About Manga

[Shadow Major]

Because I am learning to draw a Japanese art, would that mean the setting of my story needs to be based in Japan?

[Learner]

It's up to you.

[Crombie]

No, the setting can be anywhere, and it's for the most part, not a Japanese art, so much as just a form of art. No form of art can belong to one nationality, but it can originate in a nation and be adopted by multiple other nations.

[Shadow Major]

Great! Well, would it be strange if a manga was based in a country apart from Japan, and the characters all had Japanese names?

[vortexblast]

It depends on your story. It's entirely possible that all of your characters has Japanese names (they could be exchange students, immigrants or whatever the case may be) but you need to present it in a realistic and plausible way. So it's not strange at all.

[Crombie]

People are constantly moving in and out of various countries. I don't think it would be that big of a deal, you can even make up names if you want, like in Peter Pan (Wendy wasn't a name until then).

[Shadow Major]

Sweet, well, it's good to know this stuff! Not all manga has to be black and white, right? (Haven't read much manga to know )

[vortexblast]

As far as I know, I haven't encountered a fully coloured manga from the beginning to the end but the first two or three pages are often coloured with an extreme amount of detail, effects and much more. It takes a lot of work and time and I don't think you will see a fully coloured manga anytime soon. They always do it in black and white to save time for their already tight schedule.

[Caliber Mengsk]

Pretty much all manga is, is a graphic novel. Sure, it's got a specific art style to it, but it's just a graphic novel. It doesn't change the fact whether it's color or not. To many arrogant, closed minded people you can't even draw manga or anime if you aren't japanese. Those kind of people are bafoons.

Generally speaking though, Manga is not colored. The reason is cost. Unlike US style comics that are colored, there are A LOT more pages in a Manga. I think the average US comic is around 30 pages. 50 if you find a long one, where as Manga are generally 150-180 pages or more sometimes. To keep costs down, and to get more issues printed faster, they generally restrict themselves to black and white. It also makes for faster releases.

Personally, it takes me about 30-40 minutes to draw a character in pencil, but can take hours to color, if I do a simple color job. Do that for each frame in full color taking just an hour, with an average of 4 frames per page at 150 pages, that's 600 hours. That's 25 days straight, 24 hours a day.

So coloring may be nice to look at, but it can take a lot out of production time. And an hour per frame to do full, quality color is very very very generous with how quickly it can be done. I'm also fairly certain that the manga artists can generally pop out a frame ever 10 mins or so professionally. Black and white is just much faster.

(btw, that math would be 75 work days, or 3-4 months.)

[thefairydaydreamer]

I'm glad that manga doesn't have to be Japan-oriented. Now I can have BEATS set in California like I originally planned. XP

[Shadow Major]

Has anyone ever seen the hilt of a sword in a manga or anime that looks like this one? (Specifically, I'm talking about the bit between the place you hold and the blade.)

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[Crombie]

... That would be the "guard", which is part of the hilt. The hilt contains multiple parts: The guard, the handle, and the pommel. Tassels and other fancy decorations are used in order to show rank... Just thought you'd like that tidbit of information there...

Anyway on to the sketch. It seems to contain the basic 2D concept of a guard, but lacks perspective, and dimension. You should always practice using these whenever drawing.

[Shadow Major]

That is very useful info, thanks for mentioning it! Anyway, it was a very quick drawing indeed, and the only reason for that was because my purpose was to find out if anyone had seen it somewhere in an anime or manga before, so that I'm not actually stealing someone else's idea... or does it not matter?

[PJCzar]

Just because your art looks a certain way does not mean it has to have anything to do with japan or asia as a whole.

As far as japanese named characters in another country, its possible. I would suggest some sort of exchange student set up or if its in the past ( i am assuming because of the sword) some link to merchants.

There are lots of mangas that are full color, it just costs a whole lot more to do that way. the paper has to be different, there is 6 times more ink used, so on and so on.

i dont think any one will see you sword guard and say "hey thats my design!". Most swords are made with a pattern, just like clothes each peace identical to the the next. That being said some nobles and rich folk would have unique guards and pommels made to show thier power and influence. Fact of the matter is most swords where mass produced and featureless. I study a lot about ancient and medieval weapons so if you need any help id be glad to answer any questions you have.

