Tips for Manga making with a Comic feel?

[Mt Gucci]

Hard to explain, sure something along the lines already exists though.
Basically, I'm making a comic with some friends, but I'm going to go about it with a manga-esque feel to it, while keeping many comic
This was some practice I had with the Manga part.
Also, any tips for making the continuous drawing of the same characters over and over a little easier?

[Moemar]

copy+paste

[Mt Gucci]

Moesus

copy+paste

Nope, won't work.

[Kaxen]

Drawing the same characters over and over easily, I think most of it is just practice. I usually draw characters over and over before starting and ditch any aspect that takes too long to draw or alter it so I can draw it faster.

And well, doing character sheets can help if you actually write down and list out what makes a character themselves.

And there's working with it from the character design. If all the characters have very distinct features: nose shapes, jawlines, eye shapes, body shapes, silhouettes, color palettes, poses, or other physical aspects, even if one drawing is not completely on-model, it would be difficult to confuse the character with another. Like if only one character has the ski-jump nose, even if you draw the nose itself not identically once in a while it won't matter as long as it's ski-jump-y because that character is the only character with a ski-jump nose so it would be hard to confuse them with the character with a hawk nose.

Melding comic and manga styles together, guh that's kind of vague because like........ there's kind of a high variation between western comics themselves and among manga and I wouldn't know where to even start.

[Xiam]

What? I don't get it. Are you trying to make a manga-like comic or a comic-like manga?

Because unless you're Japanese, I'm not sure how you're planning on making a Japanese comic with a western feel - that's how I interpret it, at least. Just bypass the middle man and make a comic. Language is confusing enough.

Mali Ikaros

Also, any tips for making the continuous drawing of the same characters over and over a little easier?

As has been said, draw them a lot. Featuring them in the story a lot will help with that (I always struggle a bit if I take too long on a side-story without another character), but the important thing is that you know them up and down, backward and forward, from every possible angle. To the point where if you ever get the urge to doodle, you're doodling those characters.

It eventually comes as a second nature to you, and that makes things a lot easier.

[Mt Gucci]

Xiam

What? I don't get it. Are you trying to make a manga-like comic or a comic-like manga?

Because unless you're Japanese, I'm not sure how you're planning on making a Japanese comic with a western feel - that's how I interpret it, at least. Just bypass the middle man and make a comic. Language is confusing enough.

Mali Ikaros

Also, any tips for making the continuous drawing of the same characters over and over a little easier?

As has been said, draw them a lot. Featuring them in the story a lot will help with that (I always struggle a bit if I take too long on a side-story without another character), but the important thing is that you know them up and down, backward and forward, from every possible angle. To the point where if you ever get the urge to doodle, you're doodling those characters.

It eventually comes as a second nature to you, and that makes things a lot easier.

Well, a comic with a manga-esque feel. By that, all I really mean is the panel styling to be honest, as I feel manga panel styles, sure, share a lot with comic ones, I mean their both panels, but Manga ones just feel more organized and straightforward to me.

As for the continuous drawing part, I already do that, so I guess that won't be a problem, thanks!

[Xiam]

Mali Ikaros

Xiam

What? I don't get it. Are you trying to make a manga-like comic or a comic-like manga?

Because unless you're Japanese, I'm not sure how you're planning on making a Japanese comic with a western feel - that's how I interpret it, at least. Just bypass the middle man and make a comic. Language is confusing enough.

Mali Ikaros

Also, any tips for making the continuous drawing of the same characters over and over a little easier?

As has been said, draw them a lot. Featuring them in the story a lot will help with that (I always struggle a bit if I take too long on a side-story without another character), but the important thing is that you know them up and down, backward and forward, from every possible angle. To the point where if you ever get the urge to doodle, you're doodling those characters.

It eventually comes as a second nature to you, and that makes things a lot easier.

Well, a comic with a manga-esque feel. By that, all I really mean is the panel styling to be honest, as I feel manga panel styles, sure, share a lot with comic ones, I mean their both panels, but Manga ones just feel more organized and straightforward to me.

As for the continuous drawing part, I already do that, so I guess that won't be a problem, thanks!

Alright, good.

Er... I've never been good at paneling. Most of my comics tend to be 2x2 squares. I'm still struggling with the dynamic concept. sweatdrop

[Mt Gucci]

Xiam

Alright, good.

