Manga Studio® for Dummies®

Manga Studio® for Dummies®

by Doug Hills
Released January 2008
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470129869

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Book description

Love Manga? The newest features of Manga Studio help you bring your ideas to life! The tools available in the latest version of this powerful program make it easy to turn your computer into your drawing board, and Manga Studio For Dummies makes it easy to get started.

Discover how to use Manga Studio to begin creating comics in manga or Western styles, add color to your creations, and share them with your adoring public. It’s a breeze once you know your way around the program. Manga may have begun in Japan, but Manga Studio For Dummies is written in plain English, and shows you how to:

  • Build and use page templates

  • Rough in your comic with penciling techniques

  • Work 100% digital, or use a combination of digital and traditional tools if you prefer

  • Work with layers, rulers, and panels

  • Add speech bubbles and sound effects text

  • Ink your work and add tones

  • Prepare your creations for print or distribution on the Web

Written by a working digital artist, Manga Studio For Dummies covers both Manga Studio Debut and EX versions. As an added bonus, it even gives you a peek into the world of manga and comics in general. With the help of Manga Studio For Dummies, you just might find yourself among the comic artists whose work populates the Web and gathers thousands of fans!

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Author
  3. Author's Acknowledgments
  4. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Conventions Used in This Book
    4. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Welcome to Manga Studio
      2. Part II: Roughing It
      3. Part III: Refining and Exporting Your Work
      4. Part IV: Advanced Tips and Tricks
      5. Part V: The Part of Tens
    5. Icons Used in This Book
    6. Where to Go from Here
  6. I. Welcome to Manga Studio!
    1. 1. Getting to Know Manga Studio
      1. 1.1. How Manga Studio Differs from Other Drawing Programs
        1. 1.1.1. Finding out what Manga Studio can do for you
          1. 1.1.1.1. Adding a personal touch to line work with custom rulers and guides
          2. 1.1.1.2. Eliminating shakiness in line work
          3. 1.1.1.3. Having thousands of screentones at your disposal
          4. 1.1.1.4. Working with multiple-page story files
          5. 1.1.1.5. Knowing your page dimensions with print guides (preinstalled and custom)
          6. 1.1.1.6. Creating custom word balloons (EX only)
        2. 1.1.2. Knowing what Manga Studio can't do (easily)
      2. 1.2. Debut versus EX: Which is Right for You?
      3. 1.3. Getting to Know Your New Workspace
        1. 1.3.1. Recognizing the Main toolbar
        2. 1.3.2. Adjusting your view with the Page toolbar
        3. 1.3.3. Accessing your core set of tools
        4. 1.3.4. Exploring various palettes
          1. 1.3.4.1. Tool Options
          2. 1.3.4.2. Layers
          3. 1.3.4.3. Navigator
          4. 1.3.4.4. Tones
          5. 1.3.4.5. Layer Properties
          6. 1.3.4.6. History
          7. 1.3.4.7. Gray (EX only)
          8. 1.3.4.8. Materials (EX only)
          9. 1.3.4.9. Custom Tools (EX only)
          10. 1.3.4.10. Actions (EX only)
    2. 2. Help for the Beginning (Manga Studio) Artist
      1. 2.1. Acquiring Useful Tools
        1. 2.1.1. You can never have too much RAM!
        2. 2.1.2. Time to create some art — But with what?
          1. 2.1.2.1. A drawing tablet
          2. 2.1.2.2. A scanner
          3. 2.1.2.3. A printer
      2. 2.2. Understanding the Essentials of Comic Creation
        1. 2.2.1. Basic terminology
        2. 2.2.2. Storytelling basics: It's harder than it looks
        3. 2.2.3. A few other odds and ends you might find useful
          1. 2.2.3.1. Practice!
          2. 2.2.3.2. Find your voice
          3. 2.2.3.3. Look for inspiration
          4. 2.2.3.4. Don't be afraid to use references
          5. 2.2.3.5. Accept and learn from criticism
          6. 2.2.3.6. It's a marathon, not a sprint
