to script it, then deviate wildly and go way off script then script the ending then draw it all in pencil, then take photos of each page with a high end digital camera and then try and go over it gimp or photoshop so it prints well. Probably won't be able to go full color actually.
I'm a little more than disappointed you would immediately jump to that conclusion. I've been an artist my entire life. My question was directed more to whether or not it seems, storywise, more logistic to write it out in detail before beginning the transition to artistic expression in images.
Yep yep! I referred to manga as opposed to comics as, for some reason or another my mind goes back to the days of really dated comics with so much wording you can't tell where it starts and where it ends. Go way off script..... That's pretty much why I asked! I looked at my artwork and realized how far I really deviated, and wondered if this is a common occurrence. GIMP used to be my love, but I"m trying to learn the ways of Photoshop these days. I'm way too lazy to go full colour, but maybe the title page at least. Kudos to you for dedicating yourself to all that drawing! I'm still trying to get my hand used to the 'you're always going to be numb' feeling.
Many successful anime are based off light novels (Durarara! for example). As I see it, that's pretty much writing being converted to drawn art. I used to draw comics myself when I was younger, and still sometimes I find it easier to draw a character before I can develop him in my writing. If drawing-writing works, I don't see why doing the opposite would be a problem. As you write the story you'll probably have the image in mind, so as long as you know how to convert that into a manga style then you should be fine.
My hand doesn't get numb really, it's mostly the wrist one needs to be careful of. Thats the most vulnerable to repetitive strain injury. The middle finger can get pain from the pressure of contact with the pencil so on rare occasion I tape it. It's mostly when I'm etching on metal for intaglio printing that I do that. As metal resists more than paper. ...There's some 650 pages in that pic. Scripting is mandatory because you need that base to deviate from if you want.
That's not really true. Even in Japan there are many manga written by a writer-artist duo. The infamous Death Note, I believe, is one such case. All You Need is Kill was originally a mini novel and got produced as manga after it became successful, done by the same manga artist as Death Note. One Punch Man, which is currently huge, was done by a writer without any artistic talent and it got picked up by a huge manga artist and now there's even an anime for it I think. Of course that's the equivalent of winning the lottery, but it has happened Quite the contrast lol Anyway, to the OP, yeah I drew some manga as a teenager, but I can't say I took it seriously and I haven't pursued it since I was about 17. My art needs developing if I were to be serious about producing manga, but frankly the minuscule chance of ever getting it published or making it puts me off investing my energy into it. I know novels don't have a very high chance but it's at least realistic to assume I could be published one day. Manga? I know neither Japanese nor Korean and that's really where the market is predominantly. The west just reads it all for free online! Technically I could attempt to write it in Chinese - I've not looked into the Chinese manga market but manga is a big part of the culture, at least in Hong Kong, but they just buy from Japan and Korea to be honest. I have wondered about it, but to do it seriously would be far more work than a novel. And you'd need to know how to ink your drawings, get the proper papers for making the background and the effects, cut it precisely and stick it all on - it's not even just the story planning and the artwork. I imagine if I were to do it seriously, I'd plan a story, design the characters, get story-boarding done like you would for a film, finalise it all in terms of sequence and even exact panels, and then draw it all in neat, ink it and stick on the effects. But I don't really know what the querying process would be in Japan, for example. Anyway I guess these days you could do it on Photoshop? That would eliminate the inking and effects, which would save a tonne of time Funnily enough, I've always written manga in Chinese, never English. English just doesn't feel right. But for narrative, it's always been English. My written Chinese deteriorated quite a bit after I stopped writing manga, but I think I could still brush it up enough for dialogue
No worries! I apologize if I came off as sassy. I know what it's like to have people constantly hounding artists with 'requests' for the impossible. As lame as it is, I've been working for 10 years at improving my art for this very purpose. I'm also quite the manga lover! I appreciate the support.
I was actually unaware of the Durarara! start. Wow!! That's really awesome. You raise some good points. Thank you for the response. ^^
I think in my case, being a lefty doesn't help much either. I end up redoing so much work that my hand isn't used to constant strain. Those are good things to keep in mind. Wow....you are amazing.
