Drawing Manga :: Part 4: 360° Jeans, Line Art Tutorial, & Links

There's been a lot of manga posts I just keep in the draft stage, which as part of my new year I am determined to put a stop to. So I'm going to try to shoot out all the posts I've been meaning to post but haven't. This is but one of those many posts, and I hope is super handy for any artists out there.

:: 360° View of Jeans ::

I don't really wear Diesel jeans all that much, but I stumbled across this site while researching "emo", and not only is it a good use of Flash, but I think it is also a handy reference tool for anyone who has to draw their characters in jeans (or any type of pant for that matter.) It enables you to pick a type of jean and view that from different angles, freeing up the poses available in which you can draw your character.

The site is here. You wait until the jean Cubiverse opens up, revealing all the models caged in their cubes. Look for a jean that matches the type of jean your character wears, and click on it; that specific cube will pop to the forefront. At the bottom left of the cube is a little button that says "View 360°". Click on that, and you can now move the mouse around and see this jean from all sides. Now you can draw with gusto, having a handy reference for where to correctly positon potential seam lines, wrinkles, and pockets. Sadly, you cannot view the jeans from all angles or sizes, but it is still a great help.

If you have a Mac, there are two ways to screenshot the jeans for future reference. My favorite is apple-shift-4, because you can precisely select what you want screenshot. Pressing those three keys simultaneously turns your curser into a crosshair; you then hold down the mouse and drag, selecting what you want to screenshot. When you release the mouse, you will hear a click, and voila! you have created a precise screenshot of, say, one of the pairs of jeans on your screen. The screenshot is saved as a png file on your desktop, called "Picture 1". (If you accidentally hit these three keys but don't want to screenshot, just click the mouse again without holding down and the curser will go away.)

The second way is like the standard way of making a screenshot in Windows: press apple-shift-3 simultaneously, and a screenshot of the whole screen is saved on your desktop. (For Windows users: pres the "Print Screen" key at the top of your keyboard, open up the Paint program in your accessories somewhere, and press paste. You can now save your screen shot.)


:: Line Art Tutorial ::

A useful tutoerial on the importance of good line art in manga and what to look for was done by Amy Reeder Hadley. You can find it here.

:: Links ::

Here are some useful links to just about every subject for drawing manga at Telophase's LiveJournal. Found through Amy's resource page.

Viral Video Melancholia? Cure: the Haruhi Dance

So yay for serendipitous web surfing! I was searching for Death Note stuff and instead learned all about the newest anime viral video craze: the Haruhi dance! This is apparently taking over the cons in Korea and Japan, if all the horrible dances on YouTube are to be believed. (There are way too many to mention, so you will have to hunt for them yourselves. Send me alink of the best ones you find?)

Will catchy dances ala Thriller be the newest thing in the world of anime, so that even if the anime series does not last it will live on in the annals of anime pop culture? That remains to be seen, but hopefully this is the beginning of an exciting new trend of fun dances that make me laugh, which I will definitely enjoy for as long as it lasts. I would love to see TV shows in America do this, and not just in musical montage episodes (although those are fun.)

Embedded below is the original Haruhi Dance:



Here is a great blog that breaks down the dance for you, in case you decide that this is exactly what you needed for a killer convention skit. (Seriously, if someone got a group dressed up as the Host Club and danced to this, you would win my heart forever. Haruhi doing the Haruhi dance? Priceless.)

This is the blog where I first learned about it, and the guy has a great discussion about the idea of anime creators having savvy campaigns and character designs that encourage thrusting their creations into a pop culture mentality.

The same guy found a Death Note parody using the Haruhi Dance. The idea of Light dancing to such an upbeat pop song makes me squee.

Oh yeah, and don't forget in the dancing mania that there is an actual show as well: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This blog has really pretty pics from the anime, and interesting discussions about it, like this one on the rules of the number of episodes an anime will have.

The timing of this phenomenon makes me laugh, as the whole dancing-in-cosplay-to-viral-video has been a current topic for us in the last couple of months. My sis and some friends were going to go to the Boise con as the all-female Sanzo party, and do the "Million Ways" dance, since it deals with bowing and lots of fighting and gunslinging. (Sadly, the concensus is that this dance skit will not happen after all, though the female Sanzo party's cosplay prospects are alive and well. So look for them at a Boise con near you.) Maybe they should do a Haruhi dance instead! =) Or, er, maybe not.

::

Sorry for the lame title for this post; I've posted so infrequently lately that my brain is actually out of practice when it comes ot making these up. Hopefully it will be better up to speed for the next posts I do. (Not that all of my other post titles have been gems, but I feel like this one is exceptionally subpar.)

