So I am working on a new manga and novel called “graphic noise” which is a yaoi manga about an indie manga artist and a best selling science fiction author who meet at AnimeFest, a comic convention. The story is set in New York City and will as much explore the particular culture of Manhattan like the subway, bike messengers, Central Park, Grand Central Station and the Javitz Convention Center as it will be a story about two artists getting to know each other and hopefully collaborating.
Now I am only on page 23 of the novel which will need to be completely written before the main work on the manga can start. There are a few works of art already drawn for the manga which will be black and white with potentially a colour cover but we will need to get the dialogue down and the storyline before real work on the art and illustrations can start.
Today I wanted to talk about character planning which is an initial step in both writing novels and creating manga. In the novel I include a page of character summaries which lists out the main characters of the manga. The science fiction writer is named Shiro Ijima and he is a famous author with multiple books in his science fiction Fissure series, a mainstream work of fiction about war and fighting against an oppressive government.
In order to understand your characters you need to give them a back story. Shiro Ijima comes from a wealthy family from Japan but he was raised in America when his father came to the United States. Shiro has a younger transgender sister Jade and an older sister Julia who is married to a rock musician. Shiro has a tragic experience in his past which makes him not want to get close to people which will be problematic to any relationship he gets in. He toys with women but there is a rumor that he likes men. I needed to give Shiro this tragic flaw to make a ripple in the story. Shiro has an editor and an agent and is traditionally published so he gets royalties and an advance to write his books. He lives in a posh apartment near Central Park in the middle of New York City. He hates his editor and his agent is a drunk who gets him speaking, radio and TV engagements.
The other main character is Noiz, who is a young indie manga artist fresh out of art school who is trying to make a name for himself as a mangaka. He has a friend Keith who will end up helping him at AnimeFest. Noiz is new to manga so there are some bumps in the road as he gets his first volume of his manga Disaster Code available for sale. Noiz owns a copy of one of Shiro’s books in the Fissure series. He is enamoured by Shiro when he sees a picture of him in his author photo on the back of the Fissure series book.
The two characters in the story are in different places in their lives. This will make for a more interesting dynamic. Shiro also used to be a writer for manga so he knows his way around the genre. Noiz wants to work with him on a collaboration once he meets him. This is the key impetous behind Noiz’ desire to meet Shiro who, on the other hand wants nothing to do with the manga artist.
The back story for the characters is interesting and important because we need to know where they come from since that will drive their interaction.
Once the backstory for the novel was done and the first three chapters were written, it was time to start trying to visualize the characters. Shiro has short hair where Noiz’ hair is to his shoulders and a deep brown. Because I am not all that good at using copic markers, a tool of the trade for a manga artist, my colouring was just adequate, but it allowed me to get a feel for what the characters looked like one I had the original line art done for the cover. I did a test colouring with the markers just to get some of the concept down. That drawing will not be the final render for the cover. When I drew the cover which still needs a background, I wanted both Noiz and Shiro together, interacting in some way. The cover is not suggestive more playful as the story that I am writing may be yaoi but will include no sex.
Once I had an initial drawing for the cover I needed individual character sketches for each of the characters that can be used as reference. I have started the drawing of Shiro and am still working on it. The drawing of Noiz will come later.
Once I had the first three chapters of the novel written and set up the initial scenes prior to the two characters meeting at the anime convention I was ready to start the character sketches. There may also be individual drawings of the other characters in the story like Julia, Jade, Keith, the editor and the agent but I have not decided that yet. Jade I know will be dressed as a geisha in an over the top look. Julia will be more refined and art mod in black with a pencil skirt and long dark hair. These decisions have already been made.
The next thing I need to decide is the art style. Having done a manga previously called “A Storm’s Coming” which is based on a short story from the grydscaen series and includes the Zone Police officer Xander Storm and the LGBT homeless youth Rom living on the streets, I have experience laying out and drawing a 48 page manga. That project I was unsure if I could actually pull it off. One problem I know that I will have from the start are backgrounds. “A Storm’s Coming” has some but I am limited by my ability to capture that effectively. “A Storm’s Coming” was drawn over a period of two weeks. It is 5 chapters long and 48 pages. The story had previously been written and is part of grydscaen: tribute so I knew what the story was about.
Since “graphic noise” is a new genre for me it will require that I get out of my comfort zone to write the story between these two men meeting. Since yaoi can be explicit or not, I have decided to air on the side of caution and not make something too racy and there will be no sex. Maybe a kiss in there but that is not set in stone yet. The story will be more mildly suggestive than anything.
Once I had the initial novel chapters and the first drawing that could be used for the cover, the character designs needed to start. I may only have Shiro and Noiz when I go back to writing. I know the writing of this novel will be slow since it is a new genre for me and it might only end up being a novella, which is fine in the end. Getting the initial conepts for the characters down may take more than one drawing. And I am a little hesitant to getting started drawing for real yet since the story is not done.
I am currently doing research into yaoi to learn more about the art style. “A Storm’s Coming” had some really excellent chapter opening drawings. The rest of the manga was more subdued. I have decided when I start the manga illustration for “graphic noise” actually get into drawing the pages that I will work hard on backgrounds and getting that typical yaoi look. Which means the drawings will have to be painstakingly expressive which also means I will need to spend more time on them. I have studied some yaoi where the artist did mature over the course of the story and the drawings changed. Hopefully I will be able to render the characters like the character sketches and keep to their look and feel.
At current I am drawing a picture of Shiro. I still have to determine what he is wearing. I think on the outset, he is in slacks and a black blazer with a collared shirt with the collar open. His hair is a bluish ash colour in the initial coloured drawing. I may change this to blonde if I think that suits the character. At this moment I still need to decide. This drawing will be key to the understanding the character. One of the issues that I had in “A Storm’s Coming” was making Rom look the same across panels. He had his signature hair and trench coat but some of the drawings have variations in his face. I will have to get that sorted for “graphic noise.”
Regarding the backgrounds, I will have to draw buildings in New York City. Mostly high rises but I will still need to render windows and girders, metal and steel. These may be cityscape images initially, street corners, taxi cabs. All these will have to be practiced. I did take an architectural rendering class in art school a few years ago so I am familiar with perspective but it is another thing to know the technique of it, it is another thing to render it.
All in all the drawing of “graphic noise” is going to be something I will have to seriously commit to since I will be doing it for a long while. It may take 6 months to draw 48 pages of yaoi manga as opposed to three weeks with “A Storm’s Coming.” The thing with “Storm’s” was that I knew the story inside and out, I had the blocking, the dialogue, the novel was written in storyboard format, and I knew the character designs and how the story was to flow. “graphic noise” is new. This will be a whole new experience.
This is the first post in the “Making Manga” set. There will be many more as we progress through the manga and novel creation process. I hope you stick around to watch the process unfold.
