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Dots, Lines, and Screentones: The Manganization and Application of 3D Software in Comic Art

 

Manga, a Japanese loan word, is a comic beloved by fans worldwide. In the traditional manga production process, principal manga artists draw the primary characters, while the assistants are responsible for additional characters, screentone works for textures, and environmental background drawings. Background drawing contributes significantly to a sense of realism in the manga. However, it is notoriously tedious. Can advanced technology accelerate the tasks?

 

The author discusses an alternative way to generate manga backgrounds using computer software. Through this work, he aims to push the boundaries of 3D software beyond the typical movies and architectural visualization applications. He applies skills from his training in architecture and turns computer-generated images into manga-style backgrounds (manganization). With the software called 3DS Max, the author can alternate lighting, materials, and camera angles, allowing him to choose the perfect environment for each comic panel. 3DS Max generates separate rendered images with lighting, textures, and line drawings. In Adobe Photoshop, the author layers line drawings over textured images to compose the manga backgrounds. He creates a 17-page manga in Clip Studio Paint, the digital manga software used by the manga industry, as a part of this presentation. With Clip Studio Paint, the characters are drawn and inked digitally according to the perspective of the backgrounds. When exporting the files, the software converts the background images into manga-style with a screentone effect.

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Keywords: VISUALIZATION, DIGITAL IMAGE TECHNIQUES, ART PRACTICES