Escaping With Broken Wings...

Current Location: Vancouver, BC
Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Sage no Opus no. 10

Manga

My seminal manga, Artisan, is finally finished!

You can view it here:

Click to Read Artisan Manga

This manga was, if nothing else, a HUGE learning experience for me. From it, I nailed down a process for creating manga from start to finish. Now I just want to spend time doing lots of 1 to 2-page manga shorts in order to improve my drawing and visual storytelling skills.

The things I need to work on are:

• Facial proportions and expressions;

• Creating character model sheets beforehand;

• Difficult and extreme camera angles;

• More time on anatomy, posing, and clothing folds;

• The best way to frame and represent multiple characters in a single shot;

• Drawing the dialogue balloons when doing the actual art as opposed to photoshoping them in later; and

• Techniques for drawing simplified backgrounds.

My girlfriend Hiromi did the toning and lettering for Artisan and things she wants to improve on during our work on future 1-pagers are:

• Lighting and shading with tone;

• Representing natural elements with tone (i.e. like water, tree, rain, etc.);

• Representing characters emotions; and

• Story Writing.

Manga Teaching Gig

A surprising thing happened last month. An animation teacher from the arts and music school called ‘Place des Arts’ out in Coquitlam, BC contacted me wanting to know if I would be interested in teaching manga to kids for one week in the summer.  I jumped on the opportunity and took a week of vacation off from work just to make it happen.

The experience was amazing (and the pay was great!). I was teaching ages 12-16. The kids were more clever and creative than I had imagined. They could totally absorb the concepts I was teaching and execute on them right away (sometimes more impressively than members of our Manga Meet-Up groups for adults :p).

Anyway, here are the pictures of the facility I was teaching at, as well as some of the materials I was using while teaching the class:

Tze’s Visit

Near the end of July I also got a visit from a long time friend and creative cohort, Z (or Tze as it’s officially spelt :p). His visit also gave me the opportunity to see lots of folks that I haven’t really connected with since I first returned to Vancouver:

Good Times. I look forward to him moving back out this way = )

Anime Evolution 2008

Hiromi cosplaying as a Gothic Lolita.

Saw a few good panels (getting published, breaking into voice acting), won lots of prizes and bought a few awesome artbooks (Tekkonkinnkreet!). Oh! And Hiromi did cosplay! Next year I think I’m finally going to try to cosplay Zoro!

Even though I enjoyed myself, I’m getting a little board with the con. I think I need to check out something larger like Sakura Con, Anime Expo or Comi-Con. I might try that next year… 

Music

I spent most of August composing simple songs in every key (major and minor) for my piano training. I’m on 10 of 24 songs that I need to write. Here are some MIDI samples of a few:

Opus #10

http://kulimar.com/Sage_no_opus_10.MID

Opus #3

http://kulimar.com/Sage_no_Opus_no_3_final_v2.MID

Opus #4

http://kulimar.com/Sage_no_Opus_no_4.MID

Opus #2

http://kulimar.com/Opus_no_2_Recorded_version.MID

Opus #5

http://kulimar.com/Sage_no_Opus_no_5.MID

Very RPG heh. I’ll record them properly on the Piano so you can feel the range and timing, not just the stiff computerized version.

Work

It’s been a weird few weeks back at work. I’ve been away for about a month and of course with the whole Activision-Blizzard merger going through, quite a few people I know were laid off at Radical (the company has basically been cut down to half its size). In any case, I’m on to a new project now and while the atmosphere remains a bit tense, there is unprecedented focus and direction, which is definitely a good thing. I’ll keep you posted as things develop there.

Life

Summer is coming to an end. It’s been freezing here recently. What tha heck is going on? It deserves a random picture post:

Hiromi dressed up for the Festival of Lights

…

Peace!!

-Kaz

Since things have been ramping down at work a lot of my time and energy has returned. As a result I’ve managed to gain some ground on several of the projects that I’ve been working on this year. Here’s the latest-greatest:

Manga

Artisan is Inked!

I’ve pieced together a sample with some paper clips here to get a sense of how the final work will look.

Currently I’m just cleaning the pages in Photoshop. From there I will fill in blacks, add FX lines, tone it, and add the text.

