how to become a manga-ka without ..

you want to create a manga better than myazaki?...
good luck, you'll need it =.=

just draw........ draw till u drop because i'm becoming famus, well becoming that is. They r selling my art in a special musem. if you want to talk to me my email is Lightening 205 ya o and i hav aol so its @aol.com.......... i hav hidden my namebecause im only 15 and my parents dont want people talking about me or noing who i am online so sorry.

To become good, you'll need to have good art. To become great, you'll need to have great art. To cross over to another country and spread your ideas so that other people will see the potential profit and willing to spend the money to translate, you'll need to be one of the best in the world.

Drawing is just ONE part of being good. You'll need great organization and scheduling. If it take you under an hour to draw a page and be done with it, you're being lazy. Including page layout, toning(optional), inking, sketching, etc and that doesn't include weeks on thinking up good characters.

Storytelling is important. Almost if not more important than art. If you story is one of the many millions cliched fantasies then it better have a new twist so readers would want to buy more of it.

BTW, I don't believe for a minute any of the people above me who posted that they assisted or are now published.

Drawing manga/comics takes years of practice. You have to be one determined tallented person to pull through.

The language barrier wouldn't be the only thing stopping you. There are also cultural and international laws you have to learn and become comfortable with.

I really gotta become a manga artist. I actually study drawings and try to learn drawing techniques. I love how Oda sensei draws feet and how Kishimoto sensei draws ears. So is Japanese hard to learn? And are at a disadvantage if your foregin?

wth is soooo right. Firstly, 13, 14, 15 year olds, You got a long way to go from where you’re at now to any sort of professionalism. Whether your “manga” are being sold in a “specialized” museum or not (what does that even mean?) most manga-ka of fame (say, Sonada, Kishimoto, Saito, etc.) had a lot more than fifteen years behind their belt before they earned any prestige whatsoever. And they have rejection after rejection after rejection to still deal with. I am willing to concede that there are gifted youth, but I am more ready to concede that most is just claimed, not backed.

And writing and story is very important. Given the spelling, grammar, and, typing on this forum is of a quality that makes me want to blow my brains out I sincerely question the ability and advice of many of the contributors to this thread.

So you wanna be a manga-ka? Step one: get out of fanboy mode. We don’t call ‘em manga-ka unless we do speak Japanese. Go into any production house in Europe or North America and they are known as comic-artists, illustrators, cartoonists, etc. Secondly: get used to calling your stuff graphic novels or comic books. This is just friendly advice, walk into a group of professional cartoonists and start going on about all the manga you’ve created and expect a lot of rolled eyes, I speak from professional experience, having given lectures on Japanese cartooning culture, history, and technique, I get a healthy mix of professional artists in with those who aren’t so much yet, and I see the resulting attitude of one group to the other. Secondly, draw until you drop, someone has already pointed out this “easy” step, it is true, you need to draw and draw and draw. Thirdly, learn the lingo, learn the scene, and learn how to make yourself better, if you can’t draw in the style of French impressionists you probably aren’t nearly as good a manga artist as you think. All good cartoonists are skilled artists, except for Douglas Adams, but he is special. Finally, persevere, submit to publishers all over, get rejected, submit again, get rejected again, keep going until someone picks you up. You really want to be a shonen weekly artist, learn Japanese, four years and you’ll be set. If you want, self publish, a $50,000 budget is all you need to distribute a black and white publication across a continent. And while some of you may look at that number with buggy eyes sarcastically saying aloud “oh is that all?” realize that that is not a large amount of money when we are talking about publication and distribution on an acknowledged professional level, how much money do y’all think Shonen-jump dumps every week? Here’s a hint, $50,000 US doesn’t even begin to approach their development, printing, and development costs.

maybe I shouldn't talk about typos and grammar having put secondly twice in a row above, but, whatever, the advice is accurate and still stands.

ever since I was little I wanted to draw manga for a living. I dont know japanese but I am very dedicated. ummm I am from america and I dont think it will be easy for me. especially since none of the art stores here sell any manga art supplies. any advice? or do you know of any manga companies in america?

i live in britian and im activley making manga. i hate the term manga-ka so i wont use it.

just for facts, since manga/anime started seeping into the west [note: france /usa] there has been a steady rise in illustraters and authers mimicing and developing the style. to belive that a non japanese cannot make a good manga is foolish, if anything the stuff i see coming out of the west is more impressive than a lot of japanese, not only graphically but the storyline too.
[this aint including the hip-hop manga. i hate those]


so yea, if you want to make it in the industy, write a manga/comic, print it. take it took your local comicbook shop and sell it. its that simple.

word of advice, escape the cliche stories of marvel and shonen, develop your personal styles, dont be scared that you wont fit into the manga catagory.

jayce
fiveeightcreate

so right basically am 16 and am DAMN RIGHT determined to become a mangaka....!!! it doesn't matter what race you are...but it does make one hell of a big difference if you know how to speak japanese ...am currently learnin g by myself...but i will be enrolling myself in a japanese course...being a mangaka is my dream and no matter what people say! i WILL make it!and so can anybody else that tries...all you need is to have da rite attitude and GO FOR TI!^-^() GAMBATTE EVERYONE LOL...

okay. I just have to say,it is going to be hard for you if you plan to be a manga-ka.
first of all, you have to WANT to be one. It can't just be a small idea in your head. You need to be talented at drawing, planning, and keeping with your storyline. You don't want to confuse people.
If you can draw, great. But what you NEED is to have an already planned out storyline, plot to it, and you need to be able to go with it. If you can only draw and can't make a storyline, try and team up with someone who has a storyline, but can't draw it out. Like CLAMP. or something. If you can't speak or write Japanese, don't count on moving there and magically becoming a manga-ka. I'm not saying it's impossible to do so, but it is very very hard. So I think you should just try putting it in your countries area. It's going to be very hard where ever you are though, because you're going to have to compete against many other comic book artists.
ok. just trying to give you options.
-matane

- All good cartoonists are skilled
- artists, except for Douglas Adams, but - he is special.

