analysis

After doing research on what courses that would suit me the best I decided that the illustration course would be my best choice. The other courses weren’t right for me as the game course was more focusing on 3d modelling and creating games rather than the design aspect of the industry. and the FD illustration was too low of a level for me. It started from the beginning by first creating a style for yourself. Which I have already done

After having an induction with the course leader on what this course involves. I was told that if I had already developed my own style then the course would be a waste and I was better off going into employment. Also this course focused more on illustrations then comic creation or digital illustration.

   

So then I started researching into job opportunities for my chosen career. Unfortunately because of my choice of style, I could not find any jobs that wanted my style of artwork. Also comics are more of a personal or singular job. It’s quite uncommon to be employed by someone to create comics. Unless it is a writer that has no artistic ability, or a popular comic that needs assistants. But then again if it is popular then there will be a big amount of artists applying for the course

.

There is a company that will accept artist’s comic ideas. Yen Press is a publishing company that will publish and print a comic for you if your idea interests them. I was interested in pitching my idea to them but I had changed my mind as it would be published in England and as my style is not popular. So I have decided after allot of thought that I would go and move to were my career is more popular.

Because of moving it will take allot if time to learn and master the language so, in the mean time I am planning on developing my art ability and style whilst going into employment, As my style is not liked very much. I am planning on going into ordinary employment instead of employment in illustrating. I have decided upon this as I don’t feel my art skills are good enough to be used for professional use just yet. Also I feel that if I were to draw all the time I may become frustrated with my artwork.  

Once I have moved over to the country that my career choice is more popular, I plan on pitching my comic idea to shonen jump. On of the biggest publishing companies in that country. If my plan fails and my story does not interest them I will carry on altering my story until I can impress or interest them, whilst working as an assistant for a comic artist that is in need of help.

Over all I think that this projects has helped me to first discover what job I actually want to do and secondly to work out my life plan. It has helped me realise that I can’t do my job of choice in this country and that I will be more successful if I moved to where it is more popular      

   

cover letter

 http://www.yenpress.com/about/

i have found a company called yen press that accepts story proposals. so i had decided to write to them explaining my story idea.

the information they said they needed was:

• my target audience 
• plot summary 
• character descriptions
• initial concepts 
• minimum of 5 to 10 pages of sequential art in various stages 

so i wrote a draft of a letter to send to yen press containing all the information they asked for. accept from the artwork 

To whom it may concern

Hello

My name is Alicia Austin and I am hoping that you will take the time to look at my project called ‘Kazite’

I have been working on a story for a while and have decided that it is now good enough to pitch to you.

I am aiming my story at a target audience of 14 to 17. It will be an action/battle manga with some horror aspects though not much, And a little bit of humour

The setting of Kazite will be old London like but with a creepy circus twist

I have enclosed character information, monster information, initial concept designs of the world, characters, weapons and monsters, and step by step artwork for this story.  I apologise for  the roughness and messiness of some of the concept designs

open job vacancies

i started to look for job opportunities that involved my job interests.
though this first one is not technically a job. it still had promise of employment. if you interest them
http://www.yenpress.com/nts-11-12/

every year or so yen press holds a search for new talents. they accept many stories from hundreds of people that are aiming for this industry. they ask you to create a one shot story to submit to them. and if it is good enough then they will publish it for you. this could lead to further work with yen press or can lead to another publishing company becoming interested in your story

A second job that i had found is a free lance job to create someone a banner. in a manga style
it pays up to $500 for the job. this is a good amount for one job. but unfortunately this is only a one time job so it is unpredictable
https://www.elance.com/j/banner-design-manga-comic-book-style/27522486/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=jobrapido&utm_campaign=jobrapido&rid=1YX1Q

and thridly i found a job were a write is looking for a comic drawer to illustrate his/her story
http://www.freelanced.com/job/7004?n=6&s=0 

cv

Alicia Austin

15 tamerton avenue, st.budeaux, pl5 1tw, Plymouth, devon

07599834769

Aaustin1@plymouthart.ac.uk

My name is Alicia Austin. I am highly interested in illustration and manga creation im my spare time. I have a range of skills from characters to landscapes.

I am a hard worker and will complete to the best of my ability every job that is given to me.

I have been drawing for the majority of my life and have experienced many different types of materials.

