Please enable subtitles in your preferred language when watching this video.

The Japanese explanation is easier to read on the blog, so please refer to it here.

In this TIPS, I'll show you how to quickly draw manga backgrounds by roughly using perspective rulers.The main tool I'll use is the Rectangle tool with "Create line and fill" turned ON.Since this is also explained in the video, I highly recommend watching it.

The Rectangle tool snaps to perspective rulers.

Perspective rulers snap not only to pens but also to various figure tools.Drawing a rectangle with a pen requires four strokes and one fill, but using the Rectangle tool with "Create line and fill" ON finishes it in one go.Since architecture is essentially a collection of rectangles, for backgrounds like buildings,you can speed up the entire process by about 5 times.By actively utilizing this and reducing the number of lines drawn with a pen, we aim to speed up the work and draw manga backgrounds.

Tips for Setting Up Perspective Rulers ~ Keep Vanishing Points Far Apart

For setting up perspective rulers, it's good to use the Perspective Ruler tool found within the Ruler tool.You can intuitively set vanishing points by simply drawing two lines.

To draw natural-looking manga backgrounds with three-point perspective,it's best to keep the vanishing points as far apart as possible, place only one vanishing point within or near the screen, and position the other two far off-screen to achieve a stable composition.Unless it's a scene with special effects, it's generally better to avoid dynamic and extreme perspectives.

Practice

Once the perspective ruler is set up, immediately start roughing out with the Rectangle tool.If you find any perspective distortions at this stage, correct the perspective ruler.Layer several rectangles to create three-dimensional forms.Don't worry about minor details like lines going beyond boundaries or intersections; you can draw roughly and freely, so there's not much feeling of being restricted by the perspective ruler.It's like doing a croquis with a flat brush instead of a pencil.I'm aiming to draw buildings in a bustling downtown area, but I'm drawing freely without considering any specific composition.

After several adjustments to the perspective ruler, the rough sketch was finalized.It's good to adjust the perspective ruler and refine the rough sketch as many times as needed until you achieve your desired composition.While making multiple corrections with a pen can be challenging, this method allows you to advance your sketch to this point in about 10 minutes.

I added a crosswalk. The staircase part of this crosswalk was drawn by turning OFF the perspective ruler snap and deforming rectangles by eye.I'm very lazy and always think that meticulously considering perspective and drawing guide lines for small elements on the screen is too bothersome and not worth the effort.Manga backgrounds aren't a drafting test, so I'm aggressive about taking shortcuts where I can.I believe not obsessing too much over "correct" perspective is also a skillful way to use perspective rulers.Ultimately, it just needs to look convincing.

The pedestrian bridge is completed and looks convincing. Since the surrounding perspective is correctly established, it's easy to make adjustments by eye.

The corner of the building in the foreground is a right angle, which looks a bit artificial, so I'll cut the corner to make it diagonal.

When drawing stairs or roofs, adding diagonal surfaces that differ from the overall vanishing point direction is recommended as it reduces the artificial look of elements drawn with a perspective ruler. When creating a diagonal vanishing point that is not in the height direction, be careful to ensure that the new vanishing point 4 is on the eye level, just like vanishing points 1 (vertical) and 2 (horizontal).

Since drawing line art is tedious, I'll go straight to finishing over the rough sketch.For building windows, I'll layer white rectangular layers over a large gradient applied previously.This is faster than drawing window line art and selecting each one to apply tones.Create a new layer between the white base and the gradient to draw the shadows cast by the window edges.It's easy to do without worrying about going over lines, and it helps improve the overall quality, so I recommend it.

Advertisement billboards are also drawn with white rectangles on top of the windows.

I will proceed with the other buildings in exactly the same way.

Similarly, I'll diligently draw in windows and billboards.Also, lines drawn with the Rectangle tool lack variation and are too uniform,so I'll erase some lines in places and add details to create a sense of depth.

I added shadows between the buildings.Shading in backgrounds drawn with perspective rulers is often expressed by drawing lines along the object's three-dimensional structure, along the light rays hitting the object, or along the kinetic energy near the object.Here, I'm simply drawing lines along the three-dimensional structure to express shading.

I added the sky and street trees.

Finally, I'll make the distant line art fainter with a white tone, in an atmospheric perspective style... and it's done!!

The whole thing took about 2 hours and 20 minutes. It should be faster than drawing with line art.As a side note, this video only uses the Rectangle tool, but you can also use it as a Triangle tool by reducing the number of corners, and the Circle tool and Polyline tool are also convenient.When you actually try it, you can draw very quickly, and most importantly, it's fun to draw smoothly, so please give this method a try!

Below is a 2x speed video of the entire background drawing process from this TIPS.Please take a look if you'd like.

Supplement: How to Draw Backgrounds with Vector Layers

The method for drawing backgrounds with vector layers is introduced in another TIPS, so please refer to it here.

Supplement: Vectorization of Figure Lines

Lines drawn with the Rectangle tool lack variation and are too uniform, so they need further embellishment.This time, I added details directly with a pen, but the method of cutting lines and vectorizing them is introduced in the TIPS below. Vector line art makes it easy to thin lines or add variation, so it's a good option to keep in mind.

Editing and operating vector layers are explained in the two TIPS below, so please take a look if you'd like.

Supplement: When Drawing Natural Objects

It's difficult to draw natural objects with figure tools.Therefore, the TIPS below introduces how to draw natural objects using [Lasso Fill]. Please take a look at it as well if you'd like.