~ 2. Back to High School - Towel-Style ~

Here we are with the next five pages.  Click HERE for the first five.  Or you can follow the labels at the end of the post.

Obviously I made my pages super busy.  Busy, packed and hectic.  Nevertheless, that's how I saw a lot of manga pages; busy and occupied.  I suppose I was just copying, but to an extreme.  I wish I had the skill to tell an efficient (as well as effective) story without too much fuss.  Maybe if I tried to do this these days I could get it right.

Once again a busy page.  I didn't have an manga screens (though later I started to print pictures on tracing paper and go from there), so I had to do all of my backgrounds and effects by hand.  I used what I had.  That's why I always tell people to just start wherever you are and enjoy the process.  

I love Towel and Clip's teacher in the top left corner.  "Break's over!  Let's go!" he says.  And as always, Towel decides to call him a "patty mouth dog."  I don't know what that is.  Should I ever get the time to write her these days, she would never say something like that.  It's not clever enough.  Nonetheless, here her and Clip continue to peep the new girl.

I remember showing this page to a friend of mine and he made a comment about the top panel character's (if you didn't catch it, her name is Miino) expression.  He was pretty direct in his observation that the character looks as if she's about to do something salacious.  I'll leave that to your imagination.  Nonetheless, what I want to point out is how the teachers always seem to be yelling at Towel.  Even this female teacher on the left is yelling at her to take a seat.

Towel's trying to be friends with the new girl, Miino.  Instead, Miino is more interested in strangling Towel.  The scene transitions over into the gym area where Towel and Clip reunite to discuss the new girl, as well as some of the male students playing ball topless.  Said boys have taken a liking to Miino–naturally.  This makes Towel even more curious as to who this new girl is.

I don't think Japanese female students wear bloomers anymore for gym class.  However, this is another obvious testament to my love of the shojo manga genre.

The bloomers again.  Other than that, here is where I introduced another male character (other than Towel's best friend Cornbread).  I'm cringing here as I revisit this particular page.  Why?  Because while I was shaky, I don't like how I drew this guy at all.  I think my drawings of him will get better.  But yesh!

See you guys in the next post...

~ 1. Back 2 High School–Towel Style ~

Now this is hilarious. It started out really quite simple: I needed an eyeglass repair kit–but not for eyeglasses. I needed to replace my cell phone’s USB charger port and had all the equipment in one kit, including a useless micro screwdriver. So convinced that I had another one in an eyeglass repair kit, I scoured my room searching. Eventually, I dived into my closet, pulled out a couple of plastic storage crates, and ran across this old comic I drew back in my junior year of high school. It’s where I started to develop and understand this character that’s been in my head all my life. Her name is Towel. (Nicknamed if you will.) She’s young. Highly misunderstood. Stubborn. A romantic. Senseless and often times forgetful. However, most of all, she’s a hero. She’s lived and manifested in many different forms and appearances. Many different races. Many different occupations. Nonetheless, she’s always been influenced by my love of Sailor Moon, Buffy and a variety of other forms and medias that represent women in power.

So it took me a while, but I finally whipped out my scanner, thinking it would be cool to share some of these scans just for the hell of it. It’s rough. It’s hard.  It's random and confusing.  It’s impulsively drawn. But it’s here. So be tickled.  And sorry that some areas are cut off. My scanner isn't that large.

And no. I never found that eyeglass repair kit. Therefore, I was left making a run to the Dollar Store for one.  However, eventually I got my phone repaired.

I’ll release these in a series of 5 per posts...

What other way to introduce Towel other than to make her late for school?  Why was she late?  Because she was busy admiring a dress.  Heavily–and I mean heavily–influenced by Naoko Takeuchi and Miwa Ueda's work, I placed her in a sailor-style uniform just like Japanese students.  Which only exacts her locale.  

While I was rarely late for school/class, I will say that I was not liked by a couple of teachers for other reasons.  Like Towel, I kind of didn't have a filter on my mouth.  I remember one English teacher calling me out because I proclaimed "this sucks" during one dull, boring class period.  It really was boring listening to her read out of some book.  However, school was like that for me; I was always bored.  And though I've always tried, I find it hard to hold back how I feel.  Especially when it comes to the urge to create.

