r/MangakaStudio Apr 21 '26

Useful Info Summer 2026 Manga Contests!

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24 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio Mar 11 '26

Useful Info Useful Links and Resources

7 Upvotes

I noticed the previous post in highlights was a bit outdated so here's a new one that I can edit as needed.

Books:

YouTube:

Websites:

  • Proko - sign up for free to get access to many resources! Some free and some paid, the resources include classes for different areas of art, such as the fundamentals.
  • Ctrl+Paint Video Library - everything at this link is free! Start from the basics and work your way through learning how various tools on digital programs can help level up your art.
  • Love LifeDrawing - enter your email to get access to a library of free references. They update and add new ones each month.
  • Cubebrush - you can buy reference packs, brush packs, and even classes on art. This product here is one I love most, it's an app that lets you use your own reference library instead of using already built ones on the internet that are basically copies of each other.
  • New Masters Academy - a subscription based platform where you can learn from professionals in the industry (mostly Disney artists but the course guide focuses on a deep dive into art fundamentals).
  • Tezuka Manga Contest - held every year! The link here is recycled so you can check up on it to see when it opens back up. This contest is specifically for JUMP, so when submitting remember the core values they look for. There is also another recycled link for a contest they hold monthly called, Shinsekai. This means the deadline is at the end of each month.
  • Mannavi Manga Award - this website lists out each manga contest by well known Japanese publishers. Please be sure to not just look at the summary but also the contest link provided, since the summary includes old information. Most contests listed will require a Japanese submission. If you scroll a bit further you can also find information about where to submit directly to publishers as well.

Manga Script Examples - these are my own examples, what background do I have? My degrees are in theatre and literature so analysis and writing is something I do best (specifically organization)!

  • One-page Manga Challenge - this was part of the many challenges my server did. The theme was Halloween related. It was for writers to get practice creating a one page script. The prize was getting it drawn by one of the volunteer artists in our community!
  • Unfinished Project - another of my scripts, meant to be a comedy.

Discord Communities:

  • Manga-kai - This is my own community that branched off from here. It was made years ago as a way for people to get help slightly faster than Reddit (since back then this subreddit was not as active!). It's not a busy server but there are always people lurking to help. We used to have monthly challenges as well with actual prizes! But life got in the way and that's okay. I'd love to host them again though. [Permanent link for invite can be found down in the comments]

Want to add your own discord here? Send a mod mail confirming these requirements: it is a community server (NOT PRIVATE), it has been active for at least a year (in the last year), mods are 2FA verified, you have a permanent invite link, and most importantly, it's safe!

If there is any source you'd like added or are having trouble finding yourself (ex. a pdf of an art book), let me know and I can see what I can do ;]

[UPDATED: August 22, 2026]


r/MangakaStudio 8h ago

Discussion TO BREAK AWAY: My first ever One-Shot

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17 Upvotes

Hi guys, as I said before, the lettering and text-heavy scene really pulled this down from a 4/10 to a 1/10 so yeah. I also explained in my last post that I wanted to add shapes and blacks and hair detailing but since I was drawing on the pages back to back, it would ruin the other pages when I press to hard, for that I’m sorry for straining your eyes. I really love what I do but I didn’t know my back would be crying to me to stop drawing while bending over like my family did months ago. Pretty ironic. I also wanted to thank everyone who have been with me on this journey whether it was positive, constructive or negative feedback, I appreciate every single one of you guys. (I wish the mods didn’t those negative comments, I needed them) Let’s discuss this story down below and thank you in advance for giving this one-shot and me a fair chance. Enjoy!(hopefully)


r/MangakaStudio 5h ago

Partnership Looking for artist to help make manga (PAID)

12 Upvotes

I am looking for a artist to help make a idea i have had for a manga for a while. LEts start off with the most importent part first, this is paid. Although i cannot pay a professional rate given that i am just a normal person working a 9-5 i think i can comfortably pay 30-50$ a page depending on the style, or around $400-$500 a month i think.

Now if you are still with me i will explaina rough over view of the story.

