2 Bad Mice Design

This is not your typical tutorial. I’m not teaching you how to do anything. What I am doing is pleading with you. If you are thinking about putting sound on your Web pages, I hope I can convince you (except in special circumstances) not to do it.

Why not? (more…)

So your kid is spending a lot of time drawing characters from or inspired by their favorite Anime shows or Manga books. This is a good thing, I promise you. It’s a great creative outlet that may just be for fun or may lead to bigger things in the future. Either way, drawing and being creative have a knock-on effect for other types of learning while being fun and rewarding. You do want to encourage them, right? I thought so. After all, if they’re drawing, they’re not glued to the TV or playing video games. (more…)

Step 1: Create and Scan Your Image

I’ve started with a rough sketch with a Col-Erase carmine red pencil, then inked it using Pigma Micron pens. I work this way because it allows me to sketch roughly, then ink over what worked in the scribbles and (as you’ll see) easily remove the red in Photoshop. (more…)

Layers are like sheets of transparent paper arranged in a stack. Each layer can be drawn on and edited without affecting the other layers. Drawings in the upper layers will cover drawings in lower layers, but the parts of a layer without any drawings will show through to the lower layers.

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A quick note: Yes, yes, I know that Japanese writing isn’t only Kanji. They also use Hirigana and Katakana, often in combination. I’m just using Kanji as shorthand in the title.Adding Japanese writing to your comics and designs is increasingly popular, and when doing Manga, it also adds to the mood of the comic. You know you want to do it. But you don’t know what the words are, much less how to draw the characters. Here’s a shortcut. (more…)