I’m kind of undecided as to how I want to tackle the speed lines and FX. I’m thinking about doing a test where I trace over all of the panels on a light table and draw them in that way.  The other option is to use Manga Studio to add the speed lines, but I’m honestly kind of disappointed by the quality of the lines it generates (or maybe I’m just doing it wrong :p )

Either way, the manga should be done before the end of this month. Look forward to hearing more as it develops. In the meanwhile, here’s a scanned and cleaned page for you to enjoy

Music

I’ve learned a few new baroque songs (including a Polonaise which I will post later), but the crux of what I’ve been developing in is music composition. Right now I’m going back to the basics with my teacher and so he’s giving me all the information I need to compose very simple songs (8-32 bars in one key). Here is the first draft of my first simple song in G-minor (it’s a MIDI sample so excuse the instrument’s sound quality):

 Opus no. 1

This song is using repetition, sequencing, and a basic A-B-A song structure. The next step is to develop variations on this core melody and create a more stylistic, performance worthy version with dynamics, staccato and legato, etc.

Past that, I will be composing a simple song in all 12 keys (major and minor). So I’ll post some of the better ones up later.

 
Food

Since Hiromi’s been back, I’ve been enjoying a variety of new and absolutely delicious foods. Here’s a photo-storm of mouth watering dishes by the resident chef:  

Chopped butternut squash with pumpkin soup

Spinach and goat cheese risotto.

 IPD Map

 Here’s last month’s IPD map.

 June IPD Map

 -Kaz

Current Location: Vancouver, BC
Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: Alicia Keys: No One

I’ve been M.I.A. for almost 3 months now. Work and other projects have been keeping me pre-occupied. Here’s the recap:

Manga

Artisan Inks

I haven’t gotten as far into inking Artisan as I’d like, but it couldn’t be helped (with work and all). I’m currently on page 11 of 20. I’m going to need a few free weekends or light work days before I can sit down and finish the rest. 

Manga Meeting Details

In an effort to keep me at least working within the realm of manga, I’ve started a Manga Artist Meet-up Group. It’s like a workshop and discussion group for manga artists to come and talk, experiment with manga art and story writing techniques, and develop their manga creation skills. So far I’ve had two test meetings and it looks like it’s going to be lots of fun. Here are some of the exercises we are doing in the group:

• Freestyle Manga Page (Based on a Theme)
• Tell A Story Without Characters
• Manga Collaborations
  • Teams of 2:
    • 1 writer 1 artist (switch up roles)
    • 2 artists (drawing based on a script. How do you split tasks?)
    • 2 writers (writing based on a theme or concept)
  • Open collaboration
    • Each person draw one panel
• Manga-Ka For a Day
  • 1 manga ka randomly selected from the group. Everyone else fills a studio role for that day/project.
    • Inker
    • Toner
    • Writer
    • Editor
    • Graphics and FX (using Photoshop and Manga Studio EX)

You can read more about the group and the extensive list of experiments here:

http://manga.meetup.com/123/

Studio Upgrades

In order to accommodate the manga meet up group and to create a better work environment overall for my I.P. Development projects, I’ve made a few significant upgrades to the studio:

As promised, here are a few simple Baroque Dances I’ve learned recently. They are from J.S. Bach’s “Anna Magdalena’s Notebook” Series:

The Menuet in D

http://kulimar.com/Journal_updates/Feb_2008/MenuetInD.MOV (1 MB Streaming)

The Menuet in G

http://kulimar.com/Journal_updates/Feb_2008/MenuetInG.MOV (1 MB Streaming)

The Musette

http://kulimar.com/Journal_updates/Feb_2008/Musette.MOV  (900 K Streaming)

The months have passed like weeks for me recently. Fair to say that much of my energy has been devoted to work since the holidays ended. Consequently, my passions have been sidelined to the weekends. There they kindle and bustle with life for a cruel duration before being choked by the stale Monday sun. It’s a bit of pain, a bit of pleasure.

But I have bore many winters, which in their most lenient breeze make this current climate tropical in comparison. I am happy. Not satisfied, not sated, but then I never will be, will I.

