Manga Drawing Deluxe

I've finished my first  How to draw manga book "Manga Drawing Deluxe" from Rockport Publishers. I've offer many arts for Chris Hart's how to draw manga books, but they were just drawings. It was the first challenge for me, and yes, it was very hard!!

I'm teaching manga in English at Manga School Nakano, and some students asked me if I know good how to draw manga book. I don't know well about those books so I can't say anything. I myself think sometimes it would be a good  if I have a instruction book for student during my class. 

I thought if I could make a thin booklet by myself but it was just thinking. Without a good Japanese editor's help, it seems too hard for me.  So, when I got a offer from the publisher, I thought it was a good opportunity, I can do with an editor (american editor, though)  and my experience as a teacher can help it!

But I found it was tough work more than I imagined. Of course I didn't think any help about the contents from US editor, but the distance and English - especially without face to face communication was something. Quite something. 

(The biggest problem was my slow progress, though!)

The fee is whole book, not per page, so I thought it would be nice if I could compile minimum pages.  But eventually I spent maximum pages, ans still, I had to remove some part I was planning because of amount of pages and the schedule.

 

 Some parts of my first manuscripts were too jammed, I replace each drawings and words and to make more space, by the editor's request.

But I tried to cover whole manga making process, not only drawing characters - such as perspective for background, panel layout for composing.  You can write one book about composing, so the part I mentioned in this book is just introduction, but I tried to make it practical.

You can't be perfect, I'll be keeping find  some flows every time when I read this, but I worked hard and satisfied with the result. I'll use this my manga class, it helps me a lot! (Especially when I get stuck English) 

I hope it also help people who lean manga by themselves.

Still there are something to do , contents page and about the Author pages,  a Resources page, so on. (all resources are my work, so might be unnecessary?)

But anyway, the contents has done!!

One of my student said it was a good instruction, easy to follow. 

What do you think?

Video Manga tutorial project has started!

I have been thinking for a while to make some video clip, How to draw manga series.

I'm having manga lesson class, both in person and online already. I think that is the best way learning manga (In person > Online), but attending manga class is not easy to everyone. The costs, schedule, and shyness...

So if I could offer some video lessons, it would be good for both MSN (Manga School Nakano) and the audience. It would help to run online video lesson, to improve the contents and publicity. On the ohter hand, the audience can watch free video how to draw and ask questions.

But there was a problem - I couldn't make video clips by myself because I have no skill for that. Fotunantally, I got some people who can help me, Masao-kun and Pirrip-kun! ! With them, I've started Manga drawing video clip project now!

This is the first video clip, about how to draw faces. This version is about 10 minutes. We'll make short video clips, about 10 min. /3-5 min. because it easily can be watched anytime.

We are not in this building anymore, though - have moved. ^^;

It's just started. Camera angles, positions, constructions, we'll improve them by try and error. 

They are free. That because every member i s kindly helping me with no charge.  I'm thinking to get some income by advertisement - I could pay some to them by that,  if we got many subscribers and views.

Please share the video clips and subscribe our channel "Nakano Let's draw"　and give us your feedback! We can keep doing it or not - it depends on you!
We are planning one new video every week! Don't miss it!

Manga School Nakano old youtube channel (Manga School Nakano)  is still active, you can watch some Online free session records, some video clips (coloring, inking etc. ) here. 

Toulouse manga teachers 2

They were very encouraging, actually!

I always need someone to talk to when I give a lecture. If it was a lecture to an audience  I find an eager participant in the front row and talk to her/him, my imaginary assistant.

But - sometimes - people who nods because of just politeness, but understanding. Ouch!

Toulouse manga teachers 1

It was a story for a while ago. All of them are teaching manga at Toulouse Manga, so I had high level lessons. Not only teaching, but also we discussed about their works.

It was exciting very much! :)

The Last Lesson

Yesterday's lesson at Manga School Nakano was the last lesson for my student from Sweden,

She had comes to the school once a month since March in 2014. She is going back home country to go to an art school for one year. So, she started to learn fine art from this September, but she want to keep learning manga, and moves on online lesson from September. 

I'm very happy that she decided to keep drawing manga with me, and I'd started online course.

She was, and maybe is not a deep manga fan, and has no artists who have her inference. (Quite rare case, I think!) Of course she is interested in manga, the method and idea. The way her approach made me impressed sometimes, and I learnt some from her.

