Testing Manga Studio and Act 2 for Badin and the Secret of the Saami

Snapshot of digitally produced penciled and lettered panels

Progress was a bit frustrated this week. I only have 3 pages sketched for Act 2. It required a few layout changes and two additional pages. Also, I needed to do various page size tests with Manga Studio 5EX just in case my layouts became impossible to work with in print. In order to maximize time, I decided to work on a vignette page. By vignette, I mean a very short story related to a character in Badin and the Secret of the Saami. This page may be used in the graphic novel or for promotional purposes.

The vignette and page testing helped me work out many problems and doubts regarding how the graphic novel will appear in print. This test was all digital: Composition, thumbnail sketches, penciling, lettering and inking were all done within Manga Studio. So far, it appears that I will continue composition work on 11x17 inch pages reduced proportionally to 8.5 x 11 inch pages. I'll scan those drawings and import to Manga Studio. From there, I'll finish the book and probably export the pages as JPGs to layout in Adobe InDesign. I find Adobe InDesign's capabilities for book layout to be more robust. For example, if I want an index or table of contents, it's much harder to do in Manga Studio.

I found that building the basic 11x17 page template was much easier when I started with Lulu.com's specifications for comic books. It's not a profound discovery. However, after wasting time reading all kinds of websites on what others were doing, I had to learn my lesson the hard way.

I purchased Elizabeth Staley's Manga Studio books and am finding them very useful. They are very expensive, however. Yet, between her books and the videos and course by Doug Hills, I have more than enough to help me work with the program to achieve my goals.

The picture at left is a low resolution snapshot of the first vignette. I cannot reveal any details yet. But if you stick around, you will see and learn more! Please comment and share this with all of your friends and family.