Study from Miyazaki - having fun with ink and color

I penciled this by hand, scanned and then in manga studio 5 drew a hairline layer over it. I reprinted only the thin line layer on heavy paper and practiced inking it with various pens.  I printed one more and then inked it using the pens I liked and then decided to color it using watercolor pencils.  The water colored pencils were too opaque so I had to re-ink.  I also messed around with a kids water color set.

The image below is a photo of a page from Miyazaki's Manga (Nausicaa Vol 3) that I used as a reference:

I got the idea do experiment with color from Felix Scheinberger's book "Urban Water Color Sketching" (great book - check it out!).  Although the paper I used was like 100 lbs or so it didn't like getting wet and tended to buckle.  Anyways, it is a study, I learned a lot but I don't want to come across as a someone who spews out "Fan Art".

Back to the drawing pad...

So in February and March I spent most of my art time using digital tools.  I felt like I was learning a lot but something didn't feel right.  For one thing,  I missed the feel of pencils on real paper. Now I am drawing on both a 9.5"x6" 60lb and a 8"x5.5" 90lb sketch pads.  First I started with just some pencil work.  I adjusted the black and white input levels in GIMP to make it look more like ink after scanning. Below is a Study of Miyazaki's Nausicaa Vol1 p12.

 

I kind of went crazy and ordered some inking pens.  I was really curious about brush pens and started messing with them first.  The ones capable of broader strokes are tricky to get used to.  On the drawing below I added some color with a 20 year old set of Design  Nupastel sticks that were still in great shape after pulling out of storage!  The following is a study from Dan Clowes' The Death Ray p14 -Louie Reaching.  Death Ray is a great read.  Like I said, I'm just experimenting with the new pens so I don't do justice to  Dan's style.

Finally, one more study this time with Tombow hard and soft brush pens.  Then  I followed up with a couple of Faber-Castell grey Pitt brush pens.  The same Dorok soldier head from a previous Miyazaki study.  I really enjoyed this little sketch and I think it looks better than the previous digital one.

Yes, now that I look back at the older digital Manga Studio sketch, I am much happier with my hand rendered effort.  A cropped shot of the Manga Studio study is below.

So I plan on going back and forth trying to improve in both worlds.

Study of Nausicaa - The Worm-handlers

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was Hayao Miyazaki's first big anime film.  It is based on a multi volume manga that he spent over 13 years working on.  The work was first released in serial chapter installments (about 8 chapters a year)  in Animage magazine.  After about two years (1982 to 1983) and 16 chapters the popularity of the manga helped him decide to make an anime film and get financial backing to do so.  After Nausicaa was released in 1984 he returned to working on the manga off and on until 1994 when he finished chapter 59, the finale.  He to long breaks to work on four other major anime: Castle in the Sky, Tortoru, Kiki, and Porco Rosso.  These 59 chapters were divided into 7 volumes.

Someone donated to the local library all seven volumes of the Manga that read right to left and each have a big water color foldout.  The foldouts are double sided.  My source for most of the information above is:

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/nausicaa/faq.html#koutei

If you read through these volumes you will realize that Miyazaki's is experimenting a bit with his style.   Once you get to volume four, his style has significantly been refined, with more time and care is given to each panel, and there is much more hatching and contrast.

One of the foldouts has a big drawing of several soldiers.  They appear to be a motley group of worm-handlers (maybe Doroks - I don't know?).  It is a large image with a lot of detail so I thought I would make a study of it in Manga Studio.  I sketched three different layers using different color pencil brushes.  I flipped the image and worked upside down a few times.

I originally was working with a 300dpi file.  I created a new 600 dpi file and imported my third original layer into the new file.  I then used a blue sketch pencil to finish laying everything out.

I then started adding some inking layers.  I tried to follow the technique recommended by Freddie Williams II of doing the outlines first then hatching and shading later.  I experimented with various custom brushes by Frenden - #frendenbrush

The original is over 3000 pixels tall.  Below is some detail at 50% the size of the original.

I am happy with about 2/3rds of the line work and hatching.  You just have to draw, sometimes hit undo, sometimes move on.  At some point I had to quit, cause it was time to return the volume to the library.  Anyways,  Miyazaki is so amazing.  I can't put into words what I think about his style other than he gets everything right without being stiff and formal like Albrecht Durer.  Proportions and perspective - I never question it.  Alright, enough for now.

Keep drawing!  Paul

Ok well over a week has gone by but I have been busy.  So here is another study of a Martin Schongauer piece called "A Foolish Virgin" from the late 1400's.  The original piece is only six inches tall and has an incredible amount of detail.  I was working off a murky laser print copy.  I drew a vertical and horizontal midpoint line across the copy to get my bearings and then eyeballed the rest.  My study is slightly elongated vertically.  For most of the finish work I experimented with a grease pencil and gritty ink brush (digital versions).  My favorite parts of the etching are the turban and the garment draped over her right arm.  I am also drawn to the sensuality expressed in the neck and breasts.  The loose hair tied in a loop over her left shoulder is a nice touch.  She is supposed to be holding an inverted lamp - like in the new testament parable.  Another artist Urs Graf, made a study of this piece a few years later, and kind of botched the face.

 

I am not very satisfied with my study.  But the purpose was to practice using Manga Studio for the second time.  I definitely like being able to turn the image 90 degrees, or upside down to get a fresh look at proportions.  I think I learned quite a bit because my next study turned out better.

 

 

View the original engraving at  http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.45803.html

I have only sporadically sketched stuff over the past few years but I really want start devoting more time to it. 

I recently started using Manga Studio 5 on a Microsoft Surface Pro.  I thought studying artists that were pioneers of Renaissance printmaking like Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Durer would be a fun way to try digital drawing and inking for the first time.  I used  a pressure sensitive pen directly on the Surface Pro screen.  I used Frenden's brushes starting with Pencil - Layout Blue on the first layer to rough things out. For the final layer I used Frenden's Inker - Nib Gritty.

Below is a GIF showing the layers I used for my study of Martin Schongauer's Griffin.

So the GIF above is nice for showing the progress and the layers but the image quality is poor.  Below is the final layer.  I reduced the size for web viewing.



I didn't quite finish the study but on the other hand I don't want to waste too much time on making things perfect.  I don't want to spend more than a week (about six hours of my limited time).

So Yes! Drawing with the above mentioned tools has tremendous potential.  I will keep working and posting stuff, hopefully at least once per week.

Paul