Here it is - genuine comic drawing!

Much earlier than expected, I've started a webcomic called Japanofail (as opposed to Japanophile - see what I did there? >_> ) and is out there to be read by the world! Okay so it's only one strip so far, but I have quite a few ideas for this so should be able to keep it going for at least a few months. ^_^

Please read and enjoy!

http://www.drunkduck.com/Japanofail/

Suffering for my art!

With nearly 9 months from having I barely touched a pencil, the last few weeks where I've suddenly been drawing every day have taken their toll as my body complains and crumbles under the work I demand of it.

I started out drawing by sitting on my bed which was surprisingly comforatble, but from slouching from being on a soft surface led to back pains. So: I got a chair.

The chair is fairly nice, but due to lack of space I am forced to sit at and angle that I fear is developing something equivalent to a trapped nerve in my neck... not a nice sensation as I feel the occassional zing.

Also my hand's started feeling funny, and after an epic 6-hour toning session last night, I looked at it and noticed it was swollen compared to the other one. Also my forearm was starting to cramp up as well.

Can I assume this is not a good sign? Maybe the slightly thicker nature of my Wacom pen isn't working well, or perhaps I just grip it too tightly, but I really don't want to develop a case of RSI when I've barely gotten started!

Any tips to relieve the situation is welcome, just don't tell me to stop drawing!

They are coming!

Not much in the way of specific news, but I wanted to post to say what I'm currently up to with my drawing. Sorry there won't be any previews *yet* as there's no point showing stuff so far in advance, but seeing as it's what I'm spending all my free time on I still feel like talking about it.

There are currently 4 active projects in the pipeline that I've been working on, so here's a little info about each of the in order that they'll likely appear.

1 - This will be a (very) short work in 4-koma format (4 panel gag manga). There's not much else to say as it's so short any more info would spoil it, but the strip itself is done and I'm currently working on the logo. This will most likely be my printed debut, so will try and make an announcement at an appropriate time. ^_^

2 - A complete 23 page story. Again, the work itself it completely done, it's just a case of getting it organized properly. Around 90% of it was drawn early last year, with the finishing touches done last month so it's perhaps not my absolute best work to date, but it's quite fun and I hope people take to it in its own little way. I'm hoping to get this one ready for the London Expo - which would mark my self-published debut!

3 - Another comic, 24 pages long, and the first chapter to a longer story. Have probably worked on this one for arond 4 weeks now, and in that time all the pencils have been done, as has most of the inking. What's left are some final details, a few backgrounds (which will likely take most time) and all of the toning. I've working quite hard on this one, doing a couple of hours every day, so after having tried so hard I really hope people like it. I don't want to spend perhaps a couple of years working on something that everyone hates!

4 - I really enjoyed working on project '1' and the 4-koma format, so started mucking around with some ideas to do a bigger project. It's quite random and has a slightly more evil sense of humour in regards to otaku-based humour. I'm a little worried people won't get some of the reference-based jokes as they do require a bit of general know-how. I could test the theory out by starting it as a webcomic, but out of preference I'd rather it on a hardcopy book. Haven't figured out the length yet as the bitty nature of 4-Koma means the sky's the limit really. Probably around the 20-page mark. Work is ongoing between sessions on project 3, but in terms of idea and drafts I'd say about 75% of it is ready to be drawn properly.

Phew! That's a lot of info (did anyone even read this far? lol!), but it somehow lacks real substance without artwork previews! I'm actually quite nervous about this whole business, so only want to reveal info when I'm 'ready'.

Ok, to reward anyone who made it to the bottom of the post, I'll throw in a very early sketch for Project 2, it was actually the initial concept sketch in fact - it's really old now (getting on for 18 months)!

The proper announcements and revealing of secrets will come, I promise! ... just not today.

The blog has a new header!

Only had this blog for 24 hours - time for another post then! Yay!

Had a dig though some old unfinished images and found one I kind of liked and BOOM, a header for the blog is born! Hadn't touched the image itself since 2007, it was only half coloured and full of weird curiosities in the layering (well, there weren't any! @_@;), so spent a few minutes filling some blank areas and working out how to resize it properly. Ok so I admit it was a bit of a rush job - but for now it serves its purpose to make this page just a little shinier. Not too confident in my colouring as I've mainly been focusing on my black and white work lately, but yeah let me know what you think! (Please be gentle lol!)

I'll try to resist doing daily posts from now on as things will quickly descend into pointlessness as I run out of things to say. Fingers crossed I can keep things interesting and hopefully have some fun on the way. I'll do my best in true shonen style, ganbarimasu! And now that's out of the way I'll try to never use romaji again...

Finally, if any peeps out there want to direct me to their own blogs of manga/comic drawing drop me a line. I've yet to really suss out how to find other people on here but it'd be nice to see what other people are doing!

And so it begins...

Well, it's after midnight which is when I start to feel most social, so I decided to get myself a blog - ta daaaaa!

... ... ...

Now what? >_>;

Ok, introductions! I'm Ushio (not real name) from London, an anime/manga fanboy with a desire to draw some illustrations and comics in said style. I figure a blog will be a bit more productive than just sitting around doodling at home - must get stuff out into the real world!

I've been doodling on and off for a few years now, but life has been getting on my nerves lately so reckon it's about time to start taking the drawing more seriously in a feeble attempt to run away from it all. Not much work that I'm ready to show just this moment, but there is definitely some stuff in the pipeline (the next two months at least should be fairly active on here ^_^ ).

For now though, here's a fun thing I did that was introduced in a thread on the Sweatdrop forums (found here). You have to draw out a character in each of the listed styles. Didn't spend very long on it, but it was fun and produced some random results!

Think that's about it from me for now, will post again later when there's something new to say! I don't really know anyone, so feel free to comment and stuff. See you around! ^_~