Goldfish and Lamps

August 16, 2016Art, Watercoloranime, arches, art, Featured, illustration, kimono, littlemissmarikit, manga, pixiv, watercolormarikit Leave a comment

Kingyo/ Watercolor / August 2016

I have been sick the past week so forgive my absence. But in my absence, I was very productive with studying watercolors. This painting, Kingyo (Goldfish) was long coming. It was a concept from way before which I didn’t know if I had the skills or the guts to do.

The concept is a Matsuri/ Japanese festival where the girl won a goldfish. And I had some idea of goldfish swimming around her playfully as she recalls the memory of how she won her trinket. I wanted to do playful primaries. I did this on Arches Hotpress and I loved the experience

I want to redo the concept to make the kimono prettier and the goldfish brighter. I also can’t decide on which scan to use since the scanner kills my colors.

Lamplighter/ August 2016

The next watercolor illustration is done one arches coldpress paper , 300 GSM. The painting turned out smoother than the first one although the background employed the same techniques of salting and wet on wet.

The painting is still a Matsuri painting where the girl is holding a lamp for a festival dance or parade. I did the galaxy background on it to show the evening sky. I was trying to emphasize the lamp light and I think I did ok with it. The hair was my biggest decision. I wanted somethign that wont distract from the rest of the picture and I hope I did the right thing by pulling in the colors of the bg.

I still have a lot to work on with folds and cloth and I need patience to do kimono design.

I think I will do more studies on cloth and learn more watercolor blending in the future. Hopefully I willmaster this illustration tool.

Venturing into the World of Tapastic

March 25, 2015Anime/Manga, Announcements, Kitchen SinkARCHIVED, Hachi, infinite stage, manga, Saimai Studios, tapastic, webcomicmarikit Leave a comment

It’s always been a goal of mine to start a webcomic. It has been a perpetual goal since I love reading them and has always admired the skills and patience of mangakas and comic artists. I mean, comics do take time and patience and commitment. You can’t just put a comic on there and leave it. It takes a lot from the artist and putting your story out there is nervewracking.

On Copic Paper

October 18, 2013Kitchen Sinkart, manga, materials, Paper, Reviewmarikit Leave a comment

Marikit has been busy lately, doing some work for Artmedia Trading to compare and test some papers they sent me. And they did send me a few to work with. I was so excited to get my hands on the Copic Papers and Boards as well as my Tachikawa G-Pens that I conceptualized some pretty art for each paper. I hope you all like it. Generally, I observed that Copic Paper retains its smoothness even after erasing heavily and pencilling– and some even after inking with the Tachikawa School G (which I used for all of the art below). The first one is

Title: The Misadventures of Sucette Le Epices and Bonbon in Whimsyland
Materials: Copic Paper No. 6, Copics, Zig Kurecolor, Deleter Neopiko 2, Tachikawa School G Pen Here is the finished trial of Copic Paper No. 6. This is a great sheet of paper for Traditional Manga artists. The paper is smooth and nibs and pens just glide on it. and copics blend so easily. Even nib pens do not have a problem with it. I really enjoyed my experience with the paper. Bonus, the paper doesn’t bleed too much so you save on ink actually. I used a blend of copics, kurecolor and deleter on this thing, used my bleeding technique and the paper didnt tear. It held up beautifully even through tough erasing and inking. I would recommend and want to try more of it. Maybe, after the other sheets have been tested.

Title: Dear Alice
Materials: Copic PM Pad A4 White, Copics, Zig Kurecolor, Deleter Neopiko 2, Tachikawa School G Pen Another paper test, this time, Copic PM Pad A4/ White. This time it’s a take on Alice, a princess like girl, very shoujo. She has no story, I just want it to look girly and sweet. She was kinda based of Alice in wonderland. But she also looks like a spoiled girl. haha… Anyway, this paper was a little hard to get used to at first. I felt it resisted color a little in the end it worked ok. I guess you have to make friends with this paper before you fully utilize it. Its good for those who want to blend colors in a watercolory type way since the ink dries out longer giving you time to work. Oh! its smooth even after heavy erasing.. but it seems that it also kind of rejects ink. my lines from Tachikawa G easily lifted off this paper. Scanning though, it produced brilliant color. So I liked it. The texture was interesting too. it gives it a real traditional painted feel

Title: Rivaille: A Touch of Royalty
Materials: Copic Paper 101 No. 2, Copics, Zig Kurecolor, Deleter Neopiko 2, Tachikawa School G Pen This one is Copic Paper 101 No.2. like other copic papers, its smooth to the finish, however, this one bleeds and warps on me even if it blended my colors well. It did NOT tear but, i was having time fighting with the warping … its alright i guess for those who use colors lightly – i probably made the wrong choice and drew Heichou ( SNK ‘s Levi) on there. XD He was colored pretty heavily. Though I am happy with how it turned out, the scanning of this proved to be brilliant as well, and it has a natural feel. Plus, it really did well blending the colors. I don’t think I’ll buy this — it doesnt suit my style but for those light colorists, this is a great paper!

Title: Rozen Maiden
Materials: Copic Manga Paper.. the rest ditto like above This piece was fun and well ambitious, I LOVE Rozen Maiden so I tried this piece and i love how it turned out. It may be a bit messy but i love how the colors are blending and fading on this piece. Copic Manga is a great board to work with, it blends paper easily and is one of my favorites. It gives my work brilliance at the lightest stroke of the brush.its got a smooth finish, and doesnt bleed easily, it is a board so it doesnt warp. it is a board that made me feel pro just because it is so easy to work with. I would definitely buy this one again since I love it.

