INSIDE THE (DIGITAL) CARTOONIST'S STUDIO...
Remember when you were a kid and you got a new toy for your birthday or whatever and you KNEW that it was supposed to be the world's most awesomest* toy EVER... but you couldn't figure out how to play with it? Or that you could play with it, but you knew you were doing something wrong? This is the quandary I find myself in. On Cyber Monday, I scored an AMAZING deal on Manga Studio Debut 4, which is a drawing program specifically geared towards drawing comics. Right now, I use Photoshop CS, which has worked fine, but is, at it's heart, a photo manipulation program, not a drawing program. Manga Studio arrived in the mail on Saturday and I installed it. Seems like it has lots of potential for positively affecting my work. However, every tutorial I come across online seems geared towards comic book work, not comic strips. I like it, don't get me wrong - I just feel like I'm fumbling along with it until I can get some sort of instruction. It did come with a manual PDF, but the manual is written in a very, no-nonsense, boring, dry-as-graham-crackers manner. To put it into leetspeak: TLCR (Too Long, Couldn't Read).
I can see the day coming when I'll use Manga Studio for the strip, but that day ain't today. Until then, it's back to trusty ol' Photoshop. If anyone knows of any good tutorials, link for me in the comments, pretty please? Thanks!
Hasta,
~Rob
* Yeah, I said "awesomest". English is my native language and I can mutilate however I please :)
I picked Manga Studio 4 up for my kids a few months back and they still haven’t figured out how to use it well enough to decide if they like it so you aren’t the only one ;0). Maybe Manga Studio for Dummies would help?? (I just checked Amazon, it exists)
Another friend of mine uses it and she said she would try to answer any questions you might have through email. (EMAIL REDACTED TO PRESERVE PRIVACY)
Thanks, Dale. I’ve seen your friend’s strip, and I’ll see about writing her, but I thought it best to remove the email address so that she doesn’t get hit with any spam from the spambots that wander the Internet. Thanks again!