          7. 2.2.3.7. Always remember why you're doing this
    3. 3. Creating Your First Manga Page: A Quick-Start Guide
      1. 3.1. Opening a New Page
      2. 3.2. Roughing the Page Out
      3. 3.3. Adding a New Layer
      4. 3.4. Inking Your Work
      5. 3.5. Erasing Your Mistakes
      6. 3.6. Readying Your Panels
      7. 3.7. Adding Screentones
      8. 3.8. Adding Text
      9. 3.9. Saving Your Work
      10. 3.10. Reopening Your Work
      11. 3.11. Exporting to an Image File
      12. 3.12. Printing a Hard Copy
  7. II. Roughing It
    1. 4. Your New Page Awaits
      1. 4.1. Creating a New Page
        1. 4.1.1. Setting up a custom page: As you like it
        2. 4.1.2. Selecting page templates a la carte
        3. 4.1.3. Creating your own page templates
        4. 4.1.4. Save As Template: On-the-fly template creation
      2. 4.2. Creating a New Story
        1. 4.2.1. Adding author and page information
      3. 4.3. The Save Button: A Vital Tool
    2. 5. Importing and Penciling Your Rough Draft
      1. 5.1. Time to Import Some Art!
        1. 5.1.1. Using your scanner
        2. 5.1.2. Importing an image file
      2. 5.2. What Happened?! (The Image Looks All Wonky)
        1. 5.2.1. Adjusting the image layer settings
        2. 5.2.2. Adjusting the image size
        3. 5.2.3. Regarding color
      3. 5.3. The Pencil and Eraser Tools: Your New Best Friends
        1. 5.3.1. Laying down the line: The Pencil tool
        2. 5.3.2. Whoops: The Eraser tool
        3. 5.3.3. Pencils and erasers of all shapes and sizes
      4. 5.4. Treat Your Canvas Like You Would in the Real World — and Then Some!
        1. 5.4.1. The Zoom tool
        2. 5.4.2. The Hand tool
        3. 5.4.3. The Rotate tool
    3. 6. Layers, Layers, Layers!
      1. 6.1. The Benefits of Using Layers
      2. 6.2. Getting To Know Your Layer Types
      3. 6.3. Creating a New Layer
      4. 6.4. Adjusting a Layer's Settings
        1. 6.4.1. The Properties palette
        2. 6.4.2. Changing the layer type
      5. 6.5. Using Simple Layer Functions
        1. 6.5.1. Copying layers
        2. 6.5.2. Locking layers
        3. 6.5.3. Deleting and hiding layers
      6. 6.6. Organizing Related Layers
        1. 6.6.1. Layer folders
        2. 6.6.2. Grouping layers
        3. 6.6.3. Merging layers
    4. 7. Panel Layers and Rulers
      1. 7.1. The Idea Behind Panel Layers
      2. 7.2. Creating a Panel Layer
        1. 7.2.1. Converting a selection to a panel layer
        2. 7.2.2. The Panel Maker tool
      3. 7.3. Working with Your Panel Layer
        1. 7.3.1. Opening a panel layer
        2. 7.3.2. Adding layers
        3. 7.3.3. Masking off areas
        4. 7.3.4. Closing a panel layer
      4. 7.4. Manipulating Your Panel Layers
        1. 7.4.1. Scaling
        2. 7.4.2. Moving
        3. 7.4.3. Deleting
      5. 7.5. The Panel Ruler Layer
      6. 7.6. Manipulating the Panel Rulers
        1. 7.6.1. Adjusting panel rulers with the Object Selector tool
        2. 7.6.2. Merging panels
        3. 7.6.3. Dividing panel rulers evenly
        4. 7.6.4. Expanding panels
        5. 7.6.5. Deleting points from a panel ruler
        6. 7.6.6. Adding points to a panel ruler
      7. 7.7. Converting Panel Ruler Layers
    5. 8. You Can't Draw a Straight Line without a (Virtual) Ruler
      1. 8.1. What's the Big Deal about Rulers?
      2. 8.2. Keeping It Simple: Using the Line and Shape Tools
        1. 8.2.1. The Line tool
          1. 8.2.1.1. Basic line tools
          2. 8.2.1.2. Advanced Line tool options
        2. 8.2.2. The Shape tool
          1. 8.2.2.1. Basic shape tools
          2. 8.2.2.2. Advanced Shape tool options
        3. 8.2.3. Drawing a line or shape
      3. 8.3. You Can't Use Rulers until You Make Rulers
        1. 8.3.1. The ruler layer
        2. 8.3.2. Rulers on an image layer
        3. 8.3.3. Creating rulers with the Line and Shape tools
        4. 8.3.4. Deleting rulers
      4. 8.4. Adjusting and Transforming Rulers
        1. 8.4.1. The Object Selector
        2. 8.4.2. The Ruler Manipulator
        3. 8.4.3. Keyboard shortcuts
        4. 8.4.4. Adding points
        5. 8.4.5. Deleting points
