Are Manga Artists Digital Artists? (Explore)

Gone are the days when artists used to splatter paint and get their hands dirty to complete a single piece. Now the world is moving ahead with easy-to-use tools and technologies to create art. A similar situation is observed in the Manga industry. 

Graphic softwares
Many graphic software has made it easy to work as a Manga Artist.

The manga started with hand-drawn figures and characters on paper which required a lot of work considering the fact that a Manga is a lengthy piece of work with several volumes and chapters released weekly.

In the earlier days, Mangakas had to put their blood sweat, and tears into every single page to woo the audience. 

But the recent advancement in tech has made it easier for the Mangakas to draw and create art. Now they can work on the plot and character development more deeply since their energy is conserved from all the paperwork. So you must be thinkingdoesn’t that make a Mangaka a digital artist?

Yes and no, depending on the artist and how they chose to create an artwork. You can and cannot consider them digital artists. To put it more clearly, around 20% of Mangakas still use pen and paper to create Manga.

Whereas 80% of the Mangakas have shifted towards digital art since it has more variety and easy-to-use tools. 

What exactly is a manga artist?

A manga artist, often known as a mangaka, is a comic artist who creates and/or illustrates manga.

Before entering the profession as a principal creator, most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or work as an apprentice with another artist. Rarely does a manga artist break into the field without first working as an assistant.

For example, Sailor Moon author Naoko Takeuchi won a Kodansha Manga Award contest, and manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka was initially published while studying for another degree and not working as an assistant.

When a manga artist piques the interest of organizations, people, or a demographic of manga consumers, they will climb to popularity through acknowledgement of their ability. For example, budding manga artists can participate contests sponsored by manga editors and publishers. This can also be performed by creating a one-shot.

While it is occasionally a stand-alone manga, if it receives enough positive feedback, it can be serialized on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. They are also known for the large amount of manga that are available at any given time.

Do Manga artists draw digitally or on paper?

For starters, most artists are used to drawing by hand and were taught that way.

Original hand-drawn panels from the One Piece manga, at the manga exhibition in the British Museum.
Original hand-drawn panels from the One Piece manga, at the manga exhibition in the British Museum.

Additionally, drawing by hand gives you more control over shading, perspective, and values. However, digital drawing software has made an effort to as nearly mimic the manual sketching process as possible, making it a popular choice for Manga artists.

But the conventional Pen and Paper way is prone to errors and is time-consuming. Mangakas have shifted to a more efficient way, Digital Art. 

How does digital drawing differ from traditional drawing?

There is a significant difference between drawing on paper and drawing digitally. Because of the availability of such a diverse range of apps and tools, there is a lot more you can do while drawing digitally.

You can create limitless number of blunders and revert them back only by a single click. You can’t accomplish that with paints or pens.

Almost all digital art programs improve the lines and curves you draw. It takes a lot of practice and expertise to draw flawless curves with a pencil/pen.

You can add as many layers as you want to your drawing and even work in various layers separately. You must develop your drawing layer by layer with pencils and acrylics.

You can obviously shade much better when you have a variety of brush sizes and shapes, as well as smudge tools, from which to pick.

What are the limitations of digital art?

Although digital art is one of the easiest methods for creating a Manga or a comic. But there are some limitations to it as compared to the traditional pen and paper method. 

The first one is Money and the second is adjustment. That’s pretty much it.

But these two reasons go hand in hand, most Mangakas started off their career with the conventional pen and paper method since it is easily accessible and does not cost a lot of money. 

Digital art needs a basic setup, A PC with a graphics software package, and support that can be used to produce layouts, characters, comics, and Mangas.

A graphics tablet, usually a Wacom’s Cintiq will do the job. All this costs money and rookie artists may not have that much investment at the start of their careers. 

When it comes to assistants, working digitally has another limitation: either you are now a one-person company, or you have to spend money on a workstation with a tablet for each assistant on your team.

There may be little alternative but to stick with paper that can be passed around amongst the people working on the title, especially with well-known artists who depend on their assistance to meet deadlines.

Whereas Anyone can pick a pen and paper and start drawing! There is no virtual barrier to the pen-and-paper method, and once you get to the pro level, even traditional drawing gets expensive.

You might need:

  • Comic or Manga artboards
  • A set of pens and brushes
  • Various types of inks
  • Screen tones
  • Alcohol markers for color pages and so on.

The good thing is that you don’t have to sell your kidney to start (pun intended). 

It may require some time to adjust. When someone becomes accustomed to one method of doing things, switching to another might be challenging.

The same goes for digital art in Japan, there are still Mangakas who discuss the stories and character designs by drawing rough drafts over the paper and presenting it to the team because it is quick! And the Mangakas are used to it. 