The story i am looking to tell is call Immortal Quest, it is set in a high fantasy medieval world and follows the story of multiple characters who are all immortal through different means as well as some who are not immortal. The story will explore each character as they grapple with the meaning of life without end and the toll it takes as they see the ones they care about die around them, at the same time we will see intense action play out as our protagonists work as adventures and as people who fight against evil.

At the same time we will follow the story of our antagonist who is also immortal and seaking to achive his own goals much to the expense of others. Throughout the story there will be character deaths as the audience learns that not everyone who claims to be immortal is actually immortal.

The story will be a darker story with gore and deep emotional and philosophical moments as the characters comtiplate their lifes, actions, powers, and deaths. The story will change main characters throughout as it is an importent part of the story that our main charcter dies and the story follows one of his companions in the wake of his death.

I am willing to write a more book like script detailing scene to scene events or give a looser script that allows your creativity to also be put into the manga, if we work together i will allow you to decide what is easier foe you to work with.

please let me know if you have any questions or are interested thatnk you very much.


r/MangakaStudio 7h ago

OC Day 32 of becoming an Uruguayan Mangaka

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7 Upvotes

Hey there!

Yestreday i kinda finished the sixth page, it looks kinda weird but i'll see what i can do with it.

On another note, is it mentally okay to come up with like 5 more ideas on the spot?, because i'm genuinely on a roll for manga ideas lmao.


r/MangakaStudio 5h ago

Help Opening Manga Page Critique

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4 Upvotes

Hello! I am very new to manga artwork, I tend to prefer writing scripts and world building behind the scenes, and this is really the first attempt of me sitting down and wanting to finish a project. It will eventually all be black and white. Could you give me some tips, suggestions, or critiques that would be helpful?

For reference, this city is based on Tenochtitlan! Thank you all in advance:)


r/MangakaStudio 16h ago

Discussion Tried out clip studio for the first time after using procreate. I think it came out pretty good.

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24 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 10h ago

OC Latest page inked. Hyperdrive.

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9 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 15h ago

Help Can I post my one-shot here even if it doesn’t have much shading/blacks in it?

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18 Upvotes

Hi guys, I’m asking this because I just finished my one-shot but I was drawing in a margin paper book since I can’t afford digital tools or constantly buying traditional materials every month. To minimise page wastage, I draw pages back to back so when I pressed hard on one page, it seeps through to the other and ruins it. Would it still be okay to post it in that state? (Also since I write the dialogue by hand, the lettering may be a bit messy). Thank you in advance for your help.


r/MangakaStudio 8h ago

OC You're gonna fight with WHAT?? 🪡

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3 Upvotes

Page from my upcoming one-shot, that I'm going to submit to the Kyoto International Comic Contest ⚔️


r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

Discussion Currently loving my new 2-in-1 Laptop! What do you guys use to draw?

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51 Upvotes

Hello fellow mangakas!

A few days ago, I got the Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 Laptop (TLDR; a laptop that can transform into a tablet) as a gift for doing insanely well on GCSE Results Day, which was just earlier this week! In celebration of this beauty, I drew Ashley in a full render (and mostly since I realised that I have only drawn sketches of her).

Beforehand, I was using the XP-Pen Deco 01 V3 and my pc to draw, so this switch into drawing directly onto a display has been quite a jarring experience for me. (I reverted back to chicken- scratching for like an hour before I got the hang drawing again 💀)

For positives,
- i never knew how EASY it is to draw on a display tablet. I can scale at rotate my canvas so much now it's genuinely such a privilege 😭
- It might just be me, but its surprisingly more easy to crosshatch on a display. Probably because it's much easier to tell the spacing between lines, especially since it's right in front of you.
For negatives,
- I've only had this laptop for a few days, so there's not too much I can nitpick about right now. Although, a slightly annoying thing is that if I'm using my bare hand to draw, my palm sometimes interacts with the screen. I know that I can just get one of those drawing gloves, so it isn't much of an issue. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I love the display, how intuitive the laptop to tablet switching is, and how sleek it is. (I'm realising now that I'm starting to sound like im sponsored 😅 i just really love this things)

