Why not?

Let’s start there, with the why nots. We’ll do that by looking at a surfing session by a hypothetical Web surfer, whom we’ll call Erik.

1. Erik is listening to music while surfing. His iTunes is pumping out the Eels’ masterpiece “Beautiful Freak” when he hits your page. Your page starts pumping out music that clashes horribly with the music Erik loves. Does this make Erik want to continue his visit to your site? Or does it make him close the window and make a note not to return? If you think Erik is still on your site, I have a bridge you might like to purchase.
2. Erik is at work, doing some sneaky personal surfing. He hits your page, your sound starts blaring, and Erik is busted. While standing on the unemployment line, is Erik thinking about returning to your site?
3. Your site is one of the top ten results for Erik’s Google search. There are others in the list, but yours looks good and he clicks it. You’ve kindly put a MIDI version of Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing At All” on your site. Does Erik share your taste for crappy music? Or does he hit the back button and go to one of the other links, finding the information he seeks in more silent pastures?

Okay, enough of that imaginary guy Erik. But he does sound like the kind of guy you want visiting your site with his suave, urbane and handsome presence. Also, he spends lots of money on sites he likes. And being hit with unwanted sound makes his wallet slam shut harder than a screen door in a Kansas tornado.

By the way, I’m also thinking of those sites where you hear beeps, boops or clanks when mousing over a button. I hate that. Some people may not mind it, but I doubt they visit silent sites and wish that the buttons made a “ping” when they moved their mouse around.

Okay, let’s be a bit more serious. There are many sites I’ve visited and been confronted by unnecessary and unwanted sound. I honestly do make a note never to return. And I have a pretty good memory for this sort of thing. If you’re putting sound on your site because you think it’s a cool thing to do, I’m certainly not the only person who would decide not to stick around. I never visit MySpace. Despite an option to prevent auto-play on page entry, many MySpace pages seem to overcome this and play sound automatically anyway. So I’m one of the many many people who no longer visit MySpace.

So when is it okay to put sound on your site? Here are some possibilities:

• You are in a band and promoting your work
• You are a voice-over actor looking for work
• You are a radio station
• You have sound content that is relevant and necessary to your visitors

Did you notice that “because it’s cool” did not make that list?

And if you do have the need to put sound on your site? Please make it an opt-in listening experience. Allow people to push a Play button to hear your aural masterpiece if they so desire. And give them a Stop button for when they’ve heard enough.

Pricing:

• Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet (small 5.8 x 3.7 inch active area) with installation and 2 hour training session: $165
• Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet (medium 8.5 x 5.3 inch active area) with installation and 2 hour training session: $245

Note: Installation should take 15 to 20 minutes, and this is not part of your 2 hours. You should have administrative access to your computer, which means that you are able to install software on the machine. Student computer problems causing longer installation times may cut into the 2 hour training session.

Below are some suggestions of not-too-expensive ways to get your kid on the right track.

Books

Most books on the subject of drawing Anime and Manga cover the same material with varying levels of quality. There are a ton of these books, so I’m going to limit myself to two.

• For beginners: Draw Manga by Bruce Lewis. A non-threatening book with drawing lessons, as well as information about putting together Manga books and promoting yourself.
• For more advanced artists: How to Draw Anime and Game Characters by Tadashi Ozawa. A great guide to drawing characters in many different styles, with plenty of helpful tips and encouragement. The whole series is worth checking out.

Art Supplies

Developing artists do not need expensive materials. Skip the expensive imported Manga paper (like the pros use, we’re told) and expensive Copic markers (for around $5 a piece, that’s a huge investment for even a basic set). Instead, here are some supplies that I recommend:

Paper: Buy the cheapest printer paper you can find for practice sketching. A dedicated beginner should be free to experiment, start over, wad up failures and simply fill up page after page. You can buy larger paper (8.5 x 14 or 11×17) for doing comics work, but buy it at the office supply store, not the art store.

Pencils: Don’t buy the cheapest pencils, those nasty yellow school ones we all know. Instead, go to the art or hobby shop and get a range of drawing pencils. The pencils vary from very hard to very soft, with H being hard and B (go figure) being soft. 2B is the most commonly used, but get some 2Hs and some 4Bs as well. Consider picking up some Col-Erase erasable colored pencils in light blue or red. These are great for creating a rough drawing that is easy to work over in pencil or pen later. And buy a good white eraser, the pink one on top of the pencil is useless and adds pink streaks to drawings.