Wow! You really went in depth for that answer haha. I think the story behind OPM is actually pretty awesome! It's true though, about the markets and how unlikely publishing is. I honestly feel though...just being able to see my work on paper would be enough to make me happy. Publishing is something that, even were it not to occur, I'd still be quite content. I'm lucky enough to have studied both Japanese and Korean, though admittedly my Korean is far more superior. High five to writing in other languages!
Not easy, btw. Manga fans have a rigorous expectation that cultural elements and features from the original rendering be included and explained in the margins with translator's notes. Both times I took this kind of commission, the manga had already been scanlated into English. I was to create scanlation into Spanish, so I worked with a friend who is a Japanese interpreter and translator (it's what I do for a living, interpreter) to make sure the English I was working from hadn't been poorly translated from the original Japanese.
The details that don't require much skill you can draw with your right when you have to. Like rock texture, The other day I just had to dot the page to show the stars in the cosmos. Sometimes drawing really is just mindless. Other times, some shots, like big stunts took me over an entire week to get. .
Oh for sure. You definitely don't want to lose context. My response wasn't meant to seem like I had thought it was an easy thing. I haven't done scanlations per se but I have done translating before. It's certainly a tough job!
Do you share your works anywhere? ^^ And that's true, I haven't thought of that! I suppose not everything needs to be mega detailed. Some backgrounds I take yeaaaaaars on.
No, no. I didn't think you were saying that. Just throwing it out there that the fandom has very particular requirements when it comes to translations.
Ooh if you could write in Korean, you could give the Korean market a go that would be kinda neat. Where are you from? Hehe I've studied Japanese before too but due to sheer lack of discipline - or sheer laziness - I never did study outside class. Needless to say, my Japanese is limited to some greetings, the odd word and a few phrases I learnt from manga and anime, and kanji I used to read manga in Japanese just going off the kanji and pictures lol. Btw what has being a leftie got to do with advantages or disadvantages in art? I'm a leftie and never had any problems. Being Chinese, I'd heard my share of idiotic myths like, "But how can you write when you can't see what you've written!?" Well, erm, is your memory that bad that you can't remember what you wrote 5 seconds ago!? If so, you have bigger problems than being a leftie And one time a friend said, "He's left-handed" in response to why the boy's not confident with drawing. My response immediately was "I'm left-handed" (and obviously from my post, you probably gathered I draw and I draw quite well - just underdeveloped lol) Another time when i was a teenager, we were playing cards and one girl took a loooong time just to get her cards ready, and she said, defensively, "I can't help it. I'm left-handed!" (you know how you fan out the cards to see what you have. She fanned them out the other way so all you got was the blank edge. I don't even know how you do that!?) People treat being left-handed like it's a bloody handicap - it pisses me off. And then you've got this whole industry of "Buy this! It's made for left-handed people!" I heard of a "left-handed notebook" once. It's like, seriously wtf? Sorry went completely off-topic
I'm actually born and raised in Canada! Quite random, I know. That really would be kinda neat!! I feel you on the lack of discipline. It's why I've lost most of it. :c I smudge EVERYTHING. Even if I put a paper under my hand. I haven't figured it out yet hahaha. High five to being a lefty though! I've actually heard that too! Ringed binders are the worst to write things in though! But I definitely can remember what I've written I think lefties can be great artists! Just...after figuring out how to avoid the smudge issue lol. In response to the cards, how does that even make sense!? I agree though. :/ I'm used to right-handed computer mouse, right-handed scissors.... I think I just need a little sleeve-thingy for my palm. Do you ever post your work somewhere? ^^
Hello Garden, While I am not writing a Manga, I am in the process of writing a Graphic Novel. I have a journal where I jot down my progression storywise. I will say it is a lot of work and has required me to study both visual elements and story elements.
Yeah, I'm currently working on a personal webcomic project in my spare time. Here's some concept art I drew for it :