While she may be located in Japan, Towel definitely had my Southern wit.  I also want to mention how, as it regards manga/anime, characters who have blond hair and blue eyes are not necessarily considered white.  In fact, you'll know when a white/foreign character is present in either form, because of the difference in his/her appearance and behavior.  However, the obvious is a silly caricature of say an American or Russian.  

I never really saw Towel as white, mixed maybe.  Eventually she became a black character who dyed her hair blond.  Why blond?  Because Minako/Sailor Venus is yellow-headed of course.  Plus, the color is so light that it's easiest to product and hide mistakes over.

I've always loved these little character introductions in manga.  A quick, running page of information regarding the star and her buddies.  Clip (later changed to Klip) and Cornbread (we'll talk about him later) were always the characters I had in mind as Towel's best friends.  Both have changed tremendously over the years.  Something I'll realize more and more of as I re-read these early introductions.  

Nonetheless, back to Towel.  I wanted Towel to be sporty, unlike myself.  So I made her a basketball player (like my sister at the time) and a gymnasts (so she could do flips like the original Pink Ranger).  She loves to write, which is something that did come from myself.  Ultimately, I shot for well-rounded.

And here enters a character inspired by Naoko Takeuchi's Rei Hino (my second favorite senshi), or other known as Sailor Mars.  She becomes Towel's school rival and later something else entirely.

Perhaps now's the time to ask that you stay tuned for the next half...

The Guy Who Almost Faded Away

I mentioned a couple of post ago how I've been sitting around not drawing.  I'd sketched an image and struggled for weeks trying to create it the way I'd envisioned it.  Unfortunately, that process stalled completely.  Friday I decided to just do it.  To take whatever it was I had already done and keep going.  There's no such thing as perfection after all.  It's something that will forever remain elusive and paralyzing.  So I'd rather keep creating.  Anyway, I actually filmed the process of this particularly project, so until I update this post with the edited film, here are a few of the stills.

The usual inking and color outlining done.  Just going with the flow on this one.  Nothing particular in mind, except that I wanted dark, bushy-like eyebrows.

As always, I fill in the color of the eyes first.  For some reason I do the eyes before letting everything else blossom.  It may have something to do with how I'm inspired by Naoko Takeuchi.  Nonetheless, I also colored areas of shade/shadow, and filled his top lip.  I had a little problem with the ink not drying properly, so when I went to erase the penciling, some of the ink smeared.  

Now time for the crafty part.  I had a cousin over and, from a multitude of scrapbook paper, she picked up this denim background and a shimmery gold piece for his cap.

So I had to scalp him to get all the necessary pieces traced and put back together.  Thankfully, he remains unbothered by the event.  While the pieces were off, I dusted him with a fleshy yellow-tinted chalk pastel and a soft brown for his hair.  I used a paper towel to even it all out.

Almost done.  All the pieces glued in place now.  I streaked his hair with a single black colored pencil and four shades of brown.  I used an eraser to streak in highlights–which I don't believe showed all that much.  Added pupil effect to eyes.

Not sure if this is the complete version yet.  I added jewel studs (because I love studs) before the scan.  Scanned him in, revived color, darken the black areas of the cap, eyebrows, and eyes.  He reminds me of a certain popstar, but I'm good with that.  The innocence, the youth, the potential look of caution; done.  We'll name him Tae Hee.  Now on to the next project.

The Guy Who Almost Faded And Why

I know the filtering and all is wonked out and faded, but I had to make it a little creative and interesting. The reason I post this drawing is because I don't know what to do with it. I've been stuck on it for weeks, slowly progressing until I just… well… stopped. The idea was to give him one of those super big faux fur hoodies, and then I kind of fiddle along and erased everything. I still am keeping that idea, though. Hopefully, I can pull it off. Part of me also wants to open up his face and jaw line, but part of me wants to leave it as it is. I'm not hardcore determined when it comes to proportions and angles.  I'm more into the reasonable, danity and dramatic looks.  Nonetheless, I kind of just draw and let the drawing and coloring come out.  Either I like the results, or I don’t. So I'm led to believe that I have something here, if only I can execute that fur hoodie like I so, so want to express as it regards the current season. 

