GH #2 Reflection- Manga and Anime Drawing

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For my second Genius Hour project, I chose to research manga and anime drawing, my research question being:

♦How can you learn or improve manga/anime drawing?♦

I chose this as I am very fond of Japanese culture (as mentioned in several previous posts), and drawing. I really enjoy drawing chibi characters, and like I wanted to work on a project that interested me, I chose this one.

I researched through asking people about this (and looking for online sources) and testing out different ways to draw anime or chibi. Throughout my research, I learned many interesting tips which would improve my current manga drawing skills, such as: study anatomy, never trace (not that I do), use an example, and take in feedback from someone you know wont take it easy on you.
If I were to use this project for a positive outcome in mine or someone else’s future I would say that this will increase the ability and speed of learning to draw, which will mostly be used for jobs such as anime or manga creators or artists. This is a job that interests me and improving my drawing skills now will give me a high chance to succeed in this career path.

For my next Genius Hour Presentation, I’m thinking that I would make one about photography or Dutch food. Photography because it is also an interest of mine towards a professional outcome, and because I already have a lot of knowledge on this subject. Dutch food because it is a very important thing to us Dutch; I know much about the subject and this will increase the audience’s global awareness by learning what the average Dutch diet consists of.

Work Cited:

BagoGames.”Nichijou Releases on Home Video By FUNimation”.Flickr,Feb 11, 2017,https://www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/32795671076, Mar 30,2018.

Sⓘndy°.”Van der Breggen 荷蘭傳統糖漿煎餅”.Flickr,Jul 13, 2009, https://www.flickr.com/photos/sindykids/3716443930, Mar 30, 2018.

Danny Choo.”Chibi Characters”. Flickr,Jan 31, 2011, https://www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/5402535701, Mar 30, 2018.

Genius Hour Twitter Assignment Reflection

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Summary of Steps 1 and 2

For my Genius Hour project I connected and reached out to ten experts on Twitter about drawing (online and by hand). These are their usernames and links to their Twitter pages:
Tea_Floof
Hanako Chan
Yuki
lil_janii
Milkoes
Francesco LO IACONO
Inky Illustration
Society Illustrators
Illustration Ltd
Artistz93

…However getting responces from only five: Tea_Floof, Yuki, lil_janii, Francesco LO IACONO , and Milkoes.
The people I have chosen are either illustration-specialized companies or highly talented and/or experienced artists.
As my genius hour project is about drawing manga/anime, I chose to look for experts on a less specific spectrum (drawing in general) to have a wider variety of experts to choose from.

As I contacted the experts I chose, I asked them about the tools and inspiration they use for their artwork. To ask them these questions, I tweeted publicly, @mentioning them, and asked them. In addition I made sure to like the original questioning posts I wrote so I could get notified when one of my experts answered.

From the five experts who answered me, most of the information giving to me would eventually help me out in my genius our project.

Reflection on the Process

After around three days all five of the experts who have answered me had answered.
Francesco LO IACONO had answered about inspiration. I had asked him what a good source of inspiration for art would be. He answered that family and friends would be a good place to find inspiration, or people we know in general.
I had asked lil_janii about an free downloadable software for virtual illustration, FireAlpaca. I had downloaded the program and asked her about how to use it. She answered and explained the whole process of how to use it.
I asked Tea_Floof about what makers she used for hand-drawn chibi characters such as this one. She answered that Copic markers are the cheapest and most descent to use, however she uses mostly alcohol based markers for blending and brush tipped markers.
Finally, Yuki (a video game and animation YouTuber which I have previously written about in another post) responded to my question about what tips could be given to a beginner animator, she along with Milkoes mentioned that a beginner should always learn by hand and not trace because it won’t teach them anything.

Two of my overall ten experts followed me back, one being amongst the ones who responded.
However none of my experts made contact again with me.

I might use this process in the future of my education as most of my top job interests involve drawing, one being manga/anime creator or even a cartoon creator.

SBCW3- A Green Lighter in the Snow

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This is part of a short story I have written for my English class:

The girl with pale white skin in the glass mirror looks at me. The same old face staring back. The same light stone grey eyes and thin pink lips. The same perfectly trimmed short night black hair and thin body only covered by a casual short grey dress matching her eyes, sandy coat, and hot chocolate boots.
The stairs creaked as I take my time going down as every morning. There are the ordinary voices coming from the room at the end of the similar hallway, and yet like each day I walk the opposite way and right out the door.