        6. 8.4.6. Aligning rulers
          1. 8.4.6.1. Verticalize
          2. 8.4.6.2. Horizontalize
          3. 8.4.6.3. Align sides
          4. 8.4.6.4. Parallel by interval
      5. 8.5. Time to Start Drawing with Your Rulers!
    6. 9. Working with Selections and Selection Layers
      1. 9.1. The Basics, or Getting (Re)Acquainted with the Selection Tools
        1. 9.1.1. The Marquee tool
        2. 9.1.2. The Lasso tool
        3. 9.1.3. The Magic Wand tool
        4. 9.1.4. Additional functions
      2. 9.2. You've Created a Selection — Now What?
        1. 9.2.1. Filling selections
        2. 9.2.2. Pasting screentones into selections
        3. 9.2.3. Outlining selections (EX only)
        4. 9.2.4. Deleting selections
        5. 9.2.5. Transforming selections
      3. 9.3. A Bit about Selection Layers and Why You'll LOVE Them!
        1. 9.3.1. Creating a selection layer
        2. 9.3.2. Creating and editing selections on a selection layer
        3. 9.3.3. Converting selection layers to image selections
      4. 9.4. For EX Users: Quick Mask and Quick Select
        1. 9.4.1. Quick Mask
        2. 9.4.2. Quick Select
  8. III. Refining and Exporting Your Work
    1. 10. Inking Your Work
      1. 10.1. Why Ink at All?
      2. 10.2. Scanning in Your Line Art
      3. 10.3. Creating a New Layer for Inking
      4. 10.4. Inking in the Lines
        1. 10.4.1. The Pen tool
        2. 10.4.2. The Magic Marker tool
        3. 10.4.3. Customizing your pens and markers
      5. 10.5. Filling Large Areas with Ink
        1. 10.5.1. The Fill tool
        2. 10.5.2. The Join Line tool
      6. 10.6. Using Airbrush and Pattern Effects with Your Line Art
        1. 10.6.1. The Airbrush tool
        2. 10.6.2. The Pattern Brush tool
    2. 11. Tone It Up!
      1. 11.1. Understanding How Tones Work
      2. 11.2. Knowing Why to Use Tones
      3. 11.3. Examining How Tones Work in Manga Studio
        1. 11.3.1. Terminology you should know
        2. 11.3.2. The Tones palette in Manga Studio Debut
        3. 11.3.3. The Tones palette in Manga Studio EX
      4. 11.4. Time to Lay Down Some Dots!
        1. 11.4.1. Adjusting your tones
        2. 11.4.2. Deleting tones
      5. 11.5. Adding Depth to Your Tones
        1. 11.5.1. Overlapping tones to add shadows
        2. 11.5.2. Adding highlights
      6. 11.6. Computones
        1. 11.6.1. Installing Computones
        2. 11.6.2. Deciphering the differences between Computones and Manga Studio tones
        3. 11.6.3. Applying Computones
    3. 12. Words Speak Louder than Actions: Adding Text to a Page
      1. 12.1. Adding Text
      2. 12.2. Editing Text
      3. 12.3. Avoiding Formatting Pitfalls
      4. 12.4. Creating Word Balloons in Manga Studio Debut
      5. 12.5. Creating Word Balloons in Manga Studio EX
        1. 12.5.1. Creating your own word balloon template
          1. 12.5.1.1. Creating a word balloon template from a ruler layer
          2. 12.5.1.2. Creating a word balloon template from a raster or tone layer
        2. 12.5.2. Using your custom word balloons
    4. 13. Printing and Exporting
      1. 13.1. Printing Your Work
      2. 13.2. Exporting Your Work to an External File
      3. 13.3. Additional Print and Export Settings
        1. 13.3.1. Color settings
        2. 13.3.2. Raster settings
        3. 13.3.3. Tone settings
      4. 13.4. Optimal Settings for Your Work
        1. 13.4.1. Tips for exporting for the Web
        2. 13.4.2. Tips for printing (locally or professionally)
          1. 13.4.2.1. Getting the best prints with your desktop printer
          2. 13.4.2.2. Getting the best results from a professional printing service
  9. IV. Advanced Tips and Tricks
    1. 14. General Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts
      1. 14.1. System Preferences Tips
        1. 14.1.1. Increasing the display quality
        2. 14.1.2. Changing the Drawing tool's cursor
        3. 14.1.3. Maximizing your undos
        4. 14.1.4. Changing your default layer settings
      2. 14.2. Drawing Tool Tips
        1. 14.2.1. Adjusting the brush settings
        2. 14.2.2. Tweaking the Pattern Brush tool's advanced options
        3. 14.2.3. Brush control