I just wanted to share my current frustrations. I'm hoping I'll get this guy together soon. He seems like a babe, but not in an overly masculine way.  Then again, none of my drawings would be touted as "masculine".

True to Form Distractions

So yeah.  Playing the video game The Evil Within does absolutely nothing regarding my progress of the drawing.  There's no nutshell way to put this game other than how it's the story of a police officer finding himself in this crazy, sadistic world filled with zombies and chainsaw men.  One of the founding creators of the Resident Evil series is behind The Evil Within–should that be a blip to my nutshell explanation of this game.  I originally pulled the game out of a Redbox in town, curious by the reviews and ready for a little hands-on experience.  That experience lead to a full purchase.  This game is stressful and sick.  Just like I like my survival horror.  It would be even better if I could play the female character.  Y'all know how I roll.  (A woman surviving with a gun is like my expressionist candy.)

Oh, hell.  The other truth is that I also binge watching The Dead Files on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video–which doesn't help my drawing progress either.  It's funny because I can't watch the show as it airs, but watching it stream is like an obsession.  I think the difference has to do with commercials.  Commercials break up the tension, pace and storytelling elements of TV shows (even ones such as this).  It also messes with my touch of ADD.  So the second a commercial comes on, I do something else and have to remind myself to turn back to the screen and focus.  Anyway, while I do think its a bit exaggerated, I do enjoy watch The Dead Files before I go to bed.  Yes, at night.  With the lights off.  Back-to-back spooky episodes.  Like a pro.

As jovial and colorful as I am, I'm somewhat into the macabre.  As you can see.  I hope before the end of the year the drawing is complete, though.

Take care and stay tuned! 

The Boy Who Loves Capes

This sketch came while I was at the library with my cousin and her daughter. I happened to bring a drawing pad and started sketching away. As always, I had no direction; just drawing. I only knew I was drawing a cute, youthful girl.  Or so I thought. For about a week I wrestled with the sketch, standing before the mirror trying to figure out why it wasn't working the way I liked. I continued to go over and over the drawing until I realized that it wasn't a female character, it was a male. A spunky boy who needed a smirk and a high-collared cape.

Red-head was the first thing I decided.  He was spunky, right.  Green eyes followed.  The rest I inked away.  I tried to make a big–but not too dramatic–bejeweled collar.  Don't know if I got it right, but I remove all kinds of pressure when drawing.  Just let it flow.

I had black, textured felt in mind to make up the collar.  So after I water-colored his hair orange, and shaded his eyes, I x-acto knifed the collar portion. 

I initially wanted to water-color the background a deep red, saw this scrapbooking piece in a bag (the black-fading-into-red goth boutique look), and changed my mind.  The trick was cutting around the outline of the collar, as I went about removing the negative space to fit in his backdrop.  I still needed the shape of the collar as a guide, but thought I eventually could cut out the outline...  

...But I kept it, coloring his collar's outline the same red as the cape.  Having that outline of red just seemed to make it all pop just right.  As you can see, it was all messy; so much so that I put a blank piece of paper underneath him to color everything with abandon.  Nonetheless, once the water color dried, I laid a basic orange and red chalk pastel color to his hair and cape (once again, I love layers).  As for his skin-tone–a light flesh color.  He looks so English schoolboy here. 

With all the screen and felt glued in place, I finally went about adding streaks to his hair with Prismacolor pencils.

Fill in the pupils; highlight the hair. This is actually the last shot from my camera, as opposed to a scanned form. I liked the scan version, but felt like my scanner was so small that I was losing lots of areas of the character. The jewels on his collar were cut out, as well as the cape's brooch. I did the same digital revive and retouch (or what I could, considering I'm nowhere near an expert) and added accents to the eyes so they glowed.  Now, there may be an issue with lighting between the two versions, but the darker tint of the camera's shot kind of works with the theme. 