Er... I've never been good at paneling. Most of my comics tend to be 2x2 squares. I'm still struggling with the dynamic concept. sweatdrop

Paneling came really easy to me, sure not really dynamic, but it's not too hard to make them look pretty.
In all honesty, I think my only problem would be lining. Oooh how I hate lining.

[Kyousouka]

Mali Ikaros

Xiam

Alright, good.

Er... I've never been good at paneling. Most of my comics tend to be 2x2 squares. I'm still struggling with the dynamic concept. sweatdrop

Paneling came really easy to me, sure not really dynamic, but it's not too hard to make them look pretty.
In all honesty, I think my only problem would be lining. Oooh how I hate lining.

By lining, do you mean inking, pencilling, or something else?
So much of comicking often involves working with lines, that a term like "lining" is just too ambiguous.

As for panelling: I recommend reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics, which go into the purpose/theory of various panelling techniques, and contrast western comic-making techniques to Japanese ones, and by learning about that, you'll be able to figure out the best parts of both to use in your own work.

It sounds like instead of trying to have a "manga feel", what you're looking for is simply effective, clear panelling. That's something you can find (and create) on any side of the ocean. You just need to do is understand what panelling is and what it does.

I think the page you linked in your first post has bad panelling. The reading order is clear, but all the overlapping and inconsistency in positioning makes it distracting. Ideally, the reader shouldn't notice your panelling tricks, they should just get the feeling you're trying to convey with them. Get good at simpler panelling before getting into tricks like overlapping panels and panels breaking into the margins.

[Mt Gucci]

Kyousouka

Mali Ikaros

Xiam

Alright, good.

Er... I've never been good at paneling. Most of my comics tend to be 2x2 squares. I'm still struggling with the dynamic concept. sweatdrop

Paneling came really easy to me, sure not really dynamic, but it's not too hard to make them look pretty.
In all honesty, I think my only problem would be lining. Oooh how I hate lining.

By lining, do you mean inking, pencilling, or something else?
So much of comicking often involves working with lines, that a term like "lining" is just too ambiguous.

As for panelling: I recommend reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics, which go into the purpose/theory of various panelling techniques, and contrast western comic-making techniques to Japanese ones, and by learning about that, you'll be able to figure out the best parts of both to use in your own work.

It sounds like instead of trying to have a "manga feel", what you're looking for is simply effective, clear panelling. That's something you can find (and create) on any side of the ocean. You just need to do is understand what panelling is and what it does.

I think the page you linked in your first post has bad panelling. The reading order is clear, but all the overlapping and inconsistency in positioning makes it distracting. Ideally, the reader shouldn't notice your panelling tricks, they should just get the feeling you're trying to convey with them. Get good at simpler panelling before getting into tricks like overlapping panels and panels breaking into the margins.

That was a mouthful but probably the most help I've had in awhile concerning anything "art" related. Thank you.

By lining-- as I plan on doing this all digitally, excluding maybe the sketching, I mean basically the same process as inking, just digitally and I'll look into the book right away! The paneling there was done literally done after looking and observing a few manga/comic pages, as I've never really read either-- well, maybe a few mangas, but not enough to know how they work, so again, thank you!

[Xiam]

Mali Ikaros

Kyousouka

Mali Ikaros

Xiam

Alright, good.

Er... I've never been good at paneling. Most of my comics tend to be 2x2 squares. I'm still struggling with the dynamic concept. sweatdrop

Paneling came really easy to me, sure not really dynamic, but it's not too hard to make them look pretty.
In all honesty, I think my only problem would be lining. Oooh how I hate lining.

By lining, do you mean inking, pencilling, or something else?
So much of comicking often involves working with lines, that a term like "lining" is just too ambiguous.

As for panelling: I recommend reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics, which go into the purpose/theory of various panelling techniques, and contrast western comic-making techniques to Japanese ones, and by learning about that, you'll be able to figure out the best parts of both to use in your own work.

It sounds like instead of trying to have a "manga feel", what you're looking for is simply effective, clear panelling. That's something you can find (and create) on any side of the ocean. You just need to do is understand what panelling is and what it does.

