Draw Your Own Manga: All the Basics (Draw Your Own Manga Series) 1568365012, 9781568365015

Citation preview

MAW^ Materials Techniques

Characters Effects

Ij^efviews with

famous

Artists

KAO YAGUCHI 'V

HaruiYo

Nagatomo

Recommended by Tokyo Animation College

ana

TomrujisAWA

3 9048 06659965 9

G

S.S.R Public Library

Grand Ave. 306 Walnut Ave. South San Francisco, C.^

NOV

94080

Digitized

by the Internet Archive in

2016

https://archive.org/detaiis/isbn_9784770029515

DRAW YOUR OWN

MANGA ALL THE BASICS

)

L^ 9M

S.S.F, Public Library

Grand Ave. 306 Walnut Ave. South San Francisco, CA 94080

DRAW YOUR OWN

Photos of Takao Yaguchi and Toru Fujisawa by Kyuzo Akashi. Translation by Frangoise

White (interviews) and Yuriko Tamaki

Illustrations pp.

p.

in

edited by

Distributed

and

in

in

(text).

Kei Katsura,

102-104 by Nanae Kusanagi,

pp.

Originally published

78-80 by

126 by

Emu Yamada.

Japanese as Manga, irasuto no kakikata nyOmon, I.C.,

and published by Coade

in

2002.

the United States by Kodansha America,

Inc.,

the United Kingdom and continental Europe by Kodansha Europe Ltd.

Published by Kodansha International

Ltd.,

17-14 0towa 1-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8652, and Kodansha America, Copyright

© 2003

Inc.

by Coade and Kodansha International

All rights

reserved. Printed

in

Japan.

ISBN-13: 978-4-7700-2951-5 ISBN-10: 4-7700-2951-9

Eirst edition,

05 06 07 08 09

1

0

1 1

1

2

2003 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5

www.kodansha-intl.com

Ltd.

CONTENTS

Interviews

6

Takao Yaguchi

6

Toru Fujisawa

14

Draw Your Own Manga:

All

The Basics

19

Your Essential Manga

Kit 24 Making Manga: The Essential Steps

Lesson

1

28

33

Materials

:

Manga Manuscript Paper 34 38 Pen Nibs and Holders 40 Ink 43 Technical Pens 47 White Ink and Correction Fluid

56 57 Erasers 58 Screen Tone Tools Rulers

Pencils

Cutters

51

59

Tips from a Pro: Ruling Pens

60

Lesson 2 Drawing Characters

61

:

62

Bodies

Eyes

Tips from a Pro:

Add

Shading!

78

68

Faces

71

74

Hair

Lesson 3 Special Effects

81

:

Hand-Drawn Effects 82 Dots 83 Mesh 84 Converging Lines

Speed

Lines

Flashes

Screen Tone

94 The Basics 94 Effects 98

87

89

90

Tips from a Pro:

Lesson 4: Background What

Is

Perspective?

1

Effects

102

105

07

One-Point and Two-Point Perspective

Some More

1 1

Can Use My Own Photos as Background? Characters Are Part of the Background! 1 22 I

Tips from a Pro: Three-Point Perspective

1

1 1

26

"Improve your technique as you learn from everyday experience!" Takao Yaguchi One

radiant character

of

hall

fame

is

in

the Japanese

Sanpei Mihira, a

manga

brilliant

fisherman (about eleven years old)

in

young

a trade-

mark straw hat who wrestles with monstrous fish and challenges adult master fisherman. The unique "Tsuri Kichi Sanpei" ("Fishing-Mad Sanpei") has been a highly popular work for over thirty years.

It's

a magnificent drama,

appealing even to readers

who

aren't at

all

interested in fishing.

At the age of thirty Sanpei's creator, Takao Yaguchi, gave up his secure job at a bank and launched himself into the world of professional manga. Before long he had established the new genre of "Fishing Manga."

THE PATH OF A MANGA ARTIST

I

remember so

by, In

order to discover more about the charm of Yagu-

chi’s

told

work,

I

me that

asked about by the age of

his early influences.

four,

ity

(a classic of

precocious

he was engrossed

pictures

child,

in his illustrated

Chinese in

literature).

I

novels. Pencils lick

was

were

hard to

really

the lead to get

also used to paint

soldiers

A

in

—you had to

lines.

enchanted by the colossal scale of “Monkey: Jour-

during the war paper

used to draw on the blank pages

chapters

He

he had already been

ney to the West”

I

on the paper

graffiti

shoji

it

to

in

come

between

poor qual-

draw dark

of steel-helmeted

screens with a brush

and

ink.

