Ask me anything, yo.

How did you get your comic published?

Hey Koteri. I wanted to ask if for some help. Recently I've noticed that most of my faces that i draw from a direct view/straight are almost leaning to the other side or crooked. But I only notice this when i flip the image. Is this normal, is it all in my head. Is there a way to fix it or get better cause its making me miserable. Whenever I think of drawing it makes me........

To get good at anything you need to practice a lot and art definitely doesn’t belong to easy things to learn. You need to change your priorities or just keep treating art as a hobby.

Man. I do not have time in my life to get better at art. I can't. What do I do? I see traceing is my best bet. Capturing the moving of shapes and all that. I can't practice. I'm pulled much too far away. And apart.

Tuker

Sorry but I couldn't find it anywhere. What kind of tablet do you use?

Will you ever talk about color theory? Or cool features that we should know about when using procreate?

What are some tips you would offer a new artists that’s currently working on a portfolio for art school ?

I don't think everyone leaves a legacy. But almost everyone leaves smiles in the minds of those close to them. Of course we'd all like to leave a lasting mark on the world, but it's too much pressure to think of that. I just want to do what makes me happy and gives me fulfillment.

I naturally had a trait in me that enjoyed repetition. As a kid, I'd draw one thing over and over again. When I became more interested in sports as I got older, I would do standing broad jumps for an hour every day. I went from having the shortest jump to the longest in a year. I kept doing it until my standing broad was over 3m and still is. I applied that same mentality to everything I do. I enjoy a challenge, and I enjoy small progression. So, I'd say, enjoy the process of repetition. That is the only way you will see improvement.

Social media reach equals how much income I make as an artist. It's the same for many other artists I know. Grow your instagram and you will see more sales for your products. I had no idea how to grow, but I did realise people liked my fan art and my timelapse videos. So I did more of those and figured out what does well for me, and what doesn't.

Sure. It'll be super short because I don't really render my work too much.

What do you think is there for us after we pass on? What happens to our legacy?

Life advice time: what values/lessons have you found in practicing art that you have been able to apply to other aspects of your life?

How did you grow as an artist on social media?? Were you planning out how you are going to improve your reach? Did social media impacted your earnings??

Hey Roosh, are you thinking of doing a tutorial on how you color your pieces? I love your work and would love to see more of your process!

DASHNJ

My reach is the same. As long as there's internet, it doesn't matter where you're located. The only thing that I dislike is that I'm in a country with not much culture (we have native culture but it's hardly discussed), thus not much inspiration. I have to pull inspiration from other countries and their cultures.

That's tough. I like em all. Even the nasty ones. But Zatoichi stands out to me because of his story arc which you'll get to witness.

There's no secret to it. It all comes down to studying. You have to absolutely 100% understand horizon lines, vanishing points; 1,2, 3, and 4 point perspective. Even fish lense. When I look at the buildings while I walk through the city, I know exactly where all this information is. I no longer need to guess. I got to this point by doing studies of highly congested cry scapes. Don't focus on the struggle. Focus on the improvement.

They'll all be available this summer.

I wish school put more emphasis into the importance of social media growth for artists. Without instagram, there would be no Kings of nowhere. Because I put so much focus into growing my IG after quitting my job, I was able to work on my passion project and make it my career. I was a strong artist when I began my IG career, but I didn't quite figure out what niche I was going to fill in the art community. Once I figured out who my audience was, I was able to grow at a fast enough rate to become financially secure. I was motivated from day 1, even when I struggled to grow past 500 followers. There were difficult times, but I knew I was good enough, I just had to pump out more content and stay consistent. If your art skills are lacking, then growth will be more difficult. So work on skills and growth simultaneously.

I was never a visitor at an expo. I've always had a booth. I started when I was 19. It's good. Teaches you about what people want to buy. Over the years I learned about how to make more profit at expos by keeping an eye out for what was popular. League of Legends at first and then when Overwatch came out, I made prints for that. Even without an instagram following, I was able to pay off my college tuition through money I saved up by doing expos every summer. It showed me that I could make more money working for myself than a 9-5. I really want to go to more expos once they open up again.

Hey Roosh, thanks for the opportunity for an AMA. I would like to know what you find to be the most challenging part of being a Canadian-based artist? Do you think your reach is different because of where you're from? Do you think opportunities for collaboration are going to be more difficult for you because of it? Or does it not have an impact at all? I'd like to hear what you think.

Who is your fav character in your comic so far?

Vladimir Wadegreene

Hey koteri, I'm struggling with understanding character perspective even after countless studies and videos. What can I do to get better at perspective?

Rsam

Dear Koteri I would like to know if there’s a way to purchase all of your books KON and mostly your art book ? I would be happy to have em all

As a 20 year old transferring into a private art college I would love to start growing my online art presence now, and even try to make money off of YouTube, stickers, prints, Instagram, whatever. how much work should I put into social media to start since my follower ship will be low and my content likely shitty? How do I stay motivated to make these things along with personal stuff?