[Shadow Major]

That's great! Well, I do have a question, I suppose. What are the benefits of having a sword with a curved blade than a sword that has a straight blade (if there are any benefits, that is)?

[dvandom]

In use, a curved blade is better for a slashing style and cramped quarters, but we're talking serious curves like a scimitar, not the slight curve of a katana. IIRC, the katana's curve is a structural thing, prestressing the metal so the blade is stronger in slicing motion.

---Dave

[risanaoaoi15]

everything doesnt have to be about japanese. it could be taken place in america or in france. whatever you choose is fine

[PJCzar]

Sept 4, 2011 4:00:40 GMT -5 Shadow Major said:

That's great! Well, I do have a question, I suppose. What are the benefits of having a sword with a curved blade than a sword that has a straight blade (if there are any benefits, that is)?

Dave is right. The original curved blades of the middle east which grew in popularity around the world and where adapted for their user where originally made for slashing attacks. The more curved the blade the less energy it took to behead a man in one fluid movement.

I found this on subject:
"The curve offers more surface area while keeping the overall length of the blade down, thus maintaining balance"

Also sometimes the handle of the sword can curve in an opposite direction of the blade. The image is an example of this.
I own this exact sword here and i do prefer the reverse handle which is longer. it allows for better control of the weapon.

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[dvandom]

A curved grip on an epee or saber is called a "pistol grip" and is favored by certain schools of dueling. Old school, it is. The pistol grip is better suited to control of a thrusting sword than a slashing sword, however (and hence makes very little sense on Count Dooku's lightsaber, but Christopher Lee is an old school fencer and wanted the pistol grip). Dunno what the advantage of a curve on a two-handed hilt would be, though.

---Dave

[Shadow Major]

How would you draw a flashback in a comic? E.g. what effects do you need to use?

[PJCzar]

some sort of haze around the edges or one panel of "2 years ago"
or both.

[Crombie]

Use Tite Kubo's dark around the panels, and lines going through some panels to represent personal flashbacks.

[dvandom]

Yeah, dark gutters vs. white gutters to indicate flashbacks is a trick that predates Kubo, although you have to be consistent with it and provide clear context the first few times in any given volume in order to avoid having readers get lost. Hazy borders are another trick, and if you're doing this digitally you have the option of putting a haze effect over everything (or everything except the main character, to make it clearer whose flashback it is).

---Dave

[Shadow Major]

If I were to make a manga and post pictures of it on the internet, how could I make sure that no one steals my idea?

[Shadow Major]

Oct 16, 2011 1:32:10 GMT -5 Shadow Major said:

If I were to make a manga and post pictures of it on the internet, how could I make sure that no one steals my idea?

Just posting to make sure that my message gets across.

[dvandom]

Ultimately, you can't ensure no one steals your ideas. You need to make sure your execution of the ideas is good enough to let you win out over the biters in the market.

---Dave

[Shadow Major]

Ah, well, it's okay. Thanks for answering my question. Hopefully this will answer other people's questions about this as well.

[vortexblast]

The question is not how to make sure your ideas cannot stolen but how can I be recognized for my work, how to make sure on what's mine is mine. Some people are going to steal anyway or to use a bit of reference from you to make their own story, it happens all the time. I agree with dvandom but I just want to add a bit more. It's not only about winning, it's also about leaving a style or something that can be recognized as your work. I don't mean by a signature or watermark but a unique identity on your future story, manga or whatever where the reader knows that it's yours. So when the time comes when somebody tries to steal your ideas, one reader might point to him that he stole your ideas.
But really, I only consider stealing if it's an almost exact copy of the same thing and then selling it for money.

[Shadow Major]

Nov 22, 2011 12:48:35 GMT -5 vortexblast said:

The question is not how to make sure your ideas cannot stolen but how can I be recognized for my work, how to make sure on what's mine is mine. Some people are going to steal anyway or to use a bit of reference from you to make their own story, it happens all the time. I agree with dvandom but I just want to add a bit more. It's not only about winning, it's also about leaving a style or something that can be recognized as your work. I don't mean by a signature or watermark but a unique identity on your future story, manga or whatever where the reader knows that it's yours. So when the time comes when somebody tries to steal your ideas, one reader might point to him that he stole your ideas.
But really, I only consider stealing if it's an almost exact copy of the same thing and then selling it for money.

Thanks vortexblast, that makes me feel a whole lot better now .