I’ve

heard that when you were

copying the

copy.

in

the top grade of

elementary school, you dreamt of becoming a man-

ga In

artist like

Osamu

Tezuka.

the spring break before entering the fourth grade

in April,

I

came across Osamu Tezuka ’s manga

“RyOsenkei Jiken” (“The Streamlining Incident”) and

was

stunned.

It

was about a

car race, a competition

between two automobile companies, one owned by rabbits, the other by wicked wolves. The cunning manager of the wolves’ company tried to stop production at the rabbits’ like

plying the

company by doing

then encouraging them to go on

6

things

workers with alcohol and food, and strike.

In

Osamu

1947,

Treasure Island")

Tezuka’s “Shin Takarajima” ("New

knew

became a

asked you to draw things

That timeless

bestseller.

that

you were good

at

manga, and sometimes

for them.

masterpiece, the “Tetsuwan Atom” (“Astro Boy”)

magazine series started Incident”

was published

in 1 in

951

only twenty-one and a student

Osaka

ty of

.

1948, in

drew a four-frame manga for the quarterly inhouse magazine. When was asked to introduce the branch’s bank clerks on the front cover and a two page spread in an amusing way, did mangastyle portraits of everyone, which were really pop-

“The Streamlining

I

when Tezuka was

I

the medical facul-

University.

I

My manga was

Automobiles run against the

ular.

them

display of the branch throughout the year.

\A/ind, so in order for must be streamlined to reduce the drag from the head wind. This manga was based on the principles of aerodynamics and children found very persuasive. At that time, some cars still ran on charcoal. Gasoline cars had started to appear, although you had to crank the engine going. Not even jeeps were streamlined. to get Tezuka’s manga thus seemed new and believable, and also the quality of his pictures was excellent,

to

go

fast they

also placed

the

in

window

it

it

elephant called Indra sent by the Indian Prime

Then came a turning point for you. At the age of twenty-six, you came across Sanpei Shirato’s “Kamui Den” (“The Legend of Kamui”) in a bookshop. You were bowled over.

Minister Nehru to the young boys and girls of Japan toured the country. In 1950, when Akita

“The Legend of Kamui” was drawn from a com-

really

amazing.

When was I

prefecture

in fifth

first

since the war, I

at

commemorated

holding the

school,

grade

I

elementary school, an

the elephant’s

visit

by

pletely fresh point of view.

prefectural children’s exhibition

won

the

usually got the

first prize. In first

prize

in

historical realistic.

the poster

I

because

I

advanced during

I’d

wrote that

used

I

be a manga artist on a school quesmy hopes for a future career. The teacher didn’t even comment. At that time, neither

wanted

tionnaire

a

manga

If

we

Osamu Tezuka’s style and managed to draw some wasn’t very good. Then came across I

liked

I

I

I

style,

and

I

manga as

he has scruffy

that time.

had a great effect on my work. realized that didn’t have a flexible wrist like Osamu Tezuka and couldn’t draw soft, rounded lines like he did. Sanpei Shirato’s lines were rough and sharp, and found that this style worked welt for me. My hand just wasn’t suited to drawing certain things, such as the strands of hair of Maitaru, the hero in Reiji Matsumoto’s “Ginga

look at a typical self-portrait

artist of that time,

I

as reference.

Sanpei Shirato’s

about

a proper career. of

it

things, but

to

teachers or parents considered drawing

I

I

During that time,

the second grade of junior high

the

hadn’t seen any

six years,

competitions for “Road Safety,” “Prevent Dental

In

was about

manga for about five or was busy at the bank. was shocked when saw how far Japanese manga had

junior high

Decay Day” and “Green Week,” even though drawn in the manga style.

It

peasant uprisings, and was extremely

hair

it

I

I

and patches on the knees of his trousers, and he’s drawing manga under a naked light bulb on an overturned wooden fruit box. The general belief was that being a manga artist or novelist meant living in poverty. It was an age when there were lots of young aspiring manga artists working in house painting or drawing movie billboards.