Source: Pixabay, “Free for commercial use, No attribution required”
The air burns on my skin. The grass, frosty and the wind leading the leafless trees’ dance. The sky, smoky grey.
Jess rolls up and stops the black berlingo in front of the house, and scrolls the window down.
“How’s my Lynnie doing?!” Jess screams in laughters.
I climb into the passenger’s seat. I can feel my face reddening with heat, ”Oh my gosh Jess. Don’t make me already regret this,” ending the sentence also laughing.
The car smoothly starts to roll down the street.
“Oh come on girl! I know you’ve been secretly waiting for this day to come!”
“Shut up!” I answer smiling. I feel my smile drop.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just suddenly feel kind of sick.”
“You’re just probs stressed and hungry.”
“Yeah”
We stop at the brick house covered in plants. Jess honks once or twice before the front door swings open. Caleb runs out hopping around in the grass making his way towards us. Two meters away he stops and starts dancing around. Jess and I start laughing. Caleb suddenly breaks into a sprint and jumps into the back seat. He joins us laughing.
“Guys.” He calls us.
We both turn around to see Caleb holding a small black ovalish tube. Jess and I turn to look at eachother and break into screams.
“OMG!!! This is gonna be the best day ever!!” Jess turns back and starts driving again.
“Lynn, you have steady hands right?” Caleb turns to look at me.
I smile so hard my face feels like it’s going to stretch until it bursts. I make a quick turn to face him and grab the black tube out of his hands. He leans his face forwards and closes his eyes.
“Open your eyes duffus!!” I tell him. He opens them and looks at Jess. I unscrew the tube and paint the brush against his eyelashes. I go over twice one each set of lashes and back off to look.
“Do I look like Kim K. yet?!”
“No ha ha but you look beautiful.”
Caleb came out last year about being gay. He isn’t transgender but he always thought his eyelashes were too short. We have been telling to try putting mascara for weeks and today was the day.
Jess pulled up to the last house. The biggest of all. Perfect white with square balconies and windows. The front door slowly opened up and Noa stepped out. She walked taking her time down the pathway, her chocolate ponytail flowing behind her.
She joins Caleb in the back and smiles wide when her eyes meet his.

***

Some people who read this believe the newly introduced Noa is hiding a mysterious secret… Comment what you think is Noa’s secret and what Lynn is getting ready to do on that day. How do you think the rest of the story will go? Also comment if you would like to know what the rest of the story is.

Week 8: Let’s play a game or two

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For this week’s challenge, we were all told to take a look at some other people’s blogs.
In my case, I took a look at:
– Nook’s Blog, about her love for candy and added a fun little story to complete ourselves.
– Kayden’s Blog, where they talked about their favorite hobbies which included music, art, and cooking.
– Jori’s Blog, where he talked about how when he is done with school he wants to be an artist.
– Chae’s Blog, where she talks about her favorite candy (which also include some of mine ;D).
– Mai Thao’s Blog, where she talks about her passion of photography.

Overall, what I enjoyed about commenting is that we can easily share our thoughts with each other, whether we are giving or receiving the comments.
One thing which annoyed me though about commenting is that it was pretty hard to adapt to so many forms of commenting depending on the different blogs.
I have found several posts and blogs to comment on because of the flipboard magazine and then just clicking on whichever blog talked about something I could relate to, for example if there was a blog about a hobby which I also enjoyed.
Over all, I have mostly only gotten quality comments, meaning (even though it gets tiring after a while), long paragraphs talking about what the reader enjoyed, what I should improve, and along with a good question for me to answer.

Some good quality comment starters could include:
– “I liked your post, however I think that you could…”
– “One suggestion for your post if that…”
– “This reminds me of…”

Throughout my 300 comments, I have gotten several good comments… These would include the following:

Hi, Agathe!
I love the drawing style of your art! I enjoy Hunter x Hunter and many other types of anime and mangas! What inspired you to draw these pictures? I might even do a post about drawing too, if I were confident enough! Keep drawing and keep watching anime/manga!
^U^ Otaku out,
Jennifer.

