PMBQ here again!
I just wanted to announce the Manga Start Resource Library. You can access it on the top navigation menu (beneath our “Manga Start” logo) or simply by clicking here.
Our Resource Library is an ongoing work in progress. We’ll be posting our past issues of Manga Start, manga lesson worksheets, education lesson plans, and maybe eventually even some comics!
All works in the Resource Library are FREE for downloading. Feel free to print them out, show them to your teachers, and see if you can get them to incorporate manga art into your classrooms.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave us a comment 
(Oh, and that’s my latest self-portrait up there. Can you see me? It’s a bit abstract…but that’s the kind of stuff I like drawing these days…)
PMBQ here!
It was an honor to speak to so many art educators at the California Art Education Association this past weekend in Burlingame, CA. Karen Luk, Jeannie Lee, and I really enjoyed sharing our knowledge and experience with you all. We definitely would have loved to touch upon a lot of deeper topics, such as specific manga techniques and more in-depth insights into the cultural workings of manga, but unfortunately we were working within a time constraint. However, you all did give us ideas on what programs and workshops we’d be interested in presenting to art educators in the future.
I just wanted to make this a quick note of thanks. We will be following up with more posts later this week with links to the resources (lesson plans, worksheets, Powerpoint presentation, etc.) that were presented at CAEA.
Many thanks also to Sakura of America, who was a major help in coordinating our activities at CAEA.
Hi, this is Ian of Studio Kyuu 
Have you heard of Pele, the Goddess of Fire?
I started writing a comic about her. I’m looking for some comedy and some romance. Poor Pele, she always loses at games, and in love!
I wanted to show you guys a series of drawings I’ve done for just the first page. This is how I work, and how you start, build, and finish a drawing! It’s important to know when you are working on gesture, forms, and details!
The first thing I’ll do is the gesture and layout. This is the stage to make sure that your pose is good! If you’re doing a background, take the time to put in some rough clouds, rocks, whatever you need. You can tell so much by just how people pose, and by looking at the flow between the objects and the empty space. It’s also the time to check that your proportions are right — check out the arms and legs for length, and the torso and head!
I was drawing these while working at a convention. I didn’t have a computer, but I wanted to show the different stages of the drawing. So, for this next picture, I redrew the gesture, and then moved on to the forms. Can you see the cylinder forms that I’m using for the arms, legs, and torso? Check out the lesson on cylinders!
I take this time in the drawing to make sure I know which body parts are hiding behind the others. I also start thinking about the contours and how each part will reflect light and cast shadow.
The next stage combines details and finish. So, I took the time to re-do the gesture, and forms on a new sheet of paper, and then added in the tattoos, clothes, shadows, and inks. I use the contours to catch the light and cast shadow. I use the contours to wrap her bracelets and anklets around.
And, wouldn’t you know it, this was when I only had printer paper around, so the waviness was kinda hard to scan ^^;;; Ah well, I hope the effect looks nice anyway!
But, since I was planning this as a comic, I re-did the gesture, forms, and finish on comic paper so that it’ll be good for scanning and coloring on the computer.
So hey, take your time and try these steps when you draw. Each stage has its own beauty! Look for it, and try it out on your own! See you next time!
PMBQ here again! 