She copied reference images at first, then, illustration, coloring, an illustration with panels, then has just started manga with an original story.  

Illustrations with panel work.


It was a private lesson and the subjects came from her. Her interest reached to "Manga" without my suggestion, that pleased me, too. (Creating one shot manga is very hard work, though)

Many of my students take only one, or a couple of lessons. So leaving of long term student is special for me...I'll see her online soon, though.

She said she is thinking to come back to Japan when she finished the art course and start a standard manga class again. Sounds like my lesson is pretty good, right? ;)

One of her copy drawing. I asked her to pick up some reference image she liked, then the images she took was "Kaze to Ki no Uta" by Keiko Takemiya. A very classic manga. Interesting choice!

Start again!

It's for a while since the last update - the update I said "re-start from a long absence". I still have done nothing I mentioned the last post - 4koma eBook (Go Go Nao-P! vol.3), draw new 4koma, CoffeeParty's work and so on.

But my busiest time in this summer have been over, so I have some time now - so "start again!"

The busiest time is a intensive course for 3 ladies from Toulouse manga, "C-chan and her staffs(Toulouse Manga's teachers)". It was every day lesson for 2 weeks, Monday- Friday, 10 times lesson. In this time, they composed a short manga storyboard (16-24P)

It was covered by Iine!Japan(いいね！Japan) and the article is online now. It is in Japanese, but English version is coming soon.(I'll inform when English version is online ! :D)

This photo is from the article, I took no photo in this time. So...

Doriane, Maylis and Claire from Toulouse Manga

Online Manga Lesson is coming along!

I'm quite busy at the moment, for my manga class at schools and preparation for online lesson. IT-things drives me mad - SNS, video chat, application forms, embed link - I can't write HTML and any script! X(  But there are nobody who can handle them in Manga School Namano. But I got some people who help me, here in Japan and in overseas via the web.

Thanks for them, I've almost finished for accepting applications.

Almost done, almost, but not yet... -.-.

Kuro and Mei are as usual, very active and work very hard to destroy my room.

Webcamera-test

I had a class in this morning. I was planning to run a test with a new web camera in the school and brought my note PC.  (for an online class)

I bought my PC more than 3 years ago, it doesn't work well sometimes now, but the school have no PC for web camera.

I wanted to have a skype test with USA, but it was canceled. Still, I need to check if I can operate the camera with my note.

For some reason, when I the PC on, "updat 200 of 125057..." WHAT? I had to wait 30 min. until the boot up.

it was the first time I used web camera, but there was no help (The school has a big problem with English and PC >_<;) There was no manual, just only one paper, it explained you need to DL software with drawings.

Find the exact file and DL .... slow. Because it was very slow, I turned off Mcafee's realtime scan, but it didn't work.

Anyway, connect the camera and took some video of my hand, adjusting the height and the angle.

Done somehow.

I tried to upload it on Youtube to see how it looks like, but it says more than 20 min. for upload. I gave it up and tried to Google hangout, but I couldn't change the setting of camera, it fixed on the PC's camera. I thought about "record Video" of G+. Then - "No camera is connected" ??? Seems my note's USB didn't work well...

I was working till evening, but went nowhere. I took the camera home to check with my desktop, it's a high end machine.

Came back home and I found some poo outside of a cat litter. One put it out when she use the pooed toilet ! >_<

I uploaded the video on youtube at home, this time it took just a few minutes. Come to think about it, the video which took with a web camera  can't be large. :( My note work well (not fast, but not slow) Oh well...

If you have any good idea to take a video at your hand with a webcamera, let me know! :)

When do you start reading manga?

I had 3 things to do during my Europe Tour this summer.

One: Having 4 days intensive lessons at Toulouse Manga
Two: Having a meeting with Saeko in Paris for Kaigai Manga Festa.
Three: Attending a convention in Austria. (AniNite)

I've had manga-workshop sometimes, at museums, conventions, high schools etc. But it was the first time I had intense lessons at Manga School in overseas. 4 days, from morning to evening... I had time to know my students and talk with them.   