Not in the strictest sense, but he seems Korean to me now. 

In its entirety, the drawing has this whimsicalness to it that I love. A cool kid who likes bejeweled capes with high collars; learning toward vampirism and goth, but severely unlike either.

Thanks for stopping by.  Visit Draw & Manga page for more.

Recom Request: Learning Japanese Characters

One day I decided I wanted to read Japanese manga in its native language.  Why not, considering I was obsessed with the drawings.  So I set out to teach myself when I was fourteen.  But first let me get this part absolutely straight: I am not fluent in Japanese after all these years. Even after taking two college courses on the language (years after I began my self-teaching journey of course), I am nowhere near voluble. Really, I would grade myself a three out of ten on a comprehension scale. I may be able to slide through the language as it relates to speaking conversationally, though. Nonetheless, fluent I hardly am; much to my disappointment. And most of that has to do with a lack of daily practice as well as an extreme lack of exposure to native speakers (I stress “extreme lack“). 

Still, I wanted to make a post sharing the book that got me started when I was fourteen, scanning my way through the international section of the public library. I found the book useful for a young beginner like myself. Even now–being moderately familiar with the language–I refer to it because of its refreshing simplicity. It does offer plenty but, like many language-learning tools, it gets its criticism also. Even so, I can say that I learned to read two out of the three forms of Japanese writing systems; I managed hiragana and katakana through the author’s visual mnemonics.  Hiragana and Katakana has always stuck with me without fail, much to my advantage later in college. However, learning the complicated strokes and compounds of kanji, featured later in the book, took some advanced tools. Nevertheless, that’s not to say that I didn't pick up a few from the book that assisted me down the road.  I mean, I can differentiate the kanji character for "sun" (日=ni) and "month" (月=gatsu) clearly enough (the problem is when kanji characters fuse to make one jukugo). So at the end of the day, the book, Michael Rowley’s Kanji Pictographix, is a great start for those who decide to pick up and familiarize themselves with Japanese characters.

So I just wanted to share a little regarding this book and a few fundamentals of learning hiragana and katakana first. Then later, in another post, I'll show some other Japanese learning tools for beginners (like myself).

So what’s the difference between written Japanese hiragana and katakana. According to Rowley, hiragana is used to write words not normally written within the complexity of kanji, or as I see it, a means of deconstructing kanji characters into a simpler form. Therefore, it’s no wonder why hiragana (as well as katakana) is taught first to Japanese children. Nonetheless, the other function of hiragana is that it’s used for verb endings and speech. Example: applying the hiragana character for ka (か) at the end of a sentence or statement indicates that the person speaking is asking a question.

Now katakana characters are written differently than hiragana, but spoken with the same phonetics. The main different is that katakana is used to write names and words that aren't traditionally Japanese. An example would be "coffee." As a typical English (though not necessarily in its origin) word, it would be written in katakana ( コーヒー)  in contrast to hiragana. And is further romanized as “Kōhī,” or pronounced “ko-hee”.

In case I’ve complicated this, I've included a few scans from Michael Rowley’s book to show you a few examples and to further my recommendation of this book for those just starting Japanese.

        Hiragana            Katakana          Hiragana     Katakana

The Girl Who Got Abandoned

There's a reason I terminated this drawing before I got into watercoloring it: it felt too unbalanced to finish!  Now, I've never claimed to be the best at drawing, but I can't lie to myself when sometimes a drawing feels wrong.  This would be one of the many occassions where I abandoned a drawing.  This one in particular kind of got wobbly during the sketching process.  I changed her hair, pose, angle, and background one too many times and got lost.  Still trying to push my way through to find that "gold"–I never really found it.  It's kind of like how in life when we push and push against something that we want, and it pushes back with resistance, we end up making a mess of everything.  It's better to just... go with the flow.  Nevertheless, considering this was going to be a series of images illustrating the drawing's progress (see Gold Fleur post), I managed to capture a few of its early moments and nothing more.  I felt it had so much promise in the sketched stages, though.

I really started to fumble when I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to do with the hands.  Those damn hands.  Always the hands!  I should've taken them out completely and left it simple, comical and as ethereal as possible.  But no... I wanted to try to push it.

