In my last article, I discussed the pacing of world-building over an entire work.  This time, we’re talking about what it takes to actually build a setting.  Once these ideas are defined, it’s much easier to craft the story.    ​

This month we are doing a feature of silent manga and honoring the silent manga audition! 

Silent manga who? Starting in 2012 SMA was founded by manga publishing company Coamix with the aim of spreading the love of and support of manga creation across the international stage.
This semi-annual competition is for short, silent works and a gateway for international manga creators to debut in the Japanese industry. If you win high awards, you will be invited to join their master class and work with editors to polish your skills to the point where you can officially debut! Most people submit entries to multiple auditions and hone their skills over time. Silent storytelling is a skill all in its own and they judge each piece on its ability to clearly portray the narrative, elicit emotion and be entertaining in a limited number of pages…they don’t ask for much do they!

The fact that they are silent does two major things, which I find amazing. They eliminate the language barrier, allowing artists from all languages to participate and show their skills, and it forces those artists to not rely on the text and to make their art do the heavy lifting in telling the story. It’s a surprisingly difficult technique but when it works the result can be very moving and impactful. Once text is added it’s like a cherry on top! 
To support the competition, they have a dedicated you tube that walks you through the process of manga making and teaching what is important and why. A link to this and the competition will be on our main page through July so you can check it out! Read the entries, learn from the Youtube and maybe even enter your own work!

​With any competition, carefully read and understand the rules. Don’t hurt your chances with something avoidable like incorrect formatting!
It’s also important to know that winning entries are owned by Coamix, not the artist. If you’re goal is to work in Japan, that won’t be a hurdle! 
Due to that restriction, none of the entries we’ve included were ones that won. In a way, I like that better, as we’re all learning! The entrants have kindly given us permission to give some feedback on their work. The comments and feedback are presented first so they can be considered as the entry is read. 
A comment box will be on the main page through July. Please, take a moment to share your thoughts on the entries you read and if you had any Ahha moments, or questions! We would love to do a follow up in a later issue and share them!

We can’t know what is in the minds of the judges, but together we can take an editing eye to these entries an in turn to our own.  
Working on my own entry in 2018  inspired me to try silent stories more, and I really love them! My monthly 4koma are almost always silent. I like the challenge to distill the concept down to a point where a simple message is easy to portray and hopefully entertain. 
Above all I think that’s what I’ve taken away from SMAC.
Make simple , direct, entertaining stories!

The editors of Smac have very succinct comments, I have gone through and tried to find some I felt could apply more widely! With a  hope of trying to unpack them a little. 

“Having beautiful artwork and showing your own unique style is important in manga, but it’s all for nothing if the reader cannot understand your story or what message you want to tell”
I chose to put this one first as I found it incredibly important. Many amateur mangaka set off to make their magnum opus out of thin air. I include myself here, don’t get me wrong! Looking back on that experience underlines for me just how important this is and it doesn’t come over night.  Start with short stories, and give 4koma a try.
Before you start writing, take some time to think about what story you are trying to tell and what, if anything, are you trying to say? Without this you risk pouring your heart and life into  a series of moments with characters  who act without reason in an unreadable story that meanders and makes no sense!
This chaos can make it hard for a reader to connect and remain engaged! Dropping your manga before you’ve reached the good ideas you have planned for chapter 900!!
(Side note, don’t hold back your ideas *for later* use them, you’ll come up with more! Also, if you lose readers to lack of interest, there may not be a later.)
Again, try 4koma, practice having to portray one concept in a way that makes sense. It will also get you used to using Ki Sho Ten Ketsu! 3act structure is going to affect the way your manga feels and flows.
Once you have your ideas sorted out , consider your twist (Ten) and ending so you know where everything has to lead,
then look at the beginning. I know that seems counter intuitive, but by waiting you’ll have a better idea of how to set the scene and mood so you can drag the reader in and make them stay until the end!

