By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

With almost 500k followers on YouTube, many of you reading this are likely already fans of, or followers of, Whyt Manga on YouTube. However, if you haven’t heard of WhytManga (full name: Odunze Whyte Oguguo) yet, then let this be a brief introduction to this amazing creator!

My first encounter with WhytManga on YouTube was about six months ago. I’ve been scripting a comic and wanted to learn more about character design/drawing to see if I could do some beginning-level sketch work or storyboarding prior to hiring an artist (or, perhaps, improving enough to do the art myself over time).

The channel came into my recommended section, given my preference for animation and manga, and by the end of the day, I had consumed multiple videos from this talented individual.

Based on my brief internship with Warner Brothers DC Comics Editorial Team and working as a freelancer with self-publishing authors in this field for a short while (and being a long-time fan of the medium), I would say that WhytManga really knows his stuff.

From design to layout, one of the key benefits of watching WhytManga’s work is how well this creator breaks down the complicated processes of drawing and publishing your own work into a simplified step-by-step process. It really is a “do-it-yourself” and still find success sort of channel, which I greatly appreciate as someone who has worked a little in the field and found it, at times, to be overwhelming to view the back end of things when one is so new.

You can check out their Linktree here, including links to WhytManga’s other social media accounts, books, and more. I highly encourage a self-exploration into what WhytManga (and the company they co-founded, Saturday AM) offers, as I think that WhytManga is setting the stage for how American Comics can elevate in genre, character, and focus, to match what we see coming in and publishing internationally.