These brushes will allow you to bring the spirit of Spring into your manga drawings and comics.

How to install the free Procreate brushes

To install these brushes, have a look at the instructions on this page.

Cherry flower with 5 petals and no pistils

This brush allows to paint plain cherry flowers with 5 petals:

Cherry flower with 5 petals and 5 pistils

This Procreate brush allows painting 5 petals cherry flowers with 5 pistils:

Cherry flower with 5 petals and 10 pistils

Here is a free Procreate brush made to paint 5 petals cherry flowers with 10 pistils:

Cherry flower with 10 petals and no pistils

Here is a new brush that allows drawing plain 10 petals cherry flowers in Procreate:

Cherry flower with 10 petals and 5 pistils

This Procreate brush draws patches of cherry flowers with 10 petals and 5 pistils:

Cherry flower with 10 petals and 10 pistils

This free Procreate brush allows drawing cherry flowers with 10 petals and 10 pistils:

Cherry flower petal

This last brush allows to draw floating cherry flower petals:

Let’s draw

Now, all that remains is for you to make great art! Do no hesitate to share the link to your manga drawings and comics

Stef

The post Free Cherry Flower Procreate Brushes appeared first on Manga with Stef.

These brushes will allow you to bring the spirit of Spring into your manga drawings and comics.

How to install Procreate brushes

If you need instructions to install these free plum flower procreate brushes, here it is:

• Open Procreate on your iPad and select the brush set where you want the brush to be installed. If you want to install the brush in a new brush set, pull down the list of brush sets on the left by dragging the list down, this will reveal a + button at the top of the list. Then tap on that + button to create a new brush set.
• Then come back here and click on one of the pictures below to access the brush download page and to download the brush file onto your iPad.
• Go to your « Download » folder using the Files app on your iPad, and tap on the brush file. Procreate will automatically add the brush to your current brush set.
• You can then drag and drop the brush into Procreate to move it to another brush set if you wish.

Plum Flower without Pistils

Here is a brush to draw plum flowers without pistils:

Plum Flower with 5 Pistils

This Procreate brush allows to draw flowers with 5 pistils:

Plum Flower with 10 Pistils

The following brush allows to draw plum flowers with 10 pistils:

Plum Flower Petals

This Procreate brush allows to draw plum flower petals:

I hope you’ll like these free plum flower Procreate brushes and that you’ll be making great art using them!

Do not hesitate to like and share and share this page.

And don’t hesitate to have a look at my free cherry flowers Procreate brushes!

Stef

The post Free Plum Flower Procreate Brushes appeared first on Manga with Stef.

You can have a look at my page on Japanese onomatopoeia if you want to learn more about their meaning, and this page if you want to learn how to draw your own onomatopoeia.

Click on the images to reach the download pages.

ゴ (GO) Sound Effect

Click on the image below to access the download page for this sound effect:

Come back soon for more files to download!

Stef

The post Download Free Manga Sound Effects appeared first on Manga with Stef.

What is chatGPT?

ChatGPT is one of the hottest topic of the moment. ChatGPT is a chatbot, that is to say a computer robot which which you can interact through a chat, developed by OpenAI. Chatbots are quite common nowadays on many websites. They are generally made to quickly provide answer to common questions. But what makes ChatGPT really stand out is that it is backed by one of the most advanced AI (artificial intelligence).

This AI is some kind of computer program that has been trained to understand a huge set of textual content. Thanks to that, it can answer questions on quite any topic or build new content based on that content. And this is where it get interesting for us.

How to get access to ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is available online on the OpenAI website. To use it, you will need to sign in by providing an email address and a password. And you might have to provide a phone number receive a confirmation code.

Once done, you will arrive on the ChatGPT:

Be aware that a lot of people are using ChatGPT, and you might therefore face at time messages indicating that ChatGPT is not available. Just wait a few minutes and try again.

Getting manga story ideas using ChatGPT

I provided a method to find ideas for your manga, but this process can require a good amount of time. And sometimes this might be sufficient to get people off track and make them abandon. Therefore, if you quickly need an idea, then asking ChatGPT is really easy.

When you have no hint of what you want

If you want an idea, but don’t have any hint of what you want (context, characters…), the easiest is to ask ChatGPT:

“Give me manga story ideas“.

Such question is called a prompt, and here is the answer I got from ChatGPT for this prompt:

1. A high school student discovers they have the ability to time travel, but every time they use it, they lose a piece of their memory. They must navigate their relationships and school life while trying to find a way to stop the memory loss.
2. A group of friends stumble upon a mysterious video game that transports them into a fantasy world. They must work together to defeat the game’s ultimate boss and find a way back to the real world.
3. A young woman inherits a magical garden from her grandmother, but with it comes the responsibility to protect it from those who would use its power for evil.
4. …

As you can see, these are for sure the kind of stories you would expect from a manga.

