Kenny Ruiz Manga Comics – Domestika Course Review + 7 Day Challenge

In his new Domestika course, Kenny Ruiz teaches how to draw manga comics for beginners step by step. By the end of the course, your goal as a student is to create a 2-page manga comic with a professional feel.

I had the pleasure of going through every lesson of this course and can’t wait to share my experience with you!

I also challenged myself to create my first EVER Manga comic book, chapter 1, 32 pages in just 7 days.

Was I able to succeed? Did Kenny Ruiz’s tips and tricks help?

Keep reading to find out more 😉

Part 1: Kenny Ruiz – Artist, Mangaka, Teacher

Kenny Ruiz

Kenny Ruiz is a Comic Artist, Mangaka, Domestika Teacher.

His list of projects includes El Cazador de Rayos and Barcelona with Paquet publishers, and the series Dos Espadas and Malefic Time: Soum, with Norma Comics.

You can check out some of his work on Instagram, where he often shares little snippets of the projects he is working on.

Or by getting a copy of one of his published manga comic books.

View this post on Instagram

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I found that I could really appreciate Kenny Ruiz’s work by watching his Manga course. It allowed me to see his whole process from ideation to rough drafts, to finished beautiful pages.

Plus, I got to hear Kenny talk about his passion for manga, and that made me feel like I know him!

About Kenny Ruiz’s Manga Course

“Manga Comics: Narrative, Rhythm, and Composition” – is the name of Kenny Ruiz’s course on the Domestika platform.

• 28 Lesson (6h. 35m)
• 19 Additional Resources (6 Files)
• Level: Beginner

REQUIREMENTS:

To take this course you should have basic drawing skills.

You will also need a pencil, paper, and access to Clip Studio Paint – A creative app for drawing, painting and design. Clip Studio Paint – Download now.

AUDIO:

The original audio of this course is in Spanish. But you can choose from different subtitles: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Polish, Dutch.

I watched this course with English subtitles and found that it didn’t bother me at all. Actually, I enjoyed hearing Kenn Ruiz’s actual voice and manner of speaking.

ABOUT UNITS and LESSONS:

• UNIT 1 – Introduction
  • About Me
  • Inspiration

In the first unit, Kenny Ruiz shares with us a bit about himself, his work, and how he got started with manga. He also shares his favourite manga comic book inspirations.

• UNIT 2 – Understanding Manga
  • What makes the manga work well
  • Construction of your manga universe
  • How to create manga rhythm 1
  • How to create manga rhythm 2
  • The nemu
  • Basic Clip Studio Tools 1
  • Basic Clip Studio Tools 2

In the second unit, we learn more about the Manga genre and what makes it work well. You will learn all of the exciting tips and tricks of storytelling, composition, rhythm, and how to create an effective “NEMU”.

Kenny also takes us through the basics of using Clip Studio Paint as a manga artist.

• UNIT 3 – Chapter 1 of Your Manga
  • Prepare the project in Clip Studio
  • Story structure 1-3 (3 lessons)
  • From the structure to the sketches
  • Sketches page by page 1-7 (7 lessons)

This is the part where you get to take action and create a storyline, as well as readable sketches “nemu” for the 32 pages in your chapter 1. It’s a ton of work, but so rewarding in the end!

• UNIT 4 – Inked
  • Inking basics and tools 1-5 (5 lessons)
  • Final art: screentones 1
  • Final art: screentones 2

In this final unit, you’ll do the work necessary to bring two pages of your choosing to a complete finish. Ever wondered how a professional mangaka inks their work? Or how to create screen tones that print wonderfully? If yes, then this is the perfect chapter for you!

And there you have it, from ideation and theories, to practice and finished work.

Kenny Ruiz holds your hand throughout the whole journey and explains how to draw your own manga comic book from scratch.

Another awesome part about this course is the tasks given to you by Kenny at the end of each unit, so you can make progress while learning!

— Special 10% OFF Discount Code —

The course price is currently $72 CAD (or about $57.50 USD). At the moment of writing this post, there is a 75% OFF Domestika discount code promotion going on.

So, the current price is $17.90 CAD (or $14.30 USD).

Plus, as a reader of this blog,
you get access to a special Domestika Discount Code of 10% OFF!

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Paste the code above at checkout to get 10% OFF on top of any offer going on at the time of your purchase.

(this code is not valid for Bundles, nor Domestika Plus subscription & is valid for 30 Days – you can reactivate it afterwards)

Part 2: 7 Days To Come Up With and Draw 32 Manga Pages

Day 1: A Hopeful Beginning.