Pens: Your kid may not need these right away. When the time comes, the Pigma Microns are nice. Whatever the brand, get ones with waterproof ink. A 2mm pen is nice for lettering and thin lines, a 5mm is a good all-purpose inking pen and an 8mm is nice for thicker lines. You can also buy brush pens, which have a brush-like tip: if your kid is really progressing, they’ll enjoy playing with one of these.

A Sketch Book: Any art teacher will tell you that carrying a sketch book is invaluable, because you can practice wherever you go. Drawing every day is the key to getting good. But I’ll add that you should get your kid a sketch book that is private. Artists need a place to experiment and fail and not worry about other people seeing. Fear of what other people will think of every drawing holds artists back. I’ve seen parents walk in, pick up their kid’s sketch book and start rifling through. Please don’t do this. If they want to show you a page, that’s great. But give them a place to draw and not worry about what others will think.

Software and Accessories

I’m always surprised when parents are unaware that kids are eligible for big discounts on software. Students at any accredited institution can get educational licenses; generally, these are full versions of the programs but limited to educational use. Google educational software and you’ll find many suppliers, or ask your school if they recommend a company.

Photoshop: This is the most popular graphics program out there, and despite the name it is not limited to photography. It can be used to color scanned art, letter comics, draw from scratch and add special effects (and that’s just scratching the surface). Any student interested in graphic arts will need to learn this program eventually.

Painter: Not as versatile as Photoshop, but this program makes it easy to emulate real-world drawing tools, from watercolors to pastels.

Manga Studio: This program is designed for the creation of Manga/comics. It aids in setting up comics pages, lettering and adding the screen tones that are common to Manga. The screen tones are what really set this program apart, and if your kid really wants to create comics this is both an inexpensive and useful program. There are pro (EX) and basic versions, the basic version being quite cheap for a student license. The pro version adds more tones and more advanced tools.

Anime Studio: An easy to learn and inexpensive animation program. What sets this apart is the ability to create simple skeletons for your characters. Once a character has a skeleton (or rig) set up, you can animate by moving the bones. Even better, if you grab the hand and move it, the arm will follow along. While the program has limitations, it’s a great program for beginning animators. There are basic and pro versions: the basic version costs under $30 for a student. Beginners will not need the extras that the pro version provides.

A Wacom tablet: Pronounced “walk-em,” the Wacom allows you to draw with a stylus on a tablet rather than trying to draw with a mouse (which is like trying to draw with a brick, really). With practice, the tablet becomes very easy to use, and the pressure sensitivity (the harder you push, the thicker the line) in supported programs mimics real-world drawing tools. The Wacom Bamboo Fun, for around $100, is a bargain as it also comes with Photoshop Elements and Painter Essentials. These are stripped-down but very usable versions of the full programs described above.

Classes, Clubs and Conventions

Art classes are great. Cartooning classes, sure, but also other classes covering the basics of drawing. Even if they want to be purely cartoonists, they’ll benefit from learning the basics of more realistic drawing and from being exposed to different styles. I teach at the Austin Museum of Art’s Art School, and if you’re near Austin, TX, you’re lucky to have such a great facility. But I’m guessing you’ll find good art classes for kids and teens almost anywhere.

While you’re at it, look for Anime and Manga clubs at school or the local library. They’re a great place to share interests and find other like-minded kids.

There are Anime conventions held all over the country. These usually take place in a hotel, and feature panel discussions, guest artists, a dealers room to empty your wallet and rooms that play Anime 24 hours a day. These can be great fun and kid-friendly, though you’ll most likely want to accompany your kid. Don’t worry, you won’t be the only bewildered parent in a sea of people dressed as characters you don’t recognize.

I hope you found this helpful, and that you’ll continue to encourage your kid to draw and be creative. I’m always open to questions and suggestions, as well, feel free to leave a comment.

The Monkey Revolution is coming. If you’re wearing these shirts, you may avoid being sentenced to working the banana fields. Maybe.