You’re a real pal with a great passion for everything retro! I love chatting with you and I’ve known you long enough to know you’re a real sweet heart who cares deeply about those around you! I’d like to do more voice chats with you in the future, too! By the way, you’re a terrific pixel artist.
Where do I start? I’m really glad we met and hit it off pretty well! Our late nights talking about Morenatsu and miscellaneous Gay Anime Furries
™ have been really fun. I’m also glad we branched out from there and how eclectic our conversations are. We run the gamut in our chats, and I’m very grateful for your friendship!
I really like it when someone pulls up a drawing I did for them ages ago, whether it was a commission or a gift, and they’re like “This is still one of my favorites” or “I still really like this one”. It’s a nice feeling knowing people really appreciate your stuff in a timeless kind of way, you know?
Do you have any tips on dealing with idea-based art block? I can draw fine, but I have trouble thinking of what to draw, and end up procrastinating far too much, affecting the final product. What should I do?
I’m probably not a great person to ask about advice for this. Although when I’m having a block of any kind, I find changing my brush settings to a different one is enough to get me going again most of the time.
I’ve been talking about DBZ with a few folk lately and I remembered the whole Dragonball AF thing. For the uninitiated, Dragonball AF was a rumored sequel to Dragonball GT. Turns out, it was actually a fan made doujin (roughly the Japanese equivalent to indie work)! However, at the time, a lot of us were kids and we thought “Wow this is both well drawn and in Japanese, it has to be official!”.
Anyway that’s not the kicker. The kicker is, fast forward to now, the official hand picked artist for Dragonball Super’s manga is no other than Toyataro, creator of said fancomic
He was so damn dedicated to Dragonball he became an official source for it and I find that really awesome!!
That’s good stuff! I can see the appeal. I sometimes get in the mood for flowy elegant things too, like this piece by Rikose. The horse guy is really cool looking!
What are some of your favorite aesthetics/design choices in character design? I wanna know cuz it’s a fun thing to talk about!
For me, I’m a real sucker for what I call the “Klonoa Formula”. Basically, it’s this 90s anime formula of big pants, big shoes, a hat and some kind of loose fitting shirt. It gives off this big dreamer kind of vibe, you know?
I was asked by someone who wishes to stay anonymous for tips on learning Japanese. For starters, I myself am only just starting as well! So I’m not the best person for in-depth help on the subject, but I can point you to a starting line, at least.
The best starting point is to learn Hiragana and Katakana! My advice might sound a bit strange, but learn how to read them before you learn how to write them. I say this because learning how to write kana is really time consuming and yields little benefit if you’re not living in Japan. Instead, by learning how to read Japanese, you’ll also be able to type it which is much more important these days!
As for where to learn how to read Hiragana and Katakana, I HIGHLY recommend using the mnemonics method. A mnemonic is a memory association that lets your brain remember something better.
If you have a few bucks to spare, Dr. Moku on Android and iOS is absolutely amazing. I learned how to read hiragana and katakana in about an hour’s time each with it. Granted, I live in Japan so my surroundings constantly reinforce what I learn, so that’s a factor to consider. Still, it’s a very helpful app.
If you don’t have that to spare, Tofugu has an awesome free tutorial on learning with mnemonics!
As for basic grammar and kanji, I’m afraid I can’t really help you much with that other than learn Kanji as soon as you can. The sooner you learn kanji, the better! A method people seem to love is the book series “Remember The Kanji”. I have a copy but haven’t dug into it yet. Also, there’s a Chrome extension called Rikaikun (Rikaichan on Firefox) that gives you the meaning of Japanese words on the spot when you hover over them.
People often ask why we have to learn kanji. The thing is, without kanji, yoursentenceswilllooklikethisinjapanese. It’s also efficient because one character expresses an entire concept. Either way, it’s hella important to your vocabulary.
Most people recommend the Genki books for basic grammar, but that can get expensive. It’s a great book though. I’ve been using Human Japanese on Android which approaches teaching in a very warm and approachable manner. I’ve been quite happy with it. There’s also an extremely popular free grammar guide called Tae Kim’s Japanese Grammar Guide, which I believe is also available as a digital textbook on the iOS and Android stores.
If you want tangible indications for how you’re progressing, the Japanese government has an exam called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). One’s skill is measured on a scale from N5 (easiest) to N1 (hardest). Some people study for the exam as a starting point. I’m not sure how effective that is personally, but it’s something.