And if you are not pleased, just ask for more by writing for instance: “Give me more ideas“.

Guiding ChatGPT to find manga story ideas

If you have some idea of the genre of idea you would like, don’t hesitate to precise it. For instance:

“Give me manga story ideas with a female samurai as the main protagonist“

“Give me manga story ideas for young kids“

…

You can also give ChatGPT some context. For instance if you have want a story with some specific characters, or in a specific world. Here is an example:

“Given I have a world where people have powers related to elements (earth, air, fire, water), give me some manga story ideas that could happen in this world.“

Here is the answer I got from ChatGPT for that prompt:

1. A group of teenagers with elemental powers are brought together to form a secret government task force, tasked with protecting the public from dangerous criminals with elemental powers.
2. A young boy discovers he has the power to control earth elements, and must navigate the challenges and responsibilities that come with it, all while trying to fit in with his peers.
3. A young girl with the power of fire must learn to control her abilities and use them for good, as she is targeted by a secret organization seeking to harness her powers for evil.
4. …

Using ChatGPT to generate the outline of your story

I showed how to build a manga story outline in a previous article. But again this is a task that requires some practice and you might not have, or wish to spend, the necessary time. No problem, ChatGPT can help you here again.

Developing an idea generated by ChatGPT

You might have noticed that each idea provided by ChatGPT has a number. You can use that number to build upon the corresponding idea.

If I take my first prompt and wish to get a detailed outline for the 2nd idea, I can just ask:

“Write a story outline for idea 2“.

Here is the result I got:

Story Idea 2: “The Game Master”

Act 1: Introduction

• High school student, Jake, is a loner and spends most of his time playing video games.
• One day, he and his friends, Alex, Sarah, and Michael, stumble upon a mysterious video game that none of them have ever seen before.
• Despite their initial skepticism, they decide to give it a try and are immediately transported into a fantasy world.

Act 2: The Fantasy World

• The group finds themselves in a medieval-like world, complete with dragons, wizards, and other fantasy creatures.
• They quickly realize that they are unable to leave the game and must complete it in order to return home.
• They meet a non-player character (NPC) who tells them that the game’s ultimate boss, the “Game Master,” is the only one who can send them back.
• The group splits up to gather information and supplies for their journey to defeat the Game Master.

Act 3: The Journey

• The group faces many obstacles, including treacherous terrain, powerful monsters, and rival players.
• Along the way, they learn to rely on each other and their unique strengths to overcome challenges.
• Jake, who was a loner in the real world, becomes the leader of the group and helps them to work together.

Act 4: The Final Battle

• The group finally reaches the Game Master’s lair and must defeat him in a final battle.
• The Game Master turns out to be a powerful and skilled player who has been trapped in the game for years.
• The group uses all of their skills and teamwork to defeat the Game Master and break the game’s spell.

Act 5: The Return Home

• The group is sent back to the real world, but they realize that their time in the game has changed them.
• Jake, who was a loner before, has made friends and gained confidence.
• The group decides to keep in touch and continue playing games together.
• The game they found, now known as “The Game Master”, became famous and sought after by many players and enthusiasts, but no one ever succeeded to beat it.

As you can see, the result is compelling. And as a bonus you also get a proposition for the title. Of course, if you are not satisfied, you can ask ChatPT to make some changes.

Using ChatGPT to develop your own story idea

You can also provide ChatGPT with some input to use as a context for your next prompt. For instance, if I want to use the plot from my article on building outline, I can write a prompt like the following one:

“I have the following manga story idea: “A boy having fallen into the sea and finding himself on the shores of an unidentified island where strange creatures will help him go back home.“. Write an outline for this idea.“

Here is a sample of the response provided by ChatGPT for that prompt:

Outline:

1. The story begins with a young boy, who is out on a fishing trip with his family, falling into the sea during a storm. He wakes up on the shore of an unidentified island, with no memory of how he got there.
2. As he explores the island, he discovers that it is inhabited by strange creatures, some of which are friendly and some of which are dangerous. He must learn to navigate the island and survive its dangers in order to find a way back home.
3. The boy soon discovers that he has a unique connection to the island’s creatures, and they are willing to help him in his quest to return home. He forms bonds with some of the creatures, which will help him to fight against the more dangerous ones.
4. The boy soon finds that the island is not just a random place, but it is a magical place where time and space are distorted, and he will have to solve the mysteries of the island in order to get back home. He starts to find clues that will lead him to the truth about the island and how to return home.
5. …

Driving ChatGPT to format your outline as expected

You might have noticed that for the second case ChatGPT is not structuring the story in acts like it did previously. Basically, don’t expect ChatGPT to always answer in the same way for similar questions.

