Topics

1

General Discussion / Quantity vs. Quality

« on: January 17, 2023, 03:32:17 PM »

I was tempted to make this a vote but I think most people would want to qualify their answer, so opted out of it.

I think everyone can agree that when we read manga, we want to enjoy the art, right?
But does that mean that we'd be happy to wait ages for a super high quality release, compared to waiting a normal time for a normal quality release?

Basically would you prefer a rougher quality manga if you could read it more frequently? (or if the chapters were longer etc)

I'm definitely torn between the idea, but partly because I use a lot of manga as art reference, so sketchy manga isn't as useful to me. But for stories that I'm really hooked on, I'd read the next chapter in almost any quality if that was all that was available. Especially once I've caught up with the latest release, it's soooo long to wait between chapters and when it does come out, the story doesnt progress very far and it's annoying enough that I wait a while to binge a larger chunk to get the feeling that I've actually read a proper amount of the story.

I think to some extent this issue only affects beginner manga artists, artists working on their own, part time, or on a minimal staff team where they can't generate a normal-to-high level chapter each week or even to a timetable at all.

I suppose a sub-question is, what is a reasonable weekly/monthly output for a manga, if the quality could be controlled to boost the output?
Most weekly manga are 15-20 pages a week, but if they "sketched" the pages, I bet they'd still look pretty decent and be a lot faster to produce. They could churn out 4 times as much at just half the quality I'd estimate.

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts were and if you can think of any other related factors.

2

Members Workshops / Inktober 2022

« on: October 03, 2022, 01:06:57 AM »

Once again the time is upon us!
I'm not planning on doing Inktober this year, or at least, not during the days themselves. (having said that, now I've typed this topic though I'm suddenly inspired to do it ahahaha)
But figured I'd make the topic to raise awareness and if anyone's doing it, not doing it, or undecided, then here's the chance to join in and post your works here so we can all encourage one another.

Inktober, if you haven't heard of it already, is an artist's challenge during October to draw something every day in ink, following the same prompts as everyone else. Originally the challenge was just to draw in ink, but given the digital artists joining in and the growing popularity over the art community, and ultimately it's a challenge, not a competition, it's up to you what medium you use!

Here's the main link for more info:
https://inktober.com/

And the prompts for this year:


Personally I'm a big fan of interpreting prompts quite liberally, but some try and stick as close as they can to the prompt word. It's a bit of fun that everyone can get involved in so how you work with the prompts is also up to you.

Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!!!

We're already up to day 3, so time to get your pens out and start scribbling!!!!

I'm thinking I'm going to trial a new digital sketching style for these, a combo of speed and different rendering.

3

CosPlay / Suuper's Cosplay Log

« on: July 18, 2022, 04:48:21 PM »

Well the time has arrived. My friend circle has organized a mini-comicon with a group of around 20 of us for an afternoon of costume fun.
Needless to say, my craft skills have been waiting for my hand to be forced into cosplay. And forced they have been.

I'll be updating with both my costume build but also general costume related things as well.

Without further ado, my very first piece of foam armour has been made. It's not actually part of my character but just a test, to see what my base ability at this new skill is. And, honestly, given it's not painted or finished, it came out pretty not bad.

The fit is actually quite good, as soon as I blur my face I'll post that shot too.



Working with the craft foam isn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it also isn't as easy as I thought, like, you have to pay attention to get good results, but as long as you follow a bunch of basic rules, you'll get good results it seems.

My current project is quickly making a casual shirt, to get used to working with large fabric pieces and patterns, something I never got into before, having only made small zip purses previously (such as in my craft thread)

As for who I'm going as....spoilers!!
All will be revealed in due time :P

4

Members Manga / The Eye of Light [Prototype]

« on: December 12, 2021, 04:23:04 AM »

This is a team project with my writer friend, the same one that I was working on the other story with, but got stalled. I suggested we make a throwaway story for practice, both writing for him and art for me, but also teamwork practice for producing a manga. I don't intend on always having a writer, but it's a decent interim while I focus purely on raising my art quality.

As said by the title, this manga is in prototype format, meaning that minimal effort has been spent to produce the pages, and really is just to present the concept of the idea rather than draw it at high quality. The story itself is also in a lower quality format, and uses more obvious tropes and cliches to make the writing side easier.

Unlike my normal posting I wont be talking much about the manga, just posting it. That's partly because I'm busy with art and stuff, but also because I don't have too much to say since it's only half my project.
Chapters are being produced every 2 weeks, but I dont know if I'll post that frequently. We're aiming at around 10 chapters and then we'll see if we want to continue, since this is just a practice project it can stop whenever no problem.

