New guy here.

[Wild]

I'm an artist from Greece, Athens and I started practicing manga-style (only traditional) for about over a year and a half (every day). I like anime, manga and Japanese music(in general). While I'm at it, I like the language itself as well.
I tried manga style a couple of times before, as a teenager, but I couldn't do it so I gave up (you know how things are more or less at that age).

I was entertaining the idea of joining mangraiders a couple of months ago but I didn't. I did now because of a thread I read where the OP was looking for artists. I don't think I'm ready for it(I could be wrong) but I badly need the money so, here I am.
I already know about the post count and 2 weeks period.

Allow me to be honest and say, I didn't join to make friends. If it happens, it happens. I wouldn't say no to some competition or a polite rivalry though. It could be a good motivational boost for me.

Anywho, that's all for now. I'll be modifying my OP for anything I've forgot to say (I already did once already). It happens to me a lot.

I know that it's very important for the forum to make friends etc so I'm looking forward for any possible replies from mods.

[Suuper-san]

welcome to the forum!
sounds like you know the ropes already
it can be a challenge finding work in art, hope you get what you're looking for!
would be great to see some of your drawings!

[Wild]

Hi Suuper-san!

I hope so as well. Like I said, I'm not ready for it but I'm thinking of giving it a try. Since I can't post instantly, that gives me time to think it over.
In the other hand, the "I'm not ready" state of mind can be bad as well but maybe this isn't the place to talk things like that.

Don't expect anything great. I wouldn't be here if I didn't need the money. I don't even have all the right tools currently. For instance, I'm practicing my inking of medium sized drawings with (can I say the name of the pen or it'll count as an ad?anyway, try to imagine a brand) 0.5 and I don't think it's the right option. It might do me good though since it forces me to try harder (something I don't always do).
I could keep on going on the tools subject but I'm sure you get the idea.

I've seen your thread with your drawings and I like em. Actually, it's in my To do list to stop by your thread. I was browsing it days ago.

Would you believe me if I'd tell you I don't feel quite ready showing off anything? lol
I might scan some of my practice tomorrow and upload it but I won't promise anything.

[Suuper-san]

I can totally relate to the feeling of not being ready, especially as artists I think we tend to see the problems in our work more than others do. To be honest looking back at how badly I used to draw I'm amazed how brazenly I posted my work XD But this forum is mostly made up of people learning to draw, at all different levels, so we can all help each other out with tips and encouragement and so on :P

One of my friends does traditional commission work, it's always been an aspect that I never really got on well with, I much prefer digital. But traditional can be a cheaper way to practice and gain skill. You don't need fancy gadgets, just a pencil and paper

I've seen your thread with your drawings and I like em. Actually, it's in my To do list to stop by your thread. I was browsing it days ago.

Awwwwwwwww thanks you're welcome to pop by any time :P

[Tenori Tejima]

Domo~

[Wild]

Yoroshiku Tenori Tejima.

@Suuper-san
I know, I found this forum months ago. that being said, I'm not here for that. Who knows, I might change my mind but yeah.
One of these days I'll start a manga for practice (it will be amusing to me as well though). That might help me gain some extra motivation. We'll see.

But not only digital, right? Anyway, I'll ask away when I'll come over to your thread. :)

EDIT to add: I forgot to say, grabbing a pencil to sketch is indeed cheaper but inking is different. The pens I buy are with liquid ink. I stopped using them to fill the hair because they're done in no time. There are other examples as well.
Don't think I chose traditional for the price of it. If you want to do it right and go beyond sketching, you gotta also invest into it. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think with digital the most of the investment goes in the beginning while with traditional (at least for me) it goes a bit now, a bit later etc.

[Suuper-san]

I found doing a practice manga to be a really useful step in gaining skill, I definitely recommend it!

Yup digital investment is pretty much hardware and software, with minimal upkeep (at least for me)
Traditional is cheaper to start but always requires topping up supplies.
I only use the cheapest of the cheap for my traditional work, but I only do ballpoint sketching, nothing mega serious, yet :)

[Wild]

I'll go for it! Just trying to overcome the dumb side of me. lol Often enough I treat practice like something that has to be perfect. Same with the specific manga; I lose focus and forget it'll be just for practice. That..being..said..I'll feel so bad practicing inking on it. Currently I mostly ink my mediocre drawings (or ones that I've done way too many times). My best and worst get a pass.
I'm planning to make myself a light table as soon as possible because the way I do it now, mistakes with ink are not forgiven.

