Otaku Skills

I'm all for drawing, but it's quite hard to get the differernt angles for the face. Envisioning it in your mind is easy.... translating it onto paper is definitely not.

I chose drawing because I can't program or sculpt. Drawing would be easiest to level up as a skill.
And yes, I wish I had that skill at lvl 99 instead of maybe lvl3 :(

Hmm, this is actually quite a good point. I for one like drawing, and can sometimes draw quite well, but this is a choice i had to make recently when deciding on a university career path. I decided that although i could draw, my drawing skills are unpredictable, sometimes they go well, and sometimes they flop...but my computing skills are reliable, and thus i decided to prioritise and leave drawing as a hobby. ^_^

Programming is something you learn by yourself, now drawing and sculpting can be a bit more harder especially sculpting. I would prefer to draw which I can a little bit but not good enough to draw my own character I can only copy by looking at other draws.

If I'd have to choose one, I'd choose drawing I suppose. It takes a while to get the hang of, especially if you're still trying to decide what style you're really into. Even Anime has a lot of sub-styles if you think about it. Retro-70 and 80's almost realistic, super deformed and all that.

Has anyone considrered 3D? :) You have all three thrown in together, drawing sculpting and even programming, if you want to get that advanced.

I use to draw a bit of anime when I was younger. Thing is it would take me forever to finish one sketch I lose interest and move on to another. For some reason I could never get the flow of hair right. I'm hair illiterate.

As you see from my icon, its drawing but I still got a ways to go before my art looks truly like real anime. I have the same deal mostly, lots of programming knowledge but my fun really comes in the drawing and design.

I definitely would like drawing. In the first place I'd love to see what I can produce with my own hands, not to mention I am learning bit by bit and joining a couple of casual competitions to have fun =D
Despite that I'm actually in programming xD

Am currently trying to improve my drawing skills. Won't mind doing a sculpting course in the future after i'm done with either a photography or illustration course. But I am always grateful to have picked up programming, and never regretted it.

@Danny: If you were able to draw or sculpt bishojo characters, would you have traded them for programming skills? ^^;
After all, code is poetry.

For me programming is so much fun I would never want to give up on that. I think it's not only a question of how good you are at something, but also if you enjoy doing it. Programming can be frustrating and time-consuming (especially debugging), but in the end I am happy when a project is finished and the hard work paid off.

I can draw, but not speed draws where you finish the sketch within 10 minutes. I take my time for an hour or so and have a very complete picture with shadings and other details done.

Well, I'm trying my best to polish up my drawing skills. Other than that, I'm onto engineering and programming (somewhat like a jack of all trades =_=!)

I absolutely love drawing, would never trade it off for anything else =)

i never liked programming so i choose drawing.

maybe photoshop too so that i can edit my drawings and colour them. ('~')

A-ha! One of your best questions yet, Danny!

I can't sculpt, but maybe it's a bit like drawing. I can draw, but takes TONS of time and patience. And I can program a bit of HTML, CSS and PHP, but not enough to pay the bills, which is probably in general, more pay than the previous two skills.

But if I could pick one that I could do well and FAST enough to pay for itself, then drawing it is! Assuming mentally visualizing a scene/story goes along with expertly jotting it down on paper, hahaha. =)

I can do neither of the 3. Sigh, I'm so unskilled.

If I had to choose, I'd take sculpting... Coz I can draw abit and programming just ain't my cup 'o' tea... I think sculpting's really interesting... I wish I had the abilities to do all three...

Hey Danny,
never noticed this before but is Mirai's image derived from Kureha's likeness? Didn't notice till you put them together in that pic. Coincidence?

Drawing definately, although I am working on that...

drawing for lately, i've been trying to make lucky star non NFSW doujin. got the script,, but working on how to draw it....

sculpting is "what i really want to" skill, but never seen good material to sculpt T_T, any idea where i can get it and name the material please

programming are quite interesting

I would like to have some programming skills now though. after all, designers who can do back end programming has really high market value here :)

Well, it's still the best if you can have all 3 skills =x But if there is a need to choose, I would pick drawing. It's fun to see what each stroke can combine to form, let your imagination go wild (>w

I'd like to have awesome programing skills like Linus Torvalds or maybe a cool hacker like Kevin Mitnick.

I'd want to draw, since I'd be learning programming anyway :D

i would like all 3 of them

Possessing Taka Tony's drawing abilities.... =(

So many ppl here claim to be able to draw a little bit...

Where's that ability to attach pictures to your comments, Danny? Sounds like we need a contest of some sort :D I'm sure GoodSmile will be happy to provide prizes out of their garbagebins :D
We would be happy for those prizes, too :P

I think it's human nature to never be totally happy with what you have. If you're a programmer you want artistic skills. If you're an artist you want programming skills. Me, I'm a programmer and I would like to learn to draw anime. :-)

I'd take drawing if it was for a leisure time activity. I'm pretty sure the demand for programmers is higher than artists, unless you're really good at it.

