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Yes, that's right folks, I'm finally throwing my hat in the ring and starting work on my very own manga. I've wanted very much to try my hand at this for quite some time, and now, with the advent of online drawing tutorials, I am going to give it a go!

Now I know, I know, there are prolly like 750 billion webmangas and such floating around out there, but I will be putting much time, effort, and soul into this in order to make sure it's done right.

So far I have some rough thematic and storyline concepts along with some preliminary character sketches and I am currently working to cement them. The story is a bit on the unusual side and more of a downer than your typical manga fare. More on that in a sec.

I am still pluggin' away at names and design ideas so every little comment and suggestion will be greatly appreciated. I don't think that the names or themes should be japanese-y because I don't even wanna begin to pretend.

Here are some sketches that I am trying to shape into one of the main characters. She should be 14-16 (13?) years old and a bit frazzled looking. She also has a little sister in the works. 6-8. Stubborn-type. Your ideas: Give them to me. Thanx!

Here?s a little background on what I have planned.

Remember now, this project is still in the VERY early stages, so I make no apologies for the sketchiness at present.

OK. Here's the idea: A 14-16 year old girl and her (let's say) 6-8 year old sister live on the streets on the outskirts of an archetypal metropolis after being either orphaned or abandoned by their parents. Penniless and hungry, turned down at every attempt at employment, the elder girl decides to sell her body for money.

Undetermined filler... yada, yada... At some point she is picked up by a greasy, bigwig, political-type and is fed a hallucinogenic cocktail as a part of a deranged sex crime ritual. She barely escapes (details later)and wanders in a frenzy across the town until she is (miraculously) found by her little sister and taken back to their camp-spot to recover a bit.

It's not long before the bigwig has filed some bogus police charge against the girl (details later) and there is a gigantic manhunt out for her. After being pursued for some time she decides to turn and stand with her little sis and a handgun. (At this point I'm fuzzy on where I specifically want this to go) Either she or her sis is shot and killed by the police.

In the case she is shot, her little sister then takes her gun and is likewise gunned down (sad ) If her sister is shot then she may faint or be wounded (incapacitated but ultimately alive) and finds that either she faces death charges (perhaps for gunning down an officer, details later) or is absolved of the alleged crimes, yet is now doomed to live alone in regret and/or revenge-mode. Anyways, I plan for the conclusion to be rather frenetic and meaningful.

I'm also toying with the notion that her sister is a figment of her imagination, but that gets rather messy and a bit over-the-top/Fight Clubby.

There will be a message behind all this (yeah, I know) because there needs to be a reason they are made to suffer like this. Mainly, it's a critique/indictment of political corruption and the pitfalls of our socio-economic system as depicted in horrific, living colour by the sad tale of two little girls. Yeah, your basic cross between Totoro and Digi Charat I'd say, (Naw naw naw, j/k, j/k ).

Any comments, suggestions, reprimands, etc. would be great. Thanx!

Okay, I?ve worked an amalgam of the two character sketches into a more satisfactory look. I?ve combined features of the left and right hand characters to get the middle result, (see attachment). She still might need to be made a bit more homely or weary looking later on. Right now I?m working on colorizing these sketches to test shading, etc. but the finished product will still be b/w.

The drawings for the actual manga will be scanned into my pc, (after inking, these pics are of scanned pencil sketches), and cleaned up a bit by using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Streamline and then most likely given line weighting by way of Adobe Illustrator, (as proscribed by http://www.polykarbon.com). This will give it a real appealing, professional look.

The middle sketch fits her personality much better since she is supposed to be rather joyless. The one on the left sorta captures this look but is far too ?pretty? and spacey, and the thin jaw of the right one makes her look too juvenile or rambunctious. She?s a little dirty and semi-pissed off for now I s?pose. Tell me what you?d perhaps like to see her lookin? like.

As far as names go, I was thinking she could be called ?Amaya? which is actually Japanese but sounds like something Americans might name their kids. It means ?Night Rain? and I think that fits her character oh so well. I?m still looking though, and I need a name for her little sister and their family name. Suggestions?

I have no advice or great words of wisdom, but I would like to say good job. And may you get futher in Manga working than I ever did!


Peace

Hehe, thanx Batz.

Okay, here are a few things I'm working with. The colored image was just some practice in shading and lighting. The other is a short-haired version of 'Amaya' (for now) that I really almost like better, as it's not so common, but it does come off as a little Lain-y, hehe. Anyways, actual new images will be along soon, but for now just let me know what you think my status is. "S'alright?" "S'alright."

...y numero dos...

I like the longer hair better. She's been living on the streets so i wouldn't think she'd had a hair cut recently.

Quote:I like the longer hair better. She's been living on the streets so i wouldn't think she'd had a hair cut recently.

Heh, good point. The shorter is prolly just wishful thinking, although I still wanna find a way to not just have her with "normal" long hair. I think I'll eventually get rid of the Love Hina Again eyes as well.

For her little sister I want her to have two big braids to the side of her head that she never takes out. The shorter hair might make a useable template for her after considerable modification. I was thinking maybe (maybe maybe) that I could consider 'Claire' for the little sister's name. It works considerably well since I'm planning on 'Claire' being the one gunned down and that name really hits the pity button hard. I do want for her to have a nickname of some sort though, and 'Claire' isn't really conducive to nicknaming.

So, got any thoughts on a title yet? I don't.