Centerfold for Issue 1

I plan on doing more ink in Manga Studio... Waiting on tablet/pen... Also need to find youtube tutoral on manga studio as it is no photoshop... So00o0o0o0ooooo sick for inking though... 

Research

Padmasambhava
1. Excerpts from "The Legend of the Great Stupa,"

"As the Kaliyuga progresses towards the final conflagration, life expectancy of man decreases and the weight of darkness becomes more intense, but these remain restraints on the downward path when the Voice of Buddha is heard and the Path of Dharma followed. Towards the end of the era, when the duration of man's life span has been reduced from sixty to fifty years and there has been no respite in man's increasing egoism, these conditions will prevail, portending the ruin to the Great Stupa: householders fill the monasteries and there is fighting before the altar; the temples are used as slaughterhouses. The ascetics of the caves return to the cultivated valleys and the Yogins become traders; thieves own the wealth and cattle; monks become householders while priests and spiritual leaders turn to robbery, brigandage and thievery. Disorder becomes chaos, turning to panic which rages like wildfire. Corrupt and selfish men become leaders ... the images of the Buddhas, the sacred icons, the scroll paintings and the stupas will be desecrated, stolen and bartered at the market price. ...
"When religious duties are forgotten, spirits of darkness, which had been controlled by ritual power, become unloosed and frenzied and govern the mind of whatever being they possess. Spirits of vindictive power possess monks; ... enchanting spirits causing disease possess men; grasping, quarreling spirits possess women; spirits of wantonness possess maidens; spirits of depravity possess nuns; spirits of rebellion and malice possess children; every man, woman and child in the country becomes possessed by uncontrollable forces of darkness. The signs of these times are new and fantastical modes of dressing-traditional styles forgotten; the monks wear fancy robes and the nuns dress up before a mirror. ...
"The Abbot and Master poison their pupil's minds and hearts; ... men become lewd and licentious; women become unchaste; monks ignore their discipline and moral code; ...
"Drunkards preach the Path to Salvation; the advice of sycophants is followed; fraudulent teachers give false initiations; guileful imposters claim pyschic powers; loquacity and eloquence pass as wisdom. The arrogant elevate profanity; ...
"... the guidance of the Secret Guru execrated, the precepts of the Buddha ignored and the advice of Yogis and Sages unsought. ...
"The celestial order, disrupted, loosens plague, famine and war to terrorize terrestial life. The planets run wild, and the stars fall out of their constellations, great burning stars arise bringing unprecedented disaster. No rain falls in season, but out of season; the valleys are flooded. Famine, frost and hail govern many unproductive years."

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MANGA STUDIO EX TUTORIAL... I LOVE THIS SOFTWARE

AKIHIKO

1. AKIHIKO (明彦): Japanese name meaning "bright prince."

My book will be called Dragon Samurai. It is a story about an immortal named AKIHIKO. His mother was raped by a dragon. He is followed around by a Dikini spirit named Mei. She likes to play tricks on him and get him, or herself into trouble that he saves her from. She's like his Jimminy cricket, but more erotic and mischievous, with nice tits. She's a tricky little fairy that tests and guides him. He is really the lost prince of Shambhala and his journey will eventually end him up there. He is several hundred years old. This is set in a post apocalyptic setting during the onset of such.


"The prophecy of Shambhala states that each of its kings will rule for 100 years. There will be 32 in all, and as their reigns pass, conditions in the outside world will deteriorate. Men will become more warlike and pursue power for its own sake, and an ideology of materialism will spread over the earth. When the "barbarians" who follow this ideology are united under an evil king and think there is nothing left to conquer, the mists will lift to reveal the icy mountains of Shambhala. The barbarians will attack Shambhala with a huge army equipped with terrible weapons. Then the 32nd king of Shambhala, Rudra Cakrin, will lead a mighty host against the invaders. In a last great battle, the evil king and his followers will be destroyed."

CHAPTER 1

Design Touchstone: AKA: Who I'm ripping off

 As my prototype for my design layout I'm using The Dark Tower graphic novel by Stephen King. The art by Jae Lee is exactly the style of dynamic shading and use of black that I want to visually bring across in my story. I like the black margins and how they sometimes overlap boxes or make them come off the page in full bleed. I also like the chapter format over the splash page format. Though the typography is fairly standard I really like how the gritty style of the caption boxes adds to the atmosphere. I think I will create my own font but use this style of caption box. I really love this style of visual story telling and dynamic use of scenes. The use of boxes is horizontal for the most part which creates a very interesting perspective that is quit dramatc.

Influences

As far as story telling goes Frank Miller is my biggest influence. The grim and gritty, realistic style he used on "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" is probably what influenced me the most. I love the internal dialog of Batman and how it really gives you a into his psyche and internal struggle. Frank's work, and especially the work he did on Dark Knight Returns, has greatly influenced comics today. In fact, it was this comic that changed the face of popular comics when it was released in 1986. No one had ever put a popular comic book character in such a revealing and realistic light. Though Lynn Varley's Watercolors are epic, the graphics in the book are adequate at best but it doesn't matter. This book is a perfect example of how writing is far more important than drawing when it comes to telling a story.

As far as art goes I really love Jae Lee. His first work on Namor really caught my eye in the nineties. His use of dynamic light and extreme shading has a very dramatic quality that really brings the characters and thus the story to life. I love the mixture of detail and simplicity that Jae brings to the table with his art. The extreme use of black and negative space gives dimensionality and form to an essentially flat media and is amazing. I also love the implied nature of things in his art.

As far as design and coloring goes The Red Star is amazing. What I really love more than anything is the use of multi-media and coloring on the computer. The mixture of hand drawn with computer made images and coloring opens many doors of ideas in my brain.