I think the page you linked in your first post has bad panelling. The reading order is clear, but all the overlapping and inconsistency in positioning makes it distracting. Ideally, the reader shouldn't notice your panelling tricks, they should just get the feeling you're trying to convey with them. Get good at simpler panelling before getting into tricks like overlapping panels and panels breaking into the margins.

That was a mouthful but probably the most help I've had in awhile concerning anything "art" related. Thank you.

By lining-- as I plan on doing this all digitally, excluding maybe the sketching, I mean basically the same process as inking, just digitally and I'll look into the book right away! The paneling there was done literally done after looking and observing a few manga/comic pages, as I've never really read either-- well, maybe a few mangas, but not enough to know how they work, so again, thank you!

I always hate lining. It always ends up as sketchy as my sketch, because I'm s**t at maintaining a good, solid line for more than a couple of inches. It also feels redundant - I've already made a good drawing, why not just use that?

I'm considering just sketching out basic shapes and making the final lines in black just to skip the dull, tedious steps that go with "This is good, let's trace it all over again."

[Kyousouka]

Xiam

I'm considering just sketching out basic shapes and making the final lines in black just to skip the dull, tedious steps that go with "This is good, let's trace it all over again."

If you see inking as tracing, I think that explains your disdain for it. Inking should be like colouring, an entirely new addition to the drawing instead of simply being a more visible or cleaner version of what's already there.

The process you're describing is quite similar to what I did with my digital inks when I was a beginner, it saved a lot of time compared to pencilling and then inking. If that's your goal, go for it! I stopped because having pencils made it easier to focus on making my inking better.

Another thing you could consider is pencilling as you normally do, but then erasing any extra bits. If you're working digitally, this can be quite efficient, and give very good-looking lines that detain the feel of a sketch but are as clean as inks. This technique works particularly well with a softer, more pencil- or paintbrush- like brush.

[Xiam]

Kyousouka

Xiam

I'm considering just sketching out basic shapes and making the final lines in black just to skip the dull, tedious steps that go with "This is good, let's trace it all over again."

If you see inking as tracing, I think that explains your disdain for it. Inking should be like colouring, an entirely new addition to the drawing instead of simply being a more visible or cleaner version of what's already there.

The process you're describing is quite similar to what I did with my digital inks when I was a beginner, it saved a lot of time compared to pencilling and then inking. If that's your goal, go for it! I stopped because having pencils made it easier to focus on making my inking better.

Another thing you could consider is pencilling as you normally do, but then erasing any extra bits. If you're working digitally, this can be quite efficient, and give very good-looking lines that detain the feel of a sketch but are as clean as inks. This technique works particularly well with a softer, more pencil- or paintbrush- like brush.

I consider coloring as sort of... fill-in-the-blanks tracing. sweatdrop One of these days I'll figure out how to just go straight-up black and white...

But yeah! That's sort of how I'm going to try it.

[Kyousouka]

Xiam

Kyousouka

Xiam

I'm considering just sketching out basic shapes and making the final lines in black just to skip the dull, tedious steps that go with "This is good, let's trace it all over again."

If you see inking as tracing, I think that explains your disdain for it. Inking should be like colouring, an entirely new addition to the drawing instead of simply being a more visible or cleaner version of what's already there.

The process you're describing is quite similar to what I did with my digital inks when I was a beginner, it saved a lot of time compared to pencilling and then inking. If that's your goal, go for it! I stopped because having pencils made it easier to focus on making my inking better.

Another thing you could consider is pencilling as you normally do, but then erasing any extra bits. If you're working digitally, this can be quite efficient, and give very good-looking lines that detain the feel of a sketch but are as clean as inks. This technique works particularly well with a softer, more pencil- or paintbrush- like brush.

I consider coloring as sort of... fill-in-the-blanks tracing. sweatdrop One of these days I'll figure out how to just go straight-up black and white...

But yeah! That's sort of how I'm going to try it.

Oh wow, then I really don't know what sort of analogy to provide.
I just checked our the comic in your signature, and... well, it shows that you're not getting much benefit out of colouring and inking because you don't seem to have a sense of purpose with them. I think if you take the time to learn more about them, you can.
If you're interested, here are some articles that might be of use:
A little of verything
Establishing mood with colour
Inking (most important is the part where she talks about where to put thick and thin lines)

[Rockwarrior v2.0]

aren't mangas and comics the same thing just different styles of art?