"A real manga ka is one who can live off of it"

yes, else you are considered a hobbiest (somebody correct that spelling please xD). If you want to be a professional, be prepared for a long heavy road..

Have you ever seen the film, Kiiroi Namida?

You should. Then you will never, ever want to just jump in and draw manga as a profession without serious consideraton.

Or you could just read the first few pages of Bakuman...

Mangaka is the same as comic artist in English (manga=comic). So if you make manga, you are a mangaka. And if you make a living from making manga, you are a "pro" mangaka.

Since manga is an art (at least I considered so), it doesn't matter what kind of medium you use. You can use tablet, photoshop, manga studio, anything... as long as it helps you to make manga, why not? But from what I heard, Japanese publisher really appreciate traditional medium much more than digital ones. But on-line and some western publisher accepts digital manga format.

If you want to be a professional mangaka, you have to know that it's really hard to live as a "pro" mangaka. Don't be so easy to scream I want to be a (professional) mangaka. In my country, it's practically impossible to live as a mangaka. Even in Japan, it's really hard to live as a mangaka. You have to be ready working in so many side jobs when your manga isn't selling well. Are you ready to live like that?

But if it's only for a side job or as a hobby, then go for it! (this is MT so that's the normal response ^_^ )

... Yes. Tradition says hand drawn. And I agree, comics are art. And how can somebody be strictly a manga-ka if you dont live in Japan. You live in the Philippines dont you?

Manga, comic, manhwa; it just a different term for a same thing.

I realize, but Manga-ka has its own flavor then Comic Book Artist does.

O yeah, forget to write. I live in Indonesia. We have our own local comic book (and publisher). But the payment/commission for making comic here is still low and because it's cheaper to just import manga from Japan, things don't look good for our local comic. And I see that people prefer manga compared to our local comic (which is very obvious, because even I myself prefer professional Japanese manga). Also, the publisher only assign several editors for several tens of comic artists, making the progress of publishing local comics extremely slow (less than a title per several months).

Well... at least things are much better than several years ago. But right now, it's impossible to live on making comic only. That's why we have more illustrators than comic artists since it's better paying, lots of people need them, and share similar skills.

one of the only ways to become a true mangaka and live off of it is to work for a magazine like shonen sunday or WSJ......... not saying there arent any others, but those two are the most pop....and hardest to get into.

good thing im gonna be in WSJ in about ten years then.

I guess we have to clarify something here. When we say "manga" and "mangaka" in this thread, is it specifically Japanese manga and mangaka, or just comic in all around the world or in each of our country?

Anyway, if you just want to make a living as a professional comic artist, you could become one in your own country, doesn't need to be in Japan only. US have Marvel and DC (and bunch other big publishers), Korean have lots of manhwa publishers (right now S.Korea have (almost) rivaling Japan in terms of comic and animation), Indonesia have Elex Media K. and M&C. (sorry, don't know publishers in other countries)... Or you could go on-line and publish your manga in TokyoPop.

yeah thanks >x<

and I think I am prepared to do all that. I really want to become a mangaka so , even if its really hard and tough...

Then post some of your art around here, we'll be glad to help you out on your journey. Or...I will I don't know, whatever lol. Also I don't know about this but I'm sure most of the time you'll need a team with someone or a few people, it always works best that way. And as far as publishing, there is self publishing, but not much money comes that way unless you're popular...try Tokyopop I guess.

The better you are, the more comments you get. Its kind of lame actually