And yes, it's good to be back and posting again! I've been lazy lately, but hope to get back up to speed. I'm going to make some changes in what I post where and have new resolutions for my online stuff, and will have a post up about that soon.

I See Bending People: Avatar + Night = ?!?!?!?!

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth to the rumors flying about the Avatar Movie.

First off, the thought of a live action version is tricky to me. There is a lot at stake for the first movie, and the audience will either love it or hate it, a reaction that is completely dependent on the quality of the actors chosen and effects put into it. As far as actors go, I am skittish. The voice actors make the characters; their vocal mannerisms are what bring them to life, and that could go horribly awry when different actors are picked. (But both Elicia and I feel that the voice actor of Zuko could easily play him on screen; Rufio Rufio Roo-fee-oh! (Heh, ever since we figured out they were the same person I always think that when I hear the character.) But I do get that, unless the movie covers a brand new story, live action is the most feasible route to follow in bringing Avatar to the big screen. But as Eragon has proven, not every modern-day epic adaptation is destined for success; I hope The-Powers-That-Be are treading very carefully on this one.

Secondly, of all the directors available to shoot this, their first pick out of the gate is M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN?!?!? Don't get me wrong, Night is a terrific director in spite of his current hang-ups, and I get that he wants a franchise, but AVATAR? While I think he could bring great depth and play up the darker, more poignant themes of the show brilliantly, the joy of Avatar (besides seeing Zuko angst) is its humor; is Night's usually subdued playfullness of his movies up to the task? If he ends up being the sole writer on this, the answer will be a thudding, resounding no. But all is not lost; Alfonso Cuaron brought a dark and twisty Harry Potter splendidly to life, so there is a chance the same type of gambling is at work here. And heaven knows Night could use the job.

It's possible, however, that another director will eventually take the helm if the project gets at all delayed. The question is, who? Personally, I would love to see Peter Jackson direct it. Elicia and I were talking about this, and we thought that Jackson and Night should switch projects, swap The Lovely Bones for Avatar, but that will never happen as Jackson is too far into making Bones. But it would have been a fair trade, fitting the director's individual styles perfectly.

And for the love of all that is holy, if the production manager for the film is at all sane he will hire WETA or a similar shop for the props. Each nation in Avatar has its own style and history, and WETA would help provide a realistic gravitas that a live action Avatar will need. I almost drooled while watching Narnia, and that kind of detail would help bring Avatar closer to glorious life.

In short, this news is interesting indeed, and the bold choice in Night as director will make or break the movie, and all future Avatar adaptations. I will be watching with much intrigue to see if he is ultimately up to the task.

Writing Manga:: Part 5: Brian K. Vaughan's Advice for Comic Writers

Whitney over at Pop Candy loves Brian K. Vaughan, who has worked on such comics as Y: the Last Man and Runaways. She has given him props multiple times in her blog, and even made a podcast of a roundtable discussion of Y: The Last Man, in which he called in and joined in, to everyone's delight. So of course when he posted on his MySpace page advice about writing comics, she made a post all about it.

Below is his post in full. It applies to artists as well as writers, and was one of two perfect editorials on priorities that I needed to jump-start my new year. (The other was in my local paper; when I find it I will get it posted here as well.) Read and enjoy.

I'm totally in agreement with him about "write more, do other stuff less"; at the end of the day, it just comes down to having the courage/discipline/desire to just plop your butt down and write/draw/record/shoot/create, in spite of all the crazy stuff happening or your own reservations of doing so. I tend to overthink things and do my research to the point I put off actually putting those things into practice. The thinking and the research become an excuse, rather than an impetus, for getting the idea sketched out and completed. Understandable? Yes. Extremely flawed? Double yes.

I'm going to try to make this year my year of doing: getting webcomics up, character designs completed, fanart penned, colored, and posted online and at cons; putting more work into our CafePress site and designs. In short, do more and say less. Well, maybe not less per se; just have the doing part match up with the other parts of my creative processes already in place.

Because of his article, I actually had the nerve to draw the initial sketches of a webcomic idea that has been rolling round in my head for quite some time. And man, it felt so good to do that! It is just the first step, of course, but a vital one I keep putting off way too much. Yay for BKV to help nudge me on the right path to my goals!

::

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

BKV's Advice on Writing Comics and

A ton of new traffic here after this joint got plugged in WIZARD, and I've gotten over 1,000 new messages, many of them asking for advice about writing and breaking in. I wish I had time to respond to each, but unfortunately, I'm working on four to five books a month (on top of two screenplays for New Line), so I decided to post this one mega-response in the hopes of reaching as many of you as possible.

