Mangaka Studio for Procreate

Mangaka Studio is a powerful toolkit that was put together to help you create traditional manga art on Procreate from start to finish with ease.

The pack consists of several brush sets and assets that should provide you with almost everything you need to work on your manga piece.

💿 VERSION 2.0 IS LIVE!

2.x CYCLE CHANGELOG:

• Added new sketching and inking brushes in the Mangaka DRAW brush set. The few remaining brushes that were carried over from the previous version also got an update.
• Added quick hatching shaders in the Sketching sub-category in Mangaka DRAW.
• Added a special Layout brush sub-category in the Mangaka DRAW brush set. These new brushes are specifically designed to help create speech bubbles and panels.
• Added a wide variety of analog type brushes in the Mangaka PAINT brush set. Blenders have been revamped too (to be used with the Brush tool).
• Revamped all Dots screentone brushes.
• Added 90° Dots screentones, ranging between 10% and 90% density.
• Added Lines screentones oriented in the following angles: 45°, 135°, 90°, and 180°.
• Added Diamond Grid and Square Grid screentones sub-sets, each including a range of 10% to 70% density.
• Added screentone Shaders in all brush sets. These brushes are pressure-loaded for gradual shading. Moreover, the patterns align seamlessly with the corresponding regular screentones.
• Revamped all screentone condition/wear styles. The updated styles are available as individual brush sets: Clean, Rough, and Aged. All screentone patterns align seamlessly across the aforementioned styles, which means that you can mix them as you go.
• Revamped the RISO brushes and added an additional sub-category where all brushes are set to Multiply blending mode. The latter helps with achieving a more realistic overlay effect.
• Added three RISO Pulp Glaze brushes in Light, Medium, and Heavy density. These brushes have a more pronounced paper texture and may be used for more realistic results.
• Added a new brush set that focuses on materials and texturing, called Mangaka TEXTURAMA.
• Added new brushes and updated the remaining ones in the Mangaka PRINT-ERR (formerly Mangaka FX) brush set.
• Added a new brush set for paper textures, called Mangaka CANVAS.
• Updated the complimentary Jotter PRO brush set with new content.
• Dropped abbreviations from all brush names and categories in favor of full titles.
• Deprecated the screentone frequency presets. All screentones are now set to an arbitrary scale which you can change as you like.
• MSC VARIA and MSC IRIS color libraries have been moved up to Version 3.0.

UPDATE 2.2:

• Added a new subset of inking brushes: 21 G-nibs in parent set Mangaka DRAW. These brushes are completely textureless and have no jitter/bleed effect. Learn more in the sections below.
• Added new canvas templates that effectively replace the old ones. Learn more in the sections below.
• Replaced the textured square canvas documents with new formats. Textures remain the same but the document size is different.

⚠️ Please note that the brush strokes shown in the promotional images are from version 1.0. Updated brush previews will be available soon. Sorry for the inconvenience!

👉 News on future updates at the bottom of the page.

📌 ROAD MAP

Version 2.3:

• Foliage brushes.
• Manga B5 templates.
• Mangaka DRAW sorting improvements.
• Stability improvements.

Version 2.4:

• Effect brushes like hearts, sparkles, etc.
• Stability improvements.

Version 2.5:

• Dedicated cloud brushes subset.
• Stability improvements.

Version 2.6:

• Speech bubble templates in PNG format.
• Stability improvements.

Version 2.7:

• Basic fabric/clothing textures in PNG format: plaid, houndstooth, kimono, etc.
• Stability improvements.

Version 2.8–2.9: TBA

Version 3.0:

• Shading screens based on physical parameters. Screentones at 60LPI and 80LPI for multiple resolutions.
• Shading gradation screens. Same as the above.
• Screentone effects for backgrounds.
• MSC VARIA color library.
• MSC IRIS color library.
• Stability improvements.

🟢 BRUSH SETS

Mangaka DRAW

Mangaka DRAW is designed as a multipurpose set of tools for sketching, layout and inking. Each of the aforementioned categories is a subset withint Mangaka DRAW.

However, with the pack's growing features, soon many of the subsets will be rebranded as stand-alone brush packs.

The first group in this pack includes a variety of pencils and technical pens specifically made for the sketching phase. Loaded with little-to-no stabilization dynamics, these brushes give you enough freedom to generate expressive strokes and add more personality to your art.

Coming in second are the brand new G-nibs introduced in Mangaka Studio 1.0 but later removed to be rebranded as a stand-alone set.

What distinguishes the G-nib brushes from other inking tools in Mangaka Studio is the absence of texture and stroke jitter. They are completely smooth and textureless.

However, G-nibs still offer a lot more variety than you may think.

Stroke tapering, flow, tip direction and density are all properties that react to stylus pressure, speed, and tilt. Stroke appearance in the brushes panel does not represent the G-nib's size on the canvas.