Just... I don't know at this point.  I'm still confused about what hair color I was shooting for.  She was initially suppose to be my character Shi Shi (blue hair and all), but it just didn't seem to come together like I'd hoped.  Eh... oh well...

This wouldn't have bothered me so much had I got her pose right from the jump.  But like a slippery slope, I further got discouraged at the shape of her nose, while finding her lips too small for my liking.  I like big lips.  I also didn't get the full roundness and shape of her eyes.  So... I abandoned ship!  It just felt missing.

Anyway, I always said I would share my not-so-happy drawings as well as the ones I do think turned out as good as I could get them.  So what do you think?  Should I continue forward?  Or should I just regroup and start anew?  How do you handle a disappointing drawing project?  Do you fight the current or jump ship to start somewhere fresh?  Comment below.

The Gold Fleur

Hi, everyone.  Blogger has been acting a straight fool lately and I've been impatient with it.  I don't know what the issue is, but nothing’s loading properly--including this new blog post on my latest drawing.  Nonetheless, I think I'm there.  I think it’s doing its job, and now it’s time to share my process again through a series of images.

I've named this image Fleur.  The character’s name is still unavailable to me.

I sketched the actual drawing probably three months ago and just left it, for some reason. Therefore, I don’t have the penciled version. Nonetheless, as of recently, I went through the process of inking the drawing and adding all the particular areas that would require shading/shadows regarding the flesh (I use Copic markers for this). Besides using the usual colored pencils to add tones to the eyes, I also used a screen/pattern early within the process as the backdrop. Because the process only gets messier, I try to have this construction part out of the way as early as possible. Anyway, at first I meant to apply the screen/pattern as the shirt, and then realized there wasn’t enough paper. I like it better as a backdrop, though. So having carefully carved out the negative space, I added it on as needed.

Now on to the colors. Water coloring is always my base of choice because it’s light and covers space quick and easily. Because I decided his shirt would be yellow—in semi-accordance with the gold fleur de lis within the backdrop—I painted it a light yellow. Just as his hair would be brown, I gave it a light-brown color. However, as seen, I covered the hair with a dust of brown-toned chalk pastels before I applied the yellow chalk to his shirt. I’m all about layers. Get the base color, and then add more and more colors!

Because I like layers, I try to add the darkest color first when it comes to chalk pastels. Why? Because it can get messy. Adding the dark color first allows me to clean up the edges before applying lighter colors. As seen in this image, I added a yellow chalk pastel to his shirt as well as a flesh color to his skin tone. As for the hair, it was time for a layer of colored pencils toned and streaked through his hair to give it vibrancy (I eventually use a tissue to blend the three mediums that layers the hair). Furthermore, I used wooden beads and brown string to craft the drawstring area of his shirt. As for his undershirt, I applied a ragged piece of actual denim to give it form.

Almost finished. I streaked his hair with a gum eraser as a form of highlights, and then gave sparks (an actual whiteout pen) and further flourishes to his eyes and the glisten of his lips. On the crafting aspect, I used more string to construct him gently gripping a necklace consisting of bejeweling stickers, and a gold cross sticker. I went through several designs of the cross from what I had available before I decided to stick with a gold one. This cross, in particular, matches his earrings, which are also stickers taken from the same batch.

The final part. Immediately, after I scan a drawing, I revive its color in PhotoFiltre. Hey, it’s all I got. The reason I do so is because digital images come out differently than the original. So I found it best to give some digital brilliance to the colors. Nevertheless, because the image is further decreased to portrait size, I also made corrections and adjustments. One of those corrects were to brush a matching brown color over the wooden beads that makes up the drawstring of his shirt. This was to cover the dry crafts glue peeking out. Other adjustments called because certain aspects tugged at me. Like his lips. I brushed over the glisten I originally intended, deciding it looked best without. I also touched up the glisten in his eyes by applying a softer gray over them to bring down the brilliance. Sometimes you have to make little adjustments as the digital image always looks differently than the actual one. A little clean up in an otherwise never-perfect drawing.