I love your drawings I’m a big fan of drawing myself. My favorite things to draw are animals. I love death the kid. Do you know him? I haven’t watch many anime TV shows or moves but I’m starting to get into it. Do you have any recommendations for me? I think you have awesome pieces of art I would work on more detail but other then that It look. great.http://cayleegms24.edublogs.org/

Hi, Agathe,
First of all, WOW!!! I love it!
Great job!
And secondly, do you play video games? If you do what kind?
Also, to answer your question, I would love it if you drew some fanart of BATIM (Bendy and the Ink Machine-video game). You don’t have to do it, it’s optional.
Anyway, one last thing to say is that you are an amazing drawer so DON’T forget that. Well, better leave because you’re probably reading so many lovable comments that you’re getting tired of reading. So, Bye!
Check me out if you have time!
http://hmsnatalie.edublogs.org/

Hello, Agathe
I love your drawings! They are so beautiful and so adorable at the same time. I am a huge Five Nights At Freddy’s fan, though I have never really been that big of a fan of Anime, some of my friends in eighth grade are telling me I should watch Anime. Any recommendations? Which Five Nights At Freddy’s game is your favorite, mine is Five Nights At Freddy’s four because of the mini-games. Do you watch Game Theory?
Here is the link to my blog, please check it out: http://sxwie.edublogs.org/
Thank you!
– Sarah W.

Hey Agathe!
Your drawings are awesome!!!! I try to draw, but I am not particularly good at it. What is your favorite type of drawing (if that is a good question, and if it makes any sense)? Did someone teach you how to draw like that, or did you learn all on your own? Btw, look at my blog (there isn’t much on it): http://wcbur92d.edublogs.org/
Connor

GH #1- Japanese Food

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For my first Genius Hour project, I chose to research Japanese food. I chose to research this because, as you might already know from my previous posts, that I’m a fan of Japanese culture. To help me in my research, I used the question: What is ‘normal’ for the Japanese diet?


https://pixabay.com/get/e83cb80928f3063ed1534705fb0938c9bd22ffd41cb0134093f6c17ba0/sushi-1996077_1920.jpg

Throughout my research, this is what I learned:

Daifuku is a glutinous rice cake stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans.

Japanese Diet: In Japan, people mostly feed on large amounts of rice, seafood, fresh vegetables, fruit, and a bit of meat. A lot of their dishes include soy sauce, fish, or alcohol from fermented rice called sake, but rice and tea make up or are included in practically every meal. Some Japanese dishes are also made with miso soup (bean paste soup), ramen/ noodles, curry, sashimi (raw fish), tofu, or pork.

Sushi: One of Japan’s most popular dish worldwide is sushi which is made out of rice, raw fish, fish eggs, dried seaweed (nori – nori maki), egg roll, or even vegetables or fruits such as avocado.
Sushi can be purchased at kaiten sushi bars (restaurants which serve sushi on a conveyor belt) for around one U.S. dollar. Good quality sushi and sashimi is expensive and usually reserved for special occasions.

Western Food: Japan is quickly adopting food, for example, American fast food. While sushi can be bought at kaiten sushi bars (restaurants that serve sushi from a conveyor belt) for as little as one U.S. dollar, good quality sushi and sashimi is expensive and usually served and eaten for special events.

Deserts: Japan, like any other country, has many desserts, however some of the most popular desserts include the following: wagashi, raindrop cake, mochi, and taiyaki.
– Wagashi. Wagashi is a kind of sweet made with plants. It is much like mochi. It is commonly served with matcha tea.
– Raindrop cake is simply just water and agar agar mixed and cooled. This dish can make a really nice desert but can as well be a main dish. It can be eaten along with almost anything but mostly with sauces or powder such as chocolate sauce or sugar, or savory-wise soy sauce or so.
– Mochi is my personal favorite. It is a rice cake made of a glutinous rice called mochigome. It is normally in a round shape but can be formed into any shape or mold. It is really sweet and tastes a lot like tapioca flour cakes if you know what those are.
– Taiyaki is a fish shaped cake filled with bean paste. Commonly red bean paste made from azuki beans. Some other fillings however could include custard, chocolate, cheese, sweet potato, sausage, etc… Right now taiyaki is trending world-wide, being stuffed with ice-cream.