What has been your experience with expos and conventions, both as a visitor and as an artist? I’ve never been but I am curious how it affects your development and networking as an artist. Also, do you plan on getting back to them once COVID is over?

I've never done that and I don't advise anyone to do that. Don't listen to what artists tell you to do. Ask them what THEY did to get to their level. Most artists I know haven't spent more than a day practicing line feel through shapes and curves. It's honestly a waste of time. You practice line weight through actually drawing. It's like practicing the piano by hitting one note consistently and expecting to get better that way. Instead, you attempt a song and fu** it up. Then you begin to clean it up, note by note. It'll take months and years, but only by playing a song do you get better at playing a song. Same goes for art.

Dog is Shibo. Cat is Porco. Hidden cat is Rolex. The most difficult part of creating a story is making sure I give a fu**. If I finish writing a chapter and I go, "what the f*** even happened?", then I've got myself a shite chapter. So I make sure every chapter has something that pushes a narrative. Whether that is by tightening a bond between two characters or a character coming to realise a valuable life lesson though an act of sacrifice or struggle. I'm already a highly skilled artist, and I level up constantly due to working on my comic for 8+ hours a day, so I don't set aside time to study anymore like I used to. While I draw, I think about my story. I go over main points and write in my head. Then at night time or in the morning, I write down jot points. Once I'm done a book, I spend several months only writing. It's the great thing about working for yourself. You choose your schedule. If I want to draw, I draw. If I want to write, I do that instead.

I came up with an idea. I studied how people make successful books. I got really good at drawing. I practiced my writing skills. I did a couple practice runs for my comic. I wrote my first drafts. I had people look it through. I revised. I came up with something better. I began my storyboards, then I finally had a book. And yes you can use my brushes for your art and sell them.

My dad.

I learned from life drawing classes. I shared one of the life drawing websites I used a couple posts ago. But, for the most part, I used Google images. I'd search "sprinter running" or "bodybuilder back flex". I don't use a specific site, but while drawing my comic, I come across poses that I want to get 100% accurate, so I just search up images to help me recreate it, even if it isn't identical to what I'm drawing. Since I know how all of the superficial muscles look and what they're called, it's easy for me to use an image and skew it in my drawing.

Pay attention to people. Observe. Be a weirdo if you gotta. Look at what it is you're trying to understand and try to memorize it. And when you come across pen and paper, recreate it from memory as fast as you can.

I spend about a year or 2 just visualising a volume, scene by scene in my head. Each chapter takes me months to envision. I place the camera in different locations, adjust timing, and when it comes to action, I watch and learn from UFC fights, boxing matches, parkour videos etc. Once I can imagine the scene as if I'm watching it as a show, scene by scene, frame by frame, then I write it down, and eventually draw it out in storyboards.

I got off the streets long ago. I'm no longer that person anymore.

Honestly, I think in terms of skills, I got to a high level fairly quick. However, in terms of reaching goals, I wish I had started earlier. Instagram has been a life changer, and I wish I started it sooner. Same with YouTube. I didn't quite grasp how much of an effect having an audience for one's work makes. It took me too long to become business savvy, and if I could start over, I'd put more focus into releasing my books earlier, growing my audience sooner, and having made my way into YouTube at an earlier time.

Training your memory is a great way to boost your confidence in art. Repetition and discipline is key when it comes to advancing. Spend a ton of time on the basics. Anatomy, clothing, gestures and whatever else interests you. I like drawing city environments, animals, and cars, so I practiced in these subjects even more.

Animation college taught me alot when it came to anatomy. The first year was spent learning and memorizing the skeleton. The second year was sowntlearning and memorizing muscles. The third year was about showing action, emotion, and placing clothing over the human body. The final year and I continued to work on the basics. I still do studies very often. My lessons on anatomy are actually taken from how I was taught in college.

In terms of practicing small things like shapes lines and curves, how do you make time for it? I feel guilty when I end up spending all day trying to figure out what I want to practice on and I end up doing nothing. Artists have stressed to me to draw shapes every day, and I end up getting sidetracked a lot with random doodles. How have you built your habits.

Donna

Brush pens are a great tool to develop line weight skills because it's very easy to make mistakes with them, and this difficulty teaches one to concentrate more when drawing. Focus in tapering lines. Watch at comic and manga artists working and pay attention to how they apply pressure when working.

Cute animals! What are their names? Also what has been the hardest thing about making this story for you? And what do you think is more important, developing your skills as an artist or developing your skills as a story teller and developing your idea? I would guess it should be a healthy balance of the two seeing as I personally think that applies to a lot of things, but I guess if you agree, how do you actually go about doing that? (Doing both at the same time) Also thanks for being a great inspiration!

