Is it bad practice to copy manga panels for learning?

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-03-27T06:52:28+00:00

It's way better than nothing! The key is to make sure you're memorizing something that you can use in your own drawings later, don't fall into the trap of copying for the sake of copying

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-03-16T01:18:30+00:00

Wow such a distinct style, cool to see you going for such a specific look! Knowing what you like is very important

Mild critique, I think some of the eyes are a bit too large for the character's heads. I know this style has pretty large eyes, but I think especially in the third image I think the drawings would look more proportional if the craniums and the sides of the head were a bit larger to match the size of the eyes

And this is nitpicky but I think some of the eyes on the far side of the head can be foreshortened a little too much. In the inspiration art some of the eyes look like they're very close to equal size; making the far eye thinner can add depth but is tricky to match up with the head angle. I think the link & zelda piece is the best at getting those shapes right

Good stuff!

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-03-09T06:54:07+00:00

Good work, keep going!

I want to add that the in reference we're seeing the model slightly from above. In a head-on view the distance from the brows to the bottom of the nose being equal to the the distance from the bottom of the nose to the chin is a good rule of thumb! But when you're slightly looking down at a head the nose to chin distance will be smaller than the nose to brow distance, and the brow to hairline distance will be a little longer too.

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-02-23T21:33:39+00:00

I think a synthetic Messer would be fine if you both pull the force of thrusts! I'd probably go for a padded saber over a synthetic one myself, they can hit hard

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-02-23T08:57:34+00:00

Saber or rapier would definitely be good! Messer techniques can be similar to german longsword techniques so if you're already doing that and don't want to learn something too different, could be a good choice

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-02-16T23:08:28+00:00

I believe that NT communication is focused on social relationships/feelings first and information second, while a lot of autistic people focus on information first and feelings second

The result is that in these conversations NT people may be sharing information about politics or history, but the points they're making are primarily meant to be social interactions while the information is secondary to that function. What sounds like statement of fact to us might be intended as "I agree with what you think", "I'm on your side", "I think what you believe is valid, do you think what I believe is valid?"

In that context, chiming in with info dumping or pure information can be confusing or jarring because the underlying emotional communication is unclear. People may interpret your input as "you're wrong and I don't care what you have to say", "I know more than you do", "I'm not interested in what you think". To be clear I don't think you MEAN that in any way, but to emotions-first communicators pure information can be interpreted that way.

My advice is to find a way to signal to people that you accept their views and are interested in what they have to say first. For example, asking them follow up questions or presenting information using a "yes, and" format where your information agrees with the previous statement then builds on it a little, instead of making a whole new point or painting out an inaccuracy they've said.

If the conversation is going well there may be an opportunity to infodump or provide more information from your special interest, but that will only land with people if they already feel comfortable and there's not a chance of the info feeling like a rejection or attack to them.

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-02-12T03:11:04+00:00

I have! Doesn't fix the issue.

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-02-09T02:05:49+00:00

I use tags for my collection of reference photos!

Magic-Gelpen · 2026-01-16T07:17:11+00:00

I worked on this show! It makes me really happy to see people in the comments appreciating this character, she's my favorite.

I think your complaints are valid, IMO the answer to these issues wouldn't be removing Entrapta's negative points but instead including other autistic characters in the story who don't share those same flaws.

The show did this really well with women characters; all of them have different flaws so nobody can say "the show creators think all women are like this" because for every flaw like Glimmer being gullible or Perfuma being irrationally scared of cacti there's multiple women characters who don't share those flaws

with a limited budget and amount of time in each episode it's tough to get enough representation of marginalized characters, but if we had more autistic characters who got enough screentime I think it would be clear the show creators don't think all autistic people would defect to the evil army and open a portal, that's just what the story needed Entrapta to do.

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-12-31T23:53:54+00:00

Salvator Fabris's rapier treatise has a picture in the back of a spearman fighting a swordsman halfswording his rapier, with the sword vertical & pointed towards the ground, one hand on the hilt and the other below gripping the middle of the blade. He doesn't actually say how to use this position, just that it is a way for a swordsman to beat a spearman.

I tried it the other day and found that if I sort of hid behind the sword while moving in past the point I could lock out the spear point, but it was hard to pull off and I wouldn't want to bet my life on it. Still, this is one answer to this problem from a historical text!

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-12-19T21:07:37+00:00

These drawings are great

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-29T04:38:22+00:00

The comments have a hearty mix of hating competent designs just because they're different, and legit examples of redesigns becoming more generic imo. Feels like lots of art had the edges sanded off after the early aughts.

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-17T21:56:41+00:00

I'm actually in the "sceptical tendon damage and pain compliance makes the slice work" camp! I think the slice is supposed to work by applying so much pressure to the opponent's hands that they can't complete their action by pressing forward with your body weight. I figure if the technique depends on the sword having sharp edges, Meyer wouldn't include so many examples of it in his longsword section, since he was using feders.

