Creating manga in Paint Tool SAI « Mangalectorium. Firelied scanlation team - lesson - coloring manga from hetiru

Good afternoon This article is for those who want to learn how to draw manga, trying on the role of a writer, director, editor and artist at the same time. Nowadays programs for creating manga on a computer are very popular, such as, for example, Manga Studio (very convenient, by the way), but I prefer to do this “live”.

There are many manuals, articles and lessons on the topic “how to draw manga and where to start”, in my article I will talk in detail not only about this, but we will also try to work out the plot and sketch sketches on paper. We can call it “from idea to finished page manga." Of course, no one says that you will succeed the first time. Practice, practice and more practice.

What to come up with or does it all start with the plot?

The most important and fundamental question is what will happen in your work? Now we will try to “pull out the ball by pulling the strings”:

1. Plot

It also takes more than one day to arrive at a more or less decent plot. You must clearly imagine your creation. It is not necessary to think through every frame; it is enough to have a beginning, middle (or the most basic) and ending. Then it will be easier, and you can easily decide on the details during the work. In order to know for sure whether you have a plot, answer the following questions: “Who?”, “Where?”, “How did he get there?”, “What will he do there?”, “How will it end? "

2. We write a summary

Remember: you cannot develop your story if you do not decide on the place and direction of events. Take the first chapter of your project and write one paragraph outlining the main actions of your characters. Next, shorten it (your paragraph) to one or two sentences. For example, in Kota Hirano's manga Hellsing, the action begins in a small village in the north of England. That is, it can be written as “North of England. Alucard wins the fight with the vampire pastor."

3. Who is who?

It is also important to come up with “profiles” for the characters. WHO are your characters? Where are they from? Do they have moral values ​​or not? Do they love someone? Whether there is a best friend and/or worst enemy? What do they do and what do they strive for? Write your “profile” as if you were telling someone about your friend. Describe their strengths and weak sides, as this can be very useful in plot development.

4. Feel like a writer

Now forget about storyboards and individual chapters. Write the story as you see it in your head. There is no need to describe every leaf that bathes in the rays of the sun and quickly disappears into the darkness of clawed clouds.

5. “My first issue”

Now work out the details carefully. Write a description of each frame, it will be useful. You can only describe one chapter, but please note: your chapters may not be consistent, otherwise you will have to rework the following steps.

Weapons for battle!

The text is completed, and you are already trembling with impatience, clutching a pencil in your hands. You have come to the most interesting and most difficult (and responsible!) stage of the work. The storyboard is written on a piece of paper or in electronic file on the computer.

To begin with, I want to say a few words about movements. Let's portray a superhero ready to tear some freak into pieces.
1. We built the skeleton of the future hero. The so-called “dummy”. Apply strokes quickly but subtly so that there are no unnecessary lines left later.

Oh! Don't you feel sorry for this poor fellow with glasses? The viewing angle changed, and the comic blossomed, in the truest sense of the word. So, with a little imagination, you can come to a result pleasing to the eye.

But before we move on to the project implementation stage, let’s repeat what we’ve covered one more time. Let's look at a storyboard using the work of Patrick Shettlesworth as an example.

The character finds an ampoule with a deadly substance
... and examines it carefully.
Then he puts the ampoule in his bag.
Suddenly he hears a strange buzzing sound from the ceiling and turns around...
… and there’s a video camera!
Suddenly the character's attention is drawn to the monitor behind him, on which he sees the villain with a hostage.

Page two:

The guards are crowded around the booby-trapped door, waiting for the character.
The character is trying to break the bomb's clockwork mechanism.
He succeeds.
The guards on the other side are trying to open the door.
And they notice something wrong through the glass in the door.
The character lets them know that he successfully defused the bomb!

Stroke

The sketch is ready, you like it. So what's next? And then comes my favorite stage of work - inking. For this task, I use an isograph (0.5 mm), two thick black gel pens (about 1 mm each) and a G-pen.

Let's not go into too much detail. Then we make a stroke with an isograph or pen. Then we erase the pencil lines with an eraser, thereby clearing the page and completing forgotten lines (if any).