And if you are looking for something a little more rugged, then I got you covered there too.

The third category of tools in Mangaka DRAW includes rough inkers. Some are designed after traditional Japanese pens, while others have more western feel. Some are smooth, while others are rough and textured. Some are thin and stiff, while others are bold and highly pressure sensitive.

And finally, the last group in the set is for creating decorations like speech bubbles and panels. Please note that the panel maker brushes should be used with average speed at minimum. Slower motion will cause the stroke to bend (that's how Procreate's brush engine works currently, I'm sorry).

Mangaka PAINT

Mangaka PAINT was never meant to be made for this kit but I decided to do it anyway (because you rock!).

Mangaka PAINT includes brushes that mimic a wide variety of analog tools like watercolor, oil, markers, crayons and so on. Future updates may introduce a bit more brushes in this set. But for now, you get a pretty decent selection to start sketching and coloring.

Mangaka TEXTURAMA

Mangaka TEXTURAMA is a brush set that includes some of the basic material textures for drawing backgrounds and things in nature. No foliage yet, though. That's coming in a future update.

What's really cool about this pack is the Plaid Maker section. These are especially useful brushes that let you build plaid fabric textures yourself. Unlike traditional "stamp" textures that have limitations to how you transform them, Mangaka Studio's Plaid Makers give you the ability to generate the texture by "painting in" each element one at a time. This means that you can make the texture follow any direction, wrinkle and so on.

In order to effectively use the Plaid Maker brushes, you'd need to look at a real photo of said fabric and then just add the elements as you see them in Procreate.

Mangaka PRINT-ERR

Mangaka PRINT-ERR is a brush set that includes a good selection of imperfections.

Grunge particles, noise textures, ink stains, watercolor bleeds and coffee cup stains are among the effects you now have in your arsenal to make your painting extremely messy.

Mangaka CANVAS

Mangaka CANVAS includes a bunch of paper-like textures that you may use with layer blend modes or just as-is.

One thing to note is that I did not make these brushes with the intention for them to add a true paper overlay on the layers below. Rather, it's an additional effect to help break the repeptitiveness of paper textures and add a little more uniqueness.

Take them for a spin. I bet you'll find a way to fit them in your own beautiful workflow.

Mangaka RISOPRESS

Mangaka RISOPRESS is exactly what it sounds like -- a collection of brushes that let you achieve a risograph effect.

This set is divided into three sections. The first two are basically identical, with the exception of one being set to multiply mode for a stronger blending.

The third section includes three washes with paper texture built into them.

It is recommended that you use any of these brushes on individual layers for every color set to Multiply. Layer opacity controls the intensity of the color. Then offset colors a bit by moving the entire layer 1-2 px and there you have it.

Mangaka DOTS / LINES

I should start by explaining that all screentone types in Mangaka Studio come in three styles. Please pay attention to the character in the brackets (identifier):

• Smooth (A)
• Rough (B)
• Aged/Worn (C)

All of the styles align seamlessly on top of one another, which gives you the opportunity to mix and match them in the same area.

Additionally, every brush set comes with solid fills and pressure-loaded shaders.

That being said, Mangaka Studio 2.0 now comes with 45° and 90° dotted screentones. Intensity values vary between 10% and 90%.

In addition to dotted patterns, Mangaka Studio 2.0 also introduces lined screentones at 45°, 135°, 90°, and 180°.

Mangaka NET / GRID

Mangaka NET and GRID are crosshatch presets. The former combines 45° and 135° lines, while the latter does the same with 90° and 180° lines.

Intensity values for these sets only go up to six levels for technical reasons. More intensity basically breaks the pattern form to the point where it looks like a 90% dotted screentone.

🟢 COLOR LIBRARIES

Mangaka Studio 1.2 adds powerful color charts to the kit. This update introduces 34 Procreate color palettes consisting of a total of 870 swatches. You may access them in a new directory labeled Color Libraries. This folder is where you can access and import the following color charts:

• MSC PRIMO (826 swatches)
• MSC VARIA (400 swatches; to be released soon)
• MSC IRIS (tba; to be released soon)
• MSC UMBRA (44 swatches)

Those color charts give you a wide range of colors based on common factors such as lightness, hue ranges and tone. All four of them are custom made specifically for Mangaka Studio using different approaches.

MSC PRIMO and MSC VARIA are similar in the sense that they provide a sequential spectrum of colors through various steps of lightness, color depth and saturation. Additionally, the whole chart is grouped based on these factors to make it easier for you to import a set of colors that belong to the same criteria, such as overall luminosity and tone value.

Alternatively, you can import the entire charts into Procreate or build your own palette by taking samples of the different colors you may need for your illustration. But either way, there is a particular order in which the MSC PRIMO and MSC VARIA need to be imported into Procreate. Just read the instructions text file included in the directory.

