Tell Your Story with a Manga Method

1. Invitation to the Story World: Want to tell a story? But don't know what to start with. Feel difficult to create a story. If you feel so, this is a class right for you. This class is not only the first step to drawing manga, but also the first step to creating and telling stories. Previous experience? No need at all. All you need is,,,,, That's it. Hi, I'm Naomasa Matsuda, manga artist, based in Kyoto, Japan. I have worked as a manga artist for over 20 years and as a lecturer at a university for seven years. In this class, you learn the basics of storytelling. Maybe you know the five W's and H questions. This may be good enough if you want to write a diary or report, but this is not enough. If you want to draw manga, write a screenplay or a story. What do you need? Writing emotions and growth. With emotions written, readers empathized with the story and are satisfied to know the hero who has grown up last. And with my "12 questions method", you can naturally describe these two elements. This method is a simplification of the complex thinking process of a professional manga artist Write the answers to these 12 questions first. These are arranged in the order you should think. Then fill out this form. These are arranged in the order you should write, or draw. Now, you're finished making the story outline. Easy, right? By the end of this class, you'll have a knowledge of the foundation of storytelling. And you will be ready to create your short story. So let's dive into the manga world with me. See you in the next video! 2. Why Storytelling is Difficult: Hi, I'm so glad to see you again. Before starting to answer my 12 questions, let me explain a little bit more. Many of the students I told at University said the storytelling is difficult. Why is it? Because they don't know which episodes to talk in which order. And they talk about everything that happens, in order, but that doesn't convey exactly what they really want to say. Whitch episodes should you tell and which should not? My "12 questions method" is a way to pick up just the episode you need to tell. The Class Project is to draw or write a story about your "Happy Moment". So you are the main character. Okay? You might want to write a superhero story. This method works for all fictional stories, including superhero stories. But if you are a beginner, I recommend you to write about yourself this time. Because it's easier to understand the main character's emotions. As I said in video 1, the most important thing is to write emotions, but it's difficult to know the feelings of a superhero because he's not you. On the other hand, it's easy to know how you feel. Okay now, the explanation is over. We're gonna jump into the writing! First, decide what episode you gonna write about. You can write a big joy, such as a big tournament or got married. And of course, you can write a small joy, such as woke up naturally, or jogged on a Sunday morning and gelt good, these are also wonderful. Think about it for a while. Decided? OK, then download this file. Click on the [project and resource] tab at here, and you will see it on the right side of that page. So print it out for your answers. We're gonna start the next video! 3. Write the Outline with a 12 Questions: Did you get this form and print it? Of course, you can use your computer or smartphone to fill in these blanks. Okay, let's get started. Question A: When was a happy moment you have? This is the most important event you should tell in this story. I wrote like this. Question B: How did you feel at the moment? This is a most important emotion. You should convey in this story instead of just writing Instead of just writing "I was happy" write specifically so that the readers understand how you feel. I wrote like--- Question C: Place and time? This is information to help the readers imagine the scene. My example is this. Question D: What was the trigger for the happy moment? This is the beginning of the story. My answer is ---- Question E: How did you feel at the trigger moment? With the motions written here, readers know the main character's values and are interested in the results of this story. I wrote ---- Question F: Place on time? This is also information for the readers to imagine the scene. Question G: About you. These are basic information about the main character you should tell the readers. Question H: What did you do to reach the happy morment? This section helps readers to understand what actions the main character chooses to achieve his goal and to get more involved in the story. Question I: Right before the happy moment, How was the situation and feelings at this moment? Here, by writing the main character who is almost certain to achieve his goal, make readers expect a happy ending. The next three sections are the most important parts of the entire story. Okay? Question J: What unexpected bad thing happened? or What bad thing did you imagine might happen? First, you need to write the opposite of "Question I", a situation that would disappoint the readers. Why? Readers wanting a happy ending. At the same time, however, they find it boring if things go smoothly. That's why unexpected difficulties need to happen, and this makes readers crave a happy ending, and the main character should overcome them. I wrote----- You may not have experienced this opposite situation. If so, imagine a bad thing that could have happened. Question K: How did you feel at this moment? This is a scene to tell the readers the essence of the main character. Facing the worst. are you depressed? Laughing or angry? My answer is---- Question L: How did you overcome the bad thing? What did you do to get over the worst, or what happened? This is the most important part toward the goal of the whole story. And at the same time, in the case of fictional stories, it is a part where the author should use the greatest wisdom. Now you finished preparing the story outline. In the next video, I'll explain a little bit about character design. So if you want to draw manga see you in the next video, but if you plan to just write a story, you can skip to video five, okay? 4. Design Your Own Characters: You want to draw manga, right? There are many steps to go through to complete a manga, first, you need to decide what type of character design you want to draw. For example, This is not a joke because the most important thing in manga is not to show your beautiful drawings, but whether the content is interesting and accurately conveyed. Of course, beautiful drawings are one of the great tools. But this design works, If you have