If needed, though, you can direct ChatGPT in the expected direction. For instance you could add the following to your prompt: “using the 3 act structure“…

Fine-tuning your story

If you are not satisfied with some aspects of the story provided by ChatGPT, you can just ask ChatGPT to change it. This can be an act/item of the outline, the name of the characters, or that you want more intrigue or battles…

For instance, if for “The Game Master” story I would prefer the setting to be sci-fi, I could ask ChatGPT:

“Make the game a sci-fi game“

And ChatGPT will automatically update the story (parts highlighted below) using that new input:

Story Idea 2: “The Game Master” (Sci-Fi version)

Act 1: Introduction

• High school student, Jake, is a loner and spends most of his time playing video games.
• One day, he and his friends, Alex, Sarah, and Michael, stumble upon a mysterious sci-fi video game that none of them have ever seen before.
• Despite their initial skepticism, they decide to give it a try and are immediately transported into a virtual reality world.

Act 2: The Virtual Reality World

• The group finds themselves in a futuristic world, complete with advanced technology, robots, and other sci-fi elements.
• They quickly realize that they are unable to leave the game and must complete it in order to return home.
• They meet an AI who tells them that the game’s ultimate boss, the “Game Master,” is the only one who can send them back.
• The group splits up to gather information and supplies for their journey to defeat the Game Master.

Act 3: The Journey

• The group faces many obstacles, including treacherous terrain, powerful robots, and rival players.
• …

Here I asked ChatGPT to change the type of game, but I could have asked to change anything. I could have changed an act, asked for more battle or enigmas…

Asking for more details

Now you are fine with the story, but want more details about the plot. Again, this can be done simply. Just ask ChaptGPT:

“Detail act 4“

Here is ChatGPT’s answer for the outline from the previous part:

Act 4: The Final Battle

• The group finally reaches the Game Master’s lair, which is located at the top of a towering skyscraper in the virtual city.
• They prepare for the final battle by stocking up on weapons and healing items.
• The Game Master turns out to be a powerful and skilled player who has been trapped in the game for years. He is also the creator of the game, who got lost in his own creation.
• The group faces the Game Master in a one-on-one battle, using all their skills and weapons.
• The Game Master proves to be a formidable opponent, using advanced technology and hacking abilities to create deadly traps and summon robotic minions to fight the group.
• The group faces many challenges and struggles, but they work together and use their unique strengths to overcome the obstacles.
• Jake, who is the most experienced gamer in the group, uses his knowledge of the game to exploit the Game Master’s weaknesses.
• After a long and intense battle, the group finally defeats the Game Master and breaks the game’s spell.
• The Game Master, impressed by the group’s determination and skill, decides to send them back to the real world, but not before giving them a warning that the virtual reality world is dangerous and can consume them if they’re not careful.

Asking ChatGPT to script of part of the manga story

If you want even more details and dialogs, you can also ask ChatGPT to write a script for you:

“write a script for act 4“

Act 4: The Final Battle

Scene 1: The Skyscraper

(The group reaches the skyscraper, the Game Master's lair)
JAKE: (looking up at the skyscraper) This must be it. The Game Master's lair.
ALEX: (nervously) Are you sure we're ready for this?
SARAH: (determined) We've come this far. We can't back down now.
MICHAEL: (checking his weapons) Let's do this.
(The group enters the skyscraper)

Scene 2: The Game Master’s chamber

(The group reaches the top floor and enters the Game Master's chamber)
THE GAME MASTER: (appearing on a giant screen) Welcome, players. You have reached the final stage of my game.
JAKE: (angrily) Let us go back to the real world, now.
THE GAME MASTER: (chuckling) I'm afraid that's not possible. Not until you defeat me.
SARAH: (aiming her weapon) We're ready for you.
THE GAME MASTER: (smirking) Very well. Let the final battle begin.
(The Game Master summons robotic minions to fight the group)

Scene 3: The Battle

(The group fights the robotic minions while dodging the Game Master's traps and attacks)
JAKE: (to the group) We have to focus on the Game Master! The robots are just a distraction!
ALEX: (using his hacking skills to disable the robots) Got it!
MICHAEL: (using his strength to destroy the robots) Easy enough!
SARAH: (shooting her weapon at the Game Master) Take this!
THE GAME MASTER: (deflecting the attack) Impressive, but not good enough.
(The battle continues, the group faces many challenges but they work together and use their unique strengths to overcome the obstacles)

