Manga O.o What computer program will help me the best?

[Guest tanukioh]

:animeswea I'm a lil bit embarased. see, I can draw pretty well (except for a few smudges) but my coloring STINKS!!! O.o and I saw a friend's manga that she drew on a computer. he says it's an Adobe program, and his pics are GREAT and in color! it puts my hand drawn best to shame.

SO I got to wondering if I could get a program to help me out. Any suggestions on which ones are the best? o.o and where can I get them?

[tomboy2xxxkoy]

um...you can use photoshop or painter

if you have a downloadin program like limewire or something, you can download a 30 day trial to see if you like it

& i'm sure you draw reall nice^ ^

[Sara]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]Computer programs do [i]not[/i] magically fix your coloring. It takes time to learn and develop a working technique on the computer, just as it does with pencils, paints, and markers.[/size][/color]

[Guest tanukioh]

[quote name='Sara][color=#b0000b][size=1]Computer programs do [i]not[/i] magically fix your coloring. It takes time to learn and develop a working technique on the computer, just as it does with pencils, paints, and markers.[/size'][/color][/quote]
I wasn't exactly expecting magical results. >.> just a cleaner picture with less white blotches in my coloring. ^_^ kind how typing is cleaner than handwriting...(for me at least).

here's one of my pictures for those who wanna see it. [url]http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/Tanukioh/?action=view¤t=mypic2.jpg[/url]

and thanks for help... >.> if you have any more advice on how to fix my drawings with or without a computer please tell me.

[Chikara Kokoro]

I would suggest trying out the GIMP before you spend any money on a computer program for coloring your images.

You can get it for free at GIMP.org ([url]http://www.gimp.org/[/url]). It's slightly less user friendly than the programs you would pay for, but once you figure it out it does a good job (if you do download it, feel free to PM me with any questions about it). How good your images look is more about how much practice you've had with the program than which program you use.

For keeping sketches clean using things other than the computer I would suggest buying (or making) a light box and tracing your sketches on another piece of paper. Learning how to use inking pens wouldn't be a bad idea either.

A couple of good, although somewhat basic, tutorials for the process of cleaning sketches can be found at deviantart ([URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/29754760/]click[/URL] and [URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/30315977/]click[/URL]!). For future reference, tutorials on almost everything can be found on deviantart if you?re willing to look hard enough.

[Guest tanukioh]

:) Thanks thanks! ^_^ You're a big help!

o.o any openions of the drawing I posted?

[Chikara Kokoro]

I can't really see the image all that well because photobucket resized it, but your sketch seems to be pretty clean. The best bet for you would probably be to learn how to ink your drawings. I guess your decision now is whether you ink with pens, ink on the computer, or do both.

[Guest tanukioh]

[quote name='Chikara Kokoro']I can't really see the image all that well because photobucket resized it, but your sketch seems to be pretty clean. The best bet for you would probably be to learn how to ink your drawings. I guess your decision now is whether you ink with pens, ink on the computer, or do both.[/quote]
^_^ thanks thanks! Think you could teach me some on PMs?

[Tank!]

I still use Corel Painter 7. It's more user friendly than Photoshop, but I am starting to use Photoshop more and more. It's more what you are comfortable with. I've been working on coloring for a year or so now and I'm still not pleased.

[duoikari]

my friend send me a software called, [B]'Open canva[/B]' it was very good and most people on the y gallery use it. I personally use adobe photoshop number 9, it's very good, someone also showed me a plugin for photoshop, it's called [B]AKVIS[/B], and it surpose to fill in the colour and shading for you. But when i tried it i didn't like it :animeswea.

I would try and get adobe for free, (if you want i can pm it to you). I personal like adobe photoshop. But there is a new software out that helps you create mangas, it's called [B]'Manga studio'[/B] i have it but it needs to be burned to CD to work, but it supose to be very good.

As for your picture, as i couldn't see it very well i won't comment, but it looked ok.

But if you want to learn how to colour your drawing in using adobe or anyother grpahics program i would suggest [url]http://www.daydreamgraphics.com/[/url] they have lots of links and tutorial which take you through most graphic prgram step by step.