I'd like to be a programmer who can also draw.

I want to be good in every skill so I will do every thing.

Well I already have some programming skills (which I'm always trying to improve ;) ), and I don't want to give them for anything else. Sometimes I want to be able to draw some nice ero pic, but the coding is more fun :)
So no 10x :)

Well I can draw fairly well,(meimi132.deviantart.com for examples if u wanna see lol) I love spending ages drawing cute girls in cute outfits!! It's awesome fun. But unfortunately I can draw pretty filthy ones too if I want... :sob: I get such funny looks off my friends... one thinks I'm a perverted lesbian. And I'm neither. Anime girls are just more fun to draw than anime boys!!! I'm right arn't I?!

Well I can draw fairly well and I'm tryin' to go for manga artist as my profession so I have to touch up on my skills. Right now I'm working on women's anatomy so that I can make wonderful doujin- I mean mangas. :P

I´m quite similar to Danny.
I know programming, but I wish I could draw.

Dunno if I would completely exchange my skills though. At least if I was born in Brazil... because here, I´d probably starve as there are no good jobs for artists, unfortunately (apart from those who achieve rockstar status).

Programming is easier... almost every company out there needs programmers. So even if you end up in a crappy job, at least you have one.

But if I where to be given a job... I would like to do sculpting.. but not only garage kit and figure sculpting. I´d go for like bronze sculpting, ironworks and stuff like that. I just find it impressive.

I have some programming skills in C++,PHP and currently learning Ruby on rails. However, I was never good at arts and drawing. I remember at school, I sucked so badly. So yes, I'd love that I could draw. If i was able to draw, i'd do mangas. I have some really good scenarios in my head.

In my SSAM course, I'm either a Bsc or BA student, sometimes we lean to one side or be completely in the middle. I lean quite abit to the BA side I think.

For my Major, I'm doing a Hypercomic (which I'm wanting to call it HyperManga!), its in Manga style and I think it'll help me lurch forward abit in drawing. :D

Then again, I'm a person who likes to learn various bits a and pieces... Long life skill, Drawing...?

We geeks can draw, using the tools we know the best, our computer. A good way to start into this world is using DAZ Studio, it's free and has a ton of models to choose from including Anime

I can draw but cannot programe for the life of me o_o; can't wait to see all the mirai fan arts WOOHOO!

Danny I think you should just keep a sketch book, and start drawing :D I have a friend - my friend who own my gallery server, started drawing only recent years and I think he got pretty good in a short time! :O

I picked up drawing a few years back, my how to draw anime books are next to my desk at home, but never practiced as much as I should have due to other works I had to finish. I still doodle time from time in class when I'm bored.

Mmm.. If I would pick, I would pick drawing. Man I do want to draw anime characters.

Thing is, drawing and sculpting are mutually dependent! Can you imagine sculpting a really good basic pose for a figure only to find that you to be completely inept at the fine detail?

I'll stick to just being able to paint and give a certain degree of life to a figure. I'll leave the sculpting to someone else. Modding is ok tho...

So I guess that leaves programming for me, though it's not that I can't (i did a little java programming back in uni), i just get too frustrated when my program won't compile because I forgot a semicolon at the end of one of the lines...

I would want drawing. You can teach yourself to draw but its a pain so I rather have the talent of just being able to draw without teaching myself. Programming you can learn if you set your mind to it. I tried to get better at drawing but it just got to frustrating.

Im picking drawing because thats where my artistic skill lies. Im fairly good at sculpting, and computers.

Danny, if you would like some drawing of Mirai let me know and I will work on some for you. And yes, I feel you, I sketch things allllll the time. But everyone has a skill and I am sure someone would always want the skill you have, and you will always want someone elses skill.

If you arent good at drawing or sculpting, theres only one way to get better. Practice, then practice again.. then practice more. I have been trying to draw better since I was very little.. I practiced every day and kept looking for more complicated things to draw. Thats how you get better.(fake it till you make it)

Samurai!! Thats just lazy!!!! What you want is some talent to begin with, but then you can learn as you go, learn from what you read and other things. That's what I've done. Since bout 2003 I've been drawing manga-style stuff from what I've been reading. I've got quite good since then I think. :grin:

I am a model builder so there is really no choice here: sculpt.

Engineers can be scientists and artists at the same time, although they are not. One thing I struggle with as an artist- whether I am drawing or sculpting is the human form/face. I just cannot draw people for some reason. If you asked me to draw a 160 foot yacht then I could do that without a problem, but I can't draw people. I think it is due to a part of my brain taking over the recognization of the human form x_x. Am I becoming a cyborg??

