Maria Videira from my manga congratulates everyone with
the New Year and wishes all your dreams to come true!
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Inspiring and useful Youtube channels and podcasts for authors and artists.
Once upon the March of 2017 I was sitting home with the heavy cold caught. I was very sick and couldn’t do anything useful, so I was entertaining myself with YouTube watching. Before this I had been watching only speed paints or drawing tutorials or music videos, bus this time I have accidentally stumbled upon authortube channels and they blew up my mind in a good way. This is how I have discovered the world of self-publishing and indie authors. I mean I knew this things exist, but I’ve never got into the depth of it.
- The first channel which has impressed me a lot was The creative Penn by Joanna Penn – she is gorgeous really admire this women she has series of podcasts/videos which are aimed at helping people with their indie author career and dealing with self-doubt and so on. Her channel has lots lots of useful advises and tips on self-publishing and living creative life and writing. I`ve found there an interview with coloring book author which motivated me to try.
- The second channel which helped me to start moving forward is Bruce Jones’s channel. Where I’ve found something very interesting about coloring books self-publishing with the Createspace.
Thanks to these two YouTube channels I have decided to give it a try to make my own coloring book. Also, I need to mention that I am not an English-speaking person – it is difficult for me to understand accents or when the sound is not clear enough, but I have no difficulties understanding these persons’ speeches, which is great. This is how I live in the small Siberian town got the possibility to self-publish two coloring books with the Amazon Create Space. Could I imagine that this thing is actually really possible before? No, I couldn’t. In fact, I have a very time-consuming daily job and it is not over after I leave the office, I have to take my working laptop with me and continue working from home… In the normal condition, I would hardly allow myself to spend so many time on youtube, but when I was ill and sitting at home for the whole month I think I have used this time wisely for self-education sort of. ^_^
After all, this happened, I have discovered many more interesting and inspiring youtube channels which I’d recommend to watch people who want to get inspired or motivated or have fun because the ladies I`m going to talk about are have very bright personalities. here they are:
- Writing Excuses podcast is the best of the best.
- ShaelinWrites very informative channel hosted by the lovely girl studying creative writing course at the University.
- Positive and pretty channel by the author and English teacher Kim Chance which I find again very useful as she sometimes explains English language rules and gives story-telling advises.
- My mangaka life is very funny inspiring and helpful channel by manga-artist watching which I enjoy a lot.
- Happy D. Artist channel is hosted by the talented artist given up on her office job and living artist dream life drawing her paintings. I am not a fan of oil-paintings but she has a lot of important information to share with artists and both drawing and being self-employed tips.
- And the last link I want to share here is This video by Texan in Tokyo. That whole channel is not dedicated to being an author or creator, and unfortunately, it is not active anymore…but this video helped me a lot to understand the CreateSpace publishing process.
- Brilliant storehouse of information podcast titled “thebestsellerexperiment” by two Marks with a great sence of humor which I am currently listening.
Here is all I`ve got for today. I am very thankful to all the above-mentioned people for sharing their knowledge with the World. Some of them inspire and motivate to take actions in your creative journey, some of them give tips, tricks and advises to make this journey easy and all of them bring a lot of positivity. And, probably no one of them have an idea that some russian girl on the opposite side of the globe making her books taking their advice into consideration =D
5 things I wish I knew before I started to draw manga or my 5 critical mistakes.
1. Resolution
2. Write down the dialogs in balloons or elsewhere
3. Storyboarding issue
4. outline
5. don`t start several projects at the same time
1) Page size and resolution
When I was going to draw my first one-shot manga I have seen somewhere page size of 500×800 px required to upload … so, I have made pages exactly of that size! Originally. oh my! They are so small. It goes without saying that I couldn`t print them. Of course, they are even too small to see them clearly on some devices.
and I am not sure about resolution it was either 96 or 200 px. my other comics were a little bit bigger in size but also with low resolution.