I am mature enough to try my best in all jobs given to me, be it an illustration job or a job outside of that area.

Skills

·       Imagination

·       An understanding in both digital and traditional ways of art

·       Story creation

·       Character creation

·       Landscape concept

·       Idea developing

·       Good listener

·       Will do as asked

Education

2005 – 2010

Plymstock school

Science : grade c

Additional science : grade c

Art and design : grade c

D&T: food technology : grade c

English: grade c

English literature : grade c

German: grade c

Mathematics : grade c

History: grade d

Religious studies b (philosophy & ethics) : grade d

Work experience

One week of work experience with Primark in 2010 set up by plymstock school

One week of work experience with Plymouth college of art in 2010 set up by plymstock school

Interests

I am highly interested in the anime and manga industry.

I enjoy drawing allot and telling stories with pictures, making characters and my own world excites me and being able show others my world by doing what I enjoy is the best thing I could hope for.

References

Available on request

personal statement

 My first and most enjoyed subject has been and always will be illustration.

Throughout my life I have always had a passion for art and have experimented with a range of materials for example I have used mud rock, and clay to create things such as pots and fake skulls. I have also used allot of other materials for painting, oil paint, water paint and acrylic paint. I have used many materials for drawing. For instance charcoal, pencil, biro pen, and oil pastels. Over time I have ventured into a few different types of art. From 3d sculpturing and landscape illustrating to digital illustration. With the influence of the internet and television I discovered anime, and became interested in this style, and began adventuring into this style of art.

Even though over the years I have tried many styles and techniques I have come to the conclusion that my preferred style is anime, although of course I can work in other styles if the job requires me to.  

As I discovered the anime style I began to understand it more and gained an understanding of the culture. I gained an interest into ‘manga’ which is a comic with the anime style. I have always had an interest in story telling but unfortunately my literature skills were not very strong, but after discovering manga I found that I am able to portray a story whilst doing what I enjoy equally as much without having to have a high quality writing skills.

I plan on furthering my illustration and manga hobby into a career. With my decision made I started to research into what it will take to make my way into the manga industry. When I have a passion for something I try my best to fully understand the subject to the best of my ability. This doesn’t mean that I won’t try on other subjects, I will always try my best with everything and anything I do.

I have a range of skills, that will help me in my chosen careers. My first and main skill is my ability to draw. With my love for drawing, being consistent throughout my life, and never fading away, it has helped me gain a good grasp on digital drawing.  Another one of my skills is hard work, I am fully aware that in this world I will not always be able to do a project that Is in my chosen range of expertise. But despite this I will still try my hardest to create a high quality outcome for the client or brief. My imagination is also a key skill that I have to help me with my career development. I’m easily inspired by things around me which help me create my ideas for my projects. I’m a fast thinker and can come up with ideas quite easily. My ability to work with little brakes in between may be seen as useful as I will be able to get work done faster than people who take brakes regularly. 

As the saying goes ‘you can never have too much practise’ and I believe that this course will help me develop and improve the areas that I am lacking in. and help me gain a more professional outlook on the illustration industry. Hopefully this course will help me to develop my personal style even further and to increase the range of program I use to illustrate

 

portfolio research

i had started to look at online portfolios and had found some good examples and some bad examples in my opinion of portfolios.

one of my favorite portfolio sites is carbon made   it is clear and well organised. and easy to direct your self around. also having banners for someone's portfolio in staid of just a name, is a good idea as they can show of their work before even entering it. when you go into someone's portfolio its also well organised there. the only way it can be tricky or confusing is if the owner of the portfolio put unrelated titles in for each section. but the majority of them didn't.  for example http://rahll.carbonmade.com/ this portfolio was well labelled and split into categorises. the artwork that was put on were all tidy and clean and at a professional level. another good part of this website is that it had another section to the portfolio that showed their information http://rahll.carbonmade.com/about some of them like this one had allot of information that was helpfull but there was some that had no information accept their name.


in my opinion i had found a portfolio site that is not as good as the other site http://www.artistportfolio.net/
this site is hard to navigate around and is confusing. once you find were the artists portfolios are they aren't represented very well as all there is only a link of the persons name. so does not really advertise the persons art. http://www.artistportfolio.net/index.php?secret=141&artist_id=4441 once you go onto someone's gallery it isn't well organised. there are no categories to show off all the styles of the artist and is messy

overall i think that if i were to create a digital portfolio then i would make one with carbon made, as it can show my art of to the best of its ability.