Tetsudo 999” (“Milky

Way

Hand type determines

Railroad 999”).

the style! Sanpei Shirato cre-

ated a style suited to his hand type with a

You practiced drawing manga all the way through high school, but then you got a job in a bank to support your family. Your colleagues at the bank

lot of

hard

work. Takao Saito apparently established his

own

current style because his wrist

was too

started drawing long lines like

(“Golgo 13”).

7

in

stiff

and he

“Gorugo 13”

So then you

own

style,

drawing.” These harsh words spurred you into sub-

About three years later, your debut amateur work “Nagamochi Utako” (“The

mitting your resignation after twelve years at the

started developing your

using bold, straight

lines.

Wooden

Ballad of the

Chest”)

was published

in

bank. You

the

to

magazine Garo, an established springboard for new manga artists. Your work was not at all amateurish

While

draw

was working

I

in

at the

As

the evenings.

to realize that

if

I

bank,

drew

made

I

by

bit

bit,

I

began

else’s

would be more dramatic, and my changed. But if look at my first piece

When

flashy.

draw

my

to cover

eyes.

look at work by young people

I

well but with superficial cleverness,

feeling that that’s

substance,

all

is.

If

who

in

an

illustration of that

dia, either

no

to

draw

it.

statue

in in

Ueno, but there the encyclope-

the editor or myself would have to

take a photo of the statue

get the

just flashy with

work to manga opened up new worlds to me.

I

realized that

in

order for

go and

me to be able

some manga

requires ex-

tensive photographic material.

the

one by Sanpei

969) as

it’s

I

isn’t

no good.

it’s

Your piece appeared (April 1

it

too

It’s

I

the statue of the politician Saigo

I

want

I

artist.

For example, supposing there’s a scene beneath

there, the effect

work rapidly of work now,

manga

When was amateur, drew my own works within my own capabilities. However, adapting someone

time to I

inserted an extra episode here or

I

professional

writer Ikki Kajiwara.

excellent.

is

behind your family and went to Tokyo

You really dived in at the deep end. Then work began to come in, such as the series “Otoko Michi” (“The Way of the Samurai”) by the popular manga

—the beautiful, wonderfully strong lines are

impressive, and the finish

left

make your way as a

same

edition of

Garo

During this time, your series “Tsuri Bakatachi” (“The

Crazy Fishermen”) was published, and you started

Shirato.

Then from June 1 973, “Fishingweekly boy’s magazine Shukan Shonen Magajin and was an instant hit. You also won the Kodansha Manga Award that year. The series continued for over ten years, in which time you drew approximately fourteen thousand pages. Sales of the pocket book edition reached 25 million copies. Then there was a break of eighteen years. In 2001 you got back to work on the series and it’s more popular than ever. Incidentally, young Sanpei hasn’t grown at all, even though thirty years have passed since his debut. to build a reputation.

When you

are accepted for publication, you gain

confidence. With each work you think, “Ah, that’s

how

to

do

And you

as you get the knack of techniques.

it!"

get excited as the urge to draw wells up

in you, and you find you really can draw. I’d never completed even one work then suddenly had five works published in one year! It felt as a floodgate had opened. if

Even

so,

it

was around

that time that

you

lost

your

determination to turn professional and you almost

gave up, thinking

was

it

was

already 29 years old with two children.

my

an adolescent daydream.

It

youth and would disappear,

loses

its tail.

I

before long, so sort of

I

memento

was

is

it

it

would be

could draw him just didn’t feel between their domestic arguments. So made Sanpei exactly the same as before, just

Yuri-chan, and

a tadpole

I

I

fishing in

it

I

changing the setting to the current Heisei period.

my youth.

as a professional. And you won’t

Thus in a scene where Sanpei is out fishing and wants to phone the master fisherman Gyoshin, in the past he would have gone to the nearest house with a phone whereas now he uses a cell phone. This is the sort of change make to create a mod-

banking because of your

ern setting. Essentially, though, Sanpei hasn’t

of

good enough

mean you’ll make

drawing the new Sanpei

readers suggested that

if

the traces of

just like

decided to

some

make Sanpei a modern-day businessman. But Sanpei had become a businessman he’d have married his childhood sweetheart,

But then your branch manager told you “Your man-

ga

start

I

interesting to

would come to an end drew one last piece of work as a

thought

When series,

I

just

serialized in the

impossible.

Bank employees weren’t very well paid at that time, and my savings were paltry. thought that my dream of turning professional would probably end up as I

Mad Sanpei” was

to

ever be successful

be published, but that doesn’t in

I

8

.