Sirkowski's basic comic/manga tutorial

This isn't a tutorial to show you how to draw. There's a lot of people who are good artists who tell me hey don't make comics because they don't know how. I surely don't claim this is THE way to it, but it's my way. And it can be a cheap way too, even though it won't look like it in the end. A lot of things I have learn from others and a lot from experience.

Rough Sketch

First step. I draw a very rough sketch. Some people will draw at the final size, with the right size ratio and proportions. I'm lazy, so I don't. A rough sketch is supposed to be... rough, anyway. It's to see roughly where you're gonna put the text bubbles, the characters, how you're gonna dispose of your panels, if you have enough place to fit everything in, etc.

As you can see, I've used cheap recycled paper.

 

Paper

Now let's get busy! What kind of paper are you gonna use? The answer for this is limitless, you could draw on toilet paper and get good results. But it depends mainly about what you're use to ink. Let's review your options.

  • Pens and Markers: These will work on about anything. Good quality paper is always better, but your money is tight, you can buy a big package of photocopy paper at the office supply store. It's cheap but effective.
  • Brushs: Photocopy paper could be good, but if you have a lot of small details in your drawings it might be a problem because the ink will blot and your small details will end up bigger than entended. In that case, get yourself a good bristol.
  • Nibs & Crowquills: Now you don't have a choice, it's quality or disaster. I suggest Strathmore's bristol, smooth, series 300 or higher, available in good art supply stores (or something similar). If they don't have any, ask if they can order or have something similar.

Note: Paper is made with a recipe, a bit like a cake. This means that quality can vary in a one and same brand over a period of time. For exemple, Strathmore always made some of the best bristol, but for a few years, it stinked. Now they seem to be back to the good old quality. There's not much you can do about it, except cross your fingers, or buy the most expensive bristol you can find (series 500).

Workspace & Size Ratio

Next, you have to decide in what format you're gonna work in.

The size ratio of a manga is 6x9. A size ratio is not the final size.

ra·tio (rsh, rsh-) n. pl. ra·tios

  1. Relation in degree or number between two similar things.
  2. The relative value of silver and gold in a currency system that is bimetallic.
  3. Mathematics The relation between two quantities expressed as the quotient of one divided by the other: The ratio of 7 to 4 is written 7:4 or 7/4.

What does this mean?

It means that no matter how big are your pages, as long as it respects the ratio, it can be made to be all the same size by reducing or augmenting them. For exemple, if you would draw on a 10x15 format (which is kinda too big), you would need to reduce it by 50% for it to be 5x7½. And if you draw on a 7x10½ format, by reducing it by 70%, it will also be 5x7½.

To have a bigger work space that respects the size ratio, simply make a 6x9 rectangle on your page, then trace a diagonale and create another rectangle where the corner follows the line (as shown in the pic). A more complicated way is to use math (on which I won't elaborate).

 

Rough Blue

Now I take a blue pencil (in this case, it's a Staedler mars lumochrom 104-30). If you skrew up with a blue pencil, you don't have to erase, because the scanner can't pick it up in Black & White mode (I had to ahence the contrast in this color scan in order to show the lines).

In fact, if you're using a nib, don't erase! I will explain why later.

I put the panels in place and I roughly write the text, even though I will write the text CG. I always write the text before drawing in the panel. This way I'm sure I'll have enough place to write clearly.

 

I could pencil the entire page with blue crayon (and I have done so in the past), but it's hard to erase it. If your drawings are detailed, then it becomes a big blue mess all over your page. So I use it to sketch the main elements on the page.

Penciling

You'll need a graphite pencil. HB, wooden, push-up, etc. About all will do fine.

You'll also need an eraser. If you're gonna ink with a nib later, suggest a kneadable eraser. It's a little grey eraser you can mold like play-do. The reason I use this is because it's very soft so it doesn't damage the paper, so the ink doesn't blot when you ink. Also, you can change it's shape to erase small detailed areas.

While using the kneadable eraser, you will notice it doesn't erase the pencil completly. It doesn't matter. When you're done inking you will erase the page with a normal white eraser.

Inking

Basicaly, you trace in black all your lines with the tools you feel comfortable with.

I use a Pentel Pen-Brush for thick lines and a Japanese G-pen nib for smaller lines. The pen-brush comes with it's own ink cartridges. I use thick calligraphy ink for the nib because it doesn't blot.

I prefer nibs and brushes than pens to ink because you can draw lines of different sizes without constently changing tools.

When you're done inking, don't forgot to erase all of your page with a white eraser.

Scan

Scanning for black & white and colored art is two different things. Here I will only cover the black & white.

Scan your page at 600dpi, in black and white, not grayscale. If you have no black and white on your scanner, scan in grayscale, but in 2 bits. Or change the contrast so there's only 2 colors left.

If your scanner only goes up to 300dpi, scan it that way, import your lineart to Adobe Streamline and convert it to vectors, then save to .Eps. In last resort, import your lineart to Macromedia's Flash and do Modify/Trace Bitmap. Then save to .Eps. Then open your .Eps file in Photoshop, in 600dpi, Grayscale, NO ANTI-ALIAS. Save in .Tiff or .Psd.

For the Web

Flatten all layers, make sure the format is Greyscale and change the resolution to 72dpi, in Bicubic mode. Then save in .Gif or .Jpeg.

Lettering

I open the lineart in Adobe Illustrator and I do the lettering. You can do about the same thing with Flash. Then I save the lettering (without the lineart) in .Eps, I open the file in Photoshop in 600dpi, grayscale, no anti-alias and I paste the lettering on the line art.

Screentones

I do my screentones on the computer.

I create a B version of the page in Photoshop and I reduce the resolution to 150dpi (because it's quicker to save). Then I color the B version using Julie Dillon's method (link at bottom). Once I'm done coloring, I erase the line art layer, flatten layers and convert the resolution to 600dpi. Then I convert the file to Bitmap, in Haltone Screen mode. A good setting is,
Frequency: 53 Line/Inch
Angle: 45
Shape: Round
But that's all optionnal. You'll need to experiment with it. I copy the screentones and paste them under the original lineart.

Printing

Flatten all layers, convert to Bitmap and save as .Tiff. Take your file(s) to a copy shop or a business center to have them print. In some places it might only cost you 5¢ a page.

Well, that's the basic. By doing this, you will learn new things on your own, find out what you prefer.
I'd like to say that you don't need a computer to make comics. Notice that I only did the lettering and screentones in CG. All of that can be done without a computer of course or a bunch of fancy programs. When I started drawing comics, I didn't even owned a computer. I also had to walk 80 miles in deep snow, but that's beside my point.

If you don't want to make comics because you don't have Photoshop or a graphic tablet, then you're a wuss.

Wuss! Wuss! Wuss! Wuss! Wuss! Wuss! Wuss!

;-)

Julie Dillon's coloring method: http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial/cgmain.html