Trying out a new hoodie for Noiz in a little sketch practice for chapter 6 of graphic noiz manga 2.

So I am slowly working on Part 2 of the 2nd volume of the graphic noiz manga. I was racing to get through Part 1 but then got stalled when it came to Part 2. Some of it, I think is that I was used to writing a 48 page manga and then I got ambitious and wanted to try for 96 pages because I wanted the book perfect bound. This was probably my undoing. The issue is also that now that I have 60 pages into the story, I can’t end Part 1 at page 48, I have to continue the story until we reach a conclusion. So I have a lot more pages to draw.

I wanted to relay some of the difficult things with being a writer who is trying to create their own manga. A lot of times manga is created by groups of people. Trying to be a single person doing all the writing, drawing, character design, dialogue and production of the book can be a daunting task. I know that I have to do inking on all the pages once I get the lineart done. This is a monumental task and I think I was not ready when I committed to doing this for 96 pages. But I will soldier on.

Another issue I have is backgrounds. I suck at them and I find them hard. There are few in the manga because I am not very good at it. Also I find that drawing fabric is also difficult. Besides that trying to get the characters to look the same across panels can also be a little bit of a challenge for me at times. I have a few pictures where Shiro looks completely different than on other pages. I have a character sheet for him but even there he looks a little different at times.

Well, I guess that means I am in need of more practice. I have seen an improvement in my art since I did the first manga for A Storm’s Coming in 2014. So I am definitely getting better but there is still room for improvement.

I know that I can tell a good story and I am working hard on making sure the images can relate to the text. I did the same thing in manga book 2 as I did in book 1 that I did not write dialogue first. Luckily I had book 3 done so I have a basic storyline. The manga story is slightly different than the novella but it keeps to the same general outline in both mediums. I did get to put a specific scene in the manga that is not in the book making political commentary on the transgender bathroom debacle which I wanted to add into this volume because I had something to say and was able to use Shiro’s transgender little sister Jade to make the statement.

I have chapter opening art and cover lineart for the book and have about 36 more pages to draw till we finish this volume. Wish me luck as I delve deep back into it. I had to proofread grydscaen: dissonance this weekend so was unable to work on it at all. But I am free right now so I can get back to it as my work day comes to an end.

I want to finish manga 2 sometime this month. Once the lineart is done, I have inking, dialogue, scanning, reducing and book production ahead of me. I will be working on this volume for a while and I also have colouring to do. So wish me luck as we dive back into drawing Shiro and Noiz in their yaoi story. This volume gets a little crazy with the appearance of Katsuhiro so hopefully I can execute the images that my crazy writer brain cooked up in the novellas. So much for making it easy on myself. Well, here goes…