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4475/36838576814_76410f34e7_b.jpg

It helped me grow as a student and person because knowing this helped me improve my cultural knowledge and diversity, as someone only from Europe and Africa.
A reason why knowing this is helpful is because statistics from 2013 report that in that year, Japan had a 16% rate of poverty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Japan), which leads to starvation. If more research is done, many kinds of Japanese cultural foods could eventually be made and help against starvation in Japan.


https://static.pexels.com/photos/590478/pexels-photo-590478.jpeg

For my next Genius Hour projects I will research on animation (illustrations and maybe moving pictures into a clip). This project will help me start animating online and brainstorming ideas for illustrations. One of the ideas of future jobs would be a cartoon/anime creator or even video game creator, therefore this could help me head for that career once I graduate.

Here is my final presentation for GH #1.

The Netherlands

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As a fellow Dutch person, I will give you 15 facts on the beautiful and mysterious country of the Netherlands and as a bonus, some food and treats to try if you ever go there!

15 Facts on the Netherlands

1. There are over 600 museums in the whole country!
2. More than a quarter of the country is below sea level, including most of Amsterdam (the capital). There is a man-made dam around the county’s connection with the ocean, and if it were to break only around 2/3 of the country would survive.
3. Dutch people are said to be the tallest people in the world.
4. Although Dutch people speak Dutch, around 85% speak English as a second language.
5. We love licorice, making us the country which consumes the most in the world!
6. Holland was said to be the first to legalize homosexual wedding.
7. There are more bicycles than people.
8. We hold the largest flower garden in the world- the Keukenhof.

9. On every first Monday of each month, everyone sets off their emergency alarms as a check up.
10. We have a second Christmas! On December 5th, we celebrate ‘St Nicholas’ or the coming of Sinterklaas. Some celebrate this and not Christmas, but by now most people just celebrate both.
11. In dutch, Nederlands (Netherlands in Dutch) literally means ‘lower lands’ which by now must be obvious why.
12. During World War II, when there was a lack in food, the Dutch would feed on Tulip bulbs.
13. Told by the United Nations World Happiness Report (2013), the Netherlands was named fourth happiest country in the world.
14. KLM, the national airline is the oldest airline company in the world.
15. The Dutch national flag is the oldest tricolor flag. It was created in 1572.

Food and Treats to Try

– Salmiak drop (licorice). This is honestly my favorite candy on Earth but when it comes to any kind of licorice, either you hate it or love it.
– Stroopwafel. This is a soft flat waffle-like biscuit stuffed with caramel. Normally eaten as a snack or treat but its also great for breakfast.
– Pepernoot. This is a little round biscuit which is a tradition to eat during Saint Nicholas. Often it is also mixed with soft pastel-colored sweets.

Image result for pepernoot
www.pepernotenfabriek.nl

– Kroket. This is probably as Dutch as it gets! It is a thick sausage like roll. It is fried and covered with bread crumbs and filled a mix of mash potato, ground meat, cheese, and/ or vegetables. It is normally served with bread and mustard. In addition it is so traditional that it is almost impossible to find a restaurant which doesn’t serve it (apart from fast food restaurants like KFC or McDonald’s).

Image result for croquette
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56576539038892525/

– Poffertjes. These are kind of just really small crumpets (Thick pancakes with air pockets) served with icing sugar. Still super delicious though!
– Chocoladeletters (Chocolate letters). These are large 3D letters made out of chocolate. They are usually eaten during the celebration of Saint Nicholas.
– Tony’s Chocolonley. This is actually a thick chocolate bar which comes in all kinds of flavors: Milk, dark, white, salted caramel, milk and nuts, coffee, nougat, honeycomb, coconut, licorice, etc…!

Image result for tony's chocolonely
DE CHOCOLADEREPEN VAN TONY’S CHOCOLONELY.
©TONY’S CHOCOLONELY

– Chocolade Hagleslag. Chocolate sprinkles usually are eaten for breakfast on a slice of bread.

Some more examples might be included in this video.

Work Cited:
www.pepernotenfabriek.nl
http://www.denoordoostpolder.nl/nieuws/49350/alles-over-pepernoten-het-meest-gegeten-koekje-in-14-weken-tijd/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56576539038892525/

10 jaar Tony’s Chocolonely: Teun speecht

Schools Growing Up- SBCW5

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When I grew up, I started nursery school in Conakry, Guinea. At this time I don’t remember enough about it to tell you about it or my nursery school in Senegal.

