intro to comic craft pt1

Intro to Comic-Craft

Or, all the stuff you need to know to make some manga

Who the %$@^! am I?

And really, why should you care?

So lets make some manga!

Lets start out with the tools of the trade...

PaperYou mean there's more than one kind?

& copy paper (20lb, 24lb, 28lb, 32lb – also in sizes of letter, legal, a4)& thicker papers (cardstock/presentation paper)& manga papers (deleter, maxon, copic)& bristol board (canson, strathmore)& other media/illustration boards (for wet media/paints)

pencils& Graphite pencils – mechanical, wooden, drafting/lead holders

& Varying lead hardness gives you different values

Non-photo blue pencils& nonphoto blue pencils are a favorite of comic artists because they can be easily dropped from art

& great for working out perspective, anatomy, etc before committing to a line with pencil or ink

& jetpens.com sells nonphoto blue (“soft blue”) mechanical leads

& other colors can be used – use hue/saturation/lightness in photoshop to drop that color

Inking tools – tech pens& brands such as micron, copic, pitt, rapidograph

& lots of sizes

& will give you a consistent line weight – good for lettering, mechanical/architectural objects

& easiest to transport, easiest to learn

& do not give dynamic lines without extra work

& some tips very fragile/easy to break

Inking tools – ink and nib& the nib, holder, and ink are all separate items

& types of ink: water-soluble, india ink, acrylic ink

Inking tools – ink and nib& many different kinds of nibs – drawing, sketching, architecture, calligraphy, lettering

& drawing nibs allow for a wide variety of line widths

& sketching and architecture are good for fine details

& calligraphy and lettering nibs (a, b, c)

& most manga-ka use “g-nibs” - highly flexible drawing nibs

Inking tools – ink and nib& require a lot of practice

& not very portable

& ink does not dry fast/tends to smear

& will shred or spider on cheap paper

& often very slow process

Inking tools – brush& most variation of line weight, fast filling in of black

& great for emulating sumi-e painting

& other techniques such as dry brush for texture

& can be very difficult to learn, good brushes very expensive

& not portable

Other tools& ruler/t-square/triangle/straight edge

& french curves

& circle and ellipse templates

& eraser (vynl, plastic, kneaded)

Computer programs& adobe photoshop – considered the standard

& adobe illustrator – difficult to learn

& corel painter – better for illustration

& manga studio – offers a lot of templates, screentones, used by many professionals

& paint tool sai – cheaper alternative, also good for coloring

& free alternatives such as gimp, open canvas

That's a lot of stuff!Relax!

You don't need all of those things

Start simple. Find what works best for you. It isn't the same for everyone!

Now we have stuff, so lets make some comics!

Where do we start?