Juan The Mangamaniaco

Lil' dude...

2008-03-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I found this great book about sketching and how to get characters to look realistic (within manga style, that is) and proportioned. It's very very useful to learn how to draw the human figure in general then stylize it to look like a cool manga character. I'm becoming a huge fan of some of these How To Draw Manga kind of books, I wish I'd had them available a few years ago, they would've helped me a lot. Many of them are just a collection of artwork and they are not very helpful because they don't explain much about how the artist gets there but some of them (mostly written by japenese artist) takes drawing manga very seriously and give great advice.

Anyway, I looked at this book and started a new character from scratch using some of the techniques taught in there and came up with some cool stuff. Here's probably the best one I did today....

Big dude, inked

2008-03-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the big dude I uploaded as a sketch last night only now it's inked. There are a few lines I don't like at all and I don't know what I'm doing with my tones but overall it's probably the best attempt I've done inking a sketch so far. Fooling with the settings in Masnga Studio, I think I'm very close to figure out what works best for my style of drawing and to achieve the style I'm going after.... like I said on a previous post, it's all about practice practice and practice.

More sketching....

2008-03-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

It looks like I'm finally getting the habit of sitting down and sketch and practice a little bit everyday, which it's helping a lot when it comes to getting used to drawing with the Wacom tablet.

I also wrote the first chapter of this story I've been thinking about to submit to Tokyopop which helped me picture the characters I need for the story a little bit better. I sketched for a little bit and worked on two of the characters for the story. She's looking like she could be the main character while he's a secondary character that I'm not sure will have a big role after the first chapter... we'll see. Well, here they are...

Tokyopop

2008-02-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

True to my own record of not keeping up with my blogs, here I am again not posting anything for a while. Truth is this time, I do have a good excuse as some relatives visited me from Spain for a couple of weeks in early February and I just didn’t have time to do much of anything.

I’m back now though. I’m back at drawing and learning about Manga Studio, my Wacom tablet, etc…. it’s all taking some time to get used to but I’m actually doing better then I thought. I have also decided I will try to draw a short story to submit to Tokyopop’s pilot program, which pretty much allows amateur manga artists to send them ideas and art for a manga series for their consideration. The cool part is there have been a few pilots picked up by TP and you can actually find manga drawn in the US in bookstores. How cool is that? I never though such an opportunity would ever be available but hey, there it is, so I’m gonna try to take advantage of it.

I guess I will be posting sketches and characters for this short story soon so stay tuned!

TRYING THE GRAPHIC TABLET

2008-02-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is! My first attempts at drawing and inking with my Wacom Intuos3 and Manga Studio. I'm still trying to get used to the tablet but I feel more and more comfortable with it with every new line I do. I'm also trying to set up the tools so I can get results I'm happy with... I think I'm getting there. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be posting more soon, this is just too much fun!

WACOM INTUOS3

2008-02-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

Finally! After a few days battling with the eBay seller that was supposed to send me the Wacom Intous3 graphic tablet I'd bought from him, I finally got it yesterday. I installed it and quickly started to draw inside Manga Studio.... it was a bit weird at first, I need to get used to drawing on the tablet while looking at the screen, but pretty quickly I started to get it.... I'm still not 100% comfortable with it but I only used it for about an hour last night so I guess it takes a little longer than that.
It was awesome to be able to use layers to sketch then ink with the pen tool, add tones.... it's such a fantastic set up! I can't wait to get comfortable with it and start drawing a story or two.

I should be posting more art soon!

PRACTICING.....

2008-01-28T05:18:00.000-08:00

During the last few days, I've realized that drawing is much like playing guitar: you have to practice a lot and practice smart to get better. I always thought that it didn't really matter what I practiced when I grabbed a guitar to improve my chops but over time, with the help of a few teachers, I've realized that you have to be smart about what you practice and how, otherwise you'll always be stuck playing the same stuff over and over again.

Drawing is just like that, all my life I've done nothing but faces, mostly in front or profile poses and obviously, when I try something different, well, it doesn't work very well.... Same goes for action poses, it's always been so hard to get them right that I almost never practice them, it was no fun... of course, since I didn't practice that, I never got better at them so now I'm in the same place I was a few years ago, being fairly good at drawing certain things and awful at drawing some others. I need to try different things and do it almost daily, to get good at it before I can even attempt to do a complete story. Yesterday I tried a few expression and angles that I usually don't do and it was hard but a couple of them turned out ok. Check them out:

More sketching...

