Manga My Comic. Help!

[Sir Gawain]

I am yet another hapless Member trying to get advice on creating their own comic. I use comic instead of [i]manga[/i] because the art style I've come up with isn't entirely eastern.

But, before I do anything, I should probably describe what I've already finished on my own.

There isn't a real storyline, making it like El Goonish Shive (see sig), but is rather a random collection of short stories about each character. The stories wouldn't be magnificent (the characters are just high school students) except for the fact that they each gained a unique power/weapon during a field trip to the muesum.

The comic (which I'm currently calling Otaku High) is based in the manga version of the school I actually attend, and the town it's located in. All of the characters are going to be based off of at least one real life person I know. And the main characters' powers are based on their life counterparts' personalities.

Here's two examples. The character based off myself, currently known as Dan, is going to be possessed unsuccessfully by a demon and then becomes pyrokinetic. This is becuase my favorite color is red, and my favorite element is fire. One of my friend's characters, currently known as Cliff, is going to touch some enchanted artifact (no details yet) and gain the ability to cast spells of his own design. This is only because in real life, Cliff's counterpart has a Spellcaster Yu-Gi-Oh deck that he whooped me with.

So, any advice on where to go from where I am now? I'm currently trying to perfect Dan (as much as possible) and then I'm going to test various effects with him. I plan on continuing this process with each character and their powers until I have to draw scenery and backgrounds. Multiple outfits are also a possiblity for now.

Seriously, check out the website in my signature. You'll love it if you love any anime or manga. Just check the new reader bubble when you do.

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]I would focus on your characters and basic outline for the series, if I were you. Try getting out as much detail as possible about all the characters and their surroundings, then find the ways that you want them to reveal their world to your readers. Get in your character's heads and try to find out what they want to say. While it's true that good art can make or break a comic, a storyline or lack thereof can destroy hopes just as well.

That's all I've got at the moment.[/color]

[Sir Gawain]

[font=Book Antiqua][size=2]That is something to think about. The storyline, if it can be called so, revolves more around one character at a time. Not too sure about the details yet, but overall I basically want the comic to reveal several stories over time. With some decent humor in between.[/size][/font]
[font=Book Antiqua][size=2][/size][/font]
[font=Book Antiqua][size=2]As for the characters revealing the surroundings, hadn't thought of that. Flipping back through the notepad, there plenty of potholes because the town hasn't really been revealed. This is gonna take some time to fix.[/size][/font]
[font=Book Antiqua][size=2][/size][/font]
[font=Book Antiqua][size=2]Thank you. I'll try to post some sketches soon.[/size][/font]

[Berry187]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=2]I think you could devote a specific part of the comic to each character.

but first you?ll have to get all the little things outta the way like the characters likes & dislikes things like there attached and there backgrounds where and how they grew up just the basic things like that.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Sir Gawain]

Thank you for your input. And, if you care, I should be able to include a finished version of my first character in one of my next posts. It's actually kinda cool.

He's the manga version of myself, with glasses and a cooler hair style. But the thing I like best about him is the shirt. I has the word 'Burn' written like this:

[color=red]B U[/color]
[color=#ff0000]R N[/color]
[color=black][/color]
Of course, the shirt overall is black.

But now I pose a new question to anyone who hopefully has suggestions. I've hit the one snag in design (above hair). Hands. I can't draw hands worth *censored*. So, does anyone have suggestions on how I could possibly draw hands? It's driving me nuts!

And if not, then thank you Lady Katana and Berry187 for your advice.

Sir G

[Guest inkagship]

First thing. . .What is your Manga Called?? And If you had already named it, and I did not notice, :animedepr I'm sorry. I didn't notice!! Sorry!! :animecry: Sorry, I was a little to dramatic about that.

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]For me, I try to draw hands in mitten form first in the general shape I want it to be in the finished product. From there, I use my own hand as a reference and draw the fingers and nails from there.[/color]

[Sir Gawain]

First off, the currently I don't have an official for anything in my comic. But the entire thing is currently being referred to (among my friends) as Project: Otaku High. The same way my currently in progress character is being called Project: Dan. But I think that he'll end up being a Kurt. Or something like that.

Secondly, mittens. I hadn't really thought of that. It would actually work a lot better than what I'm doing now. The hands are inproportionate to the arms, and I was trying to fix that. The mittens thing could help that problem. Thanks Lady Katana! You could have just gotten me past my hands problem!

[PrinceofTennis]

hey man i know how its like to make a manga/comic well i actually havent made one real one yet but i think u shud concentrate on the storyline like o-chibi said well and yeah really if u shud make a good manga/comic u need some humour well dats all i got to tell ya cya later - sayonara

[Sir Gawain]

Don't worry about the humor. Large supply. How can't you have humor when one of the characters is a (spoiler) Werefish? I know it sounds stupid, or strange, or whatever, but that's the point. Who would take someone seriously if they called themselves a werefish?

As for the storyline, I couldn't really focus on having one main character, so I made certain characters the focus for different storylines. Here's some examples. In the first storyline, the comic is centered around the 'Sorcerer' in the group. His nemisis is a Jin, a free Genie. The second storyline is focused on the guy possessed by a demon and his battle with the angel Thyrius. Basically, the overall comic cycles through each character's enemies and then starts off on a new tier in the cycle.