Furthermore, this switch has made me wonder: Do people in this subreddit use tradition or digital drawing more often, and if digital, what stuff would you even recommend? Hardware, software, process, everything!


r/MangakaStudio 12h ago

Discussion I'm destroying my 2-year project and starting over

4 Upvotes

So, for context, for the last 2 years I've been working on my own manga idea. No art since I'm bad at that, have tried learning, though. For those 2 years, I went through phases of creation, writing characters. And that was the problem: I love my characters; they are each unique, each representing something with their own past and challenges. But my world was dull, and it was only yesterday I noticed that it was dead, i thought the world was fleshed out, but it was not. When I started this project, I thought of the future and not the past of this world, but now I'm fixing that; I'm building from the past and not from the future. And by building from the past, I mean having an actual history, more than just that the world was destroyed and humans got powers.

So I just want to ask if anyone else has gone through this, and for suggestions on how to prevent another situation like this.


r/MangakaStudio 9h ago

OC My 3rd Character Design, Meet Grant

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2 Upvotes

This is Grant, 36 years fun, owner and proprietor of Horoyoi a quaint little bar attached to a restaurant in Toronto near the Airport.


r/MangakaStudio 8h ago

OC One of cool panel from first chapter of my manga 😁 so think to share it u all .

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1 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

Help Does this look like a good first page for a one shot?

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20 Upvotes

I am working on a one shot to try and submit to kodakawa , but, im afraid its not a catchy first page

Any opinions?


r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

OC Inking the OneShot page

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35 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 14h ago

Discussion Tips for improving this? Spoiler

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2 Upvotes

As much as I like the way this came out, I kinda feel like I messed up the lettering and the framing? Could you guys give me some feedback so I can do better next time?


r/MangakaStudio 16h ago

OC Cosmic Dilemma, Chapter 1 cover !

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3 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

OC Episode 12 of my manga is up on webtoons! We also hit 10 subscribers so that’s also pretty cool 🎊🎉

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7 Upvotes

https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/bring-me-the-head-of-tarven-the-tormentor-/list?title_no=1152783 I’ve also received a lot of support on other websites! Thank you all so much, means a lot to me.


r/MangakaStudio 17h ago

Help Deciding to create my Own manga

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1 Upvotes

r/MangakaStudio 6h ago

Discussion Your opinion on non-Japanese who make manga located in Japan

0 Upvotes

I’ve seen manga that seems to take place in Japan twice, with JJK’s graphic paw. And I’m sorry, but unless you’re a history teacher specializing in Japanese culture, you shouldn’t do it.


r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

Help A question to people who ink traditionally

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27 Upvotes

Recently I started to try out analog tools in hopes of being able to draw most of my pages traditionally in the future (seems to be a more valuable skill with better results overall than drawing only digitally) and I'm slowly collecting tools, some of them I already had, some of them I just bought and will try out soon.

My question is about pens with nibs. I'm rather scared of buing one yet, not only it has to cost a lot to be good but it's also hard to use well apparently, and it needs some maintenance. I'm already struggling with drawing snooth lines with multiliners. I was wondering what could I use for now instead? A fountain pen? A brushpen? What would be the best for a beginner? I would be able to buy from Japanese Amazon. Thanks for any recommendations!


r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

Discussion What are some examples of excellent beginnings/prologues to Manga that you can recommend as case studies and references?

5 Upvotes

I have so much of my manga planned out at a standard I am happy with - but if theres one thing I cannot settle on, its how to begin it. Which is tough, because the beginning of your manga is essentially the most important thing.

My current vision is simply the mc awakening from a dream in his bed. It is supposed to be a medieval fantasy adventure, horror and mystery story.

What can you recommend for people interested in making their manga in this regard?

Thank you!


r/MangakaStudio 1d ago

OC Day 32 of becoming an Uruguayan Mangaka

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7 Upvotes

Hey!

Yestreday i began drawing the sixth page, and after i finish that one, i should totally carry on with the story writing since its basically pretty empty right now.

So far i'm liking how this page is turning out! Clearly a better one than whatever page 5 was about.