something to convey. If you want to draw a comedy or kids' story, how about these designs? If you draw manga for boys and girls, these are typical designs. And if you like superheroes, how about this? I will draw with this design. You don't have to ink. Drafting with a pencil is fine. Post your character designs to the Project Gallery and get feedback with each other. Can't wait to see your work. Okay, then download this file and print it. 5. Reorder and Turn Into a Story: In this video, you rearrange your answers and make them "a story". First, write the answer to "Question F" in here. Next, write the answers to the "Question G" in here, "D" here, and do the same for all of the rest of the answers. Did you fill in all? Then read from "F" in this order. You will know that it is already a story outline. So this is a basic structure common to many stories. Then, print this paper again. If you want to draw manga, draw a simple pencil draft on it. If you express it in writing, describe a little more. You can start drawing from balloons, composition, lines, or anywhere. I start like this. You can draw by hand. I usually draw with the Clip Studio, that is the most common application to draw manga in Japan, and is used by many professional manga artists. As you can see, I usually draft in blue then inc in black. I left the background rough this time, but Clip Studio also has a great function for perspective drawing, if you want to draw manga digitally, you should try it. Now you have a simple draft, then with the whole story again and write the appropriate title. Normally it is completed by inking and colouring or screen tone. But this class is the introductory version. So this is the final assignment. Of course, it would be great if you can complete it by inking. I really can't wait to see your assignment. Be sure to post it to the project gallery. 6. The Most Important Thing to Progress: I want you to follow what I said and making a story. But it's not enough. What is the most important thing for you to improve? I said "post your work" several times. In fact, that's the most important thing for progress. Do you say, like, well, I'm not good at drawing or making a story right now, so I will show my work after I become better. Actuary, many of the students I taught in university often say so. Often. so I have something to tell them every year. It is a passage from the famous essay "Tsurezuregusa", written by Kenko Horshi in the 14th century Japan. He said, "People who want to Learn something always say 'It is cool to practise secretly, so as not to be known by others as much as possible while I'm not good at it, and appear in public after I become good at it.'" however, there's no example of people who say such a thing becoming first-rate. When you're still immature, you should interact with well-skilled people, not ashamed of being ridiculed. Don't stand still, even if you don't have talent, and continue to practice. Eventually, you end up being in a position higher than someone with natural talent, respected by many, and famous. Even the masters of the world have been called incompetent at first and have been deeply embarrassed. This is a sentence written in Japan 700 years ago. Students studying at today's Japanese universities and ancient Japanese people thought the same thing such as, "I will show my work to others when I become good at it." But that will not do. Why? These are three reasons. First, you can know objectively understand what's good and what's not by being evaluated by others. Many people think they know their strengths and weaknesses. But is it true? In fact, it is often different from others' evaluations. What if the weakness you're trying to fix is actually your strength? What if the advantage you're trying to emphasize is your weakness? You erase your strong points and highlight your weak points. It's a waste of time. Second, if you have a goal of showing your work to someone, it's easy to complete your work. Otherwise, if you couldn't draw a satisfactory work like most of my students, you will continue to modify it or leave it unfinished, and start drawing the next one. That is, you cannot complete the work forever. The first important step to improving is to finish it, even if you are not satisfied with it. And the most effective way to do that is to set a goal of showing your work to someone. Third, Getting feedback from others can add momentum to your next creation. Even the work that you don't like very much is often praised more than you expected. When you show it to someone. it makes you happy and encourages to do better next time. Rarely, you may be criticized. It would be frustrating and painful. You might think "I shouldn't have shown it". I know it well because I have experienced it many times. But that feeling of regret becomes the driving force to make the next work better. Okay? if you think "I'm happy just to draw, I don't need to improve, or If I feel frustrated". You don't have to show it to anyone, but you want to improve as quickly as possible, one thing you need to do is complete your work and show it to someone. It is great to show it to your family or school friends at first. After that, upload and show it to me or your ferrows. For the past 700 years, there have been people who say, "Not now, but after getting better," and don't show their work to others. And on the other hand, there have also been people who show their work to others without hesitation. And this is the one who actually gets better. So, which person are you gonna be? 7. You Made It !!: Hey, you made it!!!! Was it hard? I understand well how hard it is to complete one story. But I hope you have felt fun at the same time. Three things I have wanted you to learn in this class. First, when you tell something, you need to focus on one of the things you want to tell most. Which means "Question A" of the 12 Questions Method, Second, express your emotions, which is Question "B", "E", "I", and "K". Finally, express growth. In other words, you go from the state of Question G to the state of Question A. You've written about a happy moment this time. And with this method, you can express sadness, anger, surprise, and anything else as well. So try it. But this is not an assignment. The final assignment is this. Again, be sure to post your assignment to the Project Gallery. I'm really looking forward to it. This is the end of my first class. Thank you so much for taking this class. I hope you have enjoyed it. If you like this class, I'm very happy if you follow me here on Skillshare. I'm thinking of the next class, so let's meet again!