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[Cutty Flam]

Like the ones that do a chapter each week? How the hell do they do it?

It’s one thing to draw that much, that alone would be a daunting task even for a pro, that much drawing....but them add onto that developing further your story and its characters, its world, etc.

How does the entire process go? The creators must have a team, right? At least a partner or two?

How does this all work? Anybody know the creative process of making manga? Would love to learn about it tbh as I’ve always been curious

 

[kiiltz]

Artists will normally do line art as the bulk of their work. They'll do a rough storyboard within the first couple of days to show their editor before proceeding with the chapter.

Then they'll have assistants who they have to pay out of their own pockets. The mains roles are the inker and toner, people who fill in the blacks and add all the grey shit respectively. More well off artists will have someone who can do backgrounds. Rumor has it that someone like Oda has around ten assistants or something but that could be a meme.

I think it roughly takes about 1-2 pages a day so often artists have an apartment/studio setup with beds for them and the assistants to sleep in.

This of course is not including, cover/colour pages, double spreads and feature/longer chapters which involves more work. Most artists start off as assistants and use their connections there as a way to get into industry. The legacy line can get pretty interesting. My favourite one is Tokyo Ghoul's Sui Ishida was an assistant for Kingdom's Yasuhisa Hara who in turn was an assistant for Slam Dunk/Vagabond's Takehiko Inoue.

If you're more interested in the process behind the scenes read/watch Bakuman and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

There's also the odd video on YouTube with behind the scenes footage at artists' studios.

 

[JordanN]

Like the ones that do a chapter each week? How the hell do they do it?

It’s one thing to draw that much, that alone would be a daunting task even for a pro, that much drawing....but them add onto that developing further your story and its characters, its world, etc.

How does the entire process go? The creators must have a team, right? At least a partner or two?

How does this all work? Anybody know the creative process of making manga? Would love to learn about it tbh as I’ve always been curious

 

[GAMETA]

I've heard they work a ridiculus amount of hours on a daily basis.

It must be hell-ish

 

[Alx]

I thought it was common knowledge, considering most mangakas add little slices of studio life in their books as side illustration, often showing they're sleep-deprived and spend most of their life with their assistants working in a single drawing room. Basically it's like crunch time for game devs, but all days of the year.

 

[JordanN]

I've heard they work a ridiculus amount of hours on a daily basis.

It must be hell-ish

Just wait until you read about the anime industry.

Muahaha.

 

[King of Foxes]

Probably looking over their shoulder waiting for the door to be kicked in by the police in regards to their "collection"

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I suggest you watch the Manben interview series, it's helmed by Naoki Urasawa, famour author of Monster and 20th Century Boy. Several episodes are available on YouTube and they show you in detail the life of mangakas:



I love that stuff so much!!

 

[Mista]

*Kentaro Miura signs in*

Sup mothafuckas?!

 

[kiiltz]

I've heard they work a ridiculus amount of hours on a daily basis.

It must be hell-ish

Only the weekly mangakas. Monthly is a bit more lax.

Then you have people like Miura who conistently goes on breaks/hiatus' to play Idolmaster.

 

[Robot Carnival]

here's an example of mangaka who works weekly and their crazy schedule

they often work very closely with editors and they also would have a few assistants to help do shading, coloring, background work etc. there are of course exceptions on both end, some lone wolf artist who churns out huge amount of work all by himself, and the ones who takes forever to make one chapter. and as kiiltz mentioned, read Bakuman and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, which has a lot of detail on how the manga industry operates. (spoiler: the weekly ones have a ROUGH life).

 

[The Snake]

I've heard they work a ridiculus amount of hours on a daily basis.

It must be hell-ish

Yeah I was asked to do an 8-page spec comic for a magazine and it's...man, it's not easy to just sit down and do all that. I can't imagine putting out the volume and detail a manga artist does.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

If I were a mangaka I would surely work for a monthly magazine and draw 30-40 pages, these weekly schedules amount to giving up your entire life and health for your work. Still salute weekly mangakas for their insane productivity and consistency.

 

[Potato Chip PRO]

Before they draw, how long to they brain storm their ideas and plot for the story?

 

[EverydayBeast]

It's more about creating a brand, I think Dragon Ball Super helps from having a great TV adaptation.