A young girl refuses to work.
The hostess makes it clear that then a sad fate will befall her.
The girl did not expect this at all.
Meanwhile, the robot is already taking aim...
The hostess gives a signal.
The killer machine shoots the baby.

There simply cannot be a happy ending here, but if the baby survived...
So, our work is circled.

If you notice that the lines are uneven, and the drawing was not scanned as desired, then you need to do the following:

Photoshop
First, make sure that the drawing is free of debris, dirt and is as clean as possible.
Next, scan the image in gray scale with a size of about 150 - 200%.
Clean in Adobe program Photoshop and erase the largest debris with an eraser, but don’t try too hard here, small defects will not be visible.
To get a clean sketch and rid it of gray, use the Curves tool. Press Ctrl+M (or Command+M for Macintosh). Click on the diagonal line in two places and make it look like the letter “S”, as shown in the image below.

Well, your drawing is cleaned and ready to go through the operation of screentones and text insertion!
Until next time, dear reader.

So... where to start... Okay, we'll start with Line-Art.
Line-Art is Line Art. Graphics that do not contain halftones (painting); can be reliably reproduced on low- and medium-resolution printers that do not print halftones.

Using the example, I took line-art from the site “www.deviantART.com”, to find any line art there, you just need to enter “lineart and what you want to find” in the search field. In subsequent lessons I will tell you how to make line-art yourself without any resources.
Well, let's start with:
*This lesson uses:
1. Adobe Photoshop CS2 (any other Photoshop can be used)
2. Line-Art taken from the site "www.deviantART.com"
3. And a little patience -

1. Beginning
Open the file with our line art:
Key combination "Ctrl+O" or "File=>Open=>Open the folder with line art=>Select file=>Open".
Our line art will appear in the window that appears. By default, the line art comes with a white background, but this can be easily fixed:
In the "Channels" window at the bottom there will be a "Circle circled with a dotted line" icon. See screenshot:

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Click on this icon and the entire line art will be selected (black color only). See screenshot:

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After selection you need to delete white layer, press the "Delete" or "Edit=>Clear" key. See screenshot:

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After removing the selection, we rename our line art (this is for convenience and so as not to get confused). Command: click right click mouse over the layer, the “Layer Property” command will appear, click on it, a window will appear, and there we will already indicate our name for the layer. Screen:

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To make it easier to work, create a layer and fill it with white (#FFFFFF): “Shift+Ctrl+N” or “Layer=>New=>Layer”. Rename the layer to “Background” or as you wish. Screen:

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2. Primary colors
So, let's move on to the second section "Primary Colors". In this section we will color the work with primary colors.
Let's start with...
In the "Layers" window, create a folder "Skin" or "Face" (this is for convenience and further editing). Screen:

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In the "Skin" folder, create a layer in which we will paint the face itself. Using the "Pipette" tool we take a color from any picture, in my example it is: "http://i038.radikal.ru/0906/9a/611baaaed309.gif" . Screen:

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After that, open our template with line art, take the “Skin” layer, select a brush of 19 pixels, mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%. Screen:

We paint the face area with the color we took from another work. We don’t paint too carefully, that is, we can go beyond the edges of the face area:

And we paint the rest of the parts in the same way...

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2.Shadows
Well, we have already colored all the parts of the body:

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Now we will apply shadows to the face. So, take the Pen tool - - and configure it according to the screenshot:

You'll probably ask: "Why do this?"
Let me explain: Let’s say we have chosen a color for our future shadow, and we already want to apply shadows, but in order for them to be applied accurately, we need to fix the layer. Screenshot:

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With fastening

Without fastening
So, let's get to our lesson. Apply shadows with the Brush tool to the pinned layer. Screen:

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Fill this selection with the color you chose: "Alt+Backspace".

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We've sorted out the face, now we paint the rest of the parts in the same way. Screen:

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3. Background
So, after we have painted all parts of the body and applied shadows, we begin to draw the background. Drawing the sky:
1. Turn off all layers
2. Create a folder called "Background"
3. Make 2 layers:
1. Sky
2. Clouds
Take the 1st layer “Sky” and apply a gradient of the desired colors to it. Screen:

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We got a full gradient, but something is missing, clouds. Let's draw the clouds:

1. Take a brush with a size of 30-40px and Opacity -
2. Draw clouds, or you can download ready-made brushes with clouds(


How to color manga in PHOTOSHOP

Year: 2010
Manga: Heart no Kuni no Alice

Coloring Alice

Today I will tell you how I color pictures in my style in Adobe Photoshop CS.