The Eye of Light

The all-powerful wish granting item "The Eye of Light" has been inactive for 100 years. But now it has reactivated and its location has been revealed. Who will find it first and change the world? The Order of Light, who will stop at nothing to enforce their warped justice on the world, or The Forge, a breakaway faction which has had enough of the senseless killing and wants to forge a path of peace for the future. The race is on to reach the artefact.

Chapters

READS LEFT TO RIGHT THIS TIME!!!!!

Chapter 1 - Onward to the Valley of Bones

Chapter 2 - The Journey to the Valley

Chapter 3 - The Valley of Bones

Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

Chapter 5 - Onwards to the Void

Chapter 6 - Enter the Void

Chapter 7 - Escape the Labyrinth

5

Manga Creations / Suuper's Short Stories

« on: May 20, 2021, 04:22:31 PM »

I will post my short stories here, sort of a writers survival but I'll post when I want ahahaha
Formatting may be a little choppy, not only have I completely forgotten how to format writing but mostly I'll be doing these on my commute from work and so I'm not doing tricky formatting on my phone.

Index:

The Furnace
The Intersection
One Man's Trash
The Choice in the Mirror

6

General Manga writer discussions / Am I overthinking social media?

« on: April 12, 2021, 02:35:58 PM »

Ok so the answer is most definitely yes, I'm sure.

I think the issue is that I'm not a heavy social media user to begin with, so I've always viewed social media platforms as something I would be more engaged with once I started to become more professional (producing proper illustrations and manga), and something that I would use "professionally" only, so just posting high level stuff and not sketches, or rambling posts like I do here.

But I'm starting to think that it's something I should already be starting to use, to engage with art and writing communities more and get a bit of a following with what I'm doing already, sketches and whatnot. Basically not just posting my sketches and doodles on MR, but on other places as well.

I think because I've always viewed this forum community as a place to chill out and learn with others, I've always felt a lot more at ease expressing myself here than on other platforms, in fact I dont even have a Twitter or Instagram etc.

A second problem is that I view social media as a large drain on art and writing time that could be spent on projects, so really I want to become a hermit until I'm massively good and then "post on ALL the platforms!", kinda thing.

Not really sure what I'm having an issue with but just wanted to get it of my chest, maybe someone understands (0-0;)

7

Members Manga / Et Cetera [Prototype]

« on: April 11, 2021, 10:39:42 AM »

Please read my disclaimer if you would like to critique (basically don't critique minor details since I'm only focusing on expressing the core of the idea)
But if you seriously want to mention more fine details then go ahead, it may still be useful to me but I dont want to waste your time.

This is a prototype manga as it is basically in draft format, both script and art. I intend at some point to completely rewrite it and produce it at a proper quality level, although there will always be the allure of the next shiny story.

Et Cetera



Blurb

A robot lands on Earth on a mission to learn about Humans and their culture. He follows around a group of children in an "adventure club", helping them when they get into trouble, and causing just as much trouble on the way.

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Hero Makes a Friend

Chapter 2: A Guild

Chapter 3: Going Nowhere

Chapter 4: Distractions

Chapter 5: Going Somewhere

Chapter 6: Operation Escape

Chapter 7: Where We Are

Chapter 8 - The Big Outdoors

Chapter 9 - Not all robots are equal

Chapter 10 - The Boys Get a Visit

Chapter 11 - Love Over Money

Chapter 12 - Risky Games

Volume 1 Bonus Chapter

8

Members Manga / Whispering Magic [Prototype]

« on: April 11, 2021, 10:26:15 AM »

Please read my disclaimer if you would like to critique (basically don't critique minor details since I'm only focusing on expressing the core of the idea)
But if you seriously want to mention more fine details then go ahead, it may still be useful to me but I dont want to waste your time.

This is a prototype manga as it is basically in draft format, both script and art. I intend at some point to completely rewrite it and produce it at a proper quality level, although there will always be the allure of the next shiny story.

Whispering Magic



Blurb

A girl who grew up in the country moves into the city to enrol in a famous magic school on the recommendation of her Grandmother, who was a famous mage in her youth. But she soon realises that the magic being taught at the school is nothing like the magic she has learnt herself...

