When working on a storyboard for manga draft, it is useful to utilize the [Story] window and [Story editor] of CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX.

 

<Page Manager Window>

The [Page Manager] Window displays all the pages and indicates the current page. You can use the Page Manager to add, rearrange, and delete pages.

*See the following article to learn the basics of the [Page Management] function.

 

＜Story editor＞

The story editor quickly creates/edits the text created by the text tool. We will introduce the storyboarding workflow with all of these functions.

 

[1] How to use the page manager window

You can use the various functions of the Page Manager to manage your story pages.

 

 

 

• 1. About the page manager window

 

If the [Page Manager] Window is not visible, display it by selecting [Story] menu → [Page Manager].

 

Individual page thumbnails will be displayed. Multiple pages can be operated here.

 

Scale up/down the thumbnail size to make checking easier with [View] menu → [Zoom In] or [Zoom Out]. The icon at the bottom of the window can also be used to operate the size.

 

You cannot draw directly on pages in the [Page Manager] window. To edit a page, display the right-click menu on the thumbnail of the required page and select [Open Page], or double-click the thumbnail.

 

When executing [File] menu → [Close], check which tab is selected before execution.

 

 

 

• 2. Creating or moving a page

 

To add a new page, display the right-click menu on the page before the place you want to insert the page, and select [Add Page].

 

A new page will be inserted immediately after the specified page.

 

To move the position of a page, drag and drop the thumbnail. The red guide indicates the destination.

 

[POINT]

The page added by [Add Page] is created with the page settings of the clicked page.

If you want to change settings, such as size and resolution of the draft, select [Add Page (Detail)].

If you want to add a page with different settings, open the [Add Page (Detail)] dialog box shown below.

 

[2] Utilizing the story editor

We will introduce the storyboarding workflow when using the story editor.

 

The work is done by inputting the lines(storyboards) in text from the beginning. There are advantages such as easier confirmation of the text size on the draft, and swapping/modifying using a text tool.

 

A detailed guide on how to use the story editor is introduced in “[4] Editing work on the story editor”.

 

　Switching Text Direction

To change between vertical and horizontal text direction, please take the following steps:

Note: If you do not follow these directions, text will be entered vertically by default in the story editor, even if you use the [Tool Property] palette to change the orientation.

 

1. Click the [File] menu ([Clip Studio Paint] > [Preferences] on the mac or tablet versions)

 

2) From [Preferences], navigate to the [Edit text] menu.

 

3) Click the [New text property] dropdown box and select [Selected text tool property].

4) Click the [OK] button.

 

Now you can enter text in your preferred orientation from the [Tool property] palette.

 

 

 

• 1. Inserting the storyboard

 

Use the scenario written in a text editor (notepad), etc. You can use your favorite application such as the computer’s standard OS notepad or word processing applications. Create a blank line between the words and scene descriptions for later use.

 

↓ In the figure below, the scene descriptions are made clear by adding a ■.

 

Open the story editor by selecting [Story] menu → [Edit text] → [Open story editor] and copy the required text from the notepad.

 

① Click the text box with [Enter text here] written in it, display the text cursor and ② execute [Edit] → [Paste].

 

Unnecessary text (■ of the scene descriptions etc.) can be deleted individually.

Click the text box while pressing the [Ctrl] key, and press the [Del] key or select [Story] menu → [Edit text] → [Delete text] to delete it.

 

The pasted test is arranged side by side on the draft as shown below.

 

All the text is registered in a single text layer.

 

 

 

• 2. Moving text

 

When moving a page, ① select the required text box, ② drag and drop while displayed in blue.

 

The text moved to another page.

 

The text navigated to a different page in the story editor will also be moved on the draft.

 

 

 

• 3. Adjusting the position of text

Draw a composition and decide the position of the balloon.

 

Use the [Text] tool or [Object] tool to roughly move the position of text.

 

Use the [Text] tool to adjust the line break within the balloon words.