I myself don’t know if I have it at all, but I’ll still show you my methods.

They are actually quite simple. I can’t share anything special, the main thing here is technique, patience (my work usually takes at least 6 hours, because I want to bring everything to perfection) and diligence. And also love for the source. Well, let's get started ^^

Today we will color Alice. Oddly enough, but the lesson is again on this wonderful heroine from the country of hearts. We open our source code, already edited by the editors, and look at the front of the work, so to speak. I don't usually think about what the final picture should look like. We will act according to chance.

First, we duplicate our layer, leaving the old version alive. Depending on your mood, you can later remove it and replace it with White background. But we will do this later.

Using the Eraser tool, we erase screentones that are unnecessary for further coloring.

Now we delete the bottom layer and create it instead new layer, which we fill with white.

Click “Delete" and we see that our drawing has been cleared of excess white tones. Although this also affected the screentones, since we don’t need them in the future, we can give up on them. Although if you need them, then in this case you need to move the top layer to the first place in the “Layers” column and select the “Multiplication” mode. Then you can safely paint under the picture.

We will do the same when choosing this mode.

Further, as we work, we will create new layers for everything under the main layer with the picture itself. Although I don’t adhere to this too much and sometimes I apply them before the main layer, if we need to add highlights to the hair or eyes. The position under the main layer will not help us in this case.

We need to know what the character looks like and what colors to paint it with. In cases where this is very important to us, we open another picture and take colors from it using the petpet tool. I usually do this because it simplifies the work several times. I’ll take my last flower garden with Alice as a color sample.

Let's start coloring! There is nothing complicated about this, we simply apply colors on each new layer. For example, the complexion is one layer, the shadows on the face are another. And so on and so forth.

The effect of a living Alice is created by pink reflections using a regular standard brush with a sprayed edge. For a less red hue, we select "opacity" in the menu bar to a lower percentage. (We choose according to circumstances). In my case it is 18% and the brush size is 70. Next, we remove the excess with an eraser.


Although I paint using a tablet, I usually fill in especially large parts of the picture (hair, dresses, etc.) using the Polygonal Lasso tool. We outline the hair point by point and fill it. And so on several times until the entire hairstyle is covered.


We also use the “polygonal lasso” to create shadows on the hair.

Now let's create reflections. Take a color lighter than the hair shade and paint highlights on a layer on top of the main layer. Select the “Overlay” effect in the “Layers” section. The reflections now look neon. We can also add a little spray to the hair (brushes with blurred edges) under the main layer.

We need to color the parts of the clothing that are tinted black. To do this, I choose the simplest method, which also preserves the edges. We simply circle the desired part over the picture. To do this, create a new one above the main layer (we will outline on it), make our main layer a little transparent (reduce the transparency in the “Layers” section) and on the new layer (which is on top) outline the desired part with a black brush.

So that there are not too many layers, we can connect them using CTRL + E. But this will only work on layers with “normal” overlap. If you have any regime. It’s better to leave this layer aside.

And never attach the main layer to the others. I consider this layer to be a single layer and never touch it under any circumstances. Because this can affect the ease of coloring, and then there will be a lot of problems with layers and their overlaps.

The next step is to outline the dress in the same way, paint it over, and also decorate it with brushes on which we set the “overlay” mode.

Now let's work on the apron. Create a new layer at the bottom of the list of layers, temporarily hide the white one (to do this, click on the eye next to this layer) and apply color.

Now we can safely move the brush without fear of touching already painted layers.

After drawing the shadows, coloring the Stockings and applying the first color and shadows to the bow, we can make the ribbon more beautiful. For this I added screentones. You can find out what this is by simply typing this word in a search engine, but I’ll call them repeating fill. You can either download screentones or make your own.

I have them downloaded. To fill them, I select the first bow color layer, create a new one and click Edit/Fill. There we select the one we need. For the effect, I chose the mode in the layers section “Soft color”

This stage is ready.

