Randomness...

Today I had another go at colouring one of my drawings in Photoshop. I even had a go at some shading on his hair. It’s still pretty terrible I know and how triangular his face is really bugs me still but oh well. I will just have to try and improve my drawing skills and style, which is kind of the point of this blog anyway.

Other drawings for today include a couple of random rubbish sketches as I was in a bit of a strange mood. The first is less scary I think. I just thought he might look good in a top hat, and for some reason for me top hats have to have an ace of spades tucked into the ribbon. Plus the whole card of death idea fits with 2541’s character, he’s a tad bloodthirsty at times.

The second sketch is so much more random and scary. Yes he is wearing a skirt. Yes that is a corset. No I do not know why. But you can see he’s pretty angry at me drawing him wearing female clothes, I think the clenched fists, gritted teeth and scowl give it away. I can’t help but find it amusing though, and I just love to torture people so I couldn’t resist.

Kawaii!!

Okay I’ve been thinking a lot about 2541 (no not in that way you freak) and I’ve decided I want to make him cuter so now he also has doggy ears. Isn’t that just so kawaii? I’ve also given him red cat eyes so that he intimidate people even more so. Also lately I have been having a little more fun when drawing 2541 and making some slightly comedic pictures, just to piss him off you know? I find it just makes him even more cute. So here are my two latest pictures of him. The second one annoys me a bit though because I drew his face too triangular.

Here is another drawing of him, however this is one my girlfriend drew (wow I have fanart already ^.^) from my description of him. We were just talking about him and thinking over what we could add to him, which is why his newest additions are only in her drawing and not mine. These are his little black glove on his left hand and the tattooed runes on his right forearm.

Sanjō! 2541!

On with the show woohoo! Okay so the idea I’ve come up with for my manga character is this green haired teenage boy who has these beautiful red feathered wings. He also has a tail, vampire fangs and a long thin scar down through his left eye. I think the scar is both pretty cool and adds some mystery to the guy. Another mysterious thing I’ve given him is a barcode tattooed onto his chest just below his left collarbone. The image I have of him in my head is that he was a soldier created by mixing various animal DNA. The name I’ve given to my character is actually simply a number: 2541. It was his designation in the army and he has never cared about having a real name so he simply doesn’t have one. Him being created by mixing human and animal DNA, and the barcode, is influenced by the American television show Dark Angel, which is in fact basically a copy of the manga series Battle Angel Alita with a few things changed.

Anyway here is my first picture of him along with one where I’ve coloured it using Photoshop.

By the way this is the exact barcode

Today it is sensei to you

Unfortunately after some consideration I have decided to just heap the whole history lesson into one post and make the absolute focus of my blog on drawings. So here is the brief yet hopefully interesting and educational post on the awesome history of anime and manga.

When people hear the word anime most of them immediately think of Akira or Pokemon, but how many people do you think know about where anime and manga originated from? When translated literally manga actually means “random (or whimsical) pictures”. It was first heard in the late 18^th century in reference to Suzuki Kankei's "Mankaku zuihitsu" (1771) and Santo Kyoden's picturebook "Shiji no yukikai" (1798). However manga-like simplistic characteristics are seen in drawings dating back to the 12^th century. That makes it pretty ancient huh? Modern manga has come a long way from its predecessors the woodblock printed books, one of the most well known series being Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai.

Around 1930 manga was made using low-priced paper and ink, and it wasn’t sold in bookshops but rather in children’s toy shops. After World War II ended the United States started to influence Japanese culture again. Osama Tezuka (known as the “Father of Anime” or the “God of Manga”) was influenced by Walt Disney and in turn influenced a great number of mangaka. He introduced story to manga, and is probably best known as the creator of Astro Boy, the first ever anime series. He began it as a manga series in 1951 and after its huge success it was remade as an anime series in the 1980s.

One of the biggest anime companies ever is Studio Ghibli, their first film being Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind. They provided the video rights to Walt Disney to a lot of huge feature length animes such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke (you must see this one if you haven’t already). This company opened the way for Hollywood to get into the anime business with Akira. The phenomenal success of Akira in the West made people aware of this different style of cartoons and comics.

However, because there was nothing as big as Akira following for years anime didn’t make it all the way, there were just occasional big hits such as Sailor Moon (although this was hugely edited in places), Dragonball, and of course Pokemon. It was Pokemon that opened me and everyone I know from my generation up to anime. It’s my ambition to somehow watch pure Pokemon that has not been dubbed, for we all know that dubs are evil. The effect that Pokemon had on the world was incredible, it was all over television, and I don’t just mean the episodes. Try searching for Ant and Dec on S.M.T.V. Live and Pokemon and there is disturbing evidence of their very own Pokemon battles…

Well class is over. Gomen nasai for the length and randomness.

Konnichi wa

Welcome one and all! This blog will be on the wonderful magical world of manga and anime. Isn’t that just so exciting? I am going to do two different kinds of posts a week, just to keep you on your toes you know? First off I will be looking into the history of manga and anime, its influences and the huge effect it has had both on itself and on the boring world of the west. Secondly I will be creating my very own manga character. Woohoo! *crowd goes wild* This will be a part of how I will explain and show the crazy things fans do to show people just how much they love manga and anime. I will also be talking about and showing the development of my first ever cosplay for my first anime convention this year. So have I lost you yet? Okay, just to put it basically for those who are lost (including me), there will be two angles to this blog: first will be on the huge effect manga and anime have had on the world, second will be how the fans celebrate it in their own crazy little ways (and yes I am one of them so maybe you should just get away now whilst you still can).

Now that the embarrassing introductions are over let’s get on with it. I’m going to start off with that second angle I was rambling on about: how the fans express their love for manga and anime. There are many different ways so I will only go briefly over the main ones. First off, they talk on and on and on about their favourite manga series or anime series, and I mean incessantly. Personally my favourite is the enormously popular series Naruto. This series about ninjas started off as just a manga series by Masashi Kishimoto, and when it was successful an anime adaptation began. Being the obsessive geek I am, I have of course watched every single episode of the series, including every fan’s pet hate: the fillers (random episodes created for the duration of the time when they had to let the manga get ahead for a while).

Okay see what I mean about the incessant geeky knowledge? Anyway, the next most popular way of expressing love for favourite characters has got to be drawing them, just check out sites such as www.deviantart.com, they’re full of fan’s drawings. Then of course there is cosplaying. This term means dressing up as your favourite character. It tends to be focused around anime conventions for the most part but it also happens for other anime related events and some fans dress up purely for the hell of it. This year at AmeCon I will be dressing up as Kazekage Gaara from Naruto. So far the only parts of my costume I have are the ninja sandals and a forehead protector (which may or may not be used). However, I have bought some white elastic for three white bands that are round Gaara’s legs and I am currently planning the best way to make his gourd. Lastly, there is also a huge amount of fanfiction out there depicting every character you can think of in numerous compromising positions. It’s scary.

My terrible drawing of Gaara