MSC IRIS, on the other hand is structured in a much different way. Rather than building the chart using scientific progressions and grouping the colors based on a set of values, the MSC IRIS is organized based on hue ranges. It's very similar to a COPIC-type chart where swatches are presented in order of the color groups on the spectrum.

👉 MSC IRIS to be released in Version 3.0.

And finally, the MSC UMBRA gives you access to grays:

• Neutral Gray
• Toner Gray
• Warm Gray
• Cool Gray

MSC UMBRA features 44 swatches divided into two Procreate palette files. Every color ramp includes 10 swatches ranging from dark to bright in different temperature.

It is important to mention that pure black and white swatches are only part of the Neutral Gray palette. The darkest and brightest shades in the other palettes reflect the color temperature of the group instead.

👉 I am working on a manual which is set to explain the color charts in more detail. Coming soon.

🟢 PNG ASSETS

Some things in Procreate are better used as external image files rather than brushes. That's why I've started a separate category to use as a database for such effects.

Focus Lines were previously incorporated as a brush set. However, the inability to see a preview of the brush pattern in Procreate made it very inconvenient to use.

The PNG assets library will feature a lot more types of assets in the future. I can't yet give detailed information so stay tuned for updates!

🟢 MANGA B4 TEMPLATES

All canvas templates have been replaced with brand new layouts in Mangaka Studio 2.2. The new documents are set up in accordance with commercial B4 guidelines.

You can now choose between two types of documents – padded and trimmed – each equipped with a complete guideline system.

The padded documents only come in a single page layout. They include a ruler frame at 1mm scale.

The trimmed canvas templates are set to match the size of a trimmed paper copy. What you see is also what the reader of your manga should see.

The trimmed canvas includes a single page as well as a two-page layout.

Both padded and trimmed canvas templates include additional guidelines that you can import into Procreate. These are located in the Extras directory.

Last but not least, you can now add paper texture to your artwork similarly to how one does it in Photoshop. The old paper grains are still available albeit in different sizes.

Textured canvases are only available for the trimmed document type. Both the single page and the two-page spread are configured with the standard paper textures that come with Mangaka Studio.

You can apply paper textures to your finished artwork by copying a flattened image of your work and placing it in one of the textured documents. That's all there is to it!

📌 Notes:

• The trimmed canvas template has its own dedicated Extras folder. Do not import the assets located in the other directory!

• Mind the canvas dimensions. Artwork should be printed on an A3 paper.

• Default canvas resolution is set to 300dpi.

• If your iPad can handle higher resolution files, then make sure to change the dpi value to 600dpi before you start drawing. And if you want to take it a step further, then change the value to 1200dpi.

🟠 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Procreate 5.0+ is required.
• 2.09 GB free space is required for the whole pack in zipped format.
• Brush set directory is about 1.51 GB.
• Mangaka Studio only works with the Procreate app.

🔵 WHAT'S COMING NEXT

Mangaka 3.0 is scheduled as the final feature update.

While Mangaka 2.0 came about unexpectedly and skipped a lot of planned feature updates in the 1.x series, I don't plan to repeat that for Version 3.0.

There will be more updates and new brushes in the 2.x cycle. Among my primary focus are the intensity values of the 70% to 90% screentones. The 90% threshold may be "darkened" a bit more which will introduce a higher contrast between the 70% and 80% values.

But that's not all. I'll also work hard on adding more brushes in the other sets.

Previously announced color libraries MSC VARIA and MSC IRIS have been moved up to Version 3.0.

Once Version 3.0 is published, I will continue to tweak little settings in the existing brushes. More content after that is not planned, but that's not to say that there won't be any.

🟡 BEFORE YOU BUY

Please make sure you read the highlights below before you make a purchase!

• Mangaka Studio is a toolkit that includes several brush sets, not just one. Unfortunaltely, the brushes are far too many to be imported into a single brush set and be used comfortably that way.
• More brushes, png assets and optimizations will become available periodically. Currently, only the most essential brushes are included (see the slides).
• Every new release will add between 3 and 5 new brushes at most. The reason for that is to avoid making quantity the objective but rather quality should be the only priority for updates.
• Due to Procreate's memory limitations on the iPad, the B4 templates only go up to 400 dpi. However, users who don't own an iPad Pro may find themselves too restricted or not even able to use a B4 template that's above 300 dpi.
• Make sure that you have enough space to import the assets. Check the minimum requirements above.
• The size of the screentone patterns is customizeable. If you find them too dense or sparse for your liking you can: 1) install one of the many presets available, or 2) adjust the tile size to suit your preference. The downside with the latter option is that you must then do this for every screentone that you plan to use.
• The screentones shown in the promotional slides have been heavily compressed during upload due to the fact that the original photos are more than twice as large as the accepted file size. Therefore, the patterns may display very poorly.
• You can help me improve this product by sending me a message with your feedback. Thank you!