Illustration Tutorials and Tips for the Traditional and Digital Artist - Monster Cutie » smithmicro http://monstercutie.com/blog Illustration Tutorials and Tips for the Traditional and Digital Artist - Monster Cutie Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:34:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Manga Studio EX Test Drive http://monstercutie.com/blog/2010/02/17/manga-studio-ex-test-drive/ http://monstercutie.com/blog/2010/02/17/manga-studio-ex-test-drive/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:53:14 +0000 Jamie http://monstercutie.com/blog/?p=859 The good folks at SmithMicro sent along a review copy of Manga Studio EX so I thought I’d put it through its paces the only way monster cuties know how. I was most interested in its lineart/digital inking capabilities. Can it outperform Photoshop?

Overall, I’m fairly impressed with Manga Studio EX. It’s not going to take the place of my traditional brush inking for my comic, Yellow Peril, but I will definitely be messing around with it for single illustrations here and there. It might also be fun to do a 24-hour comic day challenge all in Manga Studio. Manga Studio comes in two flavors, Manga Studio EX for $299.99 and Manga Studio Debut for $49.99.

So here’s a quick rundown:

Loved

  • The way the digital nibs responded. Very natural feel. One of my favorite digital inking tools yet.
  • Ease of applying screen tones.
  • Very good response speed working at 600dpi.
  • Multiple pages in one file.
  • Ease of making panels and borders.
  • The fact that the sketches layer doesn’t render out. Very nice touch.
  • Ability to rotate page.

Not so loved

  • Tool layout. The menus take up quite a bit of real estate that should be used for drawing
  • Airbrush tool. I just don’t like it. It’s not really that bad, I just needed something else to make this list more than one item.
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