The Courage to Draw: Make Emotions Matter!

Teaching review of manga drawing and storyboarding workshops

Marianna Poppitzhttp://urbanplanetcomix.com/

The Courage to Draw: Make Emotions Matter!

We love to see visual stories (be it in films, comics, mangas or animes) –

that's why most people join my workshops.

“But how could I start to draw by myself...?”

At the end of my workshops, I often get this feedback:

“I didn't even know that I'm able to draw... like this!”

It's simple: Your love of visual stories fuels the ability to express your own

ideas visually!

To learn how to use your hidden visualization skills, lets address first

things first.

Before you start visualizing a whole world, start with an emotion. Start with a smiley.

And then, step by step, go adding detail.

Drawing too much detail can be distracting, though: less is more.

Manga figures are often reduced to a visual minimum.

Simple character designs are easier to recognize, throughout different moods and behaviors.

And the simpler the lineart, the more you can highlight emotions in facial expressions.

So, be it smart heroes or common folks, make them recognizable!

Basic sketchnotes can visualize a first rough emotion, manga techniques will take you further by defining facial traits, enhancing the feeling.

To improve your power of visualization, start to focus on:

#1 SPEED: Drawing faster will help you to go with a minimum of lines. At this rough stage you learn

best how to tweak your character in order to make it look the way you like.

#2 CHANCE: One magic about drawn emotions is: they appear on paper almost accidentally.

Use that, asking yourself:What is the reason behind this puss? or that

smirk? or the hidden rage?

#3 IMAGINATION:Imagine situations, invent statements and

backgrounds that sustain your drawn emotions, and you'll get the story rolling.

Trying that for conflicting emotions will lead you to a story development in a sequence of pictures.

To sum it up in a nutshell:Emotions are the driving power of gripping

storytelling. Give them reason and depth, so we will ask to see and know more!

Of course, mere talking heads won't do the job to tell a complete story.

Follow the next “Courage to Draw”-episode to understand how to capture dynamic figures in

space.

For upcoming workshops, please check:http://urbanplanetcomix.com/workshops/

BIG THANKS to all participants of my workshops: you keep inspiring me!

http://urbanplanetcomix.com/workshops/

Marianna Poppitz teaches groups and individuals:illustration, manga drawing, storyboarding, visual

storytelling, youth education;in workshops i.a. For:

BDK e.V. Berlin,cultures interactive e.V.,

DJG Berlin, Embassy of Japan in Germany,

Goethe Institute Minsk, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Stiftung wannseeFORUM,

VHS Berlin Tempelhof-Schöneberg