A new perspective to solve a challenging problem.

It’s tempting to assume that drawing a manga is simpler than making a live-action movie or TV show. For example, manga artists don’t have to worry about constructing sets or procuring props. All they have to do is imagine the setting they want, then draw it, giving them complete control over the environment their story unfolds in.

Really, though, it’s anything but easy. Sure, live-action productions need to do more groundwork to build and dress their sets, but once that’s done, they can shoot scenes from whatever angle they want just by moving the camera. With manga, though, every time the artist wants to change perspective, they have to redraw the room. The art may be on a flat page, but it’s still supposed to represent a 3-D space, and keeping track of where the background elements and other environmental details are supposed to be in relation to each other can be a brain-busting challenge since they only exist in the mind’s eye of the artist.

Thankfully, manga artist and Japanese Twitter user Haru Amake (@BtRuzq) has come up with an extremely clever solution to that problem.

Using a piece of paper cut into a plus sign-shape, Amake has sketched the layout of a character’s bedroom. It’s nothing super complex or detailed, but all the major furnishings are there, like the bed, a table, and a chair. What makes the idea really brilliant is that Amake didn’t stop at the floorplan but also sketched the walls, where we can see curtains, cabinets, shelves, a closet, and even a calendar. “This makes it easy to understand what the room should be drawn like from different angles,” Amake explains.

With no fewer than 15 different things to keep track of in the room even before a single character sets foot inside it, this definitely looks like a more accurate and efficient way to do things than trying to work the whole thing out in your head. Amake’s method is also a lot quicker and less resource-intensive than building a dollhouse-like physical model or CF construct, giving you more time and energy to devote to drawing.

If you’re interested in seeing the results of this visual planning, Amake is currently illustrating the above-pictured manga series Catherine Has Been Kidnapped (Catherine ha Sarawareru), a free online preview of which can be found here. And if you’re looking for more mind-blowingly clever ideas, we recently found out we’ve been making our sandwiches wrong for years, and what we should be doing instead.

Source, image: Twitter/@BtRuzq
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