 

[Cutty Flam]

I've heard they work a ridiculus amount of hours on a daily basis.

It must be hell-ish

It may seem that way, but to me I would only be worried about the fact that it's extremely intensive in a number of ways. First, the deadline is something that will either highly motivate you to be at your best, or wit will crush you and put a restraint to some degree on your creativity if you ever feel rushed or discontent with the creative process. Second, it would be worrisome to not have full confidence in your manga if you are a perfectionist and second guess things. I imagine these mangaka have everything planned before they sell their entire manga idea to a major publisher. But still, there's a lot of work to do each week even with knowing how each week should go

I would imagine if you have a team of 5-10 mangaka assistants on your payroll and they're all excellent then it's a dream job. You're the mastermind behind a beloved work, your job involves creativity, and it's a work that you can reflect back on and others will always want to discuss it. Plus I would imagine if the manga is superb then the pay is well worth it. Seems like a brilliant job to hold if you have the incredible talent and vision to create at such a high level

 

[Cutty Flam]

Before they draw, how long to they brain storm their ideas and plot for the story?

That's a huge question of mine as well. I bet they have a rough draft of their entire manga story. I bet they have an idea of what goes on from the very start to the middle to what they hope to accomplish by the very last, finishing moment of the manga. But surely there is a lot of blanks they have to fill in from week to week. A lot of imagination is definitely needed even after the final draft of their work is complete. That is an excellent question you have though, I definitely want to know more about it as well

 

[jshackles]

 

[Cutty Flam]

Koichi-kun!

 

[Codes 208]

That's a huge question of mine as well. I bet they have a rough draft of their entire manga story. I bet they have an idea of what goes on from the very start to the middle to what they hope to accomplish by the very last, finishing moment of the manga. But surely there is a lot of blanks they have to fill in from week to week. A lot of imagination is definitely needed even after the final draft of their work is complete. That is an excellent question you have though, I definitely want to know more about it as well

Some of them pretty much write as they go. DBZ is a good example of this, Akira originally had no plan to go passed the Freeza arc but he ultimately continued due to fanfair and his editors. During the android saga, he originally intended for Androids 19 and 20 to be the big bads, but after their appearance, his editor hated them so he added 16, 17 and 18.

which, again, his editor hated the idea of some punks being the big bad so he created cell.

the first form wasnt exactly hated by his editor said his second form looked retarded so he told akira to make him into his final form sooner than he wanted (because originally second form cell was supposed to be around longer before perfect cell)

 

[Cutty Flam]

Some of them pretty much write as they go. DBZ is a good example of this, Akira originally had no plan to go passed the Freeza arc but he ultimately continued due to fanfair and his editors. During the android saga, he originally intended for Androids 19 and 20 to be the big bads, but after their appearance, his editor hated them so he added 16, 17 and 18.

which, again, his editor hated the idea of some punks being the big bad so he created cell.

the first form wasnt exactly hated by his editor said his second form looked retarded so he told akira to make him into his final form sooner than he wanted (because originally second form cell was supposed to be around longer before perfect cell)

Interesting. He had some excellent editors to keep pushing him like that lol

 

[Codes 208]

Interesting. He had some excellent editors to keep pushing him like that lol

Some hits and misses for sure. In the buu saga we almost got majin piccolo but the fanbase insisted on a rematch between goku and vegeta so he scrapped it.

thats a good example of some ofmanga creation works, they have to work a schedule but its so toed to what the editorswant and what the fanbase wants that it can directly influence the story itself. My hero acedamia is going through a similar thing regarding last second changes to villain names and birthdates due to (unintentional, and incredibly subtle) connections to hitler and chinese torture/slavery.

 

[Cutty Flam]

It's good to have that kind of council. If you can find a way to meet the fans and listen to those who are hired to guide you in the right direction (editors, at their best should be doing this) then not much can go wrong. In the end, the creator will always have the upper hand and if he wants something strongly I would bet he gets the go ahead but it's good to have people keep you in line. It's really just something people need otherwise let's face it, slacking will occur to some degree. In my experiences, having someone to push you is 100% necessary. If something isn't mandatory and dead set that you should complete, it's then totally on the one individual to have insanely devoted habits and motivation for himself

Editors and supervisors are a good thing, as annoying as they can be at times