Now we have almost finished picture without a background and with uncolored flowers, which we will now do.

Create a new layer on top of the main layer, select a red brush and move it over the tulips, setting the “Overlay” mode in the “Layers” section. The flowers will be painted red, touching the edges and screentones (which is what we actually want).

Apply shadows and highlights with a lighter brush (don’t forget about new layers for each) and experiment with modes.

We paint the leaves on the very last layer in the list that we create. Using a brush, draw shadows and add dark colors brush with blurred edges.

The tulips are ready.

We are left with flowers in the background. To do this, we go to the very top of the “Layers” list, create a new one and paint over the leaves either using a brush or lasso. Select the “Linear burning” mode


Add shadows and experiment with modes. The most beneficial for shadows is overlap.

We paint the buds on the last layer, and effects can be made using overlaps and other modes.

To make the picture magical, you can add sparkles from the COREL PHOTO-PAINT program

Thank you all for your attention and I wish you success. Talent is 1%, everything else is practice.





And here is a tutorial on coloring manga in Photoshop from Margie.

Hello again!

This lesson will be devoted to the process of creating a manga or comic book page in Easy program Paint Tool SAI. In mine, I already said that SAI does not have tools for working with text, so we will leave these questions for other programs, such as, for example, Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

So, let's begin!

Sketch

I think the most logical place to start drawing a page of your manga is by creating a new document of the required size =) Next, you will need a sketch. To create it I use the tool Pen(Pencil) with the following settings (picture on the right):


First I create a rough sketch. Blue color for sketching, I use it out of habit, which I inherited from working in the Manga Studio program. You can use any other color.


I make it translucent so that I can make a more accurate sketch on the second layer from above. As a result, I got the following:


Video bonus to create a sketch:

Storyboard

Tool Line(Line) I draw size 30 stripes. This results in a page like this:


It remains to make one more frame. To do this I create a new layer. Using a tool Selection(Highlight) I draw the outline of the future frame.

Next I go to the menu tab Selection(Highlight) and select Invert(Invert). I fill the resulting drawing with black using the tool Bucket(Fill) with the following settings (picture on the right):


All that remains is to combine the two layers and we will get a finished storyboard. If you are not satisfied with such a simple storyboard, then you should turn to Adobe Photoshop or another drawing program that will be convenient for you.


Video bonus for creating a storyboard on a black background:

Video bonus for creating a storyboard on a white background:

Circuit

To create a black and white outline I needed Binary Pen(Binary pen). You can find it by right-clicking on an empty cell in the menu. A list of tools that can be added to the standard ones will appear.

To ensure a clear outline when drawing, I chose the following settings for the Binary Pen:


I also needed eraser(Eraser) and Bucket(Fill).

Now let's sketch (1) and translucent layer with frames (3), and between them create a new layer (2).


Let's start drawing on layer (2). First we create the background. If you haven't used the Eraser tool yet, now is the time to do so =)


In the end I succeed background image no characters. I do this based on the fact that I then plan to color my page and make the background less saturated, but more on that a little later.

Once the background is done, I turn off this layer and create a new one above it for the characters and foreground. I draw all this with the same tools: Binary Pen, Eraser and Bucket. The result is the following:


It is not yet clear what and where. In order for this mess to turn into a clear picture, you should:

  • Erase unnecessary parts of the background from the characters.
  • Create another layer between the background (2) and the characters (3) and fill it with white. Personally, I choose this method because I will need these fills when painting.

Then I turn off the background layer, create a new layer under it and fill it gray:


And again, using the Binary Pen, Eraser and Fill (see preview settings), I create on separate layer white fills for characters:


After removing unnecessary layers, I return the parameter Opacity(Transparency) 100% and I get this:


Video bonus to create a contour:

Little things

After the main part of the work is completed, you can move on to the little things. Use the Eraser to remove the space between frames, if in some place your drawing goes beyond the frame.


Add sounds. To do this, draw sound effects on a separate layer.


You can also make a white stroke on the layer below so that the characters do not blend into the background.

Video bonus according to additions:

This completes the first stage of work!