Beginning Illustration and Manga: Before Trying to Learn Everything at Once

Summary

For those just beginning illustration or manga, we recommend not trying to learn everything at the same time, but deciding on an order and acquiring skills in separate seasons. One approach is to focus on drawing and storytelling for the first one to two years, and then, once the world of your work has taken some shape, to gradually bring in music and technical skills. Skills learned when they are actually needed are acquired remarkably quickly. Through the creation of the story of Hope Princess Santaria, we have increasingly been asked for advice about creative work, and this article responds to one of the most common of those questions.

Background

When one first begins creating, everything in view seems appealing: beautiful pictures, stories that capture the heart, memorable music, elegantly designed websites. It is only natural for wishes such as the following to arise. All of these skills are connected through expression, and it is true that each will one day prove useful; none of them is ever wasted.

• To become better at illustration
• To be able to draw manga
• To be able to compose music
• To build a website
• To learn programming

However, when a beginner tries to learn all of these in parallel, each individual skill tends to remain thin. Time is limited for everyone. Hours that were meant for drawing quietly slip away into settings, adjusting tools and preparing the working environment. We have heard many times of people who found that several months had passed and they had fewer finished works than they had hoped.

IT skills and web production can be learned later, when they become necessary. They take time, but because the purpose is clear, learning becomes more efficient, and learning with a purpose settles in remarkably well. Conversely, spreading oneself too widely before one's expression has taken shape leaves everything half-finished and takes away the time needed to develop what matters most: one's own work. Without a work, there is no place for technical skill to be put to use. That is why there is an order.

Additional notes

If you are unsure, try asking yourself what you would like to leave behind this year. It might be a single picture, or a short sixteen-page manga. There is no need to set a number, but simply narrowing your direction to one will make daily choices much easier. Not spreading yourself thin does not narrow your possibilities; it gathers light onto the one branch you wish to grow now.

There is no need to force away your interest in other fields. Listening to music, looking at good websites and taking photographs are quietly stored within you, even without working on them directly. We suggest deciding that, for now, you will only enjoy them, writing down what you would like to learn in a notebook, and opening that notebook once your drawing and storytelling have taken some shape. If you begin learning at that point, your understanding will come much faster, because the need is clear. The study courses on this site will also be arranged on the basis of this order.

Creative work is not a competition. It is only natural that the pace of growth and the path taken differ from person to person. On days when the work of others makes you anxious, return to the feeling you had when you first wanted to draw. Drawing one picture at a time builds a world that only you can create, and technical skill is a tool for sharing that world, to be taken up when it is needed. We pray that your time of creating may be peaceful and fruitful.