areas of improvement

all of my job career choices need the same type of skills but some jobs have more then the others

anatomy
the first thing that i have to do is to improve and study human anatomy. this is extremely important for basicly every one of the occupations i have chosen.
i have to study all different poses and angles as all sorts of poses and angles are needed for manga to make it interesting.
i will also need to study hands and their anatomy. as these are the hardest parts in human anatomy

backgrounds
i also need to learn and improve on backgrounds. as a background is the most important part for an illustration. the character is also important but the background is the biggest part so its the most important part as it stands out more. also if the background lacks compared to the character it could let down the whole picture.
the best way for me to improve is to try and recreate a photo of a landscape.
backgrounds are also important in manga as they are used to set the scene of the story. some panels will just be background. but they are important to set the scene

expressions
another area that i will need to work on is facial expressions as these are really necessary to get the feel and emotion of the story across.
feelings are one of the most important parts of a manga as they help the readers become more attached to the character. 

narrative 
one of the things that i really have to is improve on my narrative skills as the dialogue for a story is also one of the most important things for a story. because you must be able to tell a story but make it sound interesting whilst making it easily understandable but also sticking to the type of language that would be used. for example if a story was set in the Victorian times then the dialogue should be in that time zone.

screen toning
there are some other less important skills that i have to improve on but i will still try to improve as they will add to the finished touch. this skill is screen toning.
i have already started touching this subject but it is very hard to do. as you don't want to add to much toning to the page as it may subtract from the character, and might make the page look to cluttered,
but if you don't put enough toning in then it will make the page look plain and boring.

storyboarding 
i will also have to try and improve on my story boarding skills. as theses are the most help full and important steps in creating a manga or comic. the story board helps you to plan out the story and to clean up any plot holes

course research

BA honours illustration 

the first course i would be interested in would be illustration.
this will help to improve the areas that i am week on.
there are 2 courses in the colege for illustration

each course teaches you to experiment with a range of materials. and helps you to develop your personal style .

http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/prospectus/Degree-and-Honours/BA-Topup/BA-(Hons)-Illustration-(3-year)/ILFT1A1112

if you are coming from a foundation degree you will have automatic gain acceptance depending on weather you have passed the course or not. if you have a qualification of the same sort but from a different college. then entry will be dictated by interview.

FD illustration 

this course teaches you to create a personal style. and introduces you to a range of materials and techniques to create images. 


http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/prospectus/Degree-and-Honours/Foundation-Degree/FD-Illustration/ILFH1A1213


for this course you are required to have a minimum of 5 GCSE's grade C or above
consisting of preferably an art GCSE

BA Honours design for games

design for games teaches students not only about how to create games but how the whole industry works. they teach you the whole design proses from paper to the 3d model

http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/prospectus/Degree-and-Honours/BA-Topup/BA-(Hons)-Design-for-Games-(3-year)/DFFT1A1213


for this course you also are required to have a minimum of 5 GCSE's grade C or above
consisting of preferably an art GCSE

task one : gather relevant career and progression research which must include at least 3 occupational profiles

Comic book/OEL manga (original English manga) writer/artist


this job requires no official qualifications


there are many ways to make it into this business:


1.the first is to enter into a competition at a publishing company such as viz media or yen press.
and if it interests them they will then take you on and publish your story and depending on how popular it becomes you may be asked to do more


2. the second way in which you can show of your skills is by becoming an assistant for an already existing
mangaka and then working your way up through helping them and your talents may be recognised by a publisher.
unfortunately most western mangakas don't hire assistants as it is normally to expensive for them


3. if you already have a story planed out then you can make mock ups of each page for about one chapter
and then pitch the idea to the publishing company you would like to go with.


