Learning how to draw manga has been the dream of many including myself. As a kid, I became so obsessed with manga that I skipped studies and classes occasionally to go to comic stores, buy comics and learn to draw at nearby McDonald or Burger King outlets. Now you can learn all these through online videos.

1. My Love For Manga
My love for manga begins when I was 7. I
remembered the very first series I watched was Spaceship Yamato if I can
remember correctly in 1979.
What followed was Battle Of The Planets and Marzinger in early 80s and
Macross and Transformers in mid and late 80s. Other than just watching
them on TV, I enjoyed collecting their robot toys - which were mostly
assembly model kits - and comics.
But it was in 90s that I finally began drawing my first piece of manga.
Though I have done that during primary school days when I should be
paying attention in class, it was the first time I put my heart and soul into
making my drawings the best.

2. The first character I drawn was Lynn Minmei -
the young 16 year old girl who brought about the downfall of Zentraedi
alien race in Macross with her enchanted singing.
Then Rick Hunter - her love interest and main character of Macross and
subsequently his sworn big brother Roy Fokker and battleship
commander Lisa Hayes who was drawn into love triangle with Rick and
Minmei. The sketches were not bad but the coloring was awful.
After school, I would hang out at comic stores in both Bras Basah and
Orchard Roads in downtown Singapore. I usually went there alone as it
helps me to be more focused on getting what I want.

3. My budget - which is just the pocket money given by my parents - could
only afford me a couple of comics. But buying the Robotech novels –
which are much cheaper - is more than enough for me to know the whole
story.
In case you might not know, Robotech
is a result of American and Japanese collaboration which comprises of
Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada as three generational trilogy
series. They later came up with Sentinel series and 2 movies namely
Robotech The Movie and Robotech Shadow Chronicles.

4. I also went to Kinokuniya which was
the only bookstore with the largest import of Japanese comics, graphics
and video tapes.
Unfortunately books and TV series were the closest I can get to manga as
the videos are quite expensive and you have to be a member to rent
them. Moreover, those videos were entirely in Japanese with no subtitles.
Moreover during that time, manga was not so popular in Singapore as it
is now.
It was also unfortunate that my passion for manga developed during the
time when I should be studying hard for O levels. It got the better of me
to set my mind and priority on drawing and coloring everyday even
during weekends and holidays. It became my obsession and affected my
results badly.
Nevertheless, I had no regrets for what I did. While drawing, I am also
learning at the same time. Besides comics, I bought a ton of graphic
books and Japanese New Type magazines to study the finer art of both
drawing and coloring.
Those were the only tools and resources I could rely upon besides
watching animated series and movies as internet did not exist that time.
My interest waned when I went to serve army. After which, I went
straight to work as admin and data entry clerk. It was only when I faced
job crisis in early 2001, I renewed my interest in manga.

5. Besides the Gundam and Macross, I also had a
keen interest in Silent Mobius - an animated series combining both
fantasy and science-fiction.
I am very impressed by Kia Asamiya's works which looked even better
than Gundam and Macross characters by Yoshiyuki Tomino and
Haruhiko Mikimoto. I also invested in books that teaches how to draw
manga.
For the first 6 months and towards the end of that year, I focused on
manga. I came up with 3 stories called Dragon's Blade, Techno Heros and
House No. 64. A fantasy, science-fiction and horror stories.
But sadly the last 2 were turned down. The artwork was fine but the story
did not meet up to their expectations. The first one was accepted but I
could not afford the publishing fee of $10K.
Still I pulled myself and continued working on those stories. I watched
Youtube videos online and do Google search for anything related to
manga.
I wish I could say my book was finally accepted and ready for publication
but I could not. What I could say is I am still working on those and hope
that Dragon Blade - my first manga story - would be better than what it
was about 11 years ago.
If you have been a manga fan like me but has been
struggling to come up with that perfect manga character, feel free to
check out my site on How To Draw Manga Faces.

6. But should you find drawing by hand to be too
tedious and time-consuming, you might automation via Manga Studio
as the next alternative.