 

 

 

• 4. Changing text settings

 

The text properties can be changed at once.

 

① Select multiple text boxes you want to change in the story editor, ② set text properties with [Tool Properties] or [Sub Tool Detail], ③ execute [Story] menu -> [Edit Text] -> [Apply tool property to text].

 

In this example, the text font is changed to [Comic Sans].

 

① Select the required text with the story editor, ② display the right-click menu and select [Apply tool property to text].

 

The text property is changed. As multiple text boxes can be selected and set, it is useful when unifying the font/character size or line space, etc.

 

All the words are allocated.

 

[3] Editing with page manager and story editor

When inserting/deleting/swapping episodes during storyboard work, combine the [Story] window and story editor to work more efficiently.

 

 

 

• 1. Adding a blank page for insertion

 

Insert a white space in the section to insert the episode (red line part).

 

① Display the right-click menu on the page before where you want to insert the page, and ② execute [Add page].

 

A blank draft has been added.

 

 

 

• 2. Moving a scene

 

In this case, a new half-page scene will be inserted. Select the required part (shown in red) with the selection area, then copy and paste it on the blank draft.

 

Copy and delete the duplicated parts and fill in the space.

 

Draw the new scene (red part).

 

 

 

• 3. Moving the storyboard

 

When moving the inputted text across the page, using the story editor is more efficient than copying and pasting the text box on the draft.

Press [Ctrl] while selecting the text box/boxes, and drag and drop to move it across pages.

 

Open a new page to adjust the position of the text box.

 

[4] Editing work on the story editor

We will introduce a detailed method to work with the story editor.

 

 

 

• 1. Story editor settings

 

The settings for the story editor can be changed by [File] menu → [Preferences] → [Edit text].

Set the [Direction] of [Display] to [Vertical] to change the display of the text editor.

Make it easy to see in the setting of the story editor (vertical/horizontal/fonts etc.).

 

 

 

• 2. How to select the text boxes

 

While using the story editor, clicking the text box will start the text input mode.

To select the text box itself, click the box while pressing the [Ctrl] key.

Click again to select multiple boxes.

 

① Select the first text box while pressing [Ctrl], and ② click the last text box while pressing [Shift] to select multiple consecutive text boxes.

 

Click the page area outside the text box while pressing [Ctrl] to select all texts on the page.

 

The selected text box can be deleted individually by [Story] menu → [Edit text] → [Delete text], and dragged to move its position.

 

 

 

• 3. Adding/Deleting text

 

To add (insert) text on the story editor, click the text before the part where you want to insert the text, add a text box by [Story] → [Edit text] → [New text] and input the text.

 

To delete the text box, press the [Ctrl] key while selecting the text box (displayed in blue), and select [Story] menu → [Edit text] → [Delete text] (Or [Delete text] from the right-click menu).

 

If the text box is selected and displayed in blue, pressing the [Del] key will delete it in the same way. If the text cursor is displayed, individual characters are erased (deleted).

 

 

 

• 4. Searching/Replacing text

 

Search the inputted text and change/replace it.

Select [Story] menu → [Edit text] → [Search and replacement], input the original characters in [Search string] and the altered characters in [Replacement string], and click the [Search] button.

 

Text searching starts from the position where you selected. You can also specify [Forward] or [Backward] from that position.

 

Check the phrases that match with [Replacement] and replace it.

 

There are 3 ways to search characters.

 

① [Search]: Only the movement of text cursor

② [Replacement]: Check and replace the characters one by one

③ [All replacement]: Replace the entire applied text area.

• In [All replacement], be aware that the change may be applied to other words containing the searched text.

 

• Written by: Taro Hirai (Hey!TAROH)

A user totally immersed in the digital environment since the release date of ComicStudio Ver 1. I make a living by writing sections of the official guides and official references for ComicStudio and CLIP STUDIO PAINT, as well as drawing various mangas and doing household work.