Scene 4: The Final Showdown

(The group finally reaches the Game Master in a one-on-one battle)
THE GAME MASTER: (smirking) You've made it this far, but you will never defeat me.
JAKE: (using his knowledge of the game) I know your weaknesses.
(Jake uses his knowledge of the game to exploit the Game Master's weaknesses and defeats him)
THE GAME MASTER: (defeated) Impressive. You have truly proven yourself to be skilled players.
SARAH: (panting) Is it over? Can we go back to the real world now?
THE GAME MASTER: (nodding) Yes, you may return to the real world. But be warned, the virtual reality world can be dangerous and can consume you if you're not careful.
(The group is sent back to the real world)

End of Act 4.

Crazy, isn’t it?

Of course, it surely looks simplistic for some of you. But again you can ask ChatGPT to detail a scene, or to add a new one, or about missing pieces of information in its answer. For instance:

“What can be other challenges that the group faces in scene 4?“

“What are the weaknesses of the Game Master?“

“I want a new enemy to appear as the mastermind guiding the game master“

…

Be cautious when using ChatGPT (or any other AI)!

Be aware though, that not everything is perfect, and principally when translation is involved. For instance, I asked ChatGPT to provide me with Japanese names.

Take care to the formulation of your prompts

My first prompt was: “Give me Japanese names for the characters“.

And for sure ChatGPT answered:

1. Jake – 彼 (Kare)
2. Alex – アレックス (Arekkusu)
3. Sarah – サラ (Sara)
4. Michael – マイケル (Maikeru)
5. The Game Master – ゲームマスター (Geimu Masutaa)

The problem is that for most of the characters ChatGPT took my question straightforwardly. It provided the direct translation of the English names into Japanese: Alex = AREAS, Sarah = SARA… which is not what I expected.

I got better results with the prompt “Give me new Japanese names for the characters“…

Don’t take ChatGTP’s answers for granted

Another issue with the response above is that ChatGPT indicated 彼, with the reading “Kare”, for Jake. But 彼, when pronounced “kare”, isn’t a name. It is an equivalent of the pronoun he/him which is mostly used when addressing one’s boyfriend or husband…

Similarly, with the seance prompt:

“Give me new Japanese names for the characters“

1. Jake – 智 (Tomo)
2. Alex – 亜沙羅 (Asara)
3. Sarah – 紗乃 (Sano)
4. Michael – 武 (Takeshi)
5. The Game Master – 遊び人 (Asobinin)

Here, Tomo is a woman’s name, and no longer a man’s name. And 亜沙羅 is not read Asara but Ashura and is the name of a God…

When asking such question, do not hesitate to cross check the information. For Japanese terms you can use sites such as Jisho .

You can also look the pictures displayed by Google images to check that they indeed correspond to what you would expect.

Is it ethical to use ChatGPT?

If you have heard about ChatGPT before this article, you might be aware that many people see it as a threat for their job. My view is that ChatGPT is a tool made to ease access to knowledge.

As a tool, it can be used as well by amateurs as by experts. For an amateur, it might open new horizons by giving them quick access to new domains. For experts, this is a productivity tool that can help them producing more and giving them more insight.

But one thing that ChatGPT will not be able to do (at least in the short term) is using years of experience to make a story fascinating and thrilling. It can use techniques to approach it, but as a machine, it doesn’t feel and will never be able to replace human beings.

I’m pretty sure many people have never realized their dream of making a manga because they couldn’t find an idea and didn’t or couldn’t ask others. Now, with ChatGPT, they have a tool that can help then cross that obstacle and move forward.

The post Finding Manga Story Ideas with ChatGPT appeared first on Manga with Stef.

Where shall I position the ear?

When looking a head from the side, the ear is positioned on the front of the back half of the skull, in an area located between the bottom of the nose and the eyebrows.

One fact to note about ears, is that they grow all along our life. They will be smaller proportionally to a baby’s head when compared to an old person’s head.

How to draw realistic ears?

The following picture shows you how to draw realistic looking ears if you intend to go towards a realistic manga style:

Basically, drawing the ear is not very complicated. You can draw a really good looking ear with about 5 strokes. The next steps are here to shape out the volumes of the ear’s elements.

Of course, not all ears look the same. The outer shape can be more angular, some parts can be more prominent. Do not hesitate to have a look at some pictures and to use these elements to shape out specific characteristics for your manga characters.