4. or the easiest but not necessarily best way is to post a web comic on a trust full website
and hope that your comic/manga gets viewed or seen by anyone working for a publishing company or
anyone that would recommend it to one.


the main skills that are involved in being a mangaka/comic book writer/artist are:
 .drawing skills
 .character design
 .world/concept design
 .story/plot development
 .hard worker
 .fast working


another very important asset that is needed/useful to have in this industry is the ability to compromise
as once you have an idea for a story and start to create it. you are given an editor that helps make your
story/picture layout, more interesting so it will sell


this job would require allot of my time if i thought about doing this as a full time occupation which i plan
to do in the future if i can make enough money off of it to keep me alive. you must be committed to drawing as it takes up pretty much all
all of your time if you were to do it professionally.


the information bellow is primarily based on the Japanese publishing companies but i would imagine all
of them being pretty much the same no mater were they are situated. but it may be different as the market for manga in
England is allot smaller then japan.




once you make your debut with your first story. they will then ask you to create 30 page one shots
for their companies monthly release. after releasing a couple one shots, if you are successful and they are interesting
then they will let you create bigger and longer stories consisting of 150 pages. if you are still successful then you are
then given the choice to start a series. (unfortunately i am unsure of this information as this may only apply to Japanese
publishing companies)


the best companies to approach to publish you manga are yen press and viz media as they are the most popular companies out there but it will probably prove to be extremely hard to publish to a big companies if you are unheard of or this is your first manga. so its better to approach companies like seven seas entertainment or eigoMANGA


i had gotten in contact with Madeleine Rosca an OEL mangaka who created "Hollow Feilds" , and asked her for advice on getting into this industry and to ask if she was open to employing assistants.
she said the following


"I don't currently employ assistants - some western mangaka do, but it's generally a little too expensive for us. Often a publisher will assign us someone to help with lettering or tones, but on my current project I'm toning myself (because I love to torture myself with work).

I can understand the frustration of trying to figure out how to get work in this industry, as it isn't the most transparent job on the planet. I had no idea how to get published and my first attempts were turned down. In the end a publisher emailed me with an offer of interest about my webcomic, which I hadn't even submitted as a proposal (that was Hollow Fields). At the moment, I believe the best way people get known is through webcomic work. I have friends who assisted on webcomics by doing colours or background work, and made a little money out of it too.

I have to say - at 17 you are still considered very young in this industry, and publishers often won't employ people before the age of 18. Experience counts for a lot! Also, because this job takes persistence and a bit of luck to break into, many people do more general work to make money, such as illustration and children's books, etc. Because of the internet, a good thing about our job is that we can live anywhere in the world and submit work online (I've never met my publisher in person!). "



yen press has a section were you can apply for jobs to either be an artist for a different manga or to purpose your own idea http://www.yenpress.com/about/  


viz media is also taking up people for internships in allot of areas http://www.viz.com/company/internships


illustration


this job also requires no offictial qualifications. the only thing it requires goes without saying.




.a tallent in drawing
.bing able to do what your client asks of you
.you should be able to draw backgrounds and a series of things as not all your jobs will be in your chosen style
.you should be able to meet deadlines (this one is common and nessisary for all jobs)
insperation we see throughout our life




character design


this job yet again requires no official qualifications to do. unfortunetly finding information for this choice in carear is next to imposible from what i have been searching for. there are no places that i have found that tell you the requirements to become a character designer but i would imagine that it is necisary for you to have allot of imagination for this job. you should be able to create a character based around a setting and personality/ description that is given to you.
this requires allot o pacients and imagination
you should be able to:
.create clothing designs
.create weapons sometimes if one is asked for
.be able to design a range of things like monsters, humans, animals
.do as the client whants you two


income 


i have been looking into the income of the jobs that i have chosen


for a mangaka/ OEL Mangaka the amount of income is unstable.
an interveiw with Ms. Yoshiko Chijiwa (a japanese mangaka)
said that basically she cant live on just making manga as the income is so unpredictable 



"I cannot possibly survive with only manga. Without a serialization, my income is irregular. I manage my budget by doing part-time lecturing at a speciality college for manga,"


$2,500 - $2,600 in US dollars


 after looking again for a while i had found the monthly income of a mangaka. unfortunately this was taken from how much a japanese mangaka gets but it would probably be the same.


the article that i got this information from also had a quote from an editor from an anonymous magazine about the income of a mangaka


"I think it varies from magazine to magazine, for example, a monthly magazine would be around 10,000 yen per page. So if one draws 25 pages in a month, then the manuscript fee for that month is roughly around 250,000 yen,"