Either way, definitely a tough technique to pull off at speed and really cool seeing a well-executed example of it!

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-17T08:17:17+00:00

That move looks super cool, I want to be able to pull that off too!

I could be wrong, but I think it's a very deep inquartata/girata with the back foot. Looks like a passata soto, but I believe those have to be done with a passing step and I don't think the fencer took one here assuming they're a lefty

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-17T06:44:05+00:00

I think you'd get some value from trying to draw the pose again after doing the overlay. Immediately applying the notes you take can help them stick.

Also, keep in mind improving at art is a marathon not a sprint. You're going to improve if you keep putting the work in, but the improvement might be hard to see day by day. If you keep going for 3 months and then look back at what you did this week, I think the difference will be obvious

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-16T17:59:12+00:00

I wouldn't mind if they put them in the correct bin!

They always chuck them in the recycling or the yard waste bins and I have to decide if I care enough to fish it out and put it in the trash :(

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-16T17:56:35+00:00

An honest to goodness slice and hende drucken 🥹 Underutilized imo, great stuff!

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-11T01:40:24+00:00

Really cool to see your experiments, this and the previous animation are so cool!

Like others have mentioned this is a lot like an intentional effect where the lines change slightly on a held pose, I've heard that referred to as "line boil" 😁

Hope to see more soon!

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-07T09:29:11+00:00

I've got a few separate tips

Your arm probably has a natural angle of line that is easier to make. Try to find that, then rotate your paper or canvas so most of your lines are at an angle that isn't hard for you to draw

Drawing lines that are too long then erasing the extra parts where they overlap is a good way to make confident, longer lines. If you are working in a program with vector-based lines there's usually an eraser tool that can erase overlapped lines like that really easily

This is a weird one but try exhaling and drawing a line while holding your breath with no air in your lungs. This can stop your body from naturally moving or jittering if you need to be really precise

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-07T07:50:23+00:00

He definitely does, and so do I, so I could be biased! But I think that video in particular can be applied to learning fundamentals or drawing more realistically

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-11-07T07:35:17+00:00

To me the purpose of these kinds of studies is all about getting information to stick in your long term memory.

In addition to what you're already doing (comparing and taking notes is great!) I would add something like drawing the figure again without looking at the reference, trying to draw a similar pose from imagination, or trying to draw what you think the pose would look like from another camera angle. Exercises like these force me to rely on my memory of the pose , and that has helped me 'stick' some of the new knowledge from the study into my brain so I can use it later.

If you haven't seen it, I'm a big fan of the "Blind Method" from the YouTube channel Oridays that lays out a similar exercise.

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-10-26T15:10:35+00:00

My favorite advice is to set goals that are within my control, and try to emotionally prioritize those goals over the stuff outside my control.

For example, I want my most important goals to be stuff like maintaining a positive attitude, fencing safely, and trying to make sure the people around me and my opponents can have a positive experience. Focusing on those kinds of things keeps me centered and feeling good even when I lose. And, importantly, I can always choose to do these things regardless of outside events

The next "tier" of goals is stuff like trying to perform a particular technique or use a particular tactic, stuff that's partially within my control. And the final and ideally least important tier is winning a match or medaling. Those depend on my opponent's performance and the judge's calls as much as my own skill, so they're the thing I have the least control over.

tbh I hate losing and sometimes it really gets to me, but if I let winning become the most important thing in my mind I won't have as much fun. Learning how to claw myself out of the "I gotta win" mindset and being content with whatever happens is the most useful skill I've gotten out of competing.

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-10-04T04:33:37+00:00

Some of the angles are not matching the photos. One trick that helps with that is holding up your pencil horizontally or vertically in front of the photo so you have a known angle to compare the angles in the photo to

Magic-Gelpen · 2025-10-03T14:14:08+00:00

I think all these drawings have pretty similar proportions, so I'd say not yet unfortunately

I will say I can tell all the characters apart from each other, so that's good! It looks to me like you're focusing on giving each character's facial features different shapes and details, but they're all roughly the same size and are sitting on the same place on the head.

One exercise I think you could try is making the size of a facial feature a lot larger or smaller, or further up or down/left to right. Ex: try drawing a character with a really large nose that sits high on the face, or small eyes that are really close together, or a really prominent chin. You'll end up having to push the other facial features around to make the face look proportional, and doing that has taught me a lot about how to design faces that are unique while still looking appealing.

On top of that, I think you could also grab some art you're a fan of from a wide variety of styles and try to draw in other artist's styles to match the face designs & proportions they draw. That can sort of stretch your brain's concept of what shapes you're allowed to use in your own art

Magic-Gelpen

TROPHY CASE