About my last reblog. I’m someone who identifies as pansexual. I’m Dominican + Puerto Rican, and have also questioned my gender identity multiple times (and sometimes still do). I know what everyone must be feeling right now. I don’t have many words that haven’t been said, but if anyone needs to vent, I’m around.
Si tienes que hablar con migo en español, puedes tambien.
If you could get your story/comic/etc animated by a studio, and you had a good budget, which studio would you pick?
I’d go with Studio Trigger (Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill) or CoMix Wave Film (5 Centimeters Per Second, Your Name) depending on the type of story.
Hey so I’m just going to be doing some housecleaning today, which won’t be too busy. How’s about you guys head over to my ask box and ask me stuff? If I don’t reply, please don’t worry! It just means I don’t know how to answer your question or it has been answered before. I’ll try to answer most of them, though!
What I meant to say was, both visual novels and manga as mediums have pros/cons. However, right now I feel like the kinds of stories I want to tell would best be served by visual novels. That said, I’m open to telling stories through manga. It’s something I would like to do for sure someday.
So what info Manga would you write? I personally would go with something about machines like typewriters and maybe cooking as that is one thing I can do.
I still have to do that Morenatsu doujin. Whoops.
But if I had to make a series, it would have to be something I feel that isn’t quite possible with visual novels yet. That said, I’d love to be published in doujin anthologies and it’s a real possibility that it’ll happen while I’m here!
A piece of writing advice I take to heart is a quote from Araki Joh, the writer of adult manga/anime series Bartender
“As for food and drinks, you might say they are popular because Japanese people are very studious. For example, there are only about 300 sommeliers in France, but after my manga “Sommelier” became a hit, the number of sommeliers in Japan rose to about 30,000. People like learning new things and manga is a very useful gateway for beginners to start studying something. Therefore, there are many manga with a lot of information packed in them. In fact, many people actually don’t read manga without such elements. It’s often said that readers want a reason to buy books. What this means is that adult readers only buy manga that they’ll want to keep in their homes and read over and over again. Thus, manga has to be enjoyable and informational.
This is especially important for manga that has a scriptwriter. If it’s a manga that the manga artist can write and draw by himself/herself, we aren’t needed. Manga artists don’t have time to go and collect materials and sources for stories, so we, manga writers, do it for them to add some educational spice to the stories. The reason why food-themed manga are written so much is simply because it’s easier for readers to try out what they learn. They can read manga and then make the foods or go to eat the foods in a restaurant. They can use the information right away. It’s the same with drink manga.
I recently wrote a script about a lawyer who specializes in writing wills, but it didn’t become popular. I think the reason why it wasn’t popular was because I chose the wrong category. Given the ages of the target audience, a story of a divorce lawyer might have been much more interesting, though it’s too late for that now. When a manga contains information that readers want, and also if the story is enjoyable, it will be a hit. Everybody likes eating tasty foods and stories about foods are written a lot.”
Specifically, I really like where talks about fans enjoying information they learned in manga and they enjoy being able to use it right away. I really find this insight valuable! It might be applicable to everything, but it’s certainly an approach to consider when writing, I feel.
Does anyone else have those works of fiction they always hold close, even when they’re not actively into it anymore? Share those with me! I like hearing about it!
For me, I think the two things that stick around are Yu Yu Hakusho and Morenatsu.
Even though I firmly believe you can eventually build an audience with anything, I still occasionally fall into a depressive mood and feel as if it’s impossible for my work to be marketable.
And then I get even more depressed because I have such a hard time doing any finished pieces and haven’t figured out how to get into the habit of more fully inked/colored work. This is mostly a mental block.
Of course, all of this is irrational but knowing that doesn’t change these feelings as much as I’d like.
Thank you everyone for the warm reception Vinny has gotten here and elsewhere! I’m really happy you all like him. I put a lot of effort into making sure his design is great and will make sure he has great writing to go with it too!
I generally draw more original art than fanart. Even though there’s a lot of stuff I like, I have a hard time getting into a certain mindset for doing fanart. It’s a weird art block kind of thing. However, the only fanart I consistently do at least several times a month is Morenatsu fanart. Something about that game really got through to me.
Also, thanks for the compliment in your other message! I appreciate it!