Webtoon comic Paneling

 

The part of manga that always resonates with me is the pacing that can be accomplished through paneling. It's totally different than a illustration-per-page book. I've been inspired by American comic paneling and then Japanese paneling, and recently Korean paneling!

Webtoon paneling is unique since it's viewed in a endless scrolling pattern. One thing I've found is that stretching your panels and stacking the panels in a way that it makes sense where the character is placed in the panel below.

Here are some panels I did for a webtoon project!

How to Draw Manga Chibi Hair // Tips

With chibi hair, you don't want to draw the individual strands. Instead, think of the overall shape and then continue to break it down into smaller similar chunks of hair. 

The important things to keep in mind when creating your own hair styles is to make sure the hair is coming from the hair line (in blue). Hair follicles are like little springs and they bend up and then down. Like an Al Dente noodle 😂The height created from this 'bounce' is what creates volume.

1) Always have hair come up and away from the hairline,

2) Always show volume by drawing the hair above the head, not flat on the scalp.

Volume gets even more extreme and important when you're trying to convey youth. Kids have more hair follicles than adults and that shows up in some poofy hair.

 

A Manga Artist's Dream: Japan

Kaiseki Dinner at Momo-Jiya Annex, Kyoto, Japan

This is me. In the last 4-5 years since I actively posted I went on a mission to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Fresno, California, I went to school for a degree in mathematics in Idaho, and I got married. I hadn't been actively drawing for the last 3 years at that point.
With the encouragement of my husband, I switched my major to Illustration, and with the encouragement of a dear friend group of artists, I quit my 2 part time jobs and became a freelance illustrator this last December.
 

I've never posted my face here before. Surprise! 
After not posting or even making art for so long, this last year of studies in college has broadened the mediums I use and strengthened my portfolio and technical drawing skills- especially anatomy, haha. You won't be surprised to hear I was the TA for drawing 1 directly after I completed the class.

Last July I celebrated a year of marriage with my incredible and supportive husband in Kyoto, Japan. A dream we didn't know we shared until after the wedding- which is crazy, looking back at how much time we spent together.

The Yasaka Pagoda, Kyoto, Japan

Hot and sticky, the weather kept most tourists at bay which gave us ample opportunities to to get to know some of the locals, try new foods, learn new skills, and enjoy the history, architecture, and beauty of Kyoto, Japan for 5 days. The three paintings above I did in memory of the trip afterward.

I have one semester of college left (what's hilarious and terrible is you can almost see the instantaneous cessation of both my webtoon and my blog in 2019-2020, my first year of college). The archive here of old how to draw posts and sketch book dumps is a sweet reminder of where I came from and how far I've come in my artistic journey. I can't wait to share more with you.

DnD Character Chibi

I do not own the character design! Here are some chibis I drew for my friends. I'm getting used to my tablet and Clip Studio Paint again-- which is pretty hard with my monitor glitching out every couple seconds XD

Color Theory Doesn't Suck

I bet that's ^^ the title of a book somewhere.

Here is how I use color in my lineart and shading to make my art more POP off the page.

This elf's skin is lined with a deep red-orange instead of black, so soften the look of her skin. I also make the sheer fabric lines of a dark green to enhance the idea that it is transparent and of a different material than her robe.
Adding color to your lineart softens the look of you art on the eyes- people in real-life don't have black outlines! But I rarely do it in the beginning- instead I lock the lineart layer-- doing so makes it so that my tool can ONLY draw on top of what's already drawn in that layer-- and then I quickly brush over the black lines with a new color.

Another example, Top all black lines on the character, Bottom softend with colors on the hair, skin, facial features:

The secret to vibrant art is complementary colors- or even more basically COLOR for your shadows, not just making the same color more black. Complementary contrast your base colors perfectly, making them appear brighter!

 Here are some pages of the color theory pamphlet I made for my younger sister Jenessa!
The colors were done with Tombow markers, which blend differently than alcoholic markers, so I didn't get quite the look I wanted for the cloaks.

Shading: Don't use black.

Shading with black vs shading with complementary colors
Though black shading/ or shading with gray gradient is a staple of American superhero comics, I find complementary colors more natural.

Complementary vs analogous on skin



The orange on the light beige makes for warm lighting while the lilac on top of the beige creates true shadows, a little mysterious with that harsh light portrayed by the sharp lines.