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Help with Manga Studio

I have just recently purchased Manga studio to use to complete the manga I'm working on and I've run into a snag. I've chosen my paper size (B4) which is the correct size for professional manga. I understand what all the guides on the page are for. However, I'm confused on how to tone or rather what size paper to tone in. I've read in a few forums it's better to ink and resize your paper to the size you'll be printing before you add tone. However, that is never mentioned in any tutorial I have watched or read in regards to toning using Clip Studio Paint (Manga Studio's new name). Everyone has just inked and toned their page without ever changing the size. Does anyone have any experience in toning using Clip Studio Paint and have you ever had any issues with printing after resizing your already toned pages? Thanks for reading this post.

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  • You are completely welcome.

    From a traditional perspective... everything I told you should be right.

    However... it's not the best way of doing things from a file perspective.  The best way of doing things is to get some backgrounds in order, say utilizing that 3d tool I mentioned earlier in MangaLabo for quick custom references, then creating your characters on separate layers(or all characters on one layer... aka a differentiation on living and non-living/foreground and background/or whatever division you can live with editing later), then exporting each of these layers out to a bmp, png, jpg, or whatever.  Then use a good pen tool with these beautiful pics to create a true vector file(sizeless... no matter how big or small it looks just as good -- file type is svg).  Then these svg become your valuables... your precious files if you will.  From there, simply figure what export you need to make your import into your comic program happy, then tone in your comic program.

    Basically... sizeless is gold.  It is especially gold if you don't color it or add tone to it.  Good pen tools are found in Illustrator(surprise!, lol), Photoshop, Gimp(free), Inkscape(free), Microsoft Expression Design(free) and Shade3D.  There are dozens of pen tool interpretations... but most of them are very bad interpretations.  Like the curve tool in the comic programs... ugh.  The easiest way to see if your output is effective is to work on something terribly small and zoom in as high as possible and look for pixelation... if there is any pixelation, then the file is not going to be gold.  Also, don't assume an eps export is vector only, because it isn't.  I learned that hard fact of life in an After Effects class.

    Both Gimp and Photoshop have the advantage that you can do your sketches using a tablet inside them and then create an svg file inside them too.  If you 3D model, then you can use Shade3D to create your scene, then svg that scene with all the more options since Shade3D has a good pen tool in addition to it's svg export.  Assuming you aren't running Windows Server or Windows Server Essentials, Shade3D is pretty good for the money for a 3d model/vectorize 2d work one stop shop perspective.  But that's just my opinion.

    You can see the advantage of vector files in this video >>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMKX63-KdEw  ~~ In a practical way it preps you for later animation possibilities in software like Anime Studio Pro or After Effects, and also adds a variety of options to advertise your work.  What you see in the video is hybrid 2d/3d animation and it is very common.  There is nothing that supports hybrid animation like that which is free(Anime Studio Pro/After Effects), but Synfig supports svg, so if your software supports svg output, you know you can work with Synfig later.

    ... or you could do it the classic way, which makes more sense initially, but hurts later if you start considering ideas of animation or video game assets.

  • Thank you! ^_^

  • An example for screen is 1680 x 1050 is 16 x 10 (16:10).  Technically speaking, 16:10 is supposed to be a good working ratio.  That's beside the point, though.  It's the ratio math you need to figure out before you start.

  • I'm not sure if the dimensions equal out... you'll have to do the math... and it's important to do that.

    Just like on computer screens, one might be 16 by 9 (16:9) while another might be 16 by 10 (16:10).  Is it called Lowest Common Denominator?  Anyway... the resolution across and the resolution down must be divided by the same number.  If the B4 and the A4 are the same, like two 16:9 screens, then you can use the example you are speaking of.

    Then yes, you apply tone at the resolution that is printed.  Though I do encourage you to look at MangaLabo for tone purposes.

  • So just to clarify,  If I'm inking on a size B4 paper, and I think when it's printed it will be shrunk to a size A4 paper, I will ink the B4 at no smaller than 720 ppi an then shrink the image to a size A4 at 300ppi before I apply the tone.  (Working completely digital.)  

  • Thank you.  That helps me a lot.  I am definitely an amateur and am having such a hard time finding any step by step tutorials the thoroughly explain the entire process.  I feel like I'm having to piece together the whole manga process on my own from the help I get from this forum and the few helpful tidbits I find.  I'm grateful for all the information people have shared with me. Thanks again!

  • I've read in a few forums it's better to ink and resize your paper to the size you'll be printing before you add tone. -- yes, this is the 150% mark plus.

    This is what I mean.  When you draw a comic for print, each page is often minimally a 150% larger than the actual print.  This way, any mistakes you make are harder to see.  Therefore, your work looks closer to perfect.

    In general, such as A size pages, the lower the number, the larger the sheet.  So, use a lower sized number to do the drawing, inking, and coloring than the size that will be printed.  Assuming you have the right proportions from the larger to smaller sized paper, you can simply shrink your art proportionately to fit the size of pages being printed.

    Now, in digital art, you can do little tricks like 200% plus the dots per inch (dpi), that is print at 300dpi, but work at nothing smaller than 720ppi(pixels per inch).  The higher you go, the greater computer will slow down, so if you are working at real art resolutions, like 1440ppi, most computers are going to be slow.

    But remember, this isn't just a Clip Studio Pro/Manga Studio Pro thing, this is a digital trick.  MangaLabo ( http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/cl/ ) does it just as well and technically has better tone imitations for black and white.  So if you're going for a bit of a traditional print comic, all black and white, I'd check out MangaLabo.  I own both, and this is just my opinion.  The beautiful tone not available without purchase... and that is arguably one of the best parts about the program... that and it's super quick 3d room reference creation.

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