How to draw simplified ears?

How to draw ears like Osamu Tezuka

The simplest approach to drawing ear I found is the one used by Osamu Tezuka. It only consists of two strokes. The only thing to care about is to correctly orient the second stroke, representing the inner part of the ear.

My take at drawing simplified ears

Now, here is my proposed approach, which is a bit more complicated (4 strokes), but also closer to reality:

How famous artists draw ears?

How to draw ears like Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama is famous for his manga Dragon Ball, as well as Dr Slump and many more.

Here is his approach to drawing the ear:

Basically, I like the approach. It is good looking and quite close to a real ear.

How to draw ears like Eiichiro Oda

Like many artists, Eiichiro Oda has his own take at drawing the ear for his manga characters in One Piece.

How to draw ears like Kōhei Horikoshi

Kōhei Horikoshi is the author of the manga My Hero Academia.

Here is the method he uses to draw ears:

As you can see, Mr Horikoshi’s ear are more square/angular than a real ear is.

How to draw ears like Koyoharu Gotōge

Koyoharu Gotōge is the author of the manga Demon Slayer.

Here is his approach to drawing the ear:

Personally, I find it a bit strange and somehow not really close to reality. But again I didn’t notice it before I focused on this article

You might also be interested in the following articles:

• How to draw a manga character’s head

I hope you liked this article. Note that I will soon complete this article with ear drawings from other angles.

Do not hesitate if you have comments!

Stef

The post How to Draw Ears for Your Manga Characters appeared first on Manga with Stef.

Good news for buyers of Clip Studio Paint 1.x

The announcement of the pricing policy that would be applied to new releases of Clip Studio Paint had caused an uproar in the community of perpetual license owners in August. Indeed, this new pricing policy indicated that each major version was to be the object of a new purchase as no free upgrade would be allowed from one major version to another.

But Celsys came back on that decision, and announced the following points:

Upgrading from Clip Studio Paint 1.x to 2.0

First, if you bought your version of Clip Studio Paint 1.x version before the 1st of January 2022, you will benefit from a discounted upgrade to Clip Studio Paint 2.0. The upgrade will cost $19.99 for the PRO version, and $56.99 for the EX version.

Then, versions of Clip Studio Paint 1.x acquired between the 1st of January 2022 and the 12th of October will be upgraded to the 2.0 for free. This means that you will benefit from the features of the 2.0 once they are available no additional cost, and keep these features even if you don’t subscribe to an Update Pass.

In addition, if you purchase Clip Studio Paint 1.x between the 13th of October 2022 and the 31st of December 2022, you will benefit from the free upgrade to the 2.0 as well as of 6 months of free Update Pass that you can activate whenever you wish. Note though that as per the Update Pass contract, you will be reverted to the 2.0 features once that free Update Pass period expires.

Stability updates for Clip Studio Paint 1.x

In addition, stability updates for the 1.x will be provided for free even after the 3.0 is issued. No indication is provided as for when these updates might be stopped.

No change to the Update Pass

The principles behind the Update Pass remain the same as the ones announced in August:

• You will receive new features when they are published as long as you have an active subscription to the Update Pass. This includes also features introduced in later versions (3.x, 4.x…).
• You get reverted to the features of the version you bought once the Update Pass subscription is stopped (therefore either 2.0 if you benefit of the free upgrade or pay for the upgrade, or 1.x if you don’t upgrade to the 2.0 and just subscribe to the Update Pass).

What will be the pricing of the Clip Studio Paint Update Pass?

The pricing of the Update Pass is the following:

• Clip Studio Paint PRO: $9.99 per 12 months
• Clip Studio Paint EX: $28.99 per 12 months

Clip Studio Paint 2.0 new features

As indicated above, Celsys also announced the new features that will appear in Clip Studio Paint 2.0.

Here is my quick pick at some of these features:

• New 3D head model controls that will allow you to define various features of the face (overall shape, size of the mouth, eyes, nose…).
• A hand pose scanner that will allow you to generate 3D poses of an hand from using your webcam or your phone.
• A really cool automatic shading feature that will allow automating the creation of shadings by allowing you to position a light source and direction.
• More support for webtoon style panelling with features to manage vertical white spaces with gradients.

And more details here on the Clip Studio Paint website.

The articles on the Clip Studio Paint website:

• Buy Clip Studio Paint now to get Ver 2.0 later!
• Updates to the Version 2.0 announcement
• News about Version 2.0: New features, pricing, and release schedule

The post Clip Studio Paint 2.0 Pricing and Features Announced appeared first on Manga with Stef.

