OEL (Original English Language) Manga

[Sumiko]

I know you guys read webcomics, but do any of you read OEL manga? (I know there's not a huuuge difference between the two XD)

<b>EDIT2</b>: by some magical luck or another, my manga is now gonna be published digitally in japan ;w;! I had made a trailer and they made it even more legit with voice acting. squee.



You can view some of it in english here ;w;
http://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.jpg

sniff. you guys are wonderful with your support. <3 thank you.

<b>end edit</b>

Here's my old comic that I had >_< It's much more lighthearted XD ... and I'm so embarassed by it now because I feel like I learned so much more from you guys and other things (omg I think I finally know how to draw people of my own gender a bit better now ~w~;;; ), but if you're interested in it too XD

http://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.jpg

And now I wanna share some of my friends's, because they're so amazing

http://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.jpghttp://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.jpghttp://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.jpghttp://manga.images.mangamagazine.ne...09x158-cut.png

[Sumiko]

EDIT: It's funded!! Thank you guys who contributed so much! ;~~~~; :HUGS:

*shy update* hi guys ^^; i'm running a kickstarter for my webcomic/manga thingy... if it isn't too much trouble, please take a look / share with people!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ce-manga-print

[Akiyama]

You did this stuff, Sumiko? I'll surely check it out then. Love your art!

[Xeynaar]

Checked. Really nice art, I like it. Gladly backed it up. ( '-')b

[Sumiko]

;~~~; thank you guys so much!!! :BIG HUGS:!!!

EDIT: DOUBLE HUGS ;~~~;

[Akiyama]

I'll try and drop a little bit later :>

[hey]

Oh, i really like the art. I'll give it a read later.

[hey]

Well, i just read chapter 1. The artwork is really really good. I really didn't care much for the story though

[Sumiko]

;~; Thank you for liking the art anyway though, and taking the time to read it, hey! I really appreciate that alone

[arus2001]

Read the first chapter. Suppose if I had one general critique it'd be that I had a hard time realizing the first blue-haired person was actually a girl. One of the action shots kind of hinted at it with the chest plate, but it wasn't until people talked about her later that it really settled in. So, while I figure you're still honing your style, I guess my caution is to beware of androgyny unless it's intended.

[Sumiko]

Read the first chapter. Suppose if I had one general critique it'd be that I had a hard time realizing the first blue-haired person was actually a girl. One of the action shots kind of hinted at it with the chest plate, but it wasn't until people talked about her later that it really settled in. So, while I figure you're still honing your style, I guess my caution is to beware of androgyny unless it's intended.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read it, Arus! I actually did get that critique a lot too :D (chapter one, with the exception of like 10 panels were drawn 3 years ago >_<) XD I don't know why it's so hard for me to draw girls. >__< ... considering I am one @___@; I think I ended up getting it down a bit better toward the 3rd chapter (when she shows up again) because I don't get as many comments about it now! Thanks for the caution !! It really helps me be wary of it :D

[arus2001]

Suppose I'll just say the character's a bit tricky in this respect. Bulky armor/coats hide her figure a fair bit. She's got short hair, too. This puts distinction more in the face. There are some panels where jawline seems a bit severe, but that could also be an issue of perspective. Her actual eyes don't bug me, but brow/lash thickness could help a bit. And while I wouldn't say to put lipstick on her, dabbling in pinkening the lip area some, even if just the lower, could help a bit if you keep doing color.

Of course, you could also just tell me to eff off, as it may be a deliberate style choice. I'd critique the shit out of One Piece, for example, but some people love it, I guess, and similar sprung it via Fairy Tale and probably other works. And for the most part, I like your coloring, which just agitates me all the more that I suck with CG work.

[Sumiko]

... *stares blankly*

omg. i don't ... know why I never thought of ... pinking up lips before. ............ gahhhh. *slaps forehead*

You're a geniuuus ;~~~~~~~;!! I'm definitely going to do that for the next story that the character is in ;~~~~; Thank you so much for that suggestion!!!!

And sorry for my spazzy emoticons! I've been having such a rush of emotions with the kickstarter @_@!

[Akiyama]

:D BG's always here to help, creator of adorable kitty MVC art, you. :>

Donated a fiver btw.