I then moved to the Club Aldiana, Senegal. It wasn’t actually a city but more like a villa with a hotel, pool, sports clubs, school, etc… My dad worked there before it permanently closed down, therefore I was put in nursery school there too.

Image result for aldiana senegal
Wolfschmidt

We then moved to Accra, Ghana. I went to a small British school called Three Bears School. This is where I had began official school and stayed until year two, or the end of grade 1. Its was really small meaning it was a school only for Nursery, grade prep, year 1, and year 2. And with about 15 students per level, making the over all around 60-90 students. There was a wide variability of cultures going from Wales to Mali to Thailand in just my class. When I came to the end of year 2, I was about to be put in a local Ghanaian public school, however my dad got a job opportunity leading us to Ivory Coast.

I now went to the International Community School of Abidjan. In the first few years, the school took place in a building that could be taken as a really big house. We were only around 100 students from almost all nationalities, even more diverse than in Ghana.

However many things had changed for me. There were almost only american accents, people were more physically and mentally active, and the work got more visual and fun. As the years passed by, the school changed campus to an actual school campus one or two years after the presidential crisis in 2010-2011. The school’s population grew until we were around 500 students. The culture diversity grew and along with the growth came new teaching techniques and we started having after school activities.

After a harsh leave from Abidjan, moved to Dakar, Senegal. I now go to the school ISD (International School of Dakar). This was a really big change for me because the schedules are different, the room placements and organizations are different, and this school is obsessed about sport. This love for sport is to the point where if your new and you really want to fit in you have to join a main sports team (volleyball, basketball, or soccer). People at ISD are culturally diverse but still have conflicts about open-mindedness… Also there is a lot of drama. Over all my opinion is that the school here is not very efficient (for example the teachers are not aware of cyber-bullying) however when you find the right people and the right schedule (for example, playing basketball after school), ISD can be a very fun and positive atmosphere! Honestly, If I don’t go back to ICSA (which I most-likely wont), I would love to spend the rest of my school years at ISD!

Citations:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2743248

Japan: Inspiring…

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One thing that I haven’t mentioned is that I am obsessed with Japanese culture and way of life. Not only do I like anime and mangas, but I LOVE Japanese food and style of fashion.

However one of the main reason is the open-mindedness of the country. Now I’m going to come out a little to prove my point, but personally, I feel that I am too open-minded… I get frustrated really easily when someone says something wrong or misplaced about someone being different. One main example would be homosexual people. I have grown up in a family where I have learned that it is just as normal to like the same gender as to like the opposite. When I come into a school where some people have religions which go against the ideal I grew up with I have trouble handling that. And my religion isn’t as accepting of the idea either but happiness comes first in my world. Anyways, Japan is super open-minded and if I were to go there or live there, I feel that even if I don’t speak Japanese just the fact that I’m in an open-minded society I would feel at home.

For example, the other day I came across an article on SnapChat were they were talking about ‘genderless teens’ in Japan. Technically there were teens of any gender who would wear what they want. Both boys and/or girls could wear skirts or dresses. They could wear anything they wanted, freely. When I read this I felt like I could live in a society with people like that, not being genderless myself though. It was the most inspiring thing I had read in a long time.

I also have family in Japan, my mom’s cousin, who is an anime/ manga creator. He took part in the creation of shows such as Code Lyoko, and he is the creator of the space ship “Aloha” in Space Dandy.
Currently he has fun recreating his children’s drawings:

I don’t remember the last time I saw him or my distant cousins, and I would love to get to know them…

Drawings- SBC4

agathekappner235 Comments

Over two days, I have been working on different styles of drawing. I have completed three various sketches…

I started off with a simple and quick, neat, pencil sketch with shading based on one main event during my elementary school:

Secondly, I made a fully colored line drawing based on one of my favorite YouTubers: SirCutieYuki, who posts animations and video game videos. In this case this is her (pink hair) with the tear and star of Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter (manga/ anime serie), which is her favorite anime character. Next to her is her friend who goes by Eyeball, who plays as a one-eyed alien.

Lastly, I finished by drawing another piece of fan art. This is a drawing of a kawaii chibi character in a Bonnie costume (Five Nights at Freddy’s- a video game):

Comment below, what is your favorite anime/manga? Any recommendations for me to draw or watch/read?