2) Write down dialogues in the balloons of storyboard or somewhere else
I should have written them down for the god`s sake. Firstly, when I started to make comics, I didn`t write down the text, which was supposed to be told by characters – I just had the balloons left empty for some unknown reason relying on my memory. Why did I do that? No idea. Later on, when it came up to filling the balloons I was sitting and guessing what were they supposed to say, staring at empty text bubbles. I mean of course I couldn`t forget general meaning but the key point is the first phrases coming up to my mind are usually more natural and funnier (as I am trying to add a little bit of humor into my manga) after that I started to write down the dialogues as soon as possible after they appear in my head – sometimes I do it in storyboards, sometimes in notebooks not to forget.
3. Storyboarding issues
When I just have started I wish I knew what storyboard is. It would make everything much easier but I didn`t make them. Then I started to draw them with graphic pencil, but slowly, I have realized that pencil which I use with the light pressure may disappear from the paper as time flows by or become almost invisible. So, I started to use a pen for drawing storyboards before actual pages. It helps a lot – to decide how the figures and text would be better placed on the page before the actual drawing not to remake it when it’s too late.
4. Outlining
I have never made outline or write down or even think over the whole plot before starting to draw. – I still don`t do. I usually happen to have the bright spark of the idea when I know how exactly should my story begin and end. What the hell is going on in the middle? who cares! I want to draw because I am so excited about the characters and the idea itself. and I did draw the beginning and the end and only after that, I figured out what should be in the middle that could lead from beginning to a particular end. It is so wrong =D but I couldn`t help it. No, I think that making the proper outline having climax and chain of Interconnected events logically leading to it is better than “I love the start and the end so much but what to draw in the middle? Whatever! I must have something in there after all”. I have to work on this issue.
5. Several projects at the same time
And the last, the most obvious, not to start several projects at the same time, not for me back then =D I got so easily distracted by my ideas. And I want to draw them all at the same time. But it makes my slow drawing process even slower. Now I have to limit myself. On the sake of finishing at least one, it is better to have one finished story them bunch of them started and no result at all.
“Dark Beauty: Manga girls” My second coloring book for children and adults.
Hello!
More than half of the year has passed since I`ve written something here. And all this time I was working on my second coloring book which is already finished and released on November 8th 2017. This coloring book was inspired by the dark vibes and aesthetic. Needless to say I was alway driven to and enchanted by dark and somber things but my drawings still keep this girly smiley “kawaii” mood on them. Darkness can be not only gloomy and sad but cheerful and funny as well.
Available on Amazon
One of the greatest examples of funny aspect of the darkness is loved by everybody Halloween, which inspired some drawings in this book as well (I`ve drawn a lot of witches, pumpkins and cats). I was intended to finish my book by Halloween but I failed this personal deadline which I set for myself and delayed the release for 1 month.
Darkness has recently been popularised in modern pop-culture, even kid’s toys nowadays depict zombies and vampires. I was very surprised to see my niece’ doll which looks like monster… and she loves it. So I guess there is nothing wrong with adding something dark into coloring book.
Moreover darkness for me is not associating with the evil, bad or cruelty, for me it is something associating with elegance, grace and delicacy from gothic-victorian style, deep velvet calmness of abandoned cemeteries, slumber of the Moon hiding in clouds and eternal beauty of night.
I was working hard and I have improved my draing skills a bit while I was working on this coloring book and now I am finally able to take it in my hands. I am really happy about the pring quallit and cover but I wish the paper itself be more thick to use markers or watercolor on it now it suits btter for colored pencils only.
“Dark Beauty” coloring book contains gothic, victorain historical and fantasy gowns, halloween/spooky creatures, art-nuvo frames and just cute japanese manga girls. This coloring book is a collection of 26 original hand-drawn designes inspired by the dark aesthetic. Coloring book for both children and adults featuring art of shoujo manga and anime style, laces, flowers and pictures of different complexity level. All pictures in this booke are one-sided. It features: witches, werewolf, lolita-fashion girls, mermaid, dark fairy, fantasy creatres, vampires, cats, pumpkins, gargoyles, ravens and so on.