I think you meant Scott Adams (Dilbert guy). Douglas Adams is ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe'', a different genre.

I would truly want to become a manga ka who is based in Japan. I would also like to be a character designer, illustrator, graphic designer,and possibly a video game programmer or animator.
I'v been studying Japanese since I wanted to become a manga-ka. I agree with the ones who say it takes total dedication and the ablity to plot stories. You can't say it's easy either, becuase it isn't. If you want a good story, then you need to get into detail..


Now, I've entered into the TokyoPop contest and I thought it was a little unfair. Not becuase I lost, but becuase there are comic artists out there that can make some great stories, but they don't have the budget to by computer programs, or screen tones and pens and the such. Not only that, some of the stories that won first place in the past few years were just retarded.
What made me angry about Tokyopop was the first contest's outcome. I was happy that 'Devil's Candy' won first place. It contained the very essence of what any graphic novel should have, but guess what? Tokyopop wasn't gonna officially publish as a series becuase they chose Van Von Hunter, which in my opinion, wasn't a good story, it wasn't even funny...

I'll stop here for now, but if any of you people have a response to this, please fell free to do so.

That if you want to become a manga artists in Japan, you have to know more than just Japanese language. Your audience will be Japanese. That means that you will have to make stories that will cater to them and their culture. And you`ll also be competing with thousands of other professional and amateurs in the country as well (people who already understand what Japanese audiences want). So when it comes to making a manga, while it is important to have good art work, story, and characters, you need to keep in mind who the target audience for your manga is.

I agree with Aristotle!It dosent matter,as long as your good at drawing and have a good way of telling stories.I do think you need to understand a bit of Japanees though...it would be wise but dont worry I think you could learn pritty easaly.As long as you have the art and the heart all is possible!By the way....
Yu Watase Rocks!

Some of you who say,"I WANNA BECOME A MANGA-KA, NOMATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS! IT'S MY DREAM AND..." blah blah blah.

I've been searching for imformation on how to get into the field for years now. Ive been drawing my whole life, Im 18 now, and I still have to improve my art constantly between school and sports. Everyday of my life, Ive had pencil, and skecthed and doodled, barely caring about anything else. Even if one is like this, still takes a hell of a lot of work to get up there. I really dont feel I need to repeat what everyone else just said, but I can say this:

Broaden your work field horizens.

You young'uns below the age of 17 and still in high school, dont let Graphic Novels be your only choice of career. Especially while your still in school and you still have time to seek out you career.

Now keep in mind, I dont have any experience in the field behind me, so I cant give any advice to make graphic novel, and as I said above, you other fine people pointed out everything that needs to be said.
Try to make a whole comic series, and see if can handle the work and pressure. Ive been doing my stories by myself, coloring, outlining, scripting, and all that jazz. Its difficult and tedious, and can even drive you mad with encroaching deadlines after many tireless hours of scribbling. If you can explain in full paragraphs of the process you took to put everything together, and show results, then your set... Oh and always ask for everyone's opinion and learn from any critism you recieve.

Anyway, now I have a question... I plan to attend an art college next year, and Ive been aiming to become a graphic novelistsince the fourth grade(I may have been drawing my whole life, but I never learned of the graphicnovelist career until then) Ive been teaching myself how to draw and I memorize different angles and positions of various lifeforms and objects. I want to know if colleges such as the Columbus Instute of Art or the Pittsburg Institute of Art can teach me what I need to know about being a graphic novelist. I could, ofcourse, look it up in the schools, and visiting the schools, but I want to know from those with experience what thier recommendation is of where it is that one can learn the most about the field. Im confident in my abilities, but I only have a partial idea of what its like and how to get into it.

And I hate people who talk like what I first wrote up on top. Its enthusiastic, but corny. Reminds me of corn found in a toilet...

...Well, if you can peice together what I just said, I would appreciate any feedback.

If you wanna become a well known Manga artist in Nihon (Japan), you won't be automatically accepted. It takes time.

My advice: Learn the language well enough before you go to Japan, plan your trip out, and try to get a citizenship, and try to learn AT THE VERY LEAST the 2 basic types of Japanese writing. (Hiragana & Katakana)

I already do, and I know about 15 Kanji already, if you wanna learn Japanese writing, I suggest you go to www.about.com

They have EVERYTHING.

From reading all of the resonses about people wanting to become manga-ka, all I can say is good luck. Its good to hear about people trying to complete their goals and making a career out of animation. I hope everyone that is wanting to become one knows that the chances of becoming a manga-ka are low. There are so many people in the world who want to be them, and its just like with sports, not many people go pro.

I agree with most of the contributers above. I, like most of us here, want to become a manga artist. It's not as easy as it sounds, but you have to draw, practice and come up with a good story line. And it's fine if you want to become a manga-ka in your country. As long as you're not lazy and have the will and determination to do it, I'd you you should give it a shot.
Best of luck to all of you out there.

Okay first of all,WaLLY dont ruin my buzz. second of all If you want to become a manga artist or comic book artst ,its all the same,then work hard! first of all,if you cannot get it, maybe you arent talented enough,you need to work work work and do your best. What I said is true, as long as you have the art and the heart you can do it,having the heart means fighting on and working hard,never giving up. It might sound crony but its motivation and its the truth if you ask me, all you need in this world of manga is art and a person who will give it their all.

Dv8nation what you said about the japanees and the chances of getting a job,can you prove it? What if you have good art? What if they like your style,your not japanees,and you do speek japanees!? then what!? Huh!?