Rate me! (working on my manga)

[Fynn]

I've been learning to draw from a book on manga for a bit of time (a couple of months, because I started on last summer and couldn's draw regularilly, because it's my final year in high school and I have a lot of studying to do) and I wanted you guys to tell me if I was making any progress. Now here's (http://forums.eyesonff.com/writers-corner/107243-kingdom-hearts-interactive-story.html) the link to the Kingdom Hearts Interactive Story, in which I used to post my bits of story as well as my concept art. On the first page you can find my original concepts for Dixos and Xyptrak (they're not posted by me, I believe CeletsialStarDust posted all of the pictures from the previous thread, which got closed), and you can find a group pic and the rest of the other Organization members' concepts later on.
For comparison, I attach a freshly done goup pic sketch (I intend to ink and colour this one), a sheet of portrait sketches (complete with chibi counterparts) and character sketches...
Let me knoiw ehether I've made any progress! (the sketches from the original KHIS are about a year - year and a half old)

P.S. Hexra's a guy.
P.S.S. Sorry if I picked the wrong prefix - I'm new to this!

[Fynn]

Five more...

[Fynn]

And the remaining pic (damn you, attachment limit!)...

[scrumpleberry]

Magical drawing tipz!

Polykarbon: Tutorials! (http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/index.htm)

V. good, even if he is off sometimes everything he says is true and the steps are good to use when starting out.

Welcome to Manga University -- How to Draw Manga (http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/)

Your book is probably from this company. If it isn't, consider getting some because they are DA BEST. They have one or two fun, simple tutorials on here.

Anyway, I really like what you have so far. Try to be a bit bolder with your lines and use fewer strokes. Your faces have nice character: obviously you are good at 3/4 view, practise profiles and front views I guess. Don't worry about upwards and downwards angles yet. Great stuff!

Also this will sound dull, but try not to limit yourself to trying to create TEH MANGA, because it'll just end up looking like everyone else's. Draw wonderful manga-influenced characters and let your style lead you wherever you want to go.

[rubah]

your peeps are a little short ;) this might be on the polykarbon site (one of my favorites <3) but make your legs more or less four heads tall and the torso two more. (while you mull this over, bend your legs back and notice how closely your feet come to your butt, then bend forward and see how closely your chin fits your knees. Admit it, it's true)

your characters have plenty of personality it looks like, so just stretch out those proportions (unless you're going for a super deformed style, but if that's the case, you might want to deform them even more!) and clean up your linework mainly.

[Fynn]

Thanks for the advice ;)

Anyway, the book I'm using is Bruce Lewsis' Draw Manga - in your own unique style. Ya think it's any good?

(And no, rubah, I want to draw SD characters only occassionally, and these guys were supposed to be proportionate, so I'll work on that. Thanks :D)

[scrumpleberry]

I wouldn't know, I haven't read it. If you like it, use it by all means.

This series (http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Anime-Game-Characters-Vol/dp/4766111206/ref=pd_cp_b_2?pf_rd_p=413864201&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1843401886&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1YXPGQ0C4N0J65AD47N5) and this series (http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Manga-Characters-Graphic-Sha/dp/4766114736/ref=pd_sim_b_1) are the books that I've used. The only thing that's weak about them is patchy translation at times. Obviously I only have one or two as there's hundreds in the series, but they're really extremely good. I have a couple of other how to draw manga books, but they don't measure up.

[Fynn]

I like my book and it had some good reviews, so I'm going to stick with it, but thanks for the links anyway ;) I might try out both the online tutorials as well as the books you mention as soon as I finish with the book I have.
I'll be updating this thread with new drawings when I have time to draw, so be sure to take a look at them and judge me :D

[CelestialStarDust]

yay khis!!!ah you make me want to draw again ;)

[Balzac]

Instead of going for whole bodies straight away, practice on the parts you're weakest at, like the face and the hands. Draw parts of the body to learn the anatomy and how muscles work together. Also try to start off with drawing aline of action so you know how the body is going to flow.

And if anything, mark out your hights for people, that way you don't get out of proportion parts. A regular guy is usually 7 heads high, a hero 8 heads high and anti heroes are 10 heads high.

I've read a lot of book, I have tons and a common thing with a lot of them is they expect you to already know the basic anatomy stuff. So it's all well and good to have this book, but if it doesn't show the basics, you really aren't going to learn anything.

[snacks]

stu is right, a lot of it is practice, practice, practice and knowing basic things like shapes, anatomy, etc.

i would say, practice drawing what you see, every chance you get. no matter where you are continue drawing until your arm falls off. draw people, draw animals, draw buildings but draw. it's the *only* way you are going to learn anything and or get better.

[Fynn]

Instead of going for whole bodies straight away, practice on the parts you're weakest at, like the face and the hands. Draw parts of the body to learn the anatomy and how muscles work together. Also try to start off with drawing aline of action so you know how the body is going to flow.

And if anything, mark out your hights for people, that way you don't get out of proportion parts. A regular guy is usually 7 heads high, a hero 8 heads high and anti heroes are 10 heads high.

I've read a lot of book, I have tons and a common thing with a lot of them is they expect you to already know the basic anatomy stuff. So it's all well and good to have this book, but if it doesn't show the basics, you really aren't going to learn anything.

Well, the book I have starts off with the basics. And yes, I know I should practice drawing from real life as much as I can (that's what the book tells me to start with) so I do that too. I think I've improved at least a bit since I started learning from this book and I still want to improve more. So thank you all for the advice - gonna be mighty helpful and I sure hope there's more where that came from ;)

[black orb]

>>> Keep drawing buddy, you`ll eventually get better.