Title: Pippin and Lotte: The Prince Puppeteer and his Doll
Materials: Copic paper 101 no 3 (ditto on other materials) Pippin and Lotte, the Prince of puppeteers and his doll. I love this piece so much From concept to coloring (though I did mess up on the Background) I used Tachikawa School G Sepia for the inks so it looks virtually lineless! ❤ Copic paper 101 No 3 is a thicker brother to the Copic Paper No 6 I used with Sucette above.. The paper is virtually bleedproof smooth and easy to work with easily one of my favorites The paper itself lends the smoothness of copic paper, it doesnt warp or bleed as much and its copic friendly. I am thinking of getting this and No. 6 or (a 4 or 5 ) if you have them, I am thinking that the lower the number of the paper the higher the thickness.

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I really hope that these tips help. If you are choosing paper and are ordering manga supplies, check out Artmedia Trading a Philippine Based FB trader with the friendliest staff and great service! If you are doing a manga upload it to pmangahub. com and join the growing number of mangakas! ❤ I hope you enjoy creating

The Truth about Manga Materials

May 26, 2013Materials, Notesanime art, art, basic manga supplies, GSM, manga, Papermarikit 4 Comments

One of the most common questions that people ask me is: Where do you get your supplies? and What do I need to get started in creating Manga/Anime Art? Then, when I answer about my materials, they follow up with OMG! That’s too expensive! I will never be a mangaka at this rate.

Then, I have to go through the whole litany of telling them that it’s not about materials (though having good materials help), and it’s all about the artist who uses the materials that makes the art. But, of course, it takes a lot of convincing – because a lot of people simply do not know what they really need when they go material shopping for Manga Supplies.

So, to clear all that up let me take you through the basic manga supplies that you might need to start your adventures at mangakas. Basically, these are your basic tools of the trade.

(BTW, I would like to repeat that I am in no way an expert, just sharing my knowledge and what I have learned so far)

Pencils – when it comes to pencils. ANYTHING will do. A good sharp pencil will do the trick. Some prefer mechanical pencils and personally, I prefer a Non-photo blue pencil to do my art. As long as you are comfortable with your pencil, it’s okay.
Paper/Cardstock- For an initial sketch, you may want to do it in sketchpad or ordinary white paper. I usually do mine in A4 sized paper or B5 because that is manga industry standard. (also we have a ton of A4 at work). A good smooth paper around 170 GSM and up is recommended if you are going to ink and color your work. Also, if you are coloring with Markers/ watercolor you might want to even go higher on the GSM — I use around 200 GSM cardstock (or higher) for smoother coloring. The smoother the paper the better (but let’s not go glossy). I personally use Vellum Boards from National Bookstore, some artists prefer Bristol boards but its up to you. Vellum is cheaper and readily available. Of course you can also use cartolina cut up.. or illustration boards.
Eraser/Sharpener- Do not underestimate the powers of a good sharpener and eraser. They aid you in creating art and keeping your art clean!

I want to say that with these two you can start your manga. A lot of my friends practice with only pen and paper and from there, they move on to inking and coloring. I also adore some monochrome art and you can learn toning with pencils. So, don’t ignore your pencils!

Inking Materials – once you have mastered with the pencils, you might want to move on with inking materials. Personally I have a ton of these so here are my notes.
- If you don’t intend to ever color your work with Alcohol based markers, go for the cheaper, the better. There are a lot of gelpens available for cheap you can use those for inking.
- China Ink costs cheap, use them with a brush or a nib for good inking.
- I use Redstone’s Indian Ink or Drawing ink Sometimes with a china brush (the thinnest one) and or Nibs.
- Nibs are cheap in JOLI’s behind UST. Skyists brand about PHP100.00
- Unipins are also cool to use. They dry instantly, and don’t smear under alcohol based ink. They are also fairly cheap.
- Believe it or not, some artists line their art with Black COLORED pencils. (It does for softer effect)
- I also use sepias/brown fineliners for my art my favorite is the STEADLER TRILINER or the Faber castell both costs around PHP 20.00 in National Bookstore. ( I will talk more about Inking materials in my next blogs!)
Rulers and Guides/French Curves
Obviously you need these to help guide you through your lines, I have a compass even, protractors and other rules, to help me create backgrounds, do perspective and keep my lineart looking neat and clean.
Correction Fluid/ White Acrylic paint – to erase lines that you don’t need and it’s amazing for highlights. If you can find a white Gelpen, paint pen or an Artline white multiliner, that is amazing to have as well.
Coloring Materials- I will also discuss this in a future blog, but I would suggest getting what you feel you are good at. I love colored pencils and they are my best medium as well as graphic markers. You don’t have to spend a lot on them. Just as long as you can color with them. A friend of mine uses ordinary crayons to make amazing art. So, as long as you are happy with your materials, it will be alright.
FINALLY, you need your patience and creativity. Because Manga making takes a lot of time, perseverance and creativity.Most of all, and this is most important: HAVE A BLAST while making your manga!

These are some of the basic materials I think one should need in making manga art, so if I missed anything or if you have any questions, feel free to ask me ! ❤