C-chan, the school director think manga means panel work (manga-style illustration is not manga. I agree with her) So we put "making storyboard" in the program. The time was too short to learn storyboard, the concept is very Japanese, it's very difficult subject. but C-chan wanted student learn the idea of Manga Composing and we thought listening what the artist try to show with composing was good, even the student couldn't understand everything,

After a short lecture, I asked students to make 2 spread pages storyboard based on a scenario I wrote. (I used some part from my work Moon and Blood) The students nodded during the lecture, they understood what I was talking, but still, when they compose the storyboard, the storyboard was not like manga, something between comic/BD and Manga.

In the students panel-works, the characters were still, something flat, they didn't have manga-dynamism. The (imaginary) camera didn't move as well.

If you ask me "Can Japanese students compose a storyboard with dynamism, even if they are beginners ?" - the answer is "No, they can't." Still, the kind of clumsiness is something different from Japanese one.

During the classes, I asked to students when they started to reading manga. The answer was around 12, rather late than I thought. I knew they watched anime since they were little kids, but not manga. Why? Someone explained because there were not so many translated manga for kids, the main stream was for teens, that's the reason.

The students

I said "we Japanese start to reading manga at a very young age, so Japanese learn manga grammar(manga rule, in other word. Knowing how to read manga is the first step knowing how manga should be composed) without knowing. In that point, you got a late start than Japanese, this might be a huge disadvantage. You need to learn harder than Japanese." (hahaha, what do you think you are? - a teacher! )

After back to Japan - I read a story on twitter, it was about some manga expressions were rejected by an editor because the reader (kids) can't understand the style. WHAT? Japanese kids can't understand manga expression??

I've drawn manga for little kids at some magazines such as "Korokoro Comic" "PyonPyon", and my editor asked change some words because he thought it was too difficult for kids, but I've never asked to change the manga expressions. It was ages ago, (nearly 20 years) so the situation has been changed?

Personally, I think you don't need to change both expressions and words, because readers learn from new things. It's ok as long as the whole manga was fun.

BTW, this is Wedding Peach anime-manga which was on a magazine for kids from Shogakukan. This magazine is for preschool children. They don't know how to read manga yet, so it has the number in every panel. (this image hasn't because I put off the number cell when I scanned the image) you know, the first panel has (1), the second does (2)...

I regret that I didn't ask student if kids had chance to read manga belonging to elder brother/sister or friends. I'll do next time. 

Sparkling Eye step-by-step Tutorial

When I posted a shojo style drawing on Manga Bangaichi , the comment "beautiful eyes!" amused me. It reminds me the drawing I was asked for a kind of "How to draw syojyo manga" book. The editor said "the eyes should be SPARKLING". I thought it's funny, I'd never thought "sparkling" is important.

Post by Nao Yazawa's Manga Bangai-chi.

But my experience keeps telling me that "Sparkling eye idea" is important for people who draw shojyo style manga in West. And again, this time. So I just drew and recorded it.

This is a simple way to draw manga-style eye.

BTW, The Isolated Zone vol.5 had joined to free manga line-up today! It's end on 6th Oct.

 真空地帯　The Isolated Zone　Japanese edition vol.1 & vol.２+ vol.６  These titles is free now.  Kindle direct publishing. (The link goes to Amazon.com) Till 2nd Oct.

　　

Clever kids.

The other clever kid I met in Toronto.

He was Japanese, came with his dad. Actually, I guess his father took him because he (his dad) was excited when he talked with me. The kid was calm during all that time. XD

Post by Nao Yazawa's Manga Bangai-chi.

An 8 years old student.

According to my post on FB, it was a story at 14 or 15 in July. They came from USA, with their mun and granddad.

The sheets he has in the last panel are Screen-Tone. Transparent film which pattern/dot is printed on the surface, and you can use it like sticker.

His granddad bought some manga tool for him, ink, pen-holder, pen-nibs, manga paper, and some screentones, so that he could draw more in home. He kept his concentration during 2 hour class. He amazed me! I hope he keeps drawing. :)

Post by Manga School Nakano/English.

NAO THE FOOL

That was shortly before my trip, in middle of August. The wound has gone crab now, yet I'm tempted to pick it....

At one day's manga class

The sound is "Ha ha ha", same as English or other language, I think.
Must be familiar if you like to read manga.  

The switch hardly on

It's more than one month since I posted the last 4koma...long time no see! ^^;
Now, I've started again!


I'm leaving Japan at middle of August -to Toulouse and Vienna (Manga Class and AniNite). I'll post constantly till then... I try. ^^;

 2 girls came from Wanderlust.com for the coverage,
Manga School Nakano - Manga Instruction in English?!
Check the page! :D

I'm going on TV?