My apologies. I’m usually not so much with the poetics, but I’ve been reading Schopenhauer and Nietzsche lately. They inspire me to “write” again, all else being practical and common ways of just telling people things. Anyway, I’ll make with the straight forwards now:

Artisan Update

Like I mentioned above, I’ve been swept away by work and so I’ve only found time to work on my short story manga during the weekends. The good news is that I finished all of the pencils and can now start inking it. I have no idea how long that will take, but I’m estimating getting 2-3 pages done a weekend. We’ll see how it goes. Here’s some cruddy picts of a few pages from the latter half of the manga:

I think I’ll wait until I finish it all before I post anything else. After I finish this one off, I think I’m going to focus on even shorter manga (5-6-pagers) that I can get done in the spare time that I have. I’ll use them for the same purpose; to develop in some specific area of visual story telling and manga art. More about that later…

Media Studies 

Currently finishing up the Story of Philosophy and then I’ll dig a little deeper into some of the monumental works that it’s referencing. I’m pretty much finished Buffy Season 7 (1-disk remaining) and after that I’ll catch up and finish Angel. These shows have some great writing. And that musical episode? Genius! I’ve gotten so much from watching this series, I just hope whatever I’m studying next is as good J

Musics

Learned 3 Baroque Dances. I’ll record and post them online later. Also finished learning to sing and play X-Japan’s “Crucify My Love” and Remioroman’s “Sangatsu Kokonoka”. But I won’t subject anyone to my singing anytime soon :p

So all is well, it just seems like I have no time to do things. Yet when I look back over the last month and examine my progress in the IPD map, I actually did quite a lot. Heh. Ok, well, on that note, think I’m going to go fall off the planet now.

Peace!

-Kaz

Another productive year gone by. Let's take a look at the resolutions I made last time and see what I managed to pull off:

This Year's Resolutions

The pressure is on this year. Last year was mainly about setup and preparation, this year is all about the GO!  Here's where my ever widening ambitions reside:

• Finish at least 3 original short story manga.  I think this is a realistic goal and I will probably wind up doing more.

• Develop my music composition skills to the point where I can breakdown and understand all of the great songs that I have taken the time to learn.

• Revise and record 3 of my old songs using the new composition principles I've learned.

• Design Version 3 of my Website: Kulimar.com.

• Study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3 ( Requirements: 1500 Vocabulary and 300 Kanji).

• Start on the first arc of my long form manga, "Seda: Thief of Nothing".

• Buy at least 6 Units of Time this year.

• If there is sufficient time and money, GO TO JAPAN!

• Pay off my Computer (haha, for real this time).

• At least get all of the information and details I need in order to establish credit in Canada :p

• Focus most of my research and studies on History, Philosophy, and Human Psychology. Gain a general understanding of many of the topics, theories, and important people in these fields.

Yosh! The goals have been set! Now it's just a matter of driving into the year ahead.

Artisan Updates

Just wanted to give you a sneak peak at the first 10 pages of the Artisan manga that lay scattered across my floor:

It will be done sometime in January and depending on if I make the Tokyopop deadline or not you may see it show up on this journal.

I.P.D. Map

There's something else cool I've cooked up recently called an IPD MAP. It's something that would be useful to all artists, writers, and creative peoples out there who have lots of projects or things in progress at once:

http://kulimar.com/IPD_MAP_Version1.xls

Essentially it's a list of all the skills, projects, and things I'm studying along with a break down of what's entailed or what steps are required in each. The various colors indicate what the progress or status of each item on the list is. I've found this super helpful  in quantifying what it is I'm working on exactly, what I've already finished, and what I need to finish up. Let me know if you find it useful for your own work.

Well that's all for now. Look forward to more info on Artisan later this month! Until then,

Love and Peace!!!

-Kaz

Current Location: Vancouver, BC
Current Mood: hyper
Current Music: "Sangatsu Kokonoka"

This last month has been crazy. I've been doing level design and scripting non-stop for about 12 hours a day.  I remeber how one of my goals for the year was to do something relativly close to IP development.  Well, what I'm doing now is pretty darn close. Just a few more steps towards the story side of things and I'll pretty much be there.  Unfotunately, this new load of responsibility I've gained also means that I've had zero time to work on my short story manga. Looks like I will have to try and finish it during the Christmas break... 