First, the disclaimers that will make me seem like a dick: I know it sounds like lawyerly bullshit, but for legal reasons, I ABSOLUTELY CAN'T READ YOUR SCRIPTS, PITCHES, IDEAS, ETC. Please don't send them to me. Even if I could read them (which I can't), I wouldn't be able to help you get work. Only editors can hire you, and I'm just a lowly freelancer. If I could magically get people on the payroll at Marvel or DC, I would have done it for my freeloading playwright wife ages ago. (Kidding, Ruthless).

Still, I love free stuff, so if you have a PUBLISHED minicomic, zine, or whatever, please feel free to send it to me. That said, I'm afraid I no longer write review quotes, cover blurbs or introductions. I felt too bad turning some creators down, so I stopped cold turkey a few months ago. Apologies, but seriously, that stuff won't help sell your books. All that matters is quality.

Anyway, let's begin with some general advice about writing:

WRITE MORE, DO OTHER STUFF LESS.

That's it. Everything else is meaningless. You can take all the classes in the world and read every book on the craft out there, but at the end of the day, writing is sorta like dieting. There are plenty of stupid fads out there and charlatans promising quick fixes, but if you want to lose weight, you have to exercise more and eat less. Period. Every writer has 10,000 pages of shit in them, and the only way your writing is going to be any good at all is to work hard and hit 10,001.

(And this isn't just some tired cliche, I believe that's a provable mathematical equation. I started writing five pages a day, every single day, when I began my senior year of high school. That means I hit 10,001 roughly a year after I graduated NYU, which was exactly when I pitched Y: THE LAST MAN to Vertigo. It took a lot of lousy writing to get there, but I'm glad I stuck with it. And don't worry, if you were busy actually having a life in high school and college, it's never too late to begin your march towards 10,001. Most writers don't do their best work until they're in their thirties and forties, anyway. Still, the clock is ticking, so maybe you old-timers should consider writing seven pages a day?)

Anyway, when people ask me for suggestions about writing, they're usually asking how to make it more fun. Well, writing might be fun for some people, but for most of us, it's an unholy nightmare. Writing is hard, lonely, frustrating work. I hate it more than just about anything in the world. Unfortunately, the thing I LOVE more than just about anything is HAVING WRITTEN, so I have to power through the misery to get to that sensation. For me, writing is like starting with six hours' worth of hangover to enjoy a few minutes of feeling drunk. It's a bizarre, unnatural way of life, and not everyone's cut out for it, but if you're born with this wonderful, terrible addiction, you'll recognize it soon enough.

(Oh, and "writer's block" is just another word for video games. If you want to be a writer, get writing, you lazy bastards.)

For those of you who've already figured out that you're writers, you're probably wondering if you can do it professionally. I used to be exactly like you. I desperately wanted to write comics, but I had no idea how to go about it. When I was a freshman at NYU (where I went to study film, since no universities offered courses on comics), I attended a Neil Gaiman signing, and asked Neil if he any advice for young writers. Now, I've talked to lots of other creators who've received pearls of wisdom from Mr. Gaiman over the years, and amazingly, they each got completely different—but equally life-changing—pieces of advice. It's like Neil has a mystical ability to look into a writer's eyes and tell him or her exactly what he or she needs to hear. (In other words, go bother him if my bullshit doesn't work for you.)

Anyway, Neil told me, "Go get published, because nothing will make you become a better writer faster than knowing that complete strangers are reading your horrible, horrible writing."

Now, on the surface, this is pretty crappy advice. How the hell is someone supposed to "go get published?" But as luck would have it, I happened to be in the exact right place at the exact right time.

When I was a sophomore at New York University in the film and dramatic writing program, I enrolled in a new elective called the Stanhattan Project (named after Stan Lee). A former Marvel editor named James "the Professor" Felder decided that he needed to look outside of comics for new talent, so he started this informal writing workshop at NYU to teach the ins and outs of the medium and the industry to young writers. James liked my work and threw me a little job or two to help get my foot in the door.

And yes, when I finally saw my first published work on the stands at Cosmic Comics in midtown Manhattan, I proudly started to reread my own writing, only to immediately experience the sense of horror and disgust Gaiman had warned me about a year earlier. That's when my career as a writer began.

I wish I could tell all of you to sign up for the Stanhattan Project, but sadly, it only lasted one short year. And that's the maddening thing about comics. It's not like becoming a dentist, where everyone attends the same amount of courses and takes the same kinds of tests to get where they want to be. No two people ever break into our medium in the same way.

Look at other "mainstream" writers. New WOLVERINE scribe Daniel Way got the attention of Dark Horse Comics editor Diana Schutz when he gave her a copy of a comic that he self-published with the help of a Xeric Grant (if you don't know what that is, get Googling). BIRDS OF PREY writer Gail Simone wowed major companies with the hilarious online humor column she did at Comic Book Resources. And ULTIMATE HULK VS. WOLVERINE writer Damon Lindeloff hooked up with Marvel after he co-created LOST, one of the hottest television shows of the last ten years. Three drastically different paths to breaking into "the majors," but all three writers have one thing in common: they were working their asses off while other wannabe creators were sitting at home, waiting for the phone to ring.

