Great! Let’s dive into this week’s Manga Monday Sketch Blog, continuing the same energetic and multi-dimensional format from last week — with our emphasis now shifting toward Page 2 of the Eight Pages of Sketchbooking: Application.

Hello fellow sketchbook adventurers,

First, a quick apology for the delay in getting this week’s Manga Monday post out. Life sometimes presses pause when we least expect it. But what matters most is that we unpause with intention. And that’s exactly what this week’s post is all about—intention in action, or in the language of the Eight Pages of Sketchbooking: Application.

Last week, we journeyed into the magic of Page 1: Observation, encouraging beginner and intermediate artists to seebefore they draw—to gather, study, and explore with curiosity. But today, we set our sights on Page 2, where all that observation gets funneled into practice, experimentation, and meaningful repetition. If the first page is about seeing the world, the second is about making your mark on it.

✍️ Page 2: Application – From Noticing to Knowing

“Application” is where your sketchbook becomes a lab, not a gallery. It’s where manga dreams take on form—messy, wonderful, experimental form.

This is the space where you take the references, inspiration, and studies from Page 1, and you start using them. You try them out. You sketch poses over and over again. You draw a hand ten times until it doesn’t feel like a mystery anymore. You take that character idea and try giving them new expressions, new outfits, new poses. You draw them sad. Then angry. Then eating ramen. Then jumping into a mecha battle.

This isn’t perfection. This is progress.

🗂️ Tuesday How-To’s: Applying Anatomy in Manga Style

Let’s explore application through the lens of anatomy this week—always a tricky area for manga artists. While stylization is a hallmark of manga, the human figure still obeys certain rules. Use Page 2 to apply the studies you’ve made from life, from tutorials, or from figure drawing classes.

Here’s a 3-step How-To for Page 2 practice:

1. Choose a body part (like hands or feet).

2. Draw it from reference 3 times.

3. Draw it from memory 3 more times.

4. Stylize it into your manga character 3 ways.

You’re building visual muscle memory. Page 2 is where you put your sketches through drills. Just like martial arts, it’s repetition that builds fluency.

🛠️ Work In Progress Wednesday: Manga Panels in the Making

Applying doesn’t mean finished art. Let’s normalize showing unfinished work. Sketching a manga scene? Try thumbnailing three layouts for the same dialogue bubble. Don’t worry about clean lines or polished shading—this is all about testing. Move that character. Shift the camera angle. Try extreme foreshortening. Exaggerate an emotion.

Page 2 is your sandbox. No one’s grading you. Your future self will thank you for these experiments.

🌀 3D Thursday: Applying Perspective Without Fear

Perspective is one of the most misunderstood skills in manga creation. But guess what? You don’t need a math degree—you just need application.

Use Page 2 to:

• Draw a simple cube.

• Turn it into a room.

• Add your character.

• Repeat with a different angle.

You’re not aiming for perfect blueprints here. You’re applying what you’ve observed—how rooms feel in manga, how objects and characters occupy space, how to stage a scene. Think of your Page 2 as staging rehearsals before the final performance.

🧍 Figurative Friday: Dynamic Posing through Repetition

Page 2 is the perfect home for your pose practice.

Quick exercise:

• Choose a simple action (e.g., “running,” “bowing,” or “pointing”).

• Use a timer: draw ten 1-minute poses.

• Then slow down. Pick your favorite and refine it.

This is how you build style. Not by copying others, but by copying and then applying until it transforms into your own voice.

Manga thrives on expressive, dynamic characters. Page 2 allows you to break anatomy rules intentionally—after you’ve applied them correctly. It's the stage where knowledge meets imagination.

💭 Manga Magic: Application as Alchemy

Let’s step back and look at the bigger picture.

“Application” is where observation meets imagination and creates transformation.

Your sketchbook becomes a place of alchemy—where you blend what you’ve learned with who you are. Your manga pages, your characters, your world—they start to carry your fingerprints.

Don’t worry if the results look messy. This page should look like a war zone of ideas. Scribbles. Half-finished gestures. Scribbled-out panels. That’s the proof you’re working. And unlike digital art, sketchbooks don’t hide your process. They celebrate it.

📚 A Final Thought – Your Sketchbook is a Mirror

As you embrace Page 2 of Sketchbooking, remember this: application is not about perfection. It’s about progression. It’s about action. It's about trying when you’re unsure and showing up even when your hand wobbles.

Let every Page 2 session be a small promise to yourself: I am learning by doing.

So this week, open your sketchbook, and don’t worry about the outcome. Try something new. Push a drawing until it breaks. Then try again.

We can’t wait to see what you apply this week.

Keep drawing,
Mark R. Northcott
Sketch Book Artists
🖤