Comic books can come from anywhere on Earth. Why can’t mangakas?
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At this point, it would not be a shame if you ever wanted to be a mangaka? Anime is seen everywhere- from profile pictures, streaming services, and music to toy stores, book stores, and even classrooms. We have already discussed the topic of anime popularity at length.
The question now becomes, could you – a non-Japanese person – become a mangaka if you wanted to?
Mangaka can be a non-Japanese person. While manga needs to follow specific traditional norms to be considered manga- the person making the manga does not need to be from the country of Japan to make it, which is something that has been bolstered by the rise of online publishing. These manga traditions are things like colorless panels, cartoonish character designs, Japanese antics and most importantly, manga-esque character plots and conventions.
Granted, it would be very hard for people to be able to publish in the traditional manga way.
The traditional manga publishing is often done through specific manga publishing magazines such as Shonen Jump. In order to enter such a publishing company, it would take exuberant amounts of effort, since there are many in Japan who are trying to get published there. So the best way to publish your own manga would have to be with a new company, or by yourself.
If you want to learn more about that, we discuss most of it in this article:
Check Out These FAQs About Being a Mangaka:
1. Can A Non-Japanese Person Make Manga?
A non-Japanese person could also make manga, and be a mangaka. They could even turn it into a business, and a career.
Manga is mostly composed of specific conventions, tropes, and style that anyone could emulate.
Manga is essentially a mere comic book in Japan, even though it is considered a style in the International world. However, you could make manga yourself if you wished too, because it is all contingent on style. There are specific styles that you can follow to make your manga; these include black and white coloring, cartoonish character design, tropes of characters, and tropes of plots.
This is proven by Manhwa.
The Korean style of comic book is called manhwa, and it is not as impressive or popular as manga. This is because it does not follow the traditional manga tropes, thus it is not even considered to be manga. This tells you everything you need to know about making manga for yourself, and confirms that if you can follow the style, then your work will be considered manga.
2. How Could They Do It?
If you want to be a mangaka, you could create your manga on an electronic drawing pad. Then you should publish the work on an online platform with an already existing audience.
You can begin building your own business if you want to become your own mangaka.
For you to become a mangaka, you must obviously make manga. I have already written about why you should probably buy manga, which is something that you can read about later if you want to learn how to create a manga. The point here is that it will assist you in growing your art skills. You can begin your drawing on things such as Huion drawing tablets. This is easier for you to use when you are trying to draw, because you will not have to worry about having to scan things you drew.
When you are done creating this work, you can begin posting it online in platforms with audiences.
If you want to monetize your manga creation, it will be good to create the manga in the public, where potential audiences can become fans. There are a number of Instagram peoples who create comic books for people, and have received fans. So, start posting your works on places like Instagram.
You can then approach a traditional publish to create a complete comic after you have gained enough followers.
3. Who Has Worked with Companies?
There are a number of people who have worked with their own personal companies. For example, Whytmanga.
Whytmanga is a mangaka who is not from Japan, and yet has published manga, Apple black.
Whytmanga is a mangaka who I came across on many years ago when I was first learning how to draw. During that time, there was not enough people in his channel, and so he just focused on teaching how to draw. When he had enough followers, he eventually published his manga.
After getting enough followers, and selling enough of his work, he eventually started selling through the an independent publishing company known as Saturday AM manga.
Saturday AM manga publishers is a publishing company that was started in 2012, but it has Whytmanga as the star of the company – kind of like how Eichiro Oda, and One Piece are the stars of Shonen Jump. Eventually though, they managed to publish his books. These were published on Barnes, and Noble. Eventually, it even led to the point where it toppled Amazon’s top selling list.
