Oh man I’m psyched I found this blog! I recently self published (a very small run but still!) my own manga/ yaoi comic for the Mocca comic convention in NYC. My plan is to keep the comic going as a web comic and maybe print again in the future depending on how it goes!

www.shipjumpercomic.com

Hey followers! I want to apologize for being kind of slow here. I’m getting into my final week here at SCAD, moving to a new apartment and graduating all in the same week…yikes! Anyway, it might be a little slow for the next week or so, but I wanted to post an informative blog to keep you guys going. Now, Sofi and I kind of passed this off to each other while working on our respective projects, so sorry if it’s a little all over the place.

I hope you all enjoyed the features I posted up on our Tumblr. Oh, and for everyone who was having trouble submitting work on our DeviantART group, it should be fixed now! So please join~! We only have a couple pieces right now, so please show us your work!

Anyway, tonight Anna and I attended a workshop taught by professor Mia Goodwin on the importance of character design. Although the lecture was mostly aimed towards game design, the subjects she covered relate to all forms of character design, be it for games, manga, cartoons—anything!

Professor Mia stressed three big factors in creating a successful character— Simplicity, memorability, and of course, the “fun factor.”

Using this character, she described to us what makes her successful.

Read more …

I’m an art student myself and I’ve also had dreams of having a comic published but it seems like schools in general don’t approve of any kind of asian influenced art when you yourself aren’t well… asian. I’ve grown used to having people at school look at my work and really enjoy my coloring skills but not much of anything else. I always get that question, ‘Is this how you’re gonna draw for the rest of your life?’ I always have people look down on me because of what I choose to draw. I always have teachers making snide remarks that are usually directed at people that draw manga styled. So to see a project like this makes me happy that there are others that want their chance at their dreams. I support you guys all the way and I hope to be a part of this. I’ve had a story that I’ve been working on for a few years so I’ll post more of that in time to come. Don’t give up!

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Don’t you give up either! A wise man once said to me: talent and art is only ten percent. What matters is your story! So shouldn’t that mean that it doesn’t really matter whether you draw like Naoko Takeuchi or Rob Liefeld, as long as you can tell your story effectively!

(well okay, don’t aspire to draw like Rob Liefeld, and you probably shouldn’t be drawing like Naoko Takeuchi if your story is about Space Marines…)

I will say this: do listen to your professors. 99% of the time, they do know what they’re talking about. You will have professors who have issues with the manga style and you will have professors that will tell you to be more versatile. The ones that tell you to develop another style ARE just trying to help you, and there’s nothing wrong with branching out a bit. People with multiple styles are very marketable! This doesn’t mean you have to stop drawing manga.

You also have to understand that there are a lot of people who come into art school who learned to draw from anime and manga and don’t understand the basics of anatomy. That’s another tip for everyone out there is to learn to draw a human from life before you get too far into drawing manga! This can only help you improve in ways you can’t even imagine, so when you get into drawing your story, you’ll be able to draw a face the way it makes sense—….Oh, I’m sorry I totally got off onto a tangent there. But it is important information that everyone following Manga International should consider! And unfortunately, manga kids in art school have a bad rep for learning their anatomy from CLAMP…

As for you, keep at it and don’t get discouraged! Take advice from your professors but don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. And I’d love to see your work if you ever feel like submitting. As always, thanks for your support~!

Good day everyone! Sofia has been hard at work putting the DeviantART group together, and it is now open for business, so to speak!

Join us~

Hello, My name is Samantha Gorel and I am an aspiring manga writer and illustrator. I am still very young and inexperienced, but I wanted to help support your amazing and inspiring efforts to help English speakers a name in the American manga industry. Below are links to the first two pages of my first personal manga, which I have been discouraged to finish because of the publishing industry. Thank you very much for trying to help with this very daunting problem, I completely support your efforts, and look forward to your achievements.

Page 1 http://mireielle.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/#/d387bvt

Page 2 http://mireielle.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/#/d3c6tcy

Hey guys! I want to thank everyone for sharing their art and stories with us. We’ve been getting a lot of submissions from DeviantART that are really great! I just wanted to let everyone know that we’re also working on a DeviantART group for submissions, and if you’d like critique, we’d be happy to do it there! I don’t know about critiquing someone on tumblr where everyone can see it, because some people might feel vulnerable about that…What do you guys think?

Between the two of us, we have 8 years and $300,000 invested in art school so we will be able to help you out with whatever you wish to improve on to the best of our ability!

Sofia is more in charge of the DA group, but if you’d like to contact either of us,

My DeviantART

Sofia’s DeviantART

feel free to send us notes :>