telophase | Yet another inking test, partially done

This time, it's an entire page because there were several things on this page I wanted practice at.

Original:	Mine:

Anyway, I wanted to do the whole page partly because I wanted to figure out how to set up those wonky panels in MangaStudio. I'm also fascinated by the two panels with the close-ups of the eyes and how they work as speech balloons often do in breaking into another panel and by dragging your eye across the hand in the middle of the page, backwards from the normal reading way. And then there's the choice to break the panel of Kenshin's opponent's face into two panels. I think that's to slow time down a bit, and to work into the staccato visual moments right at the beginning of the fight - Kenshin, and thus the viewer, is seeing one thing at a time. In a movie this would be a lot of quick, still shots with backgorund music going DUM - DUM - DUM to ramp up the tension before one or the other goes for his weapon.

And then I desperately need to practice the speedlines on the close-up of the hand (you can tell I'm only partially done with that) as well as simple, curvy lines and shapes like those in Kenshin's hair.

Anyhoo, this has been a most excellent idea, because I'm learning a ton about MangaStudio that I don't think I would have otherwise. I need to force myself to do a scene with perspective in it next, to learn how to use the perspective tool. Maybe something from Death Note?

ETA: - There's still an issue with line weight variation, BUT I'm doing the majority of the inking on a vector layer, now that I discovered there's New! Improved! Vector! Erasers! in MS3.0, which means I can go through with the line weight tool and hit them to thicken and thin them in parts, so hopefully that'll improve them. I can't get my tablet and the pen tool sensitivity to cooperate to do the subtle variations that I need done with just the pen.

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Looking good! I like the thinner lines on yours better :3
I do the same thing sometimes.. printing out a manga page ( even though it's kinda fuzzy >o>;; ) Then I try penciling it and inking it too...it's good practice.. I mean, if you can't make a quality looking copy when you're directly looking at, or even tracing it, then how can you really make one of your own at the same quality? :P

You hqave my deepest respect for keeping up awesome practice like this (and lookinga wesome, too!). I know I need and should do it too but damn if I find the time. =.=;;

I love your inkwork in the top half better than the original, actually! Can't judge the bottom, of course, 'cause it's not done.

But this reminds me - wow, Watsuki does beautiful hands.

Yup. :) And the problem with practicing with my own work is that I rarely do my pencils refined enough to ink well, so I end up drawing with the inks, instead of enhancing. *That* needs to be the next thing I practice at - getting my pencils tight and detailed.

Thank you! XD (And I envy how much you're always drawing and doodling and posting them, so we can form a mutual admiration society here. XD)

I'd never learn as much as I have about MangaStudio if I didn't do this, because this way I'm forced to figure out ways to replicate what the mangaka did, whereas if I were doing my own pencils, I'd stick to my comfort zone. And it's amazing how much of an insight you get into the mangaka's mind and work process - I'd never notice how much Watsuki used the technique of dividing one face or one image into two panels to slow time and build tension, or how he was using the panel layout to drag the eye across the page if I hadn't been doing this.

Hee, thanks. :D

Excellent! I might have to copy you and do a simliar exercise, Mangastudio is intimidating! But oh man, all the time I'd save if I could do everything directly onto my computer...

:D Go for it! MS is intimidating, but not so much as Painter. I keep running into new features. XD (I am really looking forward to, although intimidated by, playing with the perspective tool - it'll do two-point or three-point perspective.)

I find that you don't actually save much time; your standards just get higher. XD

wow! what a great idea! there are some manga out there that i ADORE their panelling and your excercise is just perfect for practicing ^^

ugh! i still want mangastudio -_-; i'm gonna wait for it. is it better than comicworks?

I've had better results from it than Comicworks. Others have experienced the opposite. :D There's more tones in MS, at any rate. If you're a student, you can get MS3.0 Pro at about a third of the full price.

So you own Manga Studio, huh? I've seen ads for it in the back of my tankouban, but I was aprehensive. Any art program I have on my computer was free. I mostly use Fireworks, but it's extraordinarily limited in what it can do for a manga-ka.
Have you found that MS was worth the money?
I find that we manga artists in the US can't go the same route as artists in Japan, because we can't walk down to our local comic store and pick up Copic Markers and packs of B4 paper and purchase sheets of tone. Do you find that the program sufficiently compensates for a lack of proper materials?

For me, what it mostly compensates for is my inability to draw a straight line, even against a straightedge and my inability to draw any line without redrawing it 6 or 7 times. :) And the toning helps a lot, since I've never ever used real tone before and I *know* I can't afford to.

I'd been using ComicWorks back when

rachelmanija and I were pitching Butterfly Kick to Tokyopop. Although they didn't pick up the book, I did end up with a beta test copy of MSEX 2.0. I used that for a year - Project Blue Rose was done in it - and just recently got the EX3.0. And, since I work at a university, I got it from AcademicSuperstore.com where it's currently $95ish with academic credentials, instead of $300. It's well worth $95, just for the range of tones alone - I'd probably consider it worth $300 if I had to buy it full price.

I knew I wouldn't be satisfied with the Debut version ($30 academic, $50 non-academic) since I'd had the EX version in beta-test and had gotten used to using vector layers and a few other things that the EX has.

Anyway, MS EX and Debut, and ComicWorks are all bettr than Photoshop and the like, because they're easier to use for specifically B&W comic work. You can do all the same things in many other programs, but it takes more practice and more time.

* It also compensates for my inability to taper a line to its end gracefully when I'm inking traditionally. I've got a heavy hand when drawing and inking, and that means I can't get as much line-width variation as I'd like. But MS allows me to program a taper in, and also has tools, if I'm inking on a vector layer, that allow me to go through and fatten up or slim down various parts of a line after it's drawn.

Me too, I have a real problem with it right now... my sketching is pretty messy, so I try redoing it with the lightboard, but then it doesn't come out how I wanted it.. so it's something I really need to concentrate on.

Yeah, I heard you mention that tool for widening and thining lines. It sounds like a really useful ability, especially since my inking on its own has a severe lack of varied line width. That's an essential thing to master if you want to go into the manga business, but I'm never sure about which lines I should thicken and which I should leave the way they are. But if I could do it on a computer, then that means I could fiddle around with it without doing anything permanant.

Long story short: It sounds like I need to scrounge up close to a hundred bucks. ^-^

Yet another inking test, partially done

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