I have about four other images I’ll be sending off before turning them into journals and other items on my Zazzle shop, this one included. Until then, let’s come up with a name for him.

I sometimes get message from people asking me what inspires me to draw in this style.  Then there are some who pinpoint it right away.  In any regard, I idolize Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon) and Miwa Ueda (Peach Girl) and their shojo manga drawings.  I love the youthfulness, softness, and simplicity of shojo-themed drawings.

Free Comic Book Day

No, I don't have a comic book to give away.  If I was aware of such a day as Free Comic Book Day, I might've been prepared.  It was only recently brought to my attention, though.  So I'll do what I can and share a few old scans from back when I used to do comics for my high school newspaper.  They are messy, but enjoy them the best that you can.  (^_^)

V-Day Skit

Notice the Sailor V influence?  I really, really should go get some good bristol board and try this all over again.  Anyway, thanks for stopping by.  

Manga Mysteries ~ Sherlock Holmes Had a Niece?

Okay, for all the manga readers time to share a series I discovered a little over a year ago.  I almost looked over this one, and then realized my Comic Towel drawings were inspired by this style of art.  Blend that with my month of reading mysteries, and consider me encouraged to share Kaoru Shintani’s Young Miss Holmes (Seven Seas Entertainment), or its Japanese title, Christie High Tension (Media Factory).

Debutting in 2007 (it didn't hit the west till 2012), Young Miss Holmes tales about an aristocratic and--somewhat presumptuously educated--ten-year-old named Crystal "Christie" Margaret Hope.  She goes by "Christie" as a polite throw to English crime novelist, Agatha Christie; and it just so happens she's the niece of famed literary figure, Sherlock Holmes.  The homages to manga-Christie's character blooms rampant and clear.  Nonetheless, as a character who has her own, her University-level education translates through her unique ability to discern her surroundings with blade-like sharpness.  This ability supports her subsequent need to ask questions, leading to a performance of logical deductions and reasoning.  Have I pumped up Christie too much?  Probably so.  But I like her so I must continue.

On the other hand, her aristocratic upbringing translates into her freedom to roughly--but resourcefully--explore her talents with a decorum of respect from others.  Besides her exercised clout of owning the title as the niece of Sherlock Holmes, this exploration includes Christie’s need to run behind her uncle and his murder cases.  However, she often falls down the tunnels of her own hunches until she’s left to dig her own way out.  Which strengths my resolve for loving the mystery genre because it's always about characters thinking for themselves.  

Mutton sleeves attached, Christie is either cornering a jewel thief; deciphering a murderous lithograph; or pursuing Shintani’s twist on Holmes's popular case, The Hound of Baskerville.  And while Christie does much of her sleuthing to gain the approval of her famed uncle, she is not alone in her pursuits as she drags her unexpectedly self-sufficient teacher and nannies into her troubles.  Each and all done with some amazing manga-style flips, flares and wit.  Oh, and some hard India ink.

I am currently working my way through each story-packed volume with a balanced pace.  See, I confess that I sometimes read quickly through manga and graphic novels, to the point of walking away with nothing of use besides admiring the art.  Maybe because this is a mystery manga that I’ve decided to take my time, much like how I did with Tadashi Agi‘s thriller series, Remote, some years ago.  Nonetheless, from Young Miss Holmes, I find myself charmed with Shintani’s whodunit storytelling underneath his obvious, sparklingly admiration of Author Doyle's virtuoso.  Shintani does dip a touch into fantasy, but his stories are not without that cobblestoned London 1891 glow that's probably rarely seen in manga.  The amusing, over-expressed (classic in my eyes) construction of his line work carried each story just as cleanly as the stories themselves.  His style has the throwback appeal of manga from the 1980s, ala Project A-ko and Galaxy Express 999; and that, along with early 90’s style, appeals to me from a growing-up stance.  I should mention that I do adore Christie.  Or did you already figure that out?  Yes, she can sometimes be a brat.  Despite all of her intelligence, she’s still ten.  However, there is a compassionate side to Christie that is easy to miss.  One example lie in her encouraging words to her troubled, illiterate nanny.  Like I said, something unanticipated remains here beyond the mystery and comedic attitude of the series.  

