1. Introduction

Hey are you a beginner manga artist that want to start publishing digitally well you’re at the right place in this tutorial we will see the basics and essentials you need when you first start you digital journey this tutorial is based on my personal experiences and so you can learn from the mistakes I made going from traditional to digital is not very simple but practice makes perfect so let’s get into it!

What is Digital Manga?

a. Digital Manga -is the process of creating manga using digital tools like drawing tablets and software like clip studio paint. Instead of traditional pen and paper, everything is done on a computer, making the process more efficient and flexible plus you can save a lot of time.

b. Why Go Digital?

-Easier to fix mistakes with the undo button unlike the traditional method especially when your using a pen and at some point you just can’t go back so you have to take a lot of time not to make mistakes.

-Access to a wide range of tools and effects that would be difficult to achieve by hand like in clip studio paint there are a lot of pens, free backgrounds, 3d models that can help make manga faster.

Easier to prepare your manga for either publish it on platforms or printing.

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Overview of Tools Needed (Hardware & Software)

Drawing Tablet: A tablet is essential for drawing digitally. Beginners often start with tablets that you plus into your pc I personally use XP-pen if you a beginner and your not sure yet they have very affordable drawing tablets.

Software: Clip Studio Paint is highly recommended for manga creation due to its powerful tools specifically designed for comics.

Computer: Any modern computer or laptop with decent specs will work.

2. Canvas Setup

So you can see like 6 things and you can select the one that fits your needs to create you comic we with with the third one because its used to create manga/comics after selecting that there is already set settings of the size your gonna see a drop down menu and you can select the size you want

Choosing the Right Canvas Size and Resolution

Canvas Size: For manga, a typical size might be around 11x17 inches (standard B4 size in Japan). If you’re planning to print, this size is ideal. but if you want to create a digital manga you might choose a smaller size, like 1,000x1,500 pixels it does highly depend on the platform your posting so I suggest you check and make sure you have the right size

Resolution: Set your resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch) for printing quality. If you’re only publishing online,75-150 DPI is usually sufficient, but 300 dpi is still recommended for better quality because you might wanna publish it later sticking to 300 DPI

Tip: Start with a larger canvas than you need and resize down later to maintain quality because usually when you upscale an image it can get a bit blurry.

Understanding Bleed and Safe Areas

so what’s a Bleed area it’s extra space around the edges of your canvas that allows for trimming when printed. it is the outermost line

while Safe Area is an area within which all important content (like text and characters) should be placed to avoid being cut off. Keep all crucial elements within this zone. it is the innermost line and a Trim Area is the middle line which represents the final size of you page after its been cut. This are less critical because there is no trimming involved but understanding them can help you incase you want to publish your manga.

Tip: In Clip Studio Paint, use the “New Page” preset for comics, which automatically includes bleed and safe area guidelines its gonna look like the image above

 

 

3. Screen Tones 101

What Are Screen Tones?

Screen tones are patterns of dots or lines used to create shading, texture, and depth in manga. They replace solid black or gray shading, offering a more nuanced look. in clip studio paint you can find it by going to materials and under monochrome there will be categories such as patter or basic and if you have a specific screen tone in mind you can see there is something that says type search you can search for it there and you might also find it in the assets

Types of Screen Tones

Dot Tones: The most common, used for shading different parts of your manga. The closer the dots, the darker the tone.

Line Tones: Used to add texture or a different shading style. Often applied to backgrounds or clothing.

Patterned Tones: Special effects like stars, flowers, or textures that add a unique touch to your manga panels.

Gradation Tones: Smooth transitions from dark to light, used for backgrounds or atmospheric effects. Go to layers -> new layer and then tone there you can find a lot of different screen tons and you can customize your own screen tone that fits your manga page well.

so when you click on tons this is how its gonna look and to create you own screen tone you can adjust the frequency, density and even the angle.

-if you increase the frequency it means more dots per inch it creates a smooth tone but if you decrease it it create fewer dots and its not gonna be smooth you can use high frequency for shading (skin tone) & soft gradients while low frequency for something dramatic or bold or heavy shadows

- if you increase the density it will look darker but if you decrease it’s gonna look lighter you can use the high density for a dark room or under a character’s chin for a heavy shading in general and the light one for lighter shading and highlights such as the character’s head

- the angle is to add visual interest so adjust it to fit your story if you don’t want the normal one.

 

 

How to Apply Screen Tones on Raster Layers

Screen tones work best on raster layers because they’re pixel-based, allowing you to apply detailed tones without distortion so here are the steps you can take as a beginner and when you get the hang of it you can create more complex step but this is easier for beginners.

Steps to Apply Screen Tones:

1. Create a new raster layer above your line art the raster layer is the first thing above the layer pointed by the blue arrow.

2. . INKING before applying your screen tone ink areas you want to.

3. Add texture and patterns to clothing, hair and so on after you done inking use the lasso tool to select a specific area you wanna apply texture or patterns too.