Chapters

Chapter 1: A Small Fire

Chapter 2: Difficult First Steps

Chapter 3: Blending in

Chapter 4: The Storm

Chapter 5: New Things

Chapter 6: Reaching Out

Chapter 7: The Difficult Magic

Chapter 8 - Strong Beliefs

Chapter 9 - A Revelation

Chapter 10 - The Leading Voice

Chapter 11 - Standing Up

Chapter 12 - A Pure Wish

Volume 1 Bonus Chapter

9

Members Manga / Omega World [Prototype]

« on: April 11, 2021, 10:12:42 AM »

Please read my disclaimer if you would like to critique (basically don't critique minor details since I'm only focusing on expressing the core of the idea)
But if you seriously want to mention more fine details then go ahead, it may still be useful to me but I dont want to waste your time.

This is a prototype manga as it is basically in draft format, both script and art. I intend at some point to completely rewrite it and produce it at a proper quality level, although there will always be the allure of the next shiny story.

Omega World (Previously: Beta Reincarnation)



Blurb

A man dies and reincarnates into a fantasy world with magic. He was meant to have overpowered game-style abilities as many heroes do, but as he is the first person that the God has reincarnated, his powers are unreliable and he can almost never use them properly. He ends up trying to learn magic the hard way as everyone else does in this world, to get by.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Blasted Far Away

Chapter 2: The First Battle

Chapter 3: Just a Traveller

Chapter 4: On a Quest

Chapter 5: It's a Bugged Game

Chapter 6: Quest Clear

Chapter 7: The Journey Home

Chapter 8 - Family

Chapter 9 - Fire Burning in Our Hearts

Chapter 10 - The Mana Flows Freely

Chapter 11 - The Old and the New

Chapter 12 - The Beginning

Volume 1 Bonus Chapter

10

Members Manga / Eclipse [Prototype]

« on: April 11, 2021, 09:57:46 AM »

Please read my disclaimer if you would like to critique (basically don't critique minor details since I'm only focusing on expressing the core of the idea)
But if you seriously want to mention more fine details then go ahead, it may still be useful to me but I dont want to waste your time.

This is a prototype manga as it is basically in draft format, both script and art. I intend at some point to completely rewrite it and produce it at a proper quality level, although there will always be the allure of the next shiny story.

Eclipse



Blurb

The world is just not ready to accept that some people have supernatural abilities. Emily wants to use her powers to help people, but her brother is afraid she will put herself into dangerous situations. Perhaps she can find her purpose with the secret organisation known as...Eclipse.

Chapters

Chapter 1: My Purpose

Chapter 2: The Dark Moon

Chapter 3: Into the Deep

Chapter 4: Brother and Sister

Chapter 5: Powerful Emotions

Chapter 6: Stronger Bonds

Chapter 7: Hidden Truth

Chapter 8 - Danger From Within

Chapter 9 - Collateral Damage

Chapter 10 - A Powerful Ally

Chapter 11 - The Lightening Load

Chapter 12 - Returning Troubles

Volume 1 Bonus Chapter

11

Develop Your Story / Suuper's Writing Projects & Manga Stories

« on: April 10, 2021, 01:17:39 PM »

This thread is for me to organise my projects to easily catalogue and find them, as well as to rant and monologue about my writing issues and breakthroughs.

Current Projects:

The Eye of Light

Old, Completed and Cancelled Projects

Stories:
2012
Blackout

Mangas:
2015
Bokura no Manga
2016
Overdrive
Endlessness
2020
Monday Blues (Collab Manga)
2021
Dark Strike
Et Cetera
Eclipse
Whispering Magic
Omega World


Short Stories:

Short Story Index

12

Manga Writer workshop / Write a Magic Incantation

« on: March 31, 2021, 06:38:14 AM »

Well since one of my stories uses spoken spell incantations I figured I would open this up to everyone, as it's sort of fun.

Write a magic incantation in any style you like, for the type of spell described by the post above you.

-No limitations on the length (long or short), but you're not allowed to use the Spell Name Only, like EXPLOSION!!!
-You don't have to write in English, it can be a different language, elvish or any made up language/words if you want. But no akhavuihawvfwaerv , ok? But ideally English is nice because it probably requires the most skill as opposed to using random gibberish (i.e. Google Translate between langauages) that just sounds cool.
-Give the Spell a name, but it doesn't have to appear in the incantation
-Leave a prompt for the next person, describing a spell and what it does.

Here's my shot.

Prompt:
A small healing spell that heals surface wounds on a small portion of the body

Lesser Healing

Heed my call, oh divine ones
The powerless fall in darkness
Knead the form, knit the flesh
Spirits of life, grant your blessing
Let us stand up again, and flourish
~Lesser Healing~

So my challenge for the next person is:
A fireball the size of a football is generated and launched, typically for attack purposes.

