Cintiq

February 15th, 2012 | Category: Blog |

Here’s one of my first digital sketches on a Cintiq, which is essentially a monitor that is directly drawn on with a stylus.  I’m quite impressed by the natural feel of the whole process and see it as a big improvement on a tablet.

Also impressed by the software I’m trying to teach myself; MANGA STUDIO EX. It offers much better control of the character of the ink line than I’m able to get with Photoshop.  Unfortunately it uses a different set of tools from Photoshop and has a badly translated manual so the learning curve has been steep.

 

  1. Seba Cabrol February 15th, 2012 7:37 pm

    If you use Windows, you should also try AzDrawing 2.02,a free japanese software exclusively focused on sketching and inking. i´ts so easy to understand (i´ve been trying manga studio aswell, and i couldn´t get it) and the appearence i´ts very similar, maybe identical. you´ll be surprised. take it from an artist recently submerged into the digital inking issues. greetings from argentina.

  2. Leandro February 15th, 2012 8:06 pm

    Don’t have a cintiq yet, but I’ve being using Manga Studio for years now and can testify to it’s excellency. It’s a great software. Keep it up with the learning, cause it’s woth it.

  3. Rick February 16th, 2012 3:45 pm

    Leandro, is there a good Manga Studio on-line community?

  4. Leandro February 18th, 2012 8:11 pm

    Rick, not that I know of. Much of what I’ve learned about the software was via this guy called Ray Frenden, who is a great artist. http://frenden.com. (youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/rayfrenden) He has some videos, tutorials and numerous customized brushes all about manga studio.

  5. Mark Oakley March 12th, 2012 8:48 pm

    Hiya, Rick!

    I’ve found that “Paint Tool Sai” in combination with Photoshop CS4 hits the sweet spot.

    Sai is awesome for inking. PS is good for selection-related tasks (like applying grey tones, for instance) and various pre-press jobs.

    Personally, I found Manga Studio cumbersome and crashy, but maybe I was just not giving it enough of a chance. Whatever tool gets you through, I guess.

    Cheers!

  6. Rick March 13th, 2012 1:21 pm

    Mark, thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out. Manga Studio has been a beast to master, but now that I’m getting the hang of it, I’m thinking “Where have you been all my life?”