Hence the transition from paper to a tablet can feel totally different. Shifting to a Cintiq means you don’t have to dissociate your drawing position from your perspective.

A Manga artist in Japan has a jampacked work schedule with little to no time on his hand for making adjustments. The popular ones are short on time and the newbies will require assistance and changes in schedules to get into it. 

Is it better to draw Manga digitally?

Yes, it is better to draw Manga digitally.

And this answer comes after watching a Tokusatsu episode where they featured Mangakas, most of them were overworked and exhausted and one of them in every episode had a fast-approaching deadline. 

The majority of these artists were working with traditional mediums like inks, pens, and pencils. In a particular scene of that interview, a person passed his work to the main artist.

Who then proceed to say that the background Panel was done all wrong and that it was not supposed to be Cross-hatched but Shaded. Hence that individual had to redo his entire work. 

The thing which stuck with me while watching that scene was that a digital medium like photoshop or a tablet would have made his job much easier. You can just manipulate your work in a matter of minutes with digital art rather than rendering hours of your precious time into reworking. 

The majority of popular Mangakas like Hiroya Oku, Natsume Ono, and Asano Inio have transitioned into digital artists and many are thinking of taking this step in near future.

However, there are some Mangakas who still prefer the feel of a pen on paper over a stylus on the screen. Hence they are not convinced to take this leap yet. 

Cintiq-like graphics tablets are produced by a number of firms and come in a range of price points and features, enabling an artist to work in a more “conventional” way.

All of these programs can export into any number of standard formats that can be read by the publishing business, which is surely using digital versions of all pages, regardless of how they are made, to compile its magazines.

Various companies provide software that can be used to create Manga pages, including screen tones and tools that very well simulate traditional media.

Can Manga be digital?

Yes, Manga can be digital for so many reasons. Nowadays people tend to buy fewer books since everything is available on the web.

The same goes for Manga, Although Manga is a many-decade-old industry in Japan with a deep-rooted respect for hand-drawn Manga, things are changing for good. Newer fans prefer reading Mangas on screen rather than in a book since it is more accessible and cheaper. 

Gege Akutami

The creator of Jujutsu Kaisen created everything digitally. At first, he also used the traditional means of drawing but he soon realized that his work was not improving so he opted for digital art. 

In his interview with Tite Kubo, he said that he does not think he is an expert in digital art like Tite Kubo since he cannot create customized brushes. Furthermore, he just uses any software that he feels compatible with whether they have the best ratings or not. 

He still draws with an analog touch to keep his drawings and characters relevant to traditional Manga art.

Ryo Katagiri

Ryo Katagiri is the creator of Chuganji’s Clan Secret and Tutti. Shonen Sunday Magazine has been serializing her series. She has written a book titled “How to Draw Manga” as well.

This is a picture of Ryo's iPad
Ryo prefers to use an iPad and Apple Pencil when drawing.

Ryo prefers to draw with an iPad and Apple Pencil.

Shizuka Yamaguchi

The Mangaka of the LINE series “Tomodachi no Suki na Hito”— Shizuka Yamaguchi is also a digital artist. According to her digital art enabled her to work from anywhere. She even drew a few scenes while she was on vacation. In short, she could just take her work anywhere she wanted. 

This is how Shizuka creates Manga Digitally.

She connects her Huion Kamvas Pro, which is used for drawing, to her Macbook Air. She adds a Gaomon PD 1161 to this as a backup. She utilizes Clip Studio Paint Pro for her drawing and coloring needs.

Here is a list of all the Mangas that were created Digitally.

Digitally created MangaManga Artist
Rent a GirlfriendReiji Miyajima
Tokyo GhoulIshida Sui
Jujutsu KaisenGege Akutami
BleachTite Kubo
Food WarsShun Saeki
Robot 8Yoshitoshi Abe
Kobayashi-san Chino Maid DragonYoshikazu Hamada
Sword Art OnlineReki Kawahara
Tomodachi noSuki na HitoShizuka Yamaguchi
Chuganji’s ClanHow to Draw Manga booksRyo Katagiri
My Hero AcademiaKohei Horikoshi
Chainsaw ManTatsuki Fujimoto
All the Mangas were created digitally.

Final Verdict 

Manga is now transitioned to the digital era same goes for the artists creating these Mangas. Here is the answer to Why Manga artists are becoming Digital Artists.

  • It is convenient and efficient.
  • You can erase a panel and restart and even complete it within minutes.
  • Technological advancement brings endless possibilities and positive outcomes.
  • Quick and Creates more attractive illustrations.

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