        4. 14.2.4. Creating a custom brush
      3. 14.3. Tone Tips
        1. 14.3.1. Etching with drawing tools
        2. 14.3.2. Creating your own tone
        3. 14.3.3. Using the Materials Catalog for quick reference!
      4. 14.4. Layer Tips: Coloring Your Work
      5. 14.5. Using Filters
        1. 14.5.1. Adding focus lines
        2. 14.5.2. Creating speed lines
        3. 14.5.3. Inserting vanishing points
    2. 15. Manga Studio EX Only!
      1. 15.1. Understanding and Taking Advantage of the Manga Studio EX Palettes
        1. 15.1.1. The Gray palette
        2. 15.1.2. The Materials palette
          1. 15.1.2.1. Using the default materials
          2. 15.1.2.2. Creating your own material
        3. 15.1.3. Custom Tools palette
        4. 15.1.4. Actions palette
          1. 15.1.4.1. Using default actions
          2. 15.1.4.2. Organizing action sets
          3. 15.1.4.3. Creating your own actions
      2. 15.2. The Gradation Tool
      3. 15.3. Spicing Up Your Work With Filters
        1. 15.3.1. Rendering filters
        2. 15.3.2. Transformation filters
        3. 15.3.3. Adjustment filters
        4. 15.3.4. Effect filters
        5. 15.3.5. Special effect filters
      4. 15.4. Filters as Rulers: Using the Parallel, Focus, and Perspective Line Rulers
        1. 15.4.1. The parallel lines ruler
        2. 15.4.2. The focus lines ruler
        3. 15.4.3. The perspective ruler
      5. 15.5. Putting Miscellaneous Functions to Use
        1. 15.5.1. Consecutive scanning
        2. 15.5.2. Filling and outlining selections
        3. 15.5.3. Creating pattern brush material
  10. V. The Part of Tens
    1. 16. Ten (Or So) Books and Web Sites to Check Out
      1. 16.1. Drawing Manga
      2. 16.2. Drawing Characters
      3. 16.3. Inking Your Comics
      4. 16.4. Drawing Backgrounds
      5. 16.5. Using Tones
      6. 16.6. The Books of Scott McCloud
      7. 16.7. Closely Read Other Manga and Comics
      8. 16.8. On-Demand Publishing
      9. 16.9. The Joy of Webcomics
      10. 16.10. Online Forums
    2. 17. Ten Ways to Improve Your Manga Studio Experience
      1. 17.1. Find the Right Place to Work
      2. 17.2. Purchase the Right (Digital) Tools for the Job
      3. 17.3. Create a Comfortable Workspace
      4. 17.4. Take a Break Now and Then
      5. 17.5. Don't Overburden Your System
      6. 17.6. Take Advantage of Manga Studio Tools
      7. 17.7. Save! Save! Save! And Save Again!
      8. 17.8. Avoid Perfectionism
      9. 17.9. If All Else Fails, Try a Different Medium
      10. 17.10. Have Fun!
  11. A. About the CD
    1. A.1. System Requirements
    2. A.2. Using the CD
    3. A.3. What You'll Find on the CD
      1. A.3.1. Manga Studio EX 3.0 from e-frontier
      2. A.3.2. Author-created material
      3. A.3.3. Bonus Chapters
    4. A.4. Troubleshooting
  12. 1. Using Vectors in Manga Studio EX
    1. What's the Difference between Raster Images and Vector Images?
    2. Time to Start Making (and Removing) some Vector Art!
      1. Drawing vector lines and shapes
      2. Erasing vector lines
    3. Hate What You See? Don't Erase It — Adjust It!
      1. The Width Correction tool
      2. The Line Lever
      3. The Line Smoother
    4. Converting a Vector Layer to a Raster Layer (and Vice Versa!)
  13. 2. 2DLT and 3DLT Importing
    1. Converting an Image into Line Art and Tones with 2DLT Importing
    2. Adding 3-D Objects to Your Page with the 3DLT Import Command
    3. Exploring Additional 3DLT Settings
      1. 3DLT tab toolbar
      2. Display tab
      3. Rendering tab
      4. The Four Views window
    4. Adjusting 3DLT Objects with Textures
    5. Adding Motion Settings to a 3DLT Object
    6. Importing a Complex 3DLT Object: A Human Figure
  14. 3. Manga in America
    1. So What Is Manga?
    2. A Slow Climb to the Top
      1. 1960s–1970s
      2. 1980s
      3. 1990s–today
    3. Comics and Manga in the Digital Realm
    4. Japanese Comics Created Outside of Japan: The OEL Manga

Product information

  • Title: Manga Studio® for Dummies®
  • Author(s): Doug Hills
  • Release date: January 2008
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470129869