5. You can add your tone drag and drop it from the monochrome basics option I prefer to use something simple and adjust the opacity to my liking.

Tip: If you want to quickly tone a large area, use the “Bucket Fill” tool with the tone selected. Clip Studio Paint will automatically fill the selected area with the tone. and there are also nice tools that help with this if u want to select a specific area among different layers there are specific pens.

so I use this a screen tone from basic and adjust its opacity to my liking and for my clothing if I want to apply patterns under the pattern there is patterns specifically for clothing you can use the one that fits your manga and i also used texture so experiment with the opacity and try out different things don’t forget INKING, TEXTURE AND PATTERNS AND THEN SCREENTONE.

4. Essential Tools and Brushes

Best Brushes for Screen Tones

G-Pen: Ideal for applying tones with precision and it kind of mimics traditional inking pens, might be easier if your just transitioning from traditional its best to stick to basic pens you can also use real G-pen and after getting used to it you can test out other pens and you can also customize your own pen.

Soft Eraser: if you want to gently fade out screen tones to create smooth transitions then this eraser is suited better for the job.

Quick Tips for Applying and Refining Tones

Use Layer Masks: Apply tones on a raster layer, then use a layer mask to non-destructively erase or hide parts of the tone. This allows you to make changes without permanently affecting the tone.

Keep Layers Organized: Name your layers I can not tell you how important it is especially if your a beginner because if you don’t it’s going to be very confusing there are gonna be a lot of layers create as you apply tons so I would suggest naming every part when u wanna work specifically on it you can go and adjust it without running the rest especially when working with multiple tones. I would suggest creating a folder for each one such as the background , clothing and so on if your doing a lot of inking and you have different things to apply screen tone to because when u create different layers without any names you wouldn’t know which so as you can see I have named every layer so if I wanted to correct something it would be easier.

Experiment with Opacity: Lowering the opacity of your tones can create softer effects, perfect for subtle shading allowing you to create the ton that is fit for your specific page

5. Saving and Exporting Your Manga

File Formats: Choosing the Right One

PSD: Best for keeping all layers intact if you need to go back and edit later.

PNG: Great for web publishing; it preserves quality and supports transparency.

TIFF: Ideal for printing due to its high quality, though it results in larger file sizes.

Tip: Save multiple copies in different formats—one for editing (PSD) and one for final publishing (PNG or TIFF).

Go to files and click on export if you want to publish it online there are two options single layer and multiple pages single layer is useful if you need to work with or share one part of your manga but if your exporting multiple pages at once it will ensure that all pages are organized and formatted correctly in one file.

 

 

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Understanding Expression Color: RGB vs. CMYK

RGB: Best for digital viewing (screens, web). Use this color mode if you’re publishing your manga online.

CMYK: Essential for printing. If you plan to print your manga, convert your file to CMYK before exporting to ensure colors print correctly.

Tip: When converting from RGB to CMYK, colors might appear duller. Adjust your tones and colors to compensate for this shift.

6. BONUS TIP

So this is a very simple line art and a little screen toned page I drew here are some mistakes I have made on this page here is what to improve as beginner that I made you should avoid

1. manga is all about clean line art so make sure your line art is really good to achieve that create a layer and name it line art after you finish your basic line create a new layer above it lower the opacity of the line art layer and go over it with steady stock’s again if you need to create on more layer after that make sure to create a separate layer for inking your manga MAKE SURE TO NAME EVERY LAYER

2. when you make the rough sketch do not forget to add where the dialog would go because if you planning on adding it later you might not have enough space so make sure you have a place to write you dialog when you sketch your line art

3. make sure you ink your drawing before adding screen tones because it can help with detail and precision and error correction.

4. try to master the selection tools like magic wand or lasso tool to quickly isolate and edit specific areas of your artwork it can save you a lot of time and there are also asset’s that can help with this so search and explore.

5. if your struggling with your line being wobbly use the stabilizer tool it will help smooth out your lines

 

 

7. Conclusion

Final Tips for Beginners

Don’t be afraid to experiment digital tools make it easy to try new things, and the undo button is your friend trust me I am still a noob and I am learning a lot of things it can be overwhelming but take it easy and don’t do too much. Keep learning the more you use Clip Studio Paint and explore its features, the more comfortable you’ll become.

Practice makes perfect so the more you create, the better your digital manga will become be patient and goo for it if your not sure about transitioning or you don’t yet wan to invest in expensive hardware such as a drawing tablet don’t worry there are lots of XP- pen products under 50$ and if you have a tablet you can just use your tablet so first try out affordable products and see if creating digitally is a fit for you and later if you want to change it you can.

Encouragement and Next Steps

Remember that every professional was once a beginner just like you and me so keep pushing through the challenges, and soon you’ll be creating manga you’re proud of!

Don’t hesitate to share your work online either on discord or on face book and there are a lot of other platforms you can get feedback it’s a great way to learn and grow good luck and I know you can do it I hope my tips gave you courage and a little push to creating digital manga.