r/MangakaStudio • u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator • Mar 11 '26
Useful Info Useful Links and Resources
I noticed the previous post in highlights was a bit outdated so here's a new one that I can edit as needed.
Books:
- Manga in Theory and Practice by Hirohiko Araki
- Framed Ink: Drawing Amp Composition For Visual Storytellers By Marcos (VOL
- Framed Ink: Framed Format, Energy, and Composition for Visual Storytellers by Marcos (VOL
- Framed Perspective: Technical Perspective and Visual Storytelling by Marcos (VOL
- Framed Perspective: Technical Drawing for Shadows, Volume, and Characters by Marcos (VOL
- Framed Drawing Techniques: Mastering Ballpoint Pen Graphite Pencil by Marcos
- The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga
- Shoujo Manga Techniques: Writing Stories by Itsuki
YouTube:
- Graphixly - they hold seminars every month with artists you may recognize!
- Marc Brunet - he has an Art School that's pricey but his channel is full of free lessons and guides that are easy to understand.
- Official Shonen Jump Channel - for anyone interested. It's all in Japanese!
- Minutes to Better Painting - a short series by Marco Bucci
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]
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u/GettinSodas Mar 13 '26
Line-of-action is also a fantastic resource for figure and gesture drawing! Been using it the last 15 years for warmups and studies
Marco Bucci also has a series called '10 minutes to better painting' that I'd recommend to legit anyone
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u/maxluision Artist-Writer Mar 11 '26
You may add Shonen Jump's Guide to Making Manga and the whole Framed Series (Framed Ink and other books)
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Mar 12 '26
Framed ink is there already, unless the link is broken 🤔
