Hi guys... this was written when I was pretty much bored, sitting there doing practically nothing in front of the pc. But before this, I've seen exentric's Tips For Wallers here, doing his for the wallers, so why don't I do one for doujinshi artist? I'm not an expert in this, but I can at least share my experience for those who needs help. Dedicated doujinshi artists in MT, feel free to take a look while you're browsing through the forum.
Tips for Doujinshi Artist
1. Pencil artist
2. Ink pen artist
Since there are different types of artist which can draw using different methods, I have to catogorize each different tips in different category.
BASIC PREPARATIONS
1. Music ON!
Music is always useful when you're trying to set a mood when you're drawing. You can always draw while
you're listening to your music, and while you're at it, blast it to maximum volume.
2. Fully equipped
You must always have everything beside you. If you're already setting a proper mood for something you're going
to draw, and you didn't have everything ready, that will just spoil the atmosphere. Some unpatient people like me
will tend to say something like.. "This is so troublesome~". So this is very important too.
3. Acknowledge, Think and Imagine
Acknowledge yourself what you're going to draw, try to think and picture the thing in your head and imagine,
imagine wildy, far and wide if possible. This is also a very important step in producing a good doujinshi. No one will
care if you just draw a piece of stinky poop with flies on it and submit it to MT. If you're doing that only for
the levels, you can just tuck into your bed and sleep.
4. Inspiration Resources
If you can't think of anything possible for what you're going to draw, try to look around your environment.
Check the vast scenery outside your window. Look for some artbook, flip through your manga. Spend some time looking
through and you'll know what you're going to draw.
5. Concentration and Patience
This is one element which control and will take effect of your last production. Why? Concentration is needed so you can
draw a fine, good, high quality piece of work. While patience will push you to the limit where you'll continue to
concentrate on your work until you're finished or tired. If you have none of this, your final work will surely be
going down the drain.
6. Effort, and MORE effort!
Put a lot of effort into making it. Don't ever draw if you're just plain bored and you have nothing to do.
Your drawings will surely looks bored and will get bored of you. So get rid of boredom and put in all your efforts in it
like you this is your last chance for doing so. In case you're getting bored halfway, drink some coffee, take a
shower, take a walk outside or take a short nap to refresh your mind. Never, EVER let boredom control yourself.
7. Anti-Distraction Field
Sometimes you tend to get distracted when drawing. This happened to me lots of time, I assure you. If you don't
wanna get distracted, confine yourself in a sound-proof room. (If you have that room in your house) But the simplest way
is to keep out from any place which is noisy, or just draw in silence. Somebody out there might like to draw in this
condition, but I just can't draw without music. MUSIC is my one source of inspiration!
Tips for pencil artist
This is written for those doujinshi artist who only use pencils/mechanical pencils to draw.
1. Make sure you have lots, and lots of pencils, leads, sharpener and eraser for your work. You'll mess a lot with this, so might as well ready a box of tissue. (Note*: Don't draw with ruler unless you're drawing buildings. Unless you're trying to draw a robot, that's fine. But for humans, NEVER!)
2. First, sketch your reference line lightly across the page. If you're fine without reference lines, then you can start constructing your character ROUGHLY and LIGHTLY on the paper so you won't ruin the whole work.
3. After you've done with your rough sketch, you can now use a darker pencils or just press harder than previous to form the actual figure of your work. This is the time where details come in, so pay attention to the little tiny details, and scan for corrections.
4. Done outlining your drawings? Well, it's time to make it more realistic, or could I say... manga-like? Grab your previous pencil, and darken the foldings and the area which is hidden from sunlight. You have to know where the light is coming from before you do this, so imagine. Although you have a good drawing skill, but if you don't have this part, it's still looks empty. So start shading!
5. Satisfied? Well, that's for you to say. If you still don't like the result, grab yourself a tissue and smudge it all over your work. (*Note: NEVER smudge your work with your fingers! Sometimes it's true that you will accidentally smudged your work for being so concentrated, but just be conscious about where you put your fingers.) If you think that you've over smudged your work, grab your eraser and erase off the part you think is appropriate to erase. After that, you're done!
Tips for Ink-Pen Artist
From here onwards, this is for doujinshi artists who use pen to outline they work after they've done sketching with
pencils.
1. You already have a rough sketch ouf what you're going to draw? Not yet? Basically, this part is the same as the Tips for pencil artist, just that you can stop till Step 3. After that, jump down to this part. So first you must have a proper pen for outlining. You CAN'T just grab a ballpen from your dad's drawer and outline; you need a proper pen. If you want some example, I'm using Artline: Drawing System pens. Please keep in mind that this pen is quite expensive, so please check your wallet before you continue, kay? And if possible, try to buy pens with different point size. (You can buy all the size if you want, but I'm only using 0.1, 0.4 and 0.8)
2. If you already have everything ready, then, adjust yourself in a proper position coz this really needs lots of concentration. First, start with the part you think which is hard to outline. Usually I go for the hair first, since the lines in this region is usually narrow. Start off slowly, finishing every lines carefully. If you want a better outlined work, finish outlining them in ONE SINGLE STROKE so they look smoother.
3. So after you've done with the hardest part, move on to another part which you think is less harder than the hair. And then move on, until you're finished with the whole thing.
4. After that, scan through your work to see if you already have outlined all the parts. Sometimes my eyes can't catch all the tiny parts, so what I do is check again. But if you work is a little too messy, grab your eraser and rub your work. (Make sure the ink is already dry, wait for 3-5 minutes before you rub your work)
4. After erasing the pencil lines, and if you feel satisfied with your final piece, congrats! But if you missed out lots of the tiny parts (Like me), take your pen and add in a little more correction. After that, you're done!
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If you find any mistakes or error, corrections are always appreciated. ^^ Additions are always welcome too!