I think it was my pal Devin Grayson who first compared the industry to a medieval castle. As soon as one invader finds a way inside, that hole is immediately plugged. You'll need creativity and imagination to find your hole (heh), but if you didn't have those attributes, you wouldn't be trying to break in, now would you?

And trust me, breaking in is not half as hard as STAYING in. For every comic that came out with my name on it, there were a dozen pitches that never saw the light of day. When work slowed down, I tried to keep my skills sharp by writing other stuff, like short plays ( http://bkv.tv/pages/news.html ). When editors stopped returning my calls entirely, I started making my own comics. And when I couldn't even find artists willing to collaborate with me, I started creating graphic novels with photography ( http://bkv.tv/pages/news.html ).

In short, stop making excuses and start making art.

Finally, if and when you're ready to pitch your brilliant idea to someone, I suggest checking out this excellent site that someone from my message board (at www.bkv.tv ) recently posted, which lists every small to midlevel publisher out there that accepts unsolicited submissions, even if there's no artist attached to the project: http://comiccreatorservices.blogspot.com/

And if you're not sick of me yet, you can read more about my weird personal writing habits and rambling thoughts on the craft in the book WRITERS ON COMICS SCRIPTWRITING VOL. 2, which can be ordered from your local comics retailer, or online at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1840238089/sr=8-4/qid=1141431390/ref=sr_1_4/103-0088650-9726248?_encoding=UTF8

Best of luck,
BKV

Brand New Year, Same Old Me

It's been a long time, no? Yay for the Holidays, except now I have been playing mad catch-up with my ever-pressing work deadlines, thus no AB this week; but keep your eyes peeled for next week.

Though the break was super nice; the university I work at gave all the employees a whole week off, plus I took extra time. So nice long break for me, which was spent staying up way too late, sleeping, watching a Venture Brothers Marathon, eating lots of holiday foods, and playing video games (Guitar Heroes—with visiting fam too! Nothing like watching your uncle play, hah!), Kingdom Hearts 2 (finished!), DDR, and Okami (still in progress.)) But I wasn't a total lazy person all through the hols; we entertained several relatives at my mom's house, went to parties, painted my bathroom, and got my house into some semblance of normalcy. (My vacuum works again!) I didn't sketch much, but I did come up with several ideas for comic ideas, and we got AB pillows made, so Woohoo.

(The pillows are awesome btw. Much smaller than we wanted, and we still need to play with transfer paper types, but they are cute and cuddly, which is really all that matters. We had a sushi/gyoza party last weekend, and if the glomping and sqealing were any indication, they should sell pretty well as is at the con. So look out, Boise!)

Elicia and I gave out some winning presents this year, and we got as good as we gave; yay for karma! The hightlights were a comprehensive book on weaponry though the ages that makes me drool every time I read it, an iPod/radio/alarm clock that is teh pretties, a Shikamaru plushie and keychain, a Totoro keychain, and super warm PJ's. I am drawing a huge blank on others I got (Sob! How ungrateful does that make me seem!), but will add other gifts as I recall them.

I gave Elicia Okami, a cow-shaped measuring tape, and a stuffed cat that looks and feels much like our very own Pip, which also coincidentally is named Pip! so now she can go to grad school and her Pip withdrawls will be hopefully lessened. I also got her a rather wierd, blobby green Tamagotchi stocking stuffer. Cute but random, so therefore a perfect Leeshee gift!

My dad I got an Eric Clapton CD, which he loved, a Bush humor calendar, which made him laugh, and a Lowe's gift card to help him and my Stepmom out with the restoring of the farm. My Stepmom I got a candle holder from Global Village Gifts, which I knew she'd appreciate. Elicia got them tons of nice things from England.

She also got our mom stuff from across the pond; I got mom snowman candles since that is the theme in her living room after christmas, a special box set of the Polar Express book complete with a bell; and other things I threw in at the last minute. Oh, we both got her nativities, yet another room theme. (My mom has a lot of room themes. But I can't complain, as my house has the Asian room theme thing still going strong. The rooms are all almost painted and look awesome, btw. Now to find the perfect super-long wall scroll...)

My biggest regret about the hols is easy: that my slowly depleting blog posts and AB pics turned nonexistent. I can't apologize enough about my laziness. And there was so much great news and art stuff happening, too! But I will do my best to catch up and get on track of everything again. All my little balls of stuff to do were dropped, but I promise to start picking them back up and juggling them all once more. Be patient, my fair ones! All three of you who actually read this blog will be nourished once more! =)