December 07. 2004 23:15

Energy Up (and a long NaNoManga explanation)

Ah, it feels so good to be energized again. I got over the worst of my frustration and am now filled with energy to diet, excersice (spelling?) and do all the work I've wanted to do. I realized that all I have to do before the wagashi manga is finished is add the tones and I did half (or one third at least) of it today. It was really interesting, adding the tones. It's an awful lot of cutting and placing, but the result is so pretty that I want to learn to do it. I started with the last page of the comic just so I could do the kimonos the girls are in in the last frame, and it became so pretty ^__^ I love all the patterns they have here! ^_^

Making all this manga, all the way to the end and everything, has inspired me to do more for Finnmanga again ^_^ (That site is all in Finnish, by the way... If you were wondering.) The update of the site is long overdue (I haven't really paid enough attention to it ever since the first volume came out and I became busy with other things...), but I've actually been working on it a bit on some free moments. I've been thinking about adding some actual tutorials, now that I've been here studying how they really make the manga in Japan, and since I have some other thoughts I'd like to share. Nobody else has shown any interest in putting up any tutorials, so at the moment the tutorial part of the site is just a space for me to rant about my way of making manga ^_^;;

Then I also thought about doing Yumegokochi again, even though I just finished the new layout ^_^;; The thing is, I've been thinking about how one of the guys I worked with last summer said all my sites are really "simplistic". I don't actually have a problem with that, because when I'm making a site, I value clear and working sites over fancy graphics. But then again, I really love sites with fancy graphics and I'd really love to make one, it's just that I don't know where to use it ^_^;; I don't want Yumegokochi to be a heavy site, or actually any of my sites, so I've been waiting for something that'd be enough "insignificant" so I wouldn't mind it being heavy. But, getting a site like that seems to take forever, so I thought I might try to make a fancy but light site. What's great about the layout base for Yumegokochi is that it's easy to play with to try out new things ^_^ (I feel so proud of myself for making it like that ^-^) Besides, even though the new layout is refreshing, I have trouble getting use to how bright it is ^_^;

I promised myself I'd explain the NaNoManga thing in this entry because some of my friends have been wondering about the details. So, I guess I'll have to. I have to write it in more of a "designed for audience" way, though, so it'll be a little different from the rest of the diary :P Here goes...

What is this NaNoManga thing?

I developed the idea of a "NaNoManga" last year's November (yes, it's completely original, that's why you've never heard of it ^_^;), when a lot of my friends were taking part in the National Novel Writing Month. The point of the real NaNoWriMo is to write a novel in one month, and the "event" is arranged every year in November. The main rules are that you have to write 50 000 words, starting midnight on the first and ending midnight on the last of November. You can make notes of the plot and characters before this, but all the words have to be written during November, by your hand.

I think the idea of NaNoWriMo is great. All my friends, mainly Maya from school, were so enthusiastic about it (though at times very anxious becouse they were behind schedule...) and I kinda wanted to take part in it, though I know I couldn't write a novel. Well, I could, but I'm not so much into writing that I'd spend a month on it. Instead, I thought, I could spend a month on a comic. A comic is something I'd be willing to sacrifice all my free time for, and I'd never get one started if I didn't have some purpose or goal. Then this is the perfect chance! That year, though, I couldn't do it, because I got the idea when November had already started. I thought I'd let it brew until next time and try it then.

So, this NaNoManga isn't really connected to the NaNoWriMo? It's just some solo mission, some nonsense one person decided to do? That's exactly right ^_^;; It's something I made up for myself so I could in some way be a part of this group that devotes themselves for writing for one month with such enthusiasm. I wanted to devote myself for something, too.

So the rules? The idea is based on the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". First I thought it'd be okay like that, one comic frame for one thousand words, so 50 frames in total. The problem is that a frame in a comic, especially if it's in manga style like mine are, isn't always exaclty worth a thousand words... For this year I did the 50 frames goal, but it didn't feel at all as demanding as the 50 000 words goal. So what'd be the next step? To keep the 1/1000 ratio, it'd have to be a page for a thousand words, so 50 pages. Wow, that sounds so much... But then again, doesn't 50 000 words sound like a lot, too? The point of NaNoWriMo is to do something incredible, finish much more than you thought you ever could. I'll have to wait until next year until I get to try if I can make all that, but from here on that'll be the goal.

Beyond the page (or frame) count, the rules were quite hazy when I started doing my first NaNoManga. Well, it was the first time after all, so I didn't really have any idea how it'd turn out. I wasn't actually too sure about the real NaNoWriMo rules either (actually, I still haven't read them), so I might've been a bit too hard on myself with the "nothing done before November" thing. I had a general idea of the setting, the characters and the story, but I kept myself from going any further than that. I didn't make notes or draw a single sketch, or even decide the names of the characters. Most of the time I didn't let myself even think about the plot. With the 50 frames goal this worked alright, because there was a lot of time to think and basically slack off before I had to start drawing. But with the 50 pages goal it'll be different, and making a comic is so different from writing a novel that I realized I had to re-think some of the rules after this first time.

First of all, thinking about the plot is okay, even in the real NaNoWriMo rules. (That much I know.) You can basically have the whole plot ready as long as you haven't written it down. What I learned this year is that the NaNoWriMo writers start preparing in October, when they decide some of the facts for their novel and make some notes. Next time I'll include this preparing part in my project as well. At least character sketches would be acceptable in any case, but thinking about all the stages of making a comic, I'd say even writing the plot out should be okay. Like the words for a novel, it's the images for a comic that take the most time, and are the most essential. I'd like to include page planning in the acceptable preparations, but I kinda have the feeling that'd be too much. They're too close to the finished product. So, having thought about it for a while, I think I'll go for character designs and script in the preparations during October, and then the page plans, drawing, ink, tones, whatever you need to finish your comic will be done in November.

You might wonder why I'm making such clear rules if this is just some silly little project of mine... Well, I can never help designing these kind of things so that I couldn't spread them around and get more followers ^_^;; Maybe that's just some "need to be a leader" inside me... Though I'd rather think of it as a need to share things, because I don't exaclty want to lead, just to share and have fun together. I just happen to be excited about the things I invent, so if I want to have fun together doing something I'm enthusiastic about, it's kinda natural to try and make others interested in my things ^_^; (This bit is more of the diary type ;P) Anyway, I'd really like to have others join me in this project, so more people could enjoy the NaNoWriMo madness and I wouldn't be the odd one out doing my own silly thing ^_^ (Besides, I really think this is a good idea. And I put more credit to NaNoWriMo than my part in creating this NaNoManga thing, anyway.)

And why the name NaNoManga? What is that short for, and why is it manga and not just comics? Well, I couldn't just call this project "my NaNoWriMo manga thing", so I shortened it to NaNoManga... So if it stands for something, it's "National Novel Writing Month Manga", not "National Novel Manga" ^_^;; And it's manga because I happen to draw my comics (or specifically, the first NaNoWriMo comic) in manga style. It's not supposed to outclude any other style of comics or anything, "manga" is just a word I use a lot more than "comic". What I really should, and originally did, call the event is "National Graphic Novel Writing Month". So "NaGraNoWriMo", if you want ^_^ Though when talking about the product of this event, I kinda like the short version better.