Well for you! If you have the skills for sculp, go for it!
I will love to see the result ;)

By the way, even if i'm engineer and i design chemical plants, i think i'm not good enough to try to sculpt an anime figure.

I prefer model kits.

Greetings from the warm Venezuela and from La Ventana de Saouri.

Well... I'm happy with programming, so I won't trade it for anything :)

I already love to design cars, so my choice would be to draw characters.

I been drawing for a long time and i can draw 2D-and portraits. I just love drawing in class. I would want to learn programming and im going to take sculting class soon. "Drawing is in a pain in the ass, almost gave up on it 2years ago"

Drawing, sculpting only ends in failure for me most of the time, and the other well same applies. Drawing I at least have a lot of experience with +10 years to be exact.

I can draw, but I don't really draw ero...though on some occasions I do. ^^; Danny if I could, I would trade our skills in a heartbeat!

I already have great skill with painting figures, so I suppose if can sculp figure, I`ll change work for sure!! :)

T_T

i cant drawing, but if do some progamming language i still can do it.

mmm... I'ma ok drawer... But I can still use improvements... However, if anything, I would think programing would get me a carrier at least...

I draw a lot, but have a bad habit of never finishing any work.

I've been trying to sculpt lately, but its very hard, being self taught and all. But there are always people with natural talents in these things, Modeller T for example ^^ However for people like me it'll take years of experience, and if by the end of my life I don't accomplish anything by them, I'll still be satisfied that I put forth the effort.

I think I am one of those people who don't have one special good skill but I always seem to try branch out into everything, drawing, programming, never done sculpting.. But I wish I DID have one thing I was specially good at instead of just 'getting by' in a lot of things.

i kinda wish i can do both... (drawing and programming), which is why im in computer science and practicing drawing by myself.i just hope i can be good at one of them. ;^^

I'm studing animation, and is not like i'm a bad with drawing, but, the japan level is just too hight, that would my choise be.

I wish I could program past the simple HTML that I know.

Hmm if I had to have that skill for a job I would have to program. Life of mangaka and stuff seems too tough. But if it was not work related, I would definitely want to be able to draw instead.

There are programs to do everything, and stuff w/o programs seems beyond the scope of a single person. So I think drawing would be a lot more fun, although programming could still be kind of useful.

Danny, what about hardcore Gunpla Modify skillz???

I was always drawing when I was younger. Tried becoming an art major when I was in my early years of college, but it never worked out.

Would love to return to drawing. Becoming a good artist is like learning a language. One needs to spend time with it everyday.

I agree sculpting would be nice to try too.

I look forward to putting myself in a financial position where I can spend more time with the things that give me so much enjoyment.

Always wanted to draw...

but now I think I'm more inclined to do sculpt work, since I could also widen it to traditional scale modeling and such :3

I love my tanks~

Hey Danny,
I'll be back, and free in Tokyo during December 14~19... if you're free during that time, care to meet up..?

already i have drawing, but am not a good programmer yet (except actionscript2 :p). therefore programming is the way to go. have done sculpting, and to be honest, it gets rather boring after a while, even tho fun at first

I do everything, and thus; regret nothing.

That's how it goes hen you run a design company.

I can't program or sculpt for beans! I don't want to change that, though.

I'd like to have the skills to draw and sculpt. I need to relearn my programming skills. I'm tired of tech support and I enjoyed creating databases (yeah, I know, it's scripting and not programming), but it's been awhile and I've forgotten so much and I want to get back into that area gain

Tough choices, since I already inherited some drawing talent from my family genes, it would have to be programming. I am/was taking visual basic but jut failed that class...looks like i'll have to take it again :(

Ive already got fairly good drawing skills, and soon will be taking sculpting classes....the real question would be where you could go to get hired to draw and make bishoujo figures >.< It's fairly competitive if I'm not mistaken.

Programming would be very interesting though... that would definately come in handy with things like photoshop ^^

I prefer to choose programming than drawing,,and i can't draw charas ^^;

Programming

Great as it would be to be able to draw or sculpt, you can realistically get a somewhat well paying job with programming. Just what are the chances of getting that with drawing or sculpting?

You know, you can get good at anything if you practice long enough. Honestly though, classes dont help for drawing and sculpting, at least from my experience, so I would recommend using on of the biggest tools to accomplish getting better. Imagination. That plus practice makes you better.

Well, I tend to draw quite a bit when I get bored in class. The worse it is, the more I go for doodles. ^^;

I have yet to hone my skills, but I never do, because of laziness and school. *Sigh* Maybe would I draw something related to Mirai-Chan if I had some motivation (Danny, if you lost the last one, I still got a copy... Sorry for having pestered you about it some time ago), since I got free time now.