Not exactly, it's an internet media, Tokyo Nakano TV.

I had 2 classes today, one was for Japanese students about storyboard, and the other was with my American student.

Before this (latter) class, I was interviewed for Tokyo Nakano TV, the show "Nakano Jin"中野人. A sort of publicity activities I think.. They focused on English manga class.

They asked me to answer Japanese&English. (Saying something in Japanese, then repeat the same answer in English) because they wanted to address to not only Japanese audience, but also non-Japanese speakers.

It was tough work, repeating the same thing in English without any note. I have no preparation beforehand, except a brief meeting - you can't read a note when you are on TV, anyway. (You are supposed to see the red light on the camera)

My answer was incoherent sometimes. confused, but nobody realized - because nobody speak English except me and my student. (My student doesn't speak Japanese well, so she didn't understand what I was talking in Japanese)  I wonder how you edit the video when you don't understand what it means... it's a funny story.

The school said the video on the youtube after the on air, I'll post the link when it comes. I don't watch it, though! *lol*

They also took a video of the class. I want to watch the part. XD
She is drawing ベタフラ（beta-fula/Beta flush). It was her first time - quite nice, good job!

English pronunciation

 It was a story when I had a class at Nihon Manga Jyuku in Nov.
↓from The school (Kudan Nihongo Gaku-in) blog

A new student of Manga School

An american girl called Manga School Nakano yesterday. The guy talked with her don't speak English, so he asked her write e-mail so that he could forward　her mail to me.

She came to the school for - counseling (?)

She is studying at a Japanese language school right now, with a student visa. Means she has long time for learning manga at Manga School Nakano (MSN is not a qualified school for a student visa)

She decided to challenge Manga Production because she can come to the school long term. She is new, so I don't think she can finish this course within 3 month like the program says. We need some preparation, such as 4 page manga/8page manga before 16 page manga, the course goals.

We are going to have one month class(1/week) then if it goes well, she'll take more.

The program of  Manga School Nakano (Please ignore the schedule. I'll fix it asap! >_<)

Msn program from Nao Yazawa

It was sunny in Nakano today. :)

Going to Toronto

I'm going to Toronto in mid-February to teaching manga at JFT（Japan Foundation in Toronto).
Japan Foundation has a section of Japanese language education overseas , and they looked for people who can teach something about Japanese manga/anime for their students.

20 days in Toronto, I'm looking forward even it was in Winter. The idea having manga class in abroad is exciting. There is only one trouble -  I'm concerned about Moko, my old cat. He is 17 years old, getting weak recently. I bought some warm goodies, such as electric carpet, blanket - I'll buy some more and have a cat sitter look after him. In the meantime, I feed him as much as I can. He was a big cat, but skinny now...

I have had a specific schedule of the class yet, but I think I work everyday - night in the week, day time in the weekend. There are 10 proposals of the class, and some of them has several sessions. 

I and a person from Japan Foundation had a meeting today. She asked what the contents of the lecture, and if I needed an interpreter. I wasn't sure - I can communicate in English, but can't say my English is fluent (maybe it's "fluent", but very incorrect)

Having an interpreter means the time you have is going to be half, bother sometimes, but it would be not bad if you have someone who correct my English and interrupt me when I speak, right? (actually, whichever is OK, because I'm not the one who pay the interpreter) 

Photo of manga class

I received photos of the class on 1st Nov. from school today, so I posted them(2photos) on FBpage. Let me show you one of them. You get some idea how my class is like, using my original drawing as references.

I have had some classes recently, and they were short, and for beginners. They can't give me exact request because beginners have not particular idea about manga. I show them my drawings and explain what they can do, within the time they have. 

More is better, I mean the example drawings. So I printed out some data I drew for "how to draw manga" books (by Chris Hart) They are nearly 70 pages, I didn't know I drew such many drawings for his books. I intended to file all of the printout and bring it to my class - but the files must be very heavy. Hm....

I didn't got all the books I contributed, but from the books he sent to me - they show you the tips of drawing manga/anime style characters. In that context, these books might work. But it doesn't show how to draw "manga". I've never seen the book which explains "how to draw manga" in English. That's one of the reason I'm interested in teaching manga. If nobody does, I will. 

Past post Manga Class on 1st Nov.