Another good site, which has tons of tutorial on it is [url]http://www.tutorialkit.com/[/url] This is a very good website for people who are just starting out using photoshop or flash.

I hope that helped!

[Kei]

[color=darkblue][size=1]I've seen some sample stuff made with Manga Studio 3.0. I have to say, if you use it right, you really can't tell the difference between it and things made by hand. It's definitely worth the free trial download, at least.

As for colouring, spending some time working with Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro is the only thing I can suggest. ^^; [/color][/size]

[duoikari]

[QUOTE=Lady Katana][color=darkblue][size=1]I've seen some sample stuff made with Manga Studio 3.0. I have to say, if you use it right, you really can't tell the difference between it and things made by hand. It's definitely worth the free trial download, at least.

As for colouring, spending some time working with Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro is the only thing I can suggest. ^^; [/color][/size][/QUOTE]

I have also seen the mangas that have been created with manga studio and they do look better then anything I could at least make my hand, but i can't get mine to work :animecry:

[bluemarble]

I used to have a similar problem with my work not being clean enough, infact it's still there. I have come up with a few techniques to clean it up and not use a computer to aid me. (Even though I'm big on digital.)

First, I use a non photo blue pencil to do all my underlaying sketching, like simple skeletons, pose work, and getting folds down and a simple drawing of the costume and hair. I also use this to determin light source if I haven't alread in my mind.
Next I bust out the good ol' pencil and work over it with line, shading, and minor detail.
Once I've finished that, since I'm too poor to buy a fancy lightboard (nor do I have the room to have one) I use tracing paper and do the final touches!

If you're really up for using a digital method I would suggest Photoshop, GIMP, Open Canvas, Painter, and especially Manga Studio.

MS is pretty sweet, I've been using it lately and my line quality looks alot better! Plus you get a bunch of crazy cool tones and alot of features like inking pens and they even do panels for you! Hah.

[URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/34123888/]Click Here[/URL] to see a piece that I did using all the above methods and then editing it in Manga Studio.

-Hope this helps.

[YoukaiAlchemist]

OOO! this will all help a lot! Allow me to introduce myself. I am YoukaiAlchemist. I will let Tanukion know about your suggestions, since he's banned and can't really look at these himself. I know he sends his thanks. :)

[duoikari]

[QUOTE=Chikara Kokoro]I would suggest trying out the GIMP before you spend any money on a computer program for coloring your images.

You can get it for free at GIMP.org ([url]http://www.gimp.org/[/url]). It's slightly less user friendly than the programs you would pay for, but once you figure it out it does a good job (if you do download it, feel free to PM me with any questions about it). How good your images look is more about how much practice you've had with the program than which program you use.

For keeping sketches clean using things other than the computer I would suggest buying (or making) a light box and tracing your sketches on another piece of paper. Learning how to use inking pens wouldn't be a bad idea either.

A couple of good, although somewhat basic, tutorials for the process of cleaning sketches can be found at deviantart ([URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/29754760/]click[/URL] and [URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/30315977/]click[/URL]!). For future reference, tutorials on almost everything can be found on deviantart if you’re willing to look hard enough.[/QUOTE]

Tahnk a lot for GIMP, it's a wicked software, similar to adobe but not quite there. The only properly i have with the software is the colour range you can pick from and the blur tool. But thanks anway!

[Chikara Kokoro]

The GIMP is just a good free alternative to the more expensive programs like Photoshop. Also, I use GIMP so even if I did pay for it I wouldn't be able to use Photoshop.

You can use the full spectrum of color on the GIMP, so PM me if you want some help with how that works.

I have to admit that the blur tool is pretty bad, but you can use the Gaussian blur creatively and get about the same result.

It's also worth mentioning that, like on Photoshop, you can do screen tones very easily on the GIMP ([URL=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Pomato/antitone.gif]click here[/URL]), but [URL=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Pomato/skunkarcanum.png]word balloons[/URL] usually come out strange.