Nevertheless, I love how outstandingly fun and hilarious this series is, as well as bewildering.  Bewildering in a good way I should say.  Whatever the case, Scandal’s “The Warrior” would easily describe Christie’s detective moxie.  After I finish Rita Mae Brown’s Wish You Were Here, I feel another episode of Christie coming along.

Virtual Portfolio 2002-2013

Hi, Comic Towel readers.  To sort of semi celebrate the one year closing of my small blog, I played around with Windows Movie Editor to create a virtual portfolio of many of the drawings I've shared throughout this year.  As I mentioned before, there was a point where I stopped drawing completely because I didn't know what to do with my drawings.  Nobody saw them, tucked away in my personal portfolios.  So as a newly "invigorated" individual, I realized it was time to pull them out and this time share them through whatever available platform.  What's even more interesting is that these drawings span eleven years (2002-2013).  That in itself marks a small sense of personal significance to me.  

So here we go.  My first virtual portfolio.  Enjoy...

Digging for Gold!

Well, it's Comic Towel, my mix-up of drawings, literature, and self-help.  Here's a drawing I did per request.  It didn't fit the request, but I love it too much to ignore.  The funny thing is that I started two drawings for the request and got to the coloring part of the other before I realized I didn't like it.  Whereas, I didn't like this picture in its sketched form.  However, I kept digging at it.  Drawing, inking, coloring, experimenting.  And I feel like I dug out some gold.  It might not've fit the request of the individual who asked for it, but I feel like this drawing showed me that I was able to do exactly what I set out to do here.  You got to keep digging.  Never give up.

I put this colorful drawing together during July.  I wanted to post it with a short story but never really got to writing the piece.  So I just held on to the drawing.  Then I realized that--hey--it's in me to want to draw.  I'm an unlimited, abundance system of ideas.  Not to sound cheeky about it, though.  I believe that each drawing is a learning experience.  In any regard, I grew tired of waiting to share the drawing.  So here it is.  The dude kind of reminds me of Wheeler from Captain Planet.  Would you say so too?

This is an archive picture I wanted to share.  For some reason I never quite added it to my Zazzle shop deal.  But I always look at it trying to figure out why not.  So.  I'll just share it here until I get my shit together about it. 

Meanwhile, I need suggestions on where I can start doing commission work.  I had a gig on Fiverr then decided to take it down only because I needed to reconstruct my time and planning.  Any ideas?

Manga Realness: "Ultra Maniac" by Wataru Yoshizumi

The last series in my favorite completed manga set is Ultra Maniac, by Wataru Yoshizumi.  This is quite possibly my favorite between the four I've recently written about, and for serveral reason.  Besides the franatic storyline underneath a schoolhouse backdrop, the artwork (or line work) is clean beyond belief.  Taken with an artistic eye (not that I'm a professional of any sort), the drawings are very clear.  Even clearer and cleaner than Naoko Takeuchi's work.  Maybe it has a lot to do with the different time periods the two series were released, but I noticed Ultra Maniac was very much on par with Absolute Boyfriend's line work.  Perhaps, a smidget cleaner and more meticulous.  Never mind, they both are nicely done.  I just notice it much more in Ultra Maniac.

Yet another manga series I followed through each English adaptation's release, Ultra Maniac also brought me comfort during some frustratingly lonely times.  Also as a note, this one of the few manga series where I own the anime version also--which is just as clean and wonderfully put together.

Ayu Tateishi.  Rei Hino, anyone?