Quick access:

• Procreate screentone brushset content
• Stacking
• A word of caution
• Sample brushes
• Buy the Procreate dot screentone brushset

Procreate screentone brushset content

This Procreate brushset contains 252 brushes.

You can find them all pictured below:

As you can see, the dot screentone patterns come with 21 different dot densities: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40 and 48 dots per inch, at a 600 dpi print resolution.

For each dot density, the screentone brushes have 10 levels of gray: 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%.

Moreover, there are 2 alternatives for the 80% and 90% levels: One is circles intersection, and the other is a circular hole. You can spot that on the image above at the top, where the holes are either squarish, or circular.

Stacking

In addition, some of these brushes can be stacked up to create more complex patterns. This is simply performed by overlaying brushes with different densities on top of each other.

The stacking possibilities are the following:

• 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32
• 3, 6, 12, 24,48
• 5, 10, 20, 40
• 7, 14, 28
• 9, 18, 36

A word of caution

One point to be aware of, is that some brushes with higher density can be sensitive to build up. This means that if you overlay two strokes of the screentone in Procreate, the place where the strokes overlay will show as slightly darker. You can see it in the picture below.

Try to fill the areas you target using one single stroke instead of using short overlaying strokes if you want to avoid this build-up.

Free sample brushes

You can find here some of the brushes to test them and check if you like them.

Buy the Procreate dot screentone brushset

To buy this brushset, click on the “ADD TO CART” button below. It will redirect you to the payment page where you will be able to finalize your purchase. Once you will have validated your payment, you will have the possibility to download the brushset from the payment page (a download button will appear in your payout on the line of the purchased item).

Note that at the moment, only PayPal is supported as a payment option.

5.00 $Add to cart

Note the shop feature is brand new and might encounter some issues. Do not hesitate to tell me if you encounter any issue.

I really hope you will like this brushet and that it will be useful in your manga drawing journey.

Do not hesitate if you have questions or suggestions.

Stef

The post Procreate Dot Screentone Brushset appeared first on Manga with Stef.

Why is it important to correctly position speech bubbles in a panel?

When you have multiple text bubbles in a single panel, it is important that you properly position each of them.

A wrong positioning of your bubbles might lead your readers to read your bubbles in the wrong order.

This will irritate them and slow down their reading if they notice it. Or they will misinterpret the situation, or find it strange, if they don’t.

In the end, if the problem repeats too often, you might lose your readers. At the best, they can find some parts of your story weird. But this might also lead your readers to get bored and quit reading your manga. And whatever you think or say, this will not be the fault of the readers.

This is why it is important to understand some basic principles to properly position your speech bubbles.

Readers and panel scanning

Traditionally, a manga is meant to be read from top to bottom, and from right to left.

This way of reading influences the way a reader’s eyes scan a panel for content, and notably text bubbles.

Variability of the scanning starting point

The first element to have in mind is the location of the previous panel. The path that the eyes take to read a panel will influence the area it will focus upon as illustrated with the 3 images below. A bubble placed by mistake in that area will therefore catch attention first and influence the reading order. We will see examples of that point later on.

The reading pattern

Then, once in the panel, the eyes will scan for content from the top right corner to the bottom left one. The picture below illustrates that point:

The eyes will do a quick Z scan (or S scan in the case of a manga) of the panel, looking for elements to catch the attention. The brain will basically look for contrasts (large shapes, isolated shapes…) and stop to quickly look at that element. The point will therefore be to properly balance the size and contrast of the bubbles in regard to the other content of the panel as discussed in my article on composition. This is why bubbles have round or rectangular shapes and have a white background, this makes them pop out of the panel content.

The reading diagonal

All in all, this reading order forms a reading diagonal which it is important you have in mind when positioning your bubbles.

Don’t hesitate to have a look at your favourite manga to see how this diagonal is used.

Note: for a comic or manga using the left to right reading order, you will have to invert right and left.

Positioning a single speech bubble

If you have a single bubble, there isn’t much risks of misleading your readers. But you can still play with the positioning to influence your readers.

If the speech bubble is near the top right/right, readers will generally read the bubble first, before having a look at the remaining content in the panel. And if the bubble is near the bottom left/left, readers will read the bubble after having looked at the content of the panel.

As I said, this can be used to create a sequence between the content of the panel and the content of the bubble.

Positioning two speech bubbles in a panel

When you have two bubbles in a panel, you have a lot of options to lay them out. This can be horizontally, vertically as pictured below.