2008-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

I didn't have a whole lot of time to draw today but I had an idea for a character of a little story I'm coming up with and had to put it on paper before I forgot. It needs work but for some reason, this one makes me laugh and that's a good sign, I guess....

I'M BACK!

2008-01-23T18:59:00.001-08:00

While I wait for my graphic tablet, I thought I would go to Staples, buy some good ol' wooden pencils, paper and a eraser and start drawing a little bit. It's the first time I grab a pencil and draw with it in about 7 or 8 years so I'm RUSTY but it was fun to sketch a little bit. Here it goes...!

Juan The Mangamaniaco
themangamaniaco@gmail.com

JUICES ARE FLOWING!

2008-01-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

I got a pretty bad record keeping up with any blog I’ve ever started so I thought I’d post quickly before I slow down….
Something interesting is happening. I remember, a few years ago, the main problem I had while drawing manga was coming up with fresh characters and story lines, they all somehow ended up looking like some of the mangas I was reading at the time. It was very very frustrating, to the point that I remember that being on of the main reasons why I eventually stopped drawing… Well, somehow I’m able to come up with some fairly original characters and stories now that I’m getting back to drawing… why is that? Is it that my mind has somehow forgot about the typical clichéd situation and characters I used to come up with? I don’t know, but I won’t even try to figure out… It’s somehow been easier now to outline a story line that I’m pretty happy with and some characters that I’m actually looking forward to draw! Funny how the brain works sometimes….

Also, a couple of days ago I bought a Wacom graphic tablet on ebay and I’m quite excited about trying it out! That kind of technology wasn’t available 10 years ago and I’m very curious to see what I can do with it…. I realize this is all well-known by pretty much everybody that does this today but it’s news, very good news to me! I will also start posting some sketches soon, whatever I come up with, I’m looking forward to see what kind of feedback I get from other fellow mangakas….

Well, I think that’s it for now! I should be back with more posts and hopefully drawings very soon.

Juan The Mangamaniaco
themangamaniaco@gmail.com

THE GEEK IN ME HAS AWAKEN!!

2008-01-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Well, since this is the first post, I guess I should talk a little bit about me and why I’m starting this blog. I was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain and at 26, (I’m 32 now) I moved to the US. I grew up being the biggest geek you’ll ever know, loving comic books, being fat (some things never change) and having no success with girls (my wife hopes that never changes either.,..). While other guys wanted to become astronauts, soccer players, lawyers, etc. I always wanted to be a comic book artist. Unfortunately, my parents didn’t think that was a smart career choice and they kinda forced me to go to college and get a degree in Labor Relations, and even though I kept reading and drawing comics books, I never tried to make a living out of it. Eventually I developed a passion for music, songwriting, recording, production, etc… and followed that path, which I’m at right now…. Since music took over my life a few years back comic books became what “I used to love when I was a kid” and even though I thought about going back to reading comics many times I always figured it wouldn’t be compatible with the music thing….

So 8 or 9 years go by and here I was last week suffering from nostalgia, talking to my bud Manuel (still living in Spain) about all the manga (Japanese comic) and anime (Japanese animation) we used to read and watch when we were younger and I found myself getting goose bumps when I looked at some of the artwork done by my favorite mangakas…. It was surprising, almost like the geek in me had been sleeping all these years and suddenly I woke him up. Long story short, I decided that life’s too short to keep myself away from something I still seem to love that much and that it was time I went back to reading and drawing manga. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out about some of the new technology that can be used to draw manga, like graphic tablets, Photoshop, Manga Studio, etc…. I remember fighting with inking and being scared to make mistakes that ruined hours of work penciling a page, etc…. and yet it somehow never looked as good as what the pros do…. Now, it seems that this new technology would help me keep the fun part and get rid off the annoying part and maybe, come up with some decent manga work…. My drawing is sure as hell rusty, I’m sure but I think that’s like riding a bicycle, you never quite forget how to do it….

So that’s what brings me to writing this blog, I feel like I need to share my new journey and work with others out there but I’ve been away from the manga world for so long that I really know nobody that shares my passion for this (other than my bud Manuel, that is). Hopefully I’ll be able to fully re-connect with my inner geek and hopefully meet many other cool geeks to talk about manga, drawing, being a geek in a nongeek-friendly world, etc….

Juan The Mangamaniaco

themangamaniaco@gmail.com