On the otherhand, I have been getting lots of music practice in since my keyboad just happens to be at work (that and the fact that playing music seems to rely on a different part of my brain than the one I use for creative stuff so it's a perfect counterpoint activity). Here's X-Japan's Crucify My Love:

http://kulimar.com/Crucify_Practice.mov 

The ending still needs to be tightened up a bit :p I've also learned Remioromen's 9th of March this month. I'm actually going to be singing and playing that one soon. I'll post a vid once it's perfected.

Ok, back to work!

PEACE!!


-Kaz

Current Location: Vancouver, BC
Current Mood: full
Current Music: K - "Only Human"

Hiromi returned from Japan along with her mother last week. The words ‘fun’ and ‘amazing’ don’t quite do the experience justice. Aside from it being the first real vacation I’ve had since I came to Canada (I didn’t work on anything!), it was somewhat of a heartwarming and eye-opening experience. Here’s the recap:

Day 1: Good God….

The first day, they arrived at my place carrying quite a few suitcases. I just assumed that they were packing extra heavy coats for the weather—WRONG.  Those suitcases were jammed full of an unbelievable amount of gifts that they brought with them from Japan:

Sugeeeeeeeeee!!!
 

Current Location: Vancouver, BC
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: Canibus Oldschool Freestyles

I finished up the first past on all the characters for the manga and got through all of the designs that I wanted to revise last week. Here are some design sketches from that (mainly of minor characters in the story):


Page and her Bustante Panda-Wolf

So now that all of those are done, I'll be going back over all of the designs and working out a few key details for each design (patterns, symbols, eye shapes, hair designs, etc.) Then I will work on doing a quick color pass on all of the characters that are featured in the first arc of the story. Finally, after that, it's on to the location, weapon, and vehicle designs for the first arc of the story. Once all that is over with, I should be ready to get back to the script and thumbnail the first few episodes, thus allowing me to start on the actual manga pages by the beginning of next year (yay!). 

Until next week!

-Kaz



 

I'm off to a fast and steady start with the Visual Development phase for the Seda:T.O.N. Manga. Here's what's new.

Line Training

I've been working on the exercises in this  book in order to improve my line quality. Here are a few examples of what I did last week:


Hatching and Gradients 

I haven't master them yet, but I will continue to do them during the weekdays as they are proving extremely helpful.

Character Designs

During the weekends I've been burning through the list of character designs I need to do for the manga. I'm doing a quick and dirty first pass on all the characters and then I'll continue to iterate and re-work them from there. I just need to get all the ideas for them out of my head at this stage. So far things have been moving along nicely. I've done a first pass on 31 of the 53 characters I have on my list. Here are some highlights from those (Note: The anatomy, proportions, and lines are not great, I was mainly focused on the high-level shapes and the feeling of the designs; very rough stuff. Many of the names are also placeholder.):


Ice Ossan

Once again, these are just a rough first pass. After I get through all the designs I'll start picking out the weak ones and revamping those while refining the others (doing rough color passes, detailed close-ups, etc). At the pace I've been going I should be ready for the second pass in about two weeks.

Music!

Lastly, ever since I got that Piano I've been dying to record something to show here. So I went and did a short video of a song that I am learning right now. Here are a few parts from the Final Boss Battle theme from Final Fantasy 6 "Dancing Mad":

Dancing Mad Piano Video (6 MB)

I hope to post more later on.

Until then,

LOVE AND PEACE!!!!

-Kaz

• Arc Ideation (Build up a bank of new ideas to use as event fodder).

• Basic Order of Events and High-Level Arc Structure (I already have a high-level sequential outline of the story, but with the addition of new events and side stories, it requires more care and consideration).

• Focus Down on Specific Events and Characters (How exactly will character Z get to Location A ? What is the arc of Character A and B's story and how will they interact with each other?).

• Break up into Episodes: Low-Level Eps Structure (Hook, set-up, conflict, actions, reversal of expectation, and resolution/prompt).

• Information Pass I (Ensure that all the essential information is getting across. I also take a look at continuity between scenes and episodes here).

• Smooth out and Add Variety and Interest (Little things to make sure it's all varied and alive).

• Information Pass II (You'd be surprised at how easy little logical problems crop up and can be overlooked).