Is it possible for an American to become a manga artist in United States?
Sure, if you draw comics, there is nothing really stopping you from becoming a manga artist. If you're looking for financial stability and success selling your comics, you'll have to put in the hard work to learn how to draw well (and draw everything well), tell stories, and then learn about the publishing world. You'll have to market your work to manga fans and have the work ethic to be able to produce a body of work consistently and on-time (as we all know how much we hate hiatuses). Is it likely you'll get hired by a manga publisher right away? Probably not. While I"m just a fan and not an expert here, I'm not sure if there are any domestic manga publishers that don't just re-release content from Japan/Korea. So the likelihood of becoming a manga artist in the sense that some company hires you to draw manga all day is probably very very slim. But.... can you self publish and make your own creation? Damn right you can. Can you eventually sell your comic to a publisher after lots of hard work, building a large audience, and creating a truly amazing comic? Maybe, if you can show them how much of a money maker your series can be. Best of luck and go out and tell some awesome stories!
How do I become a manga artist?
By drawing japanese style cartoons.To become a professional there are four routes.Submit your comics to a manga publisher. They will run you into the ground and pay you peanuts.Self publish. This involves you covering all the costs and pushing it at conventions like Comicon.Get sponsors. Basically you're selling advertising space in your comic - you do have to convince people that others will read it and see their commercials though.Create a web comic and have links to a donation site to support the comic.
Can foreigners become manga artists in Japan?
I'm from Australia, but my ethnicity is Korean, so I LOOK Asian, but I'm not actually Japanese. My ultimate dream is to become a manga artist and publish my manga to Weekly Shounen Jump (or Monthly if it's too much for me). I know that it will be hard unless you have the talent in both the story and art, so I'm willing to try my hardest. I've currently been learning Japanese for about 4 years, but I'm still not completely fluent yet. But I'm only 16 now, so I have enough time to become fluent soon. But the one thing that has been bothering me lately is if foreigners are aloud to publish their manga in Japan. I'm very afraid if my dream of having a manga in Shounen Jump will be crushed to pieces if foreingors cannot publish to Shueisha, so I really need to know before I waste time going to Shueisha and make a fool out of myself. I know that it's possible for foreigners to publish their manga to TokyoPop, but before I do that, I would appreciate it if I knew the answer to this question first. Thank you.
Are there manga artists in America?
There is a very good artist called Mark Crilley.Mark Crilley is the creator of the child comic book series "Akiko". As an artist he is very complete . He has a channel in YouTube where he does great tutorials about how to draw manga (markcrilley).His first manga-style series was "Miki Falls", a 4 volume story with shojo influences. It has a very original and great plot and it is very captivating (it doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl, you will enjoy it the same).After that, he started the 6-volume series "Brody's Ghost". He has already published 5 of the 6 volumes. This series is more shonen-like than "Miki Falls". It has a lot of action, but at the same time it is full of mystery. The story is very intriguing and fascinating. The art of "Brody's Ghost" is spectacular, the backgrounds and characters are very well drawn.Mark has also published two bookd called "Mastering Manga" where he teaches how to draw a lot of things (bodies, eyes, hands, feet, objects, poses, textures, etc.). They are both very useful, because everything is well explained.I reccomend you to search about him and also to watch his tutorials (I've learnt a lot from them). He also talks about himself and the process he followed to get published in some of his videos (this may be useful in case you are looking foward to publish).
Americans can't make manga and anime?
I'd say that they can't make manga. They can make comics but we wouldn't call them manga. Manga is jap. Manhwa is Korean. So just in terms of English, we wouldn't say Americans can make manga. Animes are the same. Americans can make animated productions but the term anime only applies to those made by Japan. Hence, the same conclusion.
Are there any successful American Manga Artists?
The bitter truth: NO I have been thinking about this too. The usual shedule for a japanese comic artist, at least in the weekly magazines is to work close with the editor i think. Having meetings and such, to keep the quality of the comic, even when the work and time pressure is really high. So there is probably some problems with not being able to actually meet them, and having to send the material either by regular mail to japan, or by the internet, and neither is a totally reliable way i'd say. Still, if the manga is really good, i think the publisher would try hard to make things work. At least I hope so. I would love to do a good shonen series and be able to publish it in one of the Japanese magazines. If i made a comic book that looked like anything in the JUMP for example, and tried to publish it where i live in Sweden, it probably wouldn't sell at all. Or even get published. If you're planning on it, I suggest you polish your Japanese skills and get ready for the competition. Also, I suggest you read Bakuman., the manga, for reference. @Empire 53: Mark Crilley has been publishing a lot of books on how to make and draw manga but none of what he published can actually be considered manga. Take a look at "Akiko", it has manga-like tendencies but in the end, it's still an American comic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiko_(comic_book) Edit: @Empire53: I see, I skipped that an OEL manga part, once I reread the question and reread your answer, I realized I was wrong. Sorry:(
What are some good japanese pen names for manga artists?
Okay so I'm thinking about becoming a manga artist. I'm thinking about getting a pen name for a few reasons. Well to start off with I'm not very confident with using my real name, I'm not even japanese, and I don't want to be popular myself. Can you list some good pen names or something. I probably won't necessarily use them but I just need an idea. It would help if you put more than 2 down. I'm really nervous about using my real name. I'm not sure If I should use a actual Japanese name or a group like clamp or peach pit (those 2 are my favorite artists) If you could list some names or something it would be a big help. Thanks! (and for extra help is there any other american manga artists or suspicion of an artist that might not be Japanese, it's just reassuring knowing I'm not the only Japanese artist...)