For our making manga series today, we are talking about character pairing and sketching. One of the first drawings for the manga graphic noise was an image of Shiro Ijima, the best selling scifi author of the Fissure series and the indie manga artist Noiz with his manga Disaster Code (on the left). Before we could think about a cover or the character sketches we had to get the basic idea down for Shiro and Noiz.

I wanted Shiro to look older than Noiz. From an age difference perspective Noiz is only 19 so he needs to look young. If we can carry this look through to the pages that would be a good start. I made Noiz have longer hair because I needed him to look a little unkempt. Noiz is a manga artist and a skateboarder and he needs to be a little rebellious. Giving him longer hair in my eyes accomplished some of that.

Shiro on the other hand is more refined. He has shorter hair which I am still determining what colour it is. The original line art for the first sketch of the two of them together has Noiz looking happy. Shiro in this image looks a little stunned to be in a picture I think.

I am in the process of doing the character sheets and turnarounds for these two characters. After the first post where we talked about character planning I set out to draw the two of them together. This initial line art was just to get the feel down. The character sheets will include outfits and facial expressions and also be the go to reference for both of these characters.

Since I am stronger at line work than colouring and better at doing individual character poses I wanted to try my hand at doing a sketch with two people in it. I drew Shiro first and then put Noiz in the drawing. The clothing came last. As I am still working on what the characters are wearing I still have time to do the planning on that. The hair was important to help determine the character’s ages. I will need to refine the look and feel to make the characters look more yaoi. So there will be a lot of practicing in my future.

Noiz will have a signature blue and green knit hat with pom poms on it, establishing him as a skater. I will have Noiz also dabble in building computers with his best friend Keith to make him a little techy. The character sheets and if I do this the way I want to will be available for each of the main characters, including Julia (Shiro’s older sister), Jade (Shiro’s transgender sister), Keita (Shiro’s agent), Megumi (Shiro’s editor) and Keith (Noiz’ friend). This will be a lot of initial work up front to design.

I did character sketches in art school when I was studying animation which included turnarounds and I will use that same skill for these.

Some of the artwork for the graphic noise manga will be available to the novel. We are on chapter 4 right now so we are moving right along in the story. The two characters at this point of the story have already met once at the comic con so the action is starting up.

I wanted to talk a little about the yaoi style. Expressive eyes will be important for Noiz to make him appear younger. Shiro will have thinner eyes and an angular face when we get done with him. I am using some reference materials as well which will help with the design. I am also studying yaoi manga so that I can get some of the feel of that and capturing photographs of buildings in New York City for use as backgrounds.

The line art above is just one of many pairing drawings that we will have available for the manga. I want this yaoi to be YA so there will be no sex. I am going to be practicing interaction drawings as well. Including anatomy which I will need to practice.

I am an indie mangaka and novelist so I am self published. This gives me a larger market to work in and I am not confined by the avenues I have available to me. Only the cost of printing for the manga. As we work on the imagery for graphic noise we will try to portray the look and feel desired. This is a book about artists collaborating not relationships so I don’t necessarily need to make the drawings over the top sexy. They just have to portray the right look and feel. This will be important in telling the story.

Line work like the one above shows a playfulness, this is the feeling I want to try to convey. Since the story will be a full length novel, it will have to be shortened for a 48 page manga which was the initial plan. Depending on how it goes it may be longer. The printer is already lined up and the novel will be finished in the next month which is necessary to be done to start the illustration.

Line art can be your friend. If it is difficult for you or you are learning a new style all I can say is practice till you make it perfect. Yaoi illustration is a little out of my comfort zone so I have a lot of work to do on this as we go.

Thanks for sticking around and I am glad I got to show you some of the first line art from graphic noise.