Horizontal speech bubbles layout

Here are some examples of horizontal layouts. You can easily see that there is no problem reading the speech bubbles in the correct order.

The inconvenient of this speech bubble layout is that it can create some unwanted symmetry. To avoid that, you can slightly offset the speech bubbles vertically the one from the other. This will avoid creating an horizontal line of text and make the movement of the eye more fluid.

Vertical speech bubbles layout

Here are now some examples of vertical layouts. Here also there is no problem reading the speech bubbles in the correct order.

Using the reading diagonal to lay out your speech bubbles

Now let’s have a look at the diagonals. There are two of them: the reading diagonal which we have seen above, and the anti-diagonal (the diagonal “perpendicular” to the reading diagonal).

Using the reading diagonal causes no trouble and generally looks nicer. You will see it quite often used in manga as it fits the reading flow very well.

The problem of using the anti-diagonal

But using the anti-diagonal can be troublesome! Depending on where your readers come from (top panel, panel on right or previous page) and the size of your bubbles this layout can be problematic.

Have a look at the example below:

There is a high chance that you read the second bubble: “How are you?” before the first one: “Hello!”.

There are 3 reasons for that:

• You were reading from top to bottom, making the top speech bubble the first one to be accessible to your eyes.
• The second speech bubble is also bigger than the first one, making it more obvious to the eyes.
• The S scanning of the content along the reading diagonal will also lead the reader to scan around the top left corner before the bottom right one.

Solving the issue

If possible, first try to use one of the other layouts presented above.

But if you don’t have the choice because of the content of your panel, here are a few tricks you can try to use.

Your first option is to try to move that first bubble up toward the middle of the panel, bringing it closer to the reading diagonal.

If you can’t, then the other option will be to make that first bubble more obvious. This can be straightforward if you have more content in that first bubble. And if not, like in my example, try to enlarge it and make it bigger than the second bubble.

Positioning 3 speech bubbles in a panel

Again, the best practice is to use horizontals, verticals or the reading diagonal as a guide.

If you can’t use these, then you will again have to be cautious. The positions to be favoured will be either above the reading diagonal, or below it.

The first two images illustrate a good use of the reading diagonal.

But the problem arises again when using the anti-diagonal as a guide. In the example below, because the third bubble: “Did you watch the TV yesterday?” is bigger than the second one: “How are you?”, there is a high probability that it is read second.

The way to solve the problem, though is quite similar to what we have seen previously:

• Either bring the second bubble up. This will reduce the space between that bubble and the first one and ease the transition of the eyes from the one to the other. We will see that in more details in the next part.

• Make the second bubble bigger than the third one.

Laying out text bubbles in the four corners

The last tricky situation you can be facing when laying out your bubbles is to have bubbles at the four corners.

Look at the following example:

The text is intended to be read first the two bubbles on the right, then the two bubbles on the left. But again, as the third bubble is bigger than the second one, there is a high probability that the reader will read that third bubble second, mixing up the content.

The same problem could happen if the bubbles had been laid out to be read horizontally:

We could again use larger second bubble. This would work, but this could quickly lead to the bubbles to overcrowd the panel.

Happily, as evoked in the previous part, there is an easy way to manage the situation.

Manage space between bubbles to drive the reading flow

Our brains have some automatisms that we can use to invite the readers in doing what we expect.

We saw a first principle which is the fact that the brain will look for elements with contrast.

A second one is that the brain makes more easily the link between elements that are close the one from the other, than between elements that are at a distance.

If we look at our previous panel, we can see that the spacing between the bubbles is too similar. It doesn’t help the reader in choosing the correct option.

Let’s see what happens if we bring the first and second speech bubbles closer the one from the other:

As you can see, because I reduced the spacing between these bubbles, reading them in the correct order becomes easier.

And the same works with an horizontal pairing of the bubbles:

Principles of laying out text bubbles

Here is a summary of what we have seen up to now in this article.

To ensure your readers will read your bubbles in the proper order:

• Lay out your bubbles either horizontally, vertically or along the reading diagonal

In the case you cannot follow this first principle:

• Drive the eyes of your readers. For that purpose, play with the size of your bubbles and with the distance between them.

Managing speech bubbles in a dialog

The principles we have seen above are still applicable in the case where two characters are talking to each other.

You can simply alternate questions and answers in one of the standard reading directions (vertical, horizontal, reading diagonal).

And if you have a lot of text, make sure you use proximity between questions and answers.

As I mentioned in the introduction, here are some other articles around the topic:

• Manga page panelling basics
• The different types of text bubbles
• How to draw speech bubbles

I hope you liked this article.