Rei with her secret crush, Tetsushi

So those who are unfamiliar with the short series, Ultra Maniac, let me first summarize what it’s about before why I like it.  For starters, the series combines comedy, romance, and fantasy.  It’s magical, with extended emphasis on celebrating our uniqueness and the friends we gather from doing so.  The story revolves around Ayu Tateishi (who I’ve attributed has an attitude and likeness similar to Rei Hino in Sailor Moon).  As a middle-school girl, Ayu is somewhat of an inspiration to her classmates.  She has a maturity about her that many of her peers admire.  She isn’t one to let loose her emotions or super-express her feelings in concerns to school crushes and chasing idols.  Also, she firmly states that she isn’t one to believe in magic and fantasies.  Ayu has a smooth and practical personality, which I identified with from the jump on some levels.  Nevertheless, Ayu hides a lot of her feelings behind this demeanor--through a personification built mostly because of her interest in a certain student named, Tetsushi Kaji.  Much of her development comes from accepting and projecting her inner desires, trusting that she can believe in the impossible becoming possible.  And this is where Nina Sakura--the teen witch--comes in.  

Nina Sakura and her little spell-tool box

Tetsushi Kaji, the popular boy

From the beginning, Nina comes across as somewhat of a scatterbrain.  Yet, that's a part of her cute, spunky, and likeable charm.  She is like the antithetic to Ayu, or the Pippi Longstockings to Ayu's calm personality.  Nina has just about the same level of energy and gusto as Pippi Longstockings, as well as the unwavering passion for believing in the unbelievable.  However, just like Ayu, Nina hides many of her insecurities behind her jubilant personality.  Somehow attracted to Ayu’s resonablities, Nina is in distress after losing a personal item related to her witching.  It’s a big issue because Nina is in this “world” to prove she is capable of becoming an outstanding witch, considering the people from her world don’t seem to trust that aspect of her.  Once Ayu finds and returns Nina’s magic tool, Nina sees Ayu as the perfect individual to divulge her secrets to.  This includes confessing her desires to be an outstanding witch.  I suppose Nina felt she could share this with Ayu because of Ayu's smooth personality, but now thoroughly attached, Nina does anything she can to make Ayu happy.  To her, they are friends now.  However, Nina's magical antics doesn’t always turn out in Ayu’s favor.  And this is where the adventures begin.

Opposites attract, leading the girls down exciting paths encouraged by one another’s differences and inner similarities as they develop a close friendship filled with trust and adventure.  Between the two secondary male roles expanding onto the friendship, and friends from Nina’s witch world entering many chapters, Ultra Maniac makes for a comedic five-volume series. 

Tetsushi's best friend, Hiroki

As I outline Ayu and Nina’s characteristics and differences, I want to make it known that those elements are what made me love the series.  Particular because I spent my middle school years in somewhat of the same circumstances where I had to cover up myself just to survive the experience.  The funny thing is that in middle school I was more like Ayu, calm and collected.  It wasn't until the second year of high school that I became out going like Nina.  It balanced out eventually.   And necessarily so. 

Nevertheless, that's only half of my identification with the manga series.  While I wasn’t the most popular in middle school I had enough “credence” to associate myself with a few of the more popular students.  I suppose in many respects I was that in-between kid.  Nevertheless, my best friend was one of the students who was forever looked over and bullied by others.  He was the kid I would have to defend from ignorant tormentors.  It had a lot to do with him coming from a family in economic straits (like who wasn't?).  Straits that showed in his tattered shoes and daily repeating outfits.  On top of this, his family weren't that nice to him.  I remember a time when I had extra money and got us both Snicker bars out of the school vending machine.  He took his home.  The next day I asked did he enjoy it.  Sadly, his dad took it away from him and told him that he didn't deserve it.  What kid doesn't deserve candy?  I was angered of course.  Months later I bought two copies of a collection of ghost stories.  Nobody took that from him.  

Nina flagging down Ayu

Maybe because I've always tried to remain receptive to people, but I see no other way to find acceptance in yourself but through the accepting of others.  Nothing is more bonding than being genuinely emphatic and sympathetic to another.  What he and I shared was a love of Stephen King (which may say a lot) and the imagination.  Not Air Jordans or Mustangs.  Just books and some creative thinking.  We could be ourselves while everyone else was shooting to be relevant to others.  Therefore, I enjoyed his company and considered him a friend.  I needed one just as he did.  

Now, while there is much, much else to speak about in Ultra Maniac, the story of two girls who seem to support and compliment each other inspires me to remain open to people.  Have you been open to people lately?