Want to Draw Manga? Should You Learn to Draw 'Properly' First? (Professional Advice)

Line and Color Quick Start Guide: https://www.thedrawingcodex.com/quickstart

I was told many times to learn to draw 'properly' before I did any of that 'stylised' art.

I hear from many students who have been told by teachers to stop drawing Manga because it's Bad/NotRealArt/NotACareer etc etc. The same goes for most types of Entertainment Design style art or fan art.

I try to dispel these ideas as much as possible... In this video I discuss why drawing realistically or properly... or in any way that is not what you want to actually do... is not just a waste of time... but it can make drawing how you really want harder in the long run.

The basis behind this is really simple. We get good at what we repeatedly do.

Art and Drawing are physically based learning modalities. They respond well to practice and repetition. A lot of what we learn is simply by trial and error.

The more you focus on practicing exactly what you want to do the better you will get it at it. The easier you will pick up the specific skills you need to do that job really really well.

In the video I recommend watching Naoki Urasawa's Manben TV series. You can find it online with some searching. It's one of the best insights into how Manga is made. And it always makes me want to draw comics after I'm done with an episode! :)

If you are young and want to draw Manga/Comics/Cool Stuff I recommend finding people who actually do that for a living and see what advice they give you. A lot of Art Teachers are not very experienced with actually doing art for a living. So be careful who's advice you take on!

If you want to learn how to develop your own simple line and color workflow check out the Quick Start Guide above! It has all the brushes and tools I use to create images like this in Photoshop.


Happy Drawing!


Tim Mcburnie


Learn Drawing and Illustration from me: https://www.thedrawingcodex.com


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