[arus2001]

I guess I like to live a little vicariously through other artists. I had the misfortune of being generally trained in the infancy of computer art when things like Photoshop were still in their early versions. Plus tech like tablets has improved a good deal, but is still out of my price range for hobbyist use. I still pick up my pencil from time to time, but I'm both rusty and suffer heavily from creative blocks anymore. Fucking college burned me out there.

[Sumiko]

:D BG's always here to help, creator of adorable kitty MVC art, you. :>

Donated a fiver btw.

Thank you so much, Aki!!! :GLOMP: ;~~;

I guess I like to live a little vicariously through other artists. I had the misfortune of being generally trained in the infancy of computer art when things like Photoshop were still in their early versions. Plus tech like tablets has improved a good deal, but is still out of my price range for hobbyist use. I still pick up my pencil from time to time, but I'm both rusty and suffer heavily from creative blocks anymore. Fucking college burned me out there.

Oh college Almost all the artists I knew IRL got burnt out from college, even the ones that went to art school T_T;! hearing that you still pick up a pencil is great though :D :D do you have a deviantart?

[arus2001]

I do, but removed everything from it a long time ago given the whole, "WTF I WAS NEVER THIS TERRIBAD!" feeling I got when looking at old stuff. I'm probably lucky to draw something decent once a month anymore, and even then there's no guarantee I'd scan it. I've always had a bit of an itch to a visual novel type affair like the Fate games, but I've also been curbed there by lacking coding knowledge/resources.

[Ziero]

...it always hurts looking back at older drawings. Stuff I did long ago and thought was "awesome" I just look at now and wonder what the hell was I thinking. Heck, just a few weeks can be like night and day in terms of quality. It's almost sad when older pics just don't look as good as they used to anymore.

And I agree that a bit of pink on the lips or especially a bit more of a curl to the eyelashes will help the ladies look a bit more feminine. Even after knowing the two girls were in fact girls, they'd still have moments where they looked very boy/mannish. It wasn't as noticeable in the third chapter however, so there's certainly a clear amount of improvements. Especially with those Sakura action shots, that girl's got some curves!

Though I do have a question about OEL manga in general...what exactly makes them different from normal comics? Is it just the art style or the fact it's mostly done by one or two people? Or is it just a linguistic thing where fans of Manga just want their works to be seen in a similar light?

I'll certainly try to read more of em now that I'm a bit more aware of em, at the very least to give those creators out there a bit more support and at the most it'll be enough to inspire me to actually do something similar myself.

[Sumiko]

@arus : aw! ;~; but ... oh... theoretically programming a visual game in flash seems pretty easy. :D :D i never tried it personally though @__@! But I see a ton of them on newgrounds!

@ziero: i know how you feel, I think my span ranges from 2 days to an hour until I realize how horrible it looks. T_T and omg ;~~; thank you so much for reading up to the 3rd chapter and and and thinking I improved ;~~~~; :HUG HUG!!!!!!:

I'm actually not really sure what makes them different from normal comics I think it's just the overall stigma... if anything looks remotely like anime/manga and you do a comic, the majority of people will just call it manga and label it as an OEL. I think people also call it that because most of the OEL manga out there isn't backed by publishers like the majority of manga ^^; There are a lot of team groups that I know of so I don't think it's the idea of it mostly being done by one or two people!

And yay!! :D :D There's so many great series on MangaMagazine.net too!!

[arus2001]

If I had to take a "cultural guess" it'd be that American comics tend to be associated with superheroes and the like by default while manga spans broader genres. Of course, this isn't to say the inverse applies to both, and on some level some just may be all weeaboo about it.

There's a part of me that wishes being artsy was more socially accepted, but on the financial end, it's pretty cut-throat as a profession unless you get really lucky. Part of why I got out is my personality is a bit too laid back while knowing the things I like to draw aren't exactly up for common consumption (I'd say potentially dark medieval fantasy level stuff, maybe not quite Berserk, but also not afraid to get a bit smutty). Just thinking to back to high school, my class pretty much assumed me "the artist" and that was about it. If some project called for that kind of stuff, yay me. Nobody really went on to care about my characters or even stories behind them. But I'm not really boohooing that, and I've still got all these things churning in my imagination. Whenever I find that proper medium to put things out how I'd be satisfied with, I'll do it. And if people want to pay me at the point, cool. I also have the bad habit of being too generous with my creativity, either undervaluing myself or just feeling something should be out there if only to inspire others. Kinda paradoxical given my blocks, I know.