Drawing my first Manga
From Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Berserk and other fantastic anime, they get to tell stories that have worlds so deep, that anyone who loves a great cast will follow along for decades to come. I am a big fan of anime and mangas. I never actually created on though and now that I found a new infatuation to them again as an adult, I am making my own.
Keep in touch with my blog, because I want to have you who still read to enjoy behind-the-scenes info that really gives valuable details about my work and the process. I of course, will need to do a membership subscription avenue so that I can live as an artist in 2027, but I don’t want to make it impossible to support and still ilve for you too. I know the struggle all too well. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned until Monday. You all are amazing, and I hope you create whatever magical stories you have in your minds.
I remember growing up with anime and shows that were obviously Japanese in nature. I think the Korean blood in me longed for some cultural participation of sorts. Ninja Turtles and Transformers were great, and I loved them, but the animation didn’t strike me as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z did. The epic, long-running narratives and intense fight scenes were something that any kid, I think thinks about after just one episode. Like Goku, how and why is he so cool and strong? Will he actually defeat Vegeta? Sailor Moon, is she hotter than Sailor Venus? As a kid, my friends in Elementary school and middle school always bothered me to draw them these characters and other weird stuff. I didn’t mind it as I felt it helped me make friends, which it actually didn’t. I was basically a tool for kids to get some cool piece of artwork from. I would draw in school and at home virtually all day and every day. I love the arts and I loved comic books. I always wanted to do my own comic book like X-Men and Spider-Man, but as a kid in a half asian family and a redneck one, it wasn’t looked upon as good to be an artist.
By the time I was in High School, I was in every art class possible and early failing everything else. Then came the moment to go to art college; I backed out. I wasn’t scared of failing art, I was worried about paying 50k a year and being in debt forever for skills I knew I could learn on my own. Unfortunately, I gave up art, though, due to a gallery I was featured in. My art was passed up over and over by viewers, and the other art that I felt was less detailed and skillful was drooled over. It crushed my ambition and I went into filmmaking. Something I figured was more fun at the time anyway.
Fast-forward to now, I did make short films and helped with documentaries and such, but after a while, I found a deep and cavernous hole in my soul. This was due to me ignoring and neglecting my true love of drawing and art. Now, I’ve been out of the game for decades at this point. Instagram has shown me that I would never catch up to such talented young artists now, and my high school self felt that fear creep in like a spider crawling along my spine. One thing that my years of experience in both film and work have taught me, is all that fear and worry is useless for a person’s pursuit of joy. It doesn’t matter if I am the best; there will always be someone better eventually. It doesn’t matter if I am famous, rich or even talented; these are fleeting traits. What does matter is that I find comfort in telling the stories I want and creating art that pleases my own personal life story.
Now that I found a love for manga art again, I get the opportunity to join in with aspiring mangaka artist and create wild and imaginative stories with them. Mine, well, mine is about the ancient gods and the ones mankind still serves. I grew up a Pentecostal Christian and know all too well the insane way beliefs can manipulate a human’s logic, living and loves. I hope to expose the beauties and the issues that religion has created through each culture throughout our existence. I’ll likely piss off a few people here an there and I may shine hope for others, but my goal is to break down the truth and fantasy of it all so that we as humans can share life together without hate or fear of ones beliefs.
You can see here that I am taking a different approach to the way gods are portrayed. This is because I want action and character to drive these beings in a way human readers may understand. I could develop them into celestial and orbital essences as they may have truly been, but then they could punch and fight each other in epic Dragon Ball Z ways. Where is the fun in that? When developing this story, I had originally just had a being be the participant in the epics and mythologies throughout time as a secondhand storyteller. Then, with Manga, I opened up a timeline of the past, future and everything in between to have an ever-so-changing destiny of events tell the story.
In this scene I have the god Chemosh accepting a sacrifice. King Eglon, a king of the Moabites, but has a story that reveals his struggles and state of affairs to why he does this, and finally the assassin thats mentioned in the book of Judges in the Bible. I’m not revealing quite yet River and his attachment to the story. Or Penny, the main protagonist of Neo Los Angeles 2110. This is a sample page for readers to get excited for what is to come. I hope you do too.
So this is kind of what has encouraged me to start my journey on creating my own Manga series and working on this format of storytelling. Also, I met a brilliant artist named @Sp0tleaf at Anime Expo LA 2026 and she encouraged me to be bold like her and just go for it. She has her art and manga on her Instagram, go subscribe.
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