I have plans and ideas for two more coloring books in this series and some other.
But for now I want to concentrate on my manga first ^_^/~
Thanks for the attention!
Check up my books on Amazon
My self-drawn Coloring book with shoujo-manga girls!
My self-drawn and self-published coloring book for children and adults Beauty is magic: Shoujo-manga girls
Hello. ^_^/~
Yay! My Coloring book titled Beauty is magic: Shoujo manga girls.: for children and adults is available on Createspace and Amazon So happy! I did it!
All my social media have been suffering from the lack of updates lately. I got a heavy flu with complications and my productivity and social activity were somewhere around zero. But I did draw actually (on paper only) sitting by the computer was kinda hard…
But those “couch drawing” gave me a great opportunity to manage one drawing project which I was thinking about for a long time but never actually thought it could be real, until I discovered something interesting from YouTube =D and now I feel like I could do literally everything. I just need more time.
This drawing project is not a manga, but something different and still demands a lot of drawing and post drawing work. And it is a book. A small experimental coloring book featuring my original designs of 26 shoujo-manga girls in different styles and outfits ^_^ and that was a lot of fun to do!
You know, I always had a sense that my line arts look like pages from colouring books for girls before I color them or tone with screentones.
I was going to self publish it with Createspace and Amazon.com. The funniest thing is for me living on the opposite side of the Globe – that it is even cheaper to buy few copies from Amozon then to order the same few copies in my country and the delivery cost is almost the same O_O WTF?! Lol.
I am already waiting printed proof copies for my one-shot manga o(^.^)o Yay! Want to draw more coloring books a have so much of ideas! Nothing is gonna stop me from fulfilling my wishes.
I mostly draw my original characters from my comics but I didn’t want to include them into colouring books, because they are mine and it would feel like a betrayal for them. So, these girls from colouring book were just spontaneously drawn sketches or few of them I was thinking to draw a manga with, but I gave up those ideas later. And when I put all the drawings together I have finally decided to do what I wanted. Because “why not?” I can.
If people would like it I would be happy, if not… Well… I still can think of it like an artbook of my line-arts ^_^ and after all, I’ve got a lot of nieces and friends to give presents to. I’ve got nothing to lose, so why not to try then? ^_^
Could you imagine my surprise, when this book actually has started to sell. I was really shocked (and glad)! Thank everyone for purchasing a copy of my coloring book for children and adults!
Currently I`m working on the second coloring book of this series.
Thanks for the attention!
Sincerely, Heiseihi.
4 steps of my drawing manga-page process – how I draw manga.
4 basic steps of creating manga-comic page, manga drawing process. speeddraw video
Hi everybody! ^_^
I am self-taught manga-artist and in this post:
- I’m going to tell about my step by step process of creating manga page
- I will show the process of inking a page from my manga in video-format as well.
I am Heiseihi and I love to draw comics in old-school shoujo-manga style!
If you want to know more about me, check my About page.
In case if you don`t know what the hell manga is – 漫画 it is japanese word used for comics. In modern pop-culture we have the wrong feeling that manga is only something big-eyed and black-white, no, it actually can be colored, realistic and anything possible to imagine. Basically it is a story told in pictures (text is optional here). And “shoujo” – is type of manga for girls =D So, shall we start?
The current manga-project I`m working on is Videira, which can be read on Tapas (former Tapastic) for free ^_^ link it is funny shoujo-romance gender-bender adventure taking place in the jungle of 19th century Brazil =D It is my experimental comics, drawing which I have tried many different media and drawing tools.
As I am not a full-time artist (drawing is my passional hobby) I draw slow as Snail, but no matter how few free-time I have for doing this, I’ve never given up on my art-passion and creating my comics.
Warning! I`m not trying to teach anyone here how to draw correctly (I am still in the process of learning myself).
I just want to share the way I do it. Hopefully it will be useful or at least entertaining.
