Use one of these manga drawing software if you want to develop your skills to the level of Masashi Kishimoto. You can create amazing manga projects using a computer mouse or a graphic tablet. It is possible to use ready-made templates and themed anime backgrounds or create brushes and textures from scratch.
Manga software allows you to quickly edit and create drawings with one click. Have a look at the ready-made templates, use layers and masks and record speed art for YouTube. Check out my list of 9 free manga drawing software, learn about their unique features, advantages and disadvantages.
Verdict: Adobe Photoshop occupies a leading position among the software for manga artists due to its multitude of functions, the widest base of third-party brushes and textures, as well as a huge number of training video lessons.
With a drawing tablet, you can use brushes for detailed work, while those using a computer mouse, will prefer the Pen tool to create sharper borders. It is possible to scan a sketch drawn on paper, and then use the photo editing options in Photoshop to create drawings.
To add color to your sketches, you can use the Brush tool when working on a graphics tablet or the Pen tool for raster and vector media, which has perfect accuracy even when being controlled by a mouse. The Pen Tool helps produce artworks with crisp and clean edges, and perfect shading.
Verdict: Corel Painter is multi-functional graphics design software with a collection of over 900 universal custom brushes for creating manga. I’d like to mention the long and smooth brush stroke mechanism, which allows you to draw realistic strokes – watercolor, oil paint, chalk, charcoal, colored pencil, and many others.
You can use install this manga drawing software free on a graphics tablet or computer. There are also several different paper textures to choose from.
I also like that it is possible to adjust the pressure level of the brush. When using a pencil, the thickness of the line directly depends on the inclination angle of the stylus to the tablet screen. A brush that has just been dipped in paint will leave a wider and more saturated trace than a brush that has been used for some time.
Verdict: Clip Studio Paint Pro is a bit of a mix between Illustrator and Photoshop, with support for bitmap and vector graphics, layers, and templates. You can adjust the vector settings to create smooth strokes on the sketches and use the program tools to increase/decrease certain areas of the lines to make the drawing look more professional.
Beginners can take advantage of 36 pre-designed comic book templates or you can use this anime drawing software to create your own ones from scratch.
I absolutely adore the word balloon tools, which are so helpful for creating comics. Using them, you can select the shape and size of the first balloon and indicate the direction of a tail and head. The possibility of using any font installed on your PC, as well as setting the size and color is also very useful. However, there is no spell-check.
Verdict: If you enjoy experimenting with custom brushes and don’t have strict deadlines, then you should definitely try Paintstorm manga software free. The user interface can be completely personalized, scaled and saved as new.
Selecting the Brush tool on the main toolbar doesn’t work the same as in Photoshop. You have another palette with different types of brushes grouped into identical styles, from simple strokes to complex, multi-layer bends, stroke types.
The settings palette allows you to define almost every attribute of your brush, from the tip profile to the shape. Paintstorm Studio also has a Mixer palette that lets you mix colors. This is a fairly unique drawing tool, and some basic knowledge of CG will help you use it correctly.
Verdict: OpenCanvas is quite popular among the manga and anime community and is on the list of best free drawing software for amateurs. You get a variety of brushes, including the raster Pen Tool, marker brushes and a set of watercolor brushes.
To create a manga, you can choose from various tones, patterns and textures of paper, as well as 100+ brushes that give you a complete and unique look. The program has a very useful log that helps you track and view your progress.
What sets OpenCanvas apart is its real-time collaborative features, enabling artists to work together seamlessly over the internet. This facilitates collaborative manga creation and ideas exchange, fostering a sense of community among creators.
The unique feature of this manga creator software is the “Event” tool, which allows you to see all the stages of how your drawing has been changed. It is especially useful if you are an artist, who is engaged in speed painting/video drawing.
Verdict: Smith Micro Manga Studio is a perfect program for those who want to create quality manga and anime pages. The software contains vector tools that allow you to work with lines, a wide range of color samples for specific genres, additional screen tones and intelligent rules that help arrange 3D characters, choose a proper pose and anatomical design.
You can use this program with a graphic tablet, as it boasts touch sensitivity and comes with digital pens. It imitates the traditional pens used by manga artists. You can also customize preset brushes to match your style. For those exploring apps for drawing, Smith Micro Manga Studio will be definitely a comprehensive solution tailored to manga and anime.
Verdict: My Paint is intuitive free drawing software. It works great with tablets paired with a stylus. You can create and customize your own brushes, such as pencils, chalk, crayons and charcoal.
You can choose brushes from three sections: “Classic”, “Experimental” and “Favorite”. In addition, My Paint contains an interesting tool called Notepad. This is a kind of draft, where you can try how different brushes work.
The program supports overlays that help regulate brightness, saturation, etc. It also has functions for moving layers and is a great tool for beginners.
Verdict: MediBang Paint is free mange drawing software with many handy features. Registered users can easily access additional features such as frames and screentones.
The MediBang Paint Pro library includes 50+ brushes and +120 fonts, with the ability to fine-tune more than 800 preinstalled backgrounds and anime-themed templates. It is worth mentioning that the program works well with .PSD files, which is not typical for free drawing programs.
A unique feature is the possibility to save the finished work to the cloud and continue creating manga later. In addition, it is possible to use direct synchronization with mobile devices, Android/iPhone.
Verdict: Artweaver is another simple but effective anime drawing software. It has filling, cropping and selection tools. It allows you to customize brushes according to your needs and classify them. In addition, there is an advanced text editor.
Users can choose from a rich set of different brushes. It is possible to work with layers, import and export graphics in various formats. Artweaver also has all kinds of filters that you can use when editing drawings (wind effect, blur, waves, granulation, oil effect, etc.).
I’d like to note the ability to draw textures and save them to the library for future use in your projects. In addition to the built-in plug-in package, which contains many cool filters, you can install third-party ones.
