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Those are good questions, that I don't think I answered at the start. heres how I do it anyhow. Howyou guys do it can be different.

I think its best to start storyboarding without panels in mind at first. Just draw out rectangles and draft the movements of the characters for that chapter first. Then you can start brainstoming on how to put them on the page after.

Now, panel size and number depends on the manga style you want. Depending per scene, the number of panels varies. Ina fight scene, limit from 3-5 panels per page. In a normal scene, you can have from 3-7 panels. Size depends on what exactly is happening. Its a little hard to explain, but you should look at examples in manga to see about general rules.

Now, flow and panel content have a lot to do with each other. If you're gonna draw a character facing in a certain direction remember to have them facing in the direction you want the viewers eye to go in.

Panel number affects the flow. If there are too many panels, the eye gets tried. In certain situations, such as people talking, its better to have fewer panels and more speech bubbles.

It's a little tough at first but you'll get used to it the more you draw. Panel style and flow are things you have practice until you get them right. Do some pages and then post them in this forum (not this thread) and then we can see how you're doing.

No problem. Post anymore questions if you have them ^_^

WOW THAT WEBSITE YOU SHOWED US REALLY HELPS, THANKS RED!!

Uh, no problem. whats up with the caps though razz

also, what site did i show you? >_>

Depends on how you wanna ink. I use a combination of 2 different types, between dipping nibs and drawing pens.

Dipping pens are the kind you usually see the artists holding when they draw themselves in their books. It's a small metal pen nib that you put into a wood or plastic pen holder. You then dip the nib in ink and then ink your lines that way.

Pros: Nice line
More calligraphic quality
If done right, the line will not fade
Looks good razz

Cons: There is a learning curve. Practice a lot.
Good ones are expensive
THey have a shorter life than drawing pens
Upkeep is important.

For upkeep, these pen nibs come to you covered in a rust proof oil. This oil will screw over your drawings if you use it out of the bag. YOu need to remove the oil by either 1) Burning the oil off with a lighter 2) wipe thoroughly with a wet rag. Also, they will rust so you can't keep them wet. Clean thoroughly every use or else you end up with a pen nib you can't use.

The next pen type is drawing pens. These pens come in specific sizes ranging from really small (005) to really big (0 cool . These pens are good for beginners, and experts if you know how to use it. I use these for things I dont wanna bother my dip pens with or when I'm away from my desk.

Pros: Relatively cheap, ranging from 2-3 bux.
Portable, you can use these things anywhere.
Little to no upkeep. As long as you keep the cap on, they'll last for a while.
Some of the pens have a flexible tip, so you can actually fake the calligraphic line that dip pens have if you're an expert.

Cons: Not completely fadeproof. Depending on your paper and pens,when you erase your pencil lines, you might be taking your ink with it.
You have to buy a lot of them. While they are great and last long, you need almost the whole range of 005-08 in order to cover the scope that a G-pen can do.
Too many companies make them so you'll go through a lot of pens before you find the ones that work for you and your work.

I don't feel like going into the line quality and such of the different dip pens, but you can find details in any of the getting started how to draw manga books.

Honestly, you don't need to ink with these pens, you could ink with a ballpoint pen if thats what floats your boat. Just make sure it looks good.

Now, the dip pens that Japanese artists use are probably only available in import stores or on the West Coast razz you can get them online at akadotretail.com if you dont mind a slight import charge (BUY IN BULK!!! you can get damn fine manga paper there too). You can find American brand dipping pens at most art stores, but i can't say if their quality is as good as the Japanese pens. However, most stores have drawing pens, and in several very good brands. Staedler, Millenium, and Sakura Micron are brands that I've tried, and I prefer Sakura Microns because they have the flexible nib I was talking about before.

Also, I use G pens for most line art. They are super flexible so they last a long time and also, I can get a wide range of line variety with it. You can buy those on akadotretail, but they are a bit pricey, so if you're gonna buy them, buy lots of them so that you dont have to shell out for shipping everytime.

I have and use Brush pens. They're good for certain things razz I use them to do clouds and wispy hair. If you're good enough, you can do all of your line art with them. My friend Taeseong can do beautiful line art with the brush pen. My only problem with the brush pen is that the ink is rather thin, so using it color isn't going to put down much of a layer of color. When I've used to color in hair, the black is not as rich or deep as the black from say, a sharpie or straight india ink.

What I mean by planning out is to instead of drawing your manga straight to the final draft, draw it on a scratch sheet so you can plan the layout before it becomes too late to change it. What I do is divide a sketchbook page in four, and then in one box, i draw out the panels, their shapes, and what content i want to go in. It takes no time at all and will help you out more than you think.

I know what you mean, I have the same style. I draw the panels as i feel, but I do keep layout and flow in mind razz

Now, for dialogue, theres only one thing I need to suggest: DO NOT MAKE IT TOO WORDY! Ever seen a chapter of Deathnote? Don't do that razz I would limit one sentence to dialogue bubble. Hmm... Lemme give you and example. Any thing in the " " will be in a single speechbubble.

"Hey Man."
"Hey Jack. What't up?"
"Not much, just looking for me dog." "By the way, have you seen him?"
"No man, sorry. DO you need help finding him?"
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

Anything super long should be broken up between 2 speech bubbles. If you HAVE to throw in buttloads of dialogue, try to keep the page down to fewer panels. IE, Exposition when something big happens, try to limit the page to maybe like 3 nice sized panels. The worst thing you can do is try to cram in a lot of dialogue into a small spot.

hey is there a particular program you use for the panels, word bubbles and shading?

Eeeehh...sorry, must've left caps on and not realised it sweatdrop

And it was that blambot.com site. I've been looking for some fonts for manga for ages, and they're all right there. Thanks again.