Every manga page I make have 4 essential steps:
- draft (storyboard)
- pencil sketch
- ink (lineart) – I prefer to do these three 3 first steps on paper (I love traditional art)
- scanning and digital editing including toning with screentones.
1) Draft (storyboard)
I usually do it for the whole chapter or for a complete scene at once in a notebook – not to mess up with the page order later:
I actually had and accidents when this happened before – so, a little advice： if making comics takes you as long as me – you’d better make storyboards in a sketchbook and not separate pages (unless you manage to keep them in right order from the beginning XD ), for me it can take up to several years before I turn my storyboards into a finished chapter. And one more tip – now I have learnt that it works for me better when I draw storyboards with pen – not graphic pencil for the same reason. I always use 3H hard pencil giving thin pale lines to easily remove them later works for sketches, but not for storyboards. My storyboards usually look messy and crappy – but it`s ok – I make them to capture the general idea sparkling in my head I can fix anatomy and other stuff later when I’ll draw an actual page.
draft storyboard
draft VS finished lineart
For example – 7th chapter of Videira: I have drawn it`s storyboard long ago even before chapter 3 and 4 and so many time has passed since: my light pale pencil lines have completely disappeared from the paper I could barely see them now and I could only guess what are they talking about. And this is why I use a pen for storyboards since then =D
2) Pencil sketch
Looking for my storyboard-draft I redraw frames clearly on separate paper sheets. Sometimes I happen to love some frames of my storyboard and realize that I could not repeat the same face expression if I try to redraw it – in this case my lovely light-table is always here for help – I trace my draft and Voila! I absolutely adore my light table which, I have bought in China for the extremely cheap price, while I was studying in Chinese university for a term ^_^ If you prefer traditional old-fashioned way of drawing over digital it is absolutely must-have thing! Recommend! You can ask anyone to make it for you – it doesen`t seem very hard to make.
Pencil sketch
Light-table tracing sketch
3) Inking
is my favourite part after storyboarding. It feels like meditation to sit on my couch and ink pages listening for music or audiobook.
Here I won’t speak about inking tools – I have tried a lot of them! It may get a little too wordy (it already did XD) – I’d better dedicate a whole different post to them.
Here is a video of me inking page from the 6th chapter of videira – speaddraw couple of hours in 3 minutes. It usually takes me longer when the page have more frames and more complicated background, poses, more black ect. I have chosen this page for video because t is simple and I could finish inking in one sitting =D
4) Digital editing
So, I have finally finished drawing lineart and scanned my page! Yay! Time to open champaign – right? WRONG! D: Here comes the most painful and time-consuming page-making part for me at least – digital editing X_x Firstly I open my drawing in image-editing program – it can be anyone – personally I prefer to use Photoshop – adjust brightness/contrast and clean the scan from every single little dot and scratch which may left after scanning (I am not sure is there such word as “scanning” – it is the process of using scan-maker to transform your drawing from paper to digital format). Than I make tones and shadows using screentones. And the final stage is adding text to bubbles.
Many people don`t have such time time-waste as page-cleaning because they draw lines digitally and they just put screentones and finish quickly. I have tried this way – but I enjoy drawing on paper and it doesn’t mae my eyes hurt, besides I love result more when I draw traditionally.
If you prefer the real paper or just don’t have graphic tablet yet:
Make sure your scanner’s size matches the size of paper-format you have chosen for drawing or bigger then paper. Otherwise it i going to turn into a huuuge pain in the ass. lol. Trust me, I’ve been there. The First and the Seconf chapters of “Videira” made on A3 and B4 formats… while my scan-maker is A4… X_x and I had to combine every single page frame by frame after scanning.
Ta-dam! The page is finished! As a result I end up having something like this:
Hope that was useful and not deathly-boring.
Next time I`m going to talk about:
- 5 things I wish I knew BEFORE I had started to draw my manga-comics.
- Drawing tools I have ever tried and used for making manga.
- Cheap copic-markers alternative: Review of Chinese markers I use for coloring.
and more ^_^/~
Thanks for the attention!
Heiseihi Art 