Thanks for everything man, but I was wondering how did you get to make your book into a real thing and how can I start off? Also your brushes are great and would it be ok if I make my art with them and sell that art or would I need some sort of license?

If you could draw one thing and have it come to life/become real what would you choose?

Where do you find your anatomy references (and can you share any)?

Outside of practice, whats the biggest piece of advice you'd give someone who struggles with forshortening?

Simple. Summarize your entire story. You don't need to know everything, but have a general idea of the start, the conflict, climax, and resolution. Discover your characters. What is their journey, purpose, and goal? Each character has lived a life, even if they only appear for a single chapter, so figure out who they are. Next, jot point your first several chapters. Intertwine characters on their journeys, create conflict, spice it up. Then clean up your jot pointed chapters. Add dialogue, adding specific information ie. Space man enters stage right as large alien brute is suppressing gunfire. Now you can begin storyboarding several chapters that will go into your first volume. Finally, you get to work on the final version with clean linework and screentones/ colors. Rinse and repeat.

I’m curious if you can explain how you decide on what actions to put into your panels. Like i feel like when I go to create a page I’m just cutting from panel to panel trying to jam as much progression in and maybe not showing as many actions as I should. I know this may be difficult to answer especially cause I’m having a hard time really articulating what I’m trying to ask lol.

When I saw what was out there, what sold well, and what was popular, and realised my sh** would stand out amongst the crowd with some of the best. I don't buy much manga or comics because I don't like reading work by someone who doesn't draw better than myself. Once you start creating pages that really make you a fan of your own work, then expect others to feel the same.

Sure. Meet in the woods. I'll bring the ayahuasca, you bring the DMT. We can all trip out and forget our mother's maiden name.

Could I pay you for a drawing?

Making a brush is akin to skill and experience with traditional tools. I'm fairly competent with pencil and pen. Thus, when I use a digital brush, I know how it should feel to match the real thing OR as is the case with some of my brushes, stand alone as something special that no traditional tool can replicate.

Haha, when I was about 15. I wanted to get into a career for parkour as I was getting really good at it. Then I started to realise I hate constantly getting injured, so art was it for me. I always had an eye for art and memorising how things looked. I still remember being less than a year old and suckling on bottles of sweet tea my aunt would give me in my crib. However, I had trouble learning more simple things. I was the only one to fail accounting class in highschool when the class average was 80+. School was very demotivating for me, so I knew that I'd have to be one of the best at what I'm good at if I ever wanted to drive a Lambo one day. #tailopez

If you had to start it all over again what steps would you take to learn the skills that you need to create your work?

What advice can you give someone whose has self doubt in there art maybe about not progressing fast enough?

I broke my foot when I was 18. That's when I was forced to stay at home for 4 months (very bad break). I came across Kse332 and his studies. He did alot of hatching studies. I was already into Samurai Champloo, and he too derived inspiration from it when designing the Boondocks. So I began doing studies using a more hatch heavy method. I studied much more often before I started KON, about 3-5 hours a day. Then I learned of Kim Jung Gi, and I started to pick up some his traits (line control, fabric, perspective). Right before I began KON volume 1, I came across Boichi. He has left the most significant impression on me. As you will see in volume 2, my style has much in common with his. I naturally began hatching my characters similar to him, and following his rules for clothing and detail. TLDR, find yourself some talented Korean bois and learn from them.

Your drawings are impressive! When we watch you drawing on your youtube channel, we can feel that there is a lot of work, and that it took you years to reach such a mastery. How did you manage to reproduce the gestures, the muscles and the expressions? Did you take example on a drawing or a photo that you drew several times to totally master it?

Think maybe you could go more into detail on line weight just like how to use it properly and how to improve on it?

If a child has a parent who is chimera, then they are more likely to transform when they reach the age (between 5 to 18 years old, with exceptions). Even if both parents are human, as long as an ancestor had the gene, then they are still likely to change, as is the case for Bili. If both parents are chimera, the child is still born human, but they have a very high chance of transforming into a chimera when they reach the age. Species depends on parent's genes too. For instance, if a parent is a carnivorous mammal, then the child will most likely be a carnivorous mammal.

You got grit, my boy.

I feel I've asked you a lot of my questions that I've had already, so all I've gotta say is thank you for your guidance and the inspiration for me to work on my comic...definitely wouldn't have started this soon without your help!

How does reproduction work on KON. Does your DNA change to that of an animal? Is there cross breed? Lol sorry for the random question

Bryan Antolin Pizarro

When you found your art style, what helped you develop it into something solid, like what you have today, the most?

Was there ever a point where you felt like giving up art? If so, how did you break through that and confidently chase your artistic dreams?

Can u do a tutorial on how to make brushes like yours on procreate?

My goal in life is to create a graphic novel. I've been writing and drawing for years but I am clueless on how to start or what to improve (and how). Any thoughts on this?

When did you know you were ready to begin working on the KON comic?

schedule a meet n greet once covids over yea?

manderlee