“we always encourage you to draw about places you know, like your own country – that would add realism to your works.”
I’ve noticed that many aspiring mangaka seem to think they must set their story in Japan, the manga homeland. It’s easy to forget that, while Japan is exotic and interesting to us in the west, other places are equally exotic and interesting to Japanese readers! At the same time, unless you have lived there, many of the subtleties and details that bring it to life are missing, leaving  it to feel empty, like a photocopy or a strange parody. I mean, in contrast think of how the west or Christianity is portrayed in mangaka. It’s usually in a surface way and as a novelty…I noticed in Castlevania, the treatment of Christianity alone betrays it as a western show. 
Try setting your story in places you know! Even if you’re not specific about the place you live, just using familiar things to inform your story will bring a layer of reality that makes things easier to relate to from your reader, even if they aren’t from the same place as you. Also, it’s fun to see the world through someone else’s eyes and heart! 

We can definitely see what manga left a strong impression on you while creating your entry! Keep reading your favorite manga with a critical eye.” 
“We encourage the artist to read more manga “
These certainly got us talking when the SMA17 results were released. Wondering what they mean by “read more”, especially if you feel you already read a lot! 
It reflected things I have thought myself when reading submissions or works online in the hunt for things to share in the magazine. 
 On one hand, it’s important to read manga you love and try to work out how the artists do what they do! It’s important to think about how a story is told, what frames, shots and page turns are chosen and why. What is being said with a fight? What sub text or foreshadowing is being used or cultural reference is being used as short cut?
 I’ve seen many stories that use all the things commonly seen in popular anime and manga, but there is a shallowness to it and the effect is lost. 
On the other hand, it’s good to periodically restrict the content you’re consuming so your own style can emerge. 

Fan-fic is an important part of your manga journey, a playground to explore techniques with many structural things takes care of. But if you don’t stop to think about WHY you love those things, they  may not have the impact you think they will. 
Re-read your favorite fight, for example, and think about why you enjoy it. Is it the yelling, punches, and hand power? Is it the relationship between the characters? Is it the release point of a story line that has slowly been building? What does it tell you about each character? Why is there a fight? What is at stake? What happens if they win or lose?
Naturally not *every* fight is going to answer every question, but it is important to consider while you are developing your skill. Same with character design and costume, what to the tell about the story of character?​

When is a moment just a moment? A glance just a glance and when is it something more? 
Pay attention to timing and pacing. Junji Ito carefully paces out tension and release with panel sizes and page turns. It’s not just his crazy artwork and concepts that get you, but how he chooses to show them to you. 
Making manga is theater on paper. Writing and sequential art working together, bringing tricks from each practice together. Even if you only do one or the other, learning about both with elevate your storytelling.
Silent art challenges these magic tricks further as there isn’t the luxury of explaining anything to the reader, characters saying how they feel or using words to create atmosphere. 
Framing, camera angles, timing, mood, toning, body language and facial expressions are your tools, even backgrounds are an opportunity to tell the story.
When you watch movies or anime, have the same critical eye and a whole new world of story will open up to you! ​

The protagonist was beautifully drawn and very energetic, but the empty backgrounds created a mismatching effect on the final manuscript.”
Unlike American style comics, manga focus more on the moment than where we’re going. The backgrounds are put to work to tell more story. Why did the mangaka use the background they did? Is it just a setting? Does it tell us something about the character or give us an emotion? Is the space full or empty? Dark or vibrant?  Are there dramas playing out in the background? 
It’s true Clip studio assets are all to often used without abandon, time is short after all. The stock images can still be put to work if you make them! It’s also fun to realize that all these things come together to form your style.
I always thought of style being more specific to just how the result looks, but I’m finding that it really comes down to how you like to work, not“how it looks in the end and so, if you’re trying to copy another artist to figure out what they’re doing, part of that involves figuring out the steps they took and the order in which they took them.
The tools you use, how you use them and what you use them for.

By blindly copying your favorite moments without knowing why, it can be near impossible to truly cultivate your own voice and style

C-conventions that is! Have you ever wanted to be behind the booth in an artist alley at one of the MANY fandom/pop culture conventions out there? This little column aims to help ease you into this wacky world. ​

​As March is oncoming, and the days are lighter the plants are waking.