The Importance of Structure

A manga fan's worst nightmare is a messy set up, it makes the story hard to read and focus on, and nothing is clear. So it is important to have a neat structure that allows the focus of the story to be seen clearly.

Most artists prefer to use paper that is slightly off-white so that they can see the results of whitewash areas and reduce the white/black contrast and subsequent glare which can cause eye fatigue.

Most paper used for manga are A4 or B4, there is a 3mm cut off around the edges: (This margin may change if you do not use a professional printer's, the measurements for usual cut offs are depicted below as well). You can also buy professional paper made especially for manga drawings.

It is very important to place your manga right against the very edge of the paper but draw the most important details past the 3mm line, or it will result in mistakes in printing or cut-offs on an area you wish to keep, the shaded areas below represent the area that should have drawing on it.

This problem is of course corrected easily on the PC, but it is always better to keep it in mind during drafting to prevent more time wasted on corrections.

A page in manga is structured into boxes instead of strips like most Western comics, of course there are exceptions to the rule and we'll talk about those later. The 'blocking' or placement of these boxes is largely dependent on the scene and emotion that the artist is trying to express. Here we'll talk about some basics.

For manga published in Japan, the reader reads from right to left, and top to bottom. (The Western publishers horizontally flip the manga you read - this is the structure we use at Kabukiyasha.net.) This structure is basic and only negated in special cases, if your manga's structure is not to standard or wrong it will be very difficult for readers to know where the next point to start reading is:

Know where you're starting, you want the first page to immediately grab the attention of your viewers. The best way to create interest is conflict. And it is a perfect way for your main characters to meet. So with the above meeting, we can set the following as the starting scene:

OPENING: Rain falling hard, a girl runs through the rain, a boy is standing there, she doesn't notice and bumps into him, instant dislike.

Now we want to fine tune it a bit more. Why is the guy standing there? Why's the girl running? Does changing the original idea of Guy hates Girl make a more interesting story?

REVISION: Rain falling hard on a city street, a girl runs through the rain quickly, caught in the sudden downpour and rather distracted, a boy is standing there, she doesn't notice and bumps into him, the boy pulls her to her feet and hands her an umbrella before leaving. The girl is bewildered. CUT to Cover Page I

This way the girl now has a reason for not seeing the boy, the boy is now the mysterious stranger, and the two main characters are introduced with a link between them, the umbrella. For more on this, see Styles and Storyboards.