Back from attending the London Anime and Gaming Con. Managed to finally get my Deathnote fan art inked, coloured and printed for the event which got a lot of interest. I'll add it to my portfolio gallery in due course and make prints available for sale through my store soon.
I'm booked up for several UK comic conventions this year. I'll be selling my artwork prints and books. Feel free to stop by at my table and say hi if attending any of these:
I'll be updating this list later in the year as and when I'm able to make bookings for other events, so watch this space.
For those that don't know, I'm currently working on a new How-to-Draw Tutorial book relating to manga and character art. 113 pages down with another 15 to get done by the end of the year!
My first book 'The Art of Drawing Manga' came out 12 years ago. I still have people come up to me or message to say how much it helped them when they were starting along their artistic journey. Even though back in 2003 I didn't feel I was at an artistic level to be teaching how to draw, I always hoped that it might at least inspire a few beginners to give it a go and I could provide a few words of wisdom and tips and I'd picked up along the way. I'm glad it could help so many :)
For 2016 I'd like 'The Artist's Guide to Drawing Manga' (TAGTDM) to help a new generation of fans learn some useful techniques to create their own manga inspired artwork. Unlike with Youtube tutorials or tutorial web pages in general, my latest book provides the opportunity to detach from the internet and take some time to read through a dedicated resource housing several key learning guides or chapters all in a single package. TAGTDM allows users to either flick through, dip into, or follow from start to finish.
While researching parts of the book via the internet I found a lot of free manga art content online, some of it totally awesome! Although there's also a far more poor quality information which isn't very concise, well written or explained, and so much is scattered throughout the web at different locations. I might find a great tutorial on how to draw a manga eye, but then might need to spend a fair while looking for a tutorial which shows how create a full manga page, then more time finding tips on how to ink or colour my work digitally, or answers certain questions I might have.
Web tutorials are often given by different artists who have different approaches to their work, making things confusing for newbies. And they may not have the time to be particularly concise, or have their words copy-edited by someone else.
Along with my near 30 years of love for games, comics and animation, I'd expect that if any beginner were to follow TAGTDM from start to finish they'd definitely level up and increase their skills and knowledge. I'd imaging even artists with some experience would be able to gain a few insights also.
Even if people already own a how-to-draw book, or 10, a fresh reminder of how it can be done or reading a different professional artist's take on it can always help :)
Recently finished a 2 day comic con stint at the NEC. People stopping by at my table and taking an interest in my work is always very much appreciated. It was interesting to see what artworks fans were interested in- with 20+ different prints, there weren't many that didn't get either a positive comment or purchased, so not sure how I might better cater for shoppers in the future. For now I'll just continue offering as much variety as I can :) A good experience sampling both this and the London Con last month, and expect to attend some more shows in 2016.
This Photoshop character composite features artwork from my next How-To guide currently in progress.
The book will give readers the chance to draw their own versions in 10 simple steps. As these will be from the 'How to draw figures' section, I deliberately gave them figure-hugging outfits to help make things a little easier to understand without baggy clothing or too many drapes and folds interfering with the body shape.
You can check out Digital Manga if you'd like to learn in-depth Photoshop techniques for achieving the same colour results :)
I'll be attending MCM Comic Con in Birmingham on 21st-22nd of November. Second time having a table in the Comic Village and looking forward to it :) I'll be selling original art prints and copies of my book Digital Manga. It'll be interesting to see how the smaller 2 day event compares with London's 3-dayer last month.
I'm still currently working on my latest 'How-To' guide book due for publication in 2016. Here's a little preview of some of the characters budding artists will be drawing from the book.
The working title for the project- 'The artist's guide to drawing manga'. With so many how-to-draw manga books out already it makes the hardest part just trying to come up with a title which hasn't already been used!
In previous books I'd get some assistance- a few images contributed by other artists, help with parts of the text, or I might at least commission an artist to digitally ink a couple of the images to save me some time. I wanted this one to be 100% my own stuff, for better or worse! Since I'd used my my previous back-catalogue of artwork on Digital Manga, I'm having to create all new stuff within an 8 month deadline while having other projects on the go. A challenge, but already have 89 pages down, with 39 to go :)
I've now finished my 3 day comic con stint. Was great having people stop by at my table and take an interest in my work and hope to attend more in the future :)
It's now official. I'll be attending MCM Comic Con in London on 23-25 of October. It's the first time having a table in the Comic Village and I'm looking forward to it :)
I'll be selling original art prints and copies of my book Digital Manga. If it goes well, my plan will be to attend others and will use this blog to report how it went and perhaps give a few tips to other artists interested in exploring the UK Comic Con scene.
I've seen or heard of many artist I know attend and sell at comic cons over the years. In my early 20s, some of my online artist buddies would ask when I'd be attending so they could meet in person. I never mentioned that due to crazy amounts of social anxiety and doubts about my own ability when I was younger, I felt I could never join in and be a part of it. It took me several years to get to a point where I felt more confident in myself and my art. So, to just show up and have a table at one of these things is a pretty big deal for me.
Whether it goes well or not, it'll be chalked up as an achievement either way.
One to One Tuition using Adobe Photoshop to create and colour character artwork by experienced anime and manga style artist and author Ben Krefta.
Ideal for art university students, anyone interested in digital art, video game art, manga, comics and traditional media illustrators. Students are expected to have a minimum basic understanding of computers and Photoshop. Students will also need to have their own computer or laptop with software and a graphic tablet. To practice techniques in their own time.
Location: At his private art studio in the centre of Chatham, Kent (or can travel to student at an additional pence per mile rate).
Cost: Lessons are £60 per 3 hour session. There are 3 sessions to complete the 9 hours worth of demonstrations. Students are expected to take notes during these demos.
For further information, please contact Ben Krefta. You can Google him, to see further examples of his artwork, or visit benkrefta.com
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