Programming does not truly interest me, though I know I could have missed a great opportunity to make myself some nice pocket money.

As for sculpting, I don't think I could ever have the necessary materials and I can be clumsy at times. However, having a certain sense of care for details would have certainly helped me if I ever were to paint things like figures.

Having some talent doesn't make it a job (For example, knowing how to do massages and manicure/pedicure doesn't make you a care professional). You also have to constantly keep your skills sharpened or you lose them with time.

By the way, if someone could be nice enough to tell me where I could learn how to Photoshop images online, this would be greatly appreciated (Properly adding some colors to my creations would be great).
This is one of the things that I would like to learn, compared to programming languages which seem a bit too complicated for my taste (thus discourage me from trying).

If you have the time and the patience to learn how to draw, you can also sculpt. Because sculptors also know how to draw. What they often do is make sketches of what would become the sculpture, and they use those sketches as a guide.

If you want to do this, I suggest you start with drawing first. Learn the basics. I'm sure there are lots of "how-to-draw" books there in Japan. They all follow the same knowledge. The only difference is the style- in this case, it's the anime and manga style.

Well, good luck on whatever you choose to do. :)

Pat

Would CG fall under programming or drawing? I was basing the idea off of all the 3d Miku videos I've seen. It's a two in one deal, I think.

I have drawing skills, little Photoshop/Internet/HTML skills. So comp stuff for me.

it would be drawing I guess, since I'm sticking with it. I've no artistic talents to begin with but I always try to learn and teach myself. I'm proud to say I've a couple of skills in drawing 2D characters^^ At the same time, I'm also learning programming whenever I come across of it.

Some good books to look into for those who wants to be Manga Artists or so.

- Understanding Comics
- Reinventing comics
- Making Comics
(All by Scott McCloud)

Some may heard of him, Its definately a start in this as a career or mega hobby. I find Understanding Comics and Making Comics usefull.

Unlike some books that teach you how to draw things, these books are the theories, ideas and plans to develop your own comic or manga.

i always wanted and love to learn how to draw anime/manga style drawing and i would also love and wanted to learn how to sculpt PVC figures ^___^

As for me, I am just finishing a degree in Multimedia. My purpose for going for this degree was to become an animation movie maker. Unfortunately, it appears I simply don't have the control necessary to draw well (the ol' "Can't draw a straight line to save my life" problem). So now I am focused on making animation and websites with Flash, and hoping to eventually get to Tokyo with that as my tool of entry.

Owh darn... if only we could make 2 selections (but then again, we shouldn't be greedy~~~)
Just a suggestion to Danny-san, why not make a Mirai figurine? I'm sure i'll be among the first to be in line to get it~~~
One more thing, you mentioned something about fan-arts of Mirai. i'd like to send mine... can you give me the link or address of where to send it?

I like drawing as much as the next person but programming is more of my forte.

I am good at end-user programming. (I composed all of my W-WW pages in pure HTML v4 using WordPad, and I use infrequently-viewed options in BBCode and pHp code on fora.)
But I see my creative side more towards the visual arts of photography, videography, or cinematography.

Drawing for me, I'm amazing at writing but terrible at art. lol, if I could harness both powers, I could be a doujin artist or something XD

I am pretty decent at drawing (see avatar^^), particularly with programs like OpenCanvas, decent writer too I guess but I am utterly hopeless with programming and sculpting lolz.

It would be awesome (and possible, with time and dedication) to be a one man monster capable of creating great things I think - but the only thing we have in this world that is finite - is time. : (

Programming ftw

Sculpting for now I guess after reading all the Goodsmile related posts.

So cooool...

Why not program an application that will draw for you?

Or program some robotic arms to sculpt for you?

I wouldn't trade drawing for anything in the world, I'm an awesome artist, and my drawing style is kinda bishojo-esque (kind of like 2x2=Shinobuden/Ninja Nonsense or Lucky Star), One day I'll post one of my drawings on here, none of my characters have noses

I'm into drawing, but I wasn't any damn good at it. So I gave it up.

I'm stuck with programming now. :(

I do not have much of the provided skill listed,

but would militay advisor help out any????????

I'd do drawing [:

I'm for drawing, for what I'm planning on doing I won't need programming, and sculpting takes too long. Although I'd pick sculpting over programming.

僕はホームページ作るのが大好きだから、プログラミングスキルが勉強したい。
でも、ダニーさんのいうようにイラストなんかはコンテンツになるからそっちも重要だなぁー。。

I would (and I actually do) combine drawing with programming.

I like art, so I'll probably go with drawing.

But I like music better, though.

I will love drawing all day long
but I like my programming skill