Hello everyone! The name’s Laurie L Thomas! Currently, Im attending a community collage, but will soon transfer to a private art school. I have lots of projects in mind, and lots more illustrations I’d like to do. I’m 19 going on 20, have about 2yrs left of collage and will be entering the RSOM for the first time this year. I have done both print comics and web comics and hope to have a ‘how-to’ book some time around next year.
Though I’ve been drawing since the 7th grade, I was not really serious until the last year of high school. I mainly use Tria Set Markers to render my artwork and have been using them for over a year now.
Do you have any favorite techniques or tips or unique tricks you like to use? Even thought the new brush tips came out, I still like using the broad nib. I usually color outside the lines, so I put the ’outlines’ when I’m done with the fine tip of the markers. It adds a real ’softness’ to the picture that is hard to replicate on the PC, and also a kind of ‘messy’ way of coloring. From a far, my pictures look like I colored in the lines, but up close, you can see all the ‘mistakes’ of my strokes.
What got you interested in manga? Robotech was the first anime I saw, but Sailormoon was the first anime that I knew it was ’anime’. Back in the 90’s many anime didn’t stay true to it’s manga roots, so once Tokyo pop started offering cheaper graphic novels in English and in the right-to-left format, I just picked it up. I had more time to read at school then to watch the TV when I got home. Also, that was the time I leeched off my friends for all the manga they had. My school had both an anime club and thought japans. It just seemed unavoidable.
Where do you get your inspiration from before you start an image? Mostly from music and cool sounding words, but I also find a lot of encouragement from reading artist profiles (like this one) or interviews. I guess in a way, it helps me feel ‘motivated’ in that it is a hard road, but its worth the journey.
Do you have a favorite spot or space to draw? I love to draw in my room (looks like a studio), with lots of natural light. Weather has a big effect on me when I’m drawing. So it has to be a bright atmosphere, but I like to be comfortable too if I want to snuggle in bed while writing or color sketching.
What challenges you? I try to develop new ways of ‘rendering’ scenes, materials and emotional backgrounds. I also love trying new color schemes and combinations. Theses markers are great for that. I can turn green to lavender or lavender to red or have them all and yet, they still all match.
What do you do? I’m still learning many things about making manga, not just drawing so for now, I’m a ’serious hobbyist’. I do both print and web comics. I’ve attended about 8 cons since I started (only a year) and sometimes I do manga workshops at the cons. I also like to make fashion collections, though I have no intention of being a fashion designer.
What are your aspirations as an artist, where would you like your manga to take you? Eventually, I would like to make a living making manga. I have about 10 fully fleshed out stories and I’ve only gotten to about 2.5. Just 2.5 more to do, before I submit my debut comic.
Any tips for manga artists just starting out? First and foremost, there is more to manga then just ‘pretty drawings’. Don’t be afraid to try things outside the world of manga for new twist. Your first may not be your best, but be passionate about it. I still go back at my old draws and am proud how imaginative I was even then. Technical skill can be thought and learned through practice, but vision and imagination is unique to all of us.
What images have you included with your profile?
Songstress - Wish I didn’t use the gold spray paint but, I really love how well I can put patterns in fabric and using unconventional colors for shading (pink shades on a yellow dress). This was a full color printed comic that did very well so went and did a poster (11x14). A simple story that is the ‘prelude’ of another comic (comic 5 before debut). I didn’t plan for this continuation, but people kept stopping by my table and ask when I’ll have another one.
Era- I just really loved the choices of colors. Her skin tone just ’glows’ beautifully. I wish I looked as beautiful as her (she’s my alter ego). I just wanted to represent me eating a candy. Lollipops are easiest. I also wanted an outfit that I can make with out too much trouble, but still have that ‘contemporary’ look. After the initial coloring, I used scanned on fabric for the background and patterns.
The beach - One of my fashion assignments to design swimwear. Again, the different skin tones all look so delicious ^^. The idea came from a escalation site that went down called ‘strawberry vanilla’. so I used that as a theme. It’s good to get inspiration from all random thoughts. The skill is how to arrange them nicely onto a page. You can find more of my works, tutorials, web comics and convention photos at my main site: http://decisiveorigin.com
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