On the first day of this challenge, I managed to watch UNIT 1 and half of UNIT 2 of Kenny Ruiz’s course. Listening to him talk about manga was very inspiring, and exactly the motivation I needed to get started!

I found the lessons to be engaging, interesting and educational. I felt ready to move on to the next step in this journey.

Then, I focused on coming up with an idea for my comic and some rough idea of what the characters in it will look like.

Did I not mention that I had no idea for a manga or no characters in mind when I began? Well, there it is.

Then, I went to Pinterest (link to my Pinterest boards) and began hoarding information on drawing in Manga/Anime style.

Yup, I ALSO don’t know how to draw in this style.

So if about now you are starting to feel like I imposed an impossible challenge on myself – I started feeling the same way too.

Yet, by the end of the day, I had an idea for my manga comic, most characters sketched out and 2 main characters drawn fully!

Day 2: Manga is READ, not SEEN.

On day two I focused on finalizing the concepts of all of the main characters appearing in this story, and putting them together in a lineup.

I also worked on a quick emotions sheet for the main character.

Following Kenny’s teaching, “A Manga is read, not seen,” I started on the story. So, I tried writing a sort of script for the first chapter together with some bullet points on the main characters.

Plus, I finished watching UNIT 2 of Kenny Ruiz’s Manga course.

So far – so good. Lots of work done already, but way more awaits.

Day 3: Getting Out of My Comfort Zone.

Today I finished UNIT 3 of Kenny’s course and used his method of planning the first chapter’s flow! It was super fun to put it together this way because I felt as if I did the hardest part already.

Also, I created rough drawings for the first two pages of the manga!

Really, it was a relief to finally start drawing.

I found it a bit challenging at first, as I’ve never really drawn in the manga style before, but I loved getting out of my comfort zone!

Day 4 and 5: Hustling.

On days 4 and 5 I spent all of my time working on the rough drawings for the 32 pages.

By the end of day 5, I had 26 pages of rough drawings ready!

It was a crazy two days, for sure. Yet, all of the work I managed to get done really paid off by the end of this challenge.

Honestly, it was super fun to flip through these pages and see how my manga comic book is slowly, but surely, coming together.

Did you know that you can see a 3-D mockup of your printed Manga in Clip Studio Paint?

I looked at mine and it’s so cool!

Check it out to see all 32 pages together:

Day 6: Finally, a NEMU!

Finally, on day 6 I finished all of the rough drawings, the “nemu”, as Kenny says.

Yup, 32 manga pages with rough drawings, dialogue and speech bubbles are ready!

The rest of the evening I spend watching Kenny Ruiz’s final lessons in UNIT 4.

Day 7: Success..?

On day 7 I spent the whole day inking and adding screen tones to the first 4 pages of my manga comic book.

2 regular pages and one double-spread page were finished and I was so excited to print them!

What do you think?

(Video) Creating a Manga Comic Challenge

Oh, you can also watch the whole process from start to finish on my YouTube channel!

I’ll embed the video below, but don’t forget to subscribe if you enjoy it 🙂

Part 3: Final Thoughts About The Course

Truth be told, I was only able to do this challenge in 7 days thanks to the Kenny Ruiz Manga Course. He shared plenty of mindsets, tips, tricks and ideas throughout.

However, most importantly, the way he passionately speaks about different manga books, and the process of creating manga was truly inspiring!

Most importantly, Kenny Ruiz didn’t skip any parts of the process and shared exactly how he draws rough drawings, adjusts things, inks, creates speech bubbles, borders, screen tones and so on. His lessons were packed with goodness!

Plus, it’s a Domestika course, and if you’ve ever bought any of their courses you know how beautiful and interesting the video lessons are.

Sure, I didn’t complete all of the pages with the inking and screen tones. But, if at the beginning I knew how much work and time this process takes, I never would’ve set such a challenge in the first place!

That’s why I still think I’ve succeeded with the challenge.

I definitely got out of my comfort zone and learned way more than I could’ve imagined getting into this.

You can grab your copy of Kenny Ruiz’s “Manga Comics: Narrative, Rhythm, and Composition”course HERE (just click on the link).

And don’t forget about your Domestika Discount Code of 10% OFF!

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Paste the code above at checkout to get 10% OFF on top of any offer going on at the time of your purchase.
You can use it for ANY Domestika course!

Thank you for reading about my journey!