Do not hesitate if you have questions or comments.

Stef

The post Laying Out Speech Bubbles appeared first on Manga with Stef.

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You can have a look at my article on the different types of text bubbles that exist to discover other kinds of bubbles.

Speech bubbles ruler on Amazon

The process of drawing speech bubbles

Drawing speech bubbles, even though it might seem trivial, requires some care to be made right.

Here is a quick overview of the process of drawing speech bubbles:

• First, before you start drawing, you have to prepare your dialogs.
• Then you have to prepare the layout of your bubbles.
• And finally you can draw your speech bubbles.

Prepare your speech bubbles

The preparation of the speech bubbles, like for the drawing part of the manga, shall be made when you script your manga pages.

You have to work your dialogs and narrations. You shall keep what is essential for your story, and get rid of the unnecessary. Of course, you must also take into consideration the emotions of the scene, as well as the personality of the characters. The idea is simply to avoid adding dialogs for the sake of it.

Also, be conscious of the category of readers you want to attract. Younger population might get afraid or bored when seeing too much text and skip reading it. On the other side, adults might be expecting deeper dialogs.

Prepare your speech bubbles layout

Preparing the layout of your speech bubbles is as important as preparing the layout of the panels in a manga page. This ensures that your readers will read your bubbles in the correct order. You cacn find more details on that specific topic in my article on laying out speech bubbles.

Drawing speech bubbles

The text in your speech bubbles will have as much importance as your drawing for your story.

Therefore here is one rule to remember:

The text is not meant to be squeezed and distorted to fit into the bubbles. Bubbles are here to wrap the text and make it obvious.

For this reason, I would advise following the process described hereafter.

Write the text first

When sketching your bubbles, start by writing the text before drawing the bubble itself.

Too many times, amateur artists will draw the bubbles first, and then they will try to cram the text inside. This ends at best not looking good. But this can lead them also to have to add speech bubbles to the detriment of the drawing. And this can even lead to parts of the text being stripped if they cannot be fit in the panel.

Another aspect to have in mind is that text in speech bubbles is generally justified to the center.

Control the space around your text

Once you have written your text in your panel, the next step is to draw the shape of your bubble around it.

To make this text pop out, the objective will be to have the text centered within the bubble.

You should have somewhat equal amount of space on the left and on the right of the text. And somewhat equal amount of space above and below the text.

One approach can be to center a rectangle around the text.

The sides of this rectangle can then be used as tangents to draw the speech bubble border. This will ensure the space around the text is appropriately set.

Add the tail to your speech bubble

The final stage is to add the tail.

Adding a tail isn’t compulsory if there is no ambiguity regarding who is speaking. But I find it good to have one as the tail is also an indication of that someone is speaking at an audible level.

And add it systematically if you have more than one character in your frame. Some artists take an habit of not adding tails, and from my own experience it gets really confusing when two characters are having a conversation.

For the drawing itself, again nothing complicated. There is just one rule I would follow to make it look good:

The tail shall be pointing toward the speaker’s head or mouth.

And at the minimum, the tail should be pointing toward the speaker. For that purpose, you can move the tail around the shape of the bubble. It mustn’t absolutely be at the bottom.

Inking your speech bubbles

For the inking of the bubbles, you have different options. You can do it traditionally (that is to say with an ink pen), including the text, or you can do it digitally.

You can also mix-up both techniques by drawing the bubble traditionally, and adding the text digitally. This is the most current practice in the world of manga.

If you are looking for a font for your speech bubbles, be aware that manga and comic generally use a font called “Comic”. Such font should be readily available in your drawing apps, but if needed you can find a link to a free one in my article on fonts for manga.

I can’t draw perfectly round speech bubbles

If that’s a worry for you, you have a few options.

• First, you can use French curves. French curves is a kind of ruler that provides arcs of different sizes (see the picture below for a better understanding).

French curves on Amazon

• Second option, is to draw it piece by piece through smaller strokes. The line will look a bit jagged though, but with some practice you should be able to control that issue.
• And a third option is to draw them digitally. For instance Photoshop and Paint Clip Studio in the paid application domain, and MediBang Paint, Krita or Fire Alpaca in the free applications domain have tools to draw ellipses or bubbles. In Procreate for instance you just have to draw an oval shape freehand and keep the Apple Pencil down at the end of your stroke.

But, if this can bring you some relief, be aware that many pro manga artists don’t draw perfectly round speech bubbles. Therefore don’t look for too much perfection on this point.

I hope you found that article useful. Do not hesitate if you have comments or questions.

Stef

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