Manga Studio (known in Japan as ComicStudio or Clip Studio Paint) is a software application for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows used for the digital creation of comics and manga. It has been developed since 2001 by the Japanese graphics software company Celsys. It was originally distributed in the Western market by E Frontier America; since 2007 it has been distributed by Smith Micro Software.
The program is offered in packages with varying features and prices. The current version is offered as "Manga Studio 5" (retail priced at US$79.99), and "Manga Studio 5 EX", which adds support for multi-page documents and other features (US$299.99). Earlier versions were packaged as "Debut" and "EX" varieties.
Features
Although it has features in common with general-purpose graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop, Manga Studio's tool set is focused and optimized for use in creating comics and manga. It has tools for creating panel layouts, perspective rulers, sketching, inking, applying tones and textures, coloring, and creating word balloons and captions. It supports creation of bitmap and vector art, and importing 3D models. Early versions were designed for black and white art with only spot color (a typical format for Japanese manga), but version 4 (released in 2007) introduced support for creating full-color art, and version 5 included additional coloring tools. It supports input by a mouse or a graphics tablet.
Usage
Notable users of Manga Studio include comics artist Fiona Staples, who uses the program to create her work for the series Saga, for which she has won a number of awards. Dave Gibbons, the artist who co-created Watchmen, uses it for current digital work and has done promotional demonstrations of the software.
References
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Celsy's official website (English)
- Smith Micro Software's official page