13

General Manga writer discussions / Young Pro Mangaka

« on: March 20, 2021, 04:53:48 AM »

I was looking at some of my favourite manga series and other popular titles to see how old the authors were when they started to write them, and it was a bit of a wake up call for me, especially the younger ones.

Rounding the years roughly, this is how old the authors were when making these series:
FMA - 27
Bleach - 24
Naruto - 25
Rave Master - 23
^same author, Fairy Tail - 29
One Piece - 22
Rurouni Kenshin - 24
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi - 25 (probably)
Nichijou - 29
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - 27
Lucky Star - 26
Kimi ni Todoke - 30

I know that for around 6 years I didn't have writing a manga as a main goal or even having art as a career option, and I deliberately kept it as a background hobby for longer than I "should have", given my current desires.

I'm not saying that if you're older you can't write manga (there's plenty of stuff written by older people that brilliant), but this is, amongst other things, the level of a pro mangaka. Yes they trained and went to art school and apprenticed under an already pro mangaka, so they've got a lot going for them.

Basically, to me, this relates to my desired life output and what I want to do in terms of quantity, for my entire life.

I definitely want to be a good artist by the time I hit 30 (2 years to go :|), only just because it's a round number and viewed as a checkpoint of sorts by a lot of people, and timing-wise I might just scrape in :P

I'm not saying their ages should be a target for aspiring manga writers, but merely that this is what is achievable if you put your mind to it, are dedicated and focused.

Here are some "older" artists that have equally started writing popular works (possibly as their second/third series)

Nanatsu no Taizai - 35
Ore Monogatari!! - 40
World Trigger - 32
Detective Conan - 31
Black Clover - 31

As a side point most of these artists have written one-shots that you've never heard of and serials that got cancelled through lack of popularity etc, so it's not like they had it easy, they had to work hard to get where they are and deal with disappointment and setbacks as well.

Basically, keep at your goal, if you're young, make good use of your time, if you're older, make good use of your time. That's all.

Onwards and upwards.

14

General Manga writer discussions / Are Placeholders a Help or a Hindrance?

« on: March 02, 2021, 12:52:06 PM »

I'm struggling to understand the scope of plot writing, especially the early development stages.

I'm wondering if placeholders are useful when writing. I mean it's probably helpful when you are in full script flow to put Guard#1 or Bystander#2, even if their names get used in the script, because you can go back and add it later once your script has been written.

But it's possible to use placeholders for larger aspects such as a "relative" to the main character, is it their (father/brother/uncle/son)?
But I feel that you are using a placeholder "relative" instead of making a decision, because there is a massive difference in interactions between the character and their father, or their son. So in that respect it's not helping you write the story?

Also as a side point, when you don't have the name of your story decided, what do you title your Word document, Story#1? I get the feeling that would get annoying if you have a handful of stories being developed at the same time.

Is it better to use a temporary (bad/wrong?) name instead of a blank placeholder? And then change it as you see fit down the line?

15

General Manga writer discussions / How much research to do when developing a story?

« on: March 02, 2021, 11:43:41 AM »

I'm hitting a lot of basic issues now I'm leaning into writing, sorry for the noobyness.

I understand that the answer is sort of obvious - do as much research as is needed to make the story accurate and interesting.

But I'm also wondering how much research actually gets included in the story once you write it.

For example if I remember correctly in a bonus page the writer of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi said he actually went to other dojos and did research on martial arts and so on, and included some of that in his story, but also made up a lot of stuff that doesn't exist to make it even crazier.

Like if you write a cooking manga like Shokugeki no Souma, then you'll need to know cooking vocabulary and terms.

I think my actual question, is, Can you get away with not researching very much and bluffing your way through the story?

I think also Research and Inspiration are quite closely related. You can get a lot of ideas from research, but take them in different directions and so on.

I suppose my sub-question is, Is it obvious when an author has done or not done their research, even if that research doesn't show directly in their work?
Like you can tell the work has more flavour or depth?

I think I'm getting closer to my real question lol
In a fantasy, what benefit is there to research when the entire thing is written "from scratch"?

I understand it can help with inspiration of course.

What should I even research?

Given that inspiration can be rather abstract in how you interpret things - like seeing a design for armour in the museum might give you an idea for a character, that doesn't even wear armour. So it's almost like any and all research that you do, could be helpful? That sounds awfully unstructured.