Some art, manga-style.

I likes me the manga. It has been a great aid to me in learning german - reading a book in a foreign language is tough going and requires either fluency or gritted teeth, and I'm short on willpower; but if you've got pretty pictures to help things along and fill in the gaps where you don't understand something, it becomes a lot easier. Manga are slightly better than western comics for this, as the decompressed style makes them lighter on text.

Also, when you're reading non-translated comics, the vocabulary tends, I find, to be a bit more extensive, and hence, troublesome; whereas the translated stuff is easier to understand. But this depends on the translator, and Masamune Shirow's work (Ghost in the Shell, and suchlike) is tough going in the german translation.

I also like the art style, and how I draw is heavily influenced by reading how-to-draw-manga books and tutorials (on which subject, let me plug Polykarbon, which is an awesome resource). Attempting straightforward imitation is a hit-and-miss thing, though - my attempts to do cutesy shoujo girls just look wrong, like those (in)famous pictures of bearded overweight men dressing up as sailor moon. But here are some attempts that worked. The first is fanart for a comic entitled "Angel Knights", which has sadly vanished from the internets. The second, entirely unintentionally, came out looking very like a german girl I had a crush on.