I don't think you need expensive things anyway until you're "there" more or less (and even then, I don't think everything has to be expensive). I'm trying to aim only to what I currently need; When I first started I picked up an old pencil & eraser and an old, kinda dirty, notebook. That's it.

So you're aiming for traditional too? Glad to hear that. I hope I'm not effecting you or anything! xD If digital is your thing then do that.

[Suuper-san]

ah...perfectionism....every artists bane T_T;
it took me quite a few years to feel more comfortable working without feeling that I'm wasting sketches. One advantage of a light box/table is that you can ink a sketch, but on a different page, and so you dont accidentally "ruin" your best sketches. So I think that'd be a very useful tool in building confidence. You could always photocopy or scan your sketches as well to make copies, to either test different styles or to keep as a "backup sketch"

I lose focus and forget it'll be just for practice. That..being..said..I'll feel so bad practicing inking on it.

Been there done that, so many times XD
The way I dealt with that for my manga, was to treat the entire project as a draft, in other words, even after inking, it's still just a draft, and so I'll be coming back "later" to fix it up. So far later hasn't come, but I finished my manga. So it sort of worked :P

Another method is to just generate so many sketches that you end up with a lot of duff ones that you dont care about much, and then you can practice on them and you don't really care about ruining them too much. I did that quite prolifically, in fact I still do save my best sketches for inking later.

[Wild]

Yeah, that's the reason I want the table.
I never thought of copies......lol This will really free my hands. I was thinking today if I'd actually ink my manga or not (being dumb again). This way, no more dilemas over it. Highly appreciate it!

Hard to see it as a draft though, whether it's a manga or a single drawing, isn't it.

The last method works but also I get too careless sometimes.

I'll definitely go with photocopies for now. Quite a relief! I owe you one.

EDIT: I just realized that....on a copy the pencil can't be erased.
Still, I appreciate your help.

Oh well, inking the actual drawing is challenging. In the long run there's more good to it than bad.

[Suuper-san]

I view it as a draft in the sense that I can always go back and improve it, even if I have to redraw it from scratch. Like even if I fail miserably...I can always do it again? so nothing is ever lost in that sense.

That's a fair point about not being able to erase, you can tell how much I know traditional art lol *sweats*
Alternatively you can use tracing paper to make copies which are erasable, or even just use a window as a pseudo light box, although that's not ideal.

If you plan on scanning/photocopying your work, you can make the sketch lines fainter on the copy so they hardly show up when inking, and then adjust the contrast on scanning the final lineart to hide the faint sketch lines. But that's only if you plan on digitizing your final work.

You can also sketch in a different colour which can be removed digitally, I have in the past used a blue lead mechanical pencil, which is easy to sketch and ink, but is rather faint when scanning, and is easy to modify the colours to remove just the blue sketch lines. So even if you can't erase the lines of a copy they are easy to hide/remove.

[Wild]

Ok, now I get it. Yeah, that mindset right. After all, what we'll draw in the future will be better anyway, so, we'll be redrawing an improved version of it.

It's cool, you prefer digital anyway like you said. There's no need to know everything unless something can be of use to you.

I really can't imagine tracing paper working unless I keep the tracing as an "original".
I've read about the window trick before but I highly doubt I can pull it off. I will try it at some point though just for the experience of it.

Too much of a work for it. Better mess up even my best drawings and have to redraw them sooner or later. It'll only make me better in the long run.
I do want a blue lead pencil though! xD Well, I'll get one eventually.

[Suuper-san]

You can use tracing paper to transfer an image to a new sheet of paper, you have to flip the tracing paper and trace it again on the other side (to get a flipped image), and then use pressure to transfer the graphite onto a new sheet of paper.

Blue leads are a couple dollars for a pack on eBay or whatever, same for a cheap mechanical pencil to load them.

Better mess up even my best drawings and have to redraw them sooner or later. It'll only make me better in the long run.

That's the best attitude I think :)

[Killer B !!SAMA!!]

Hi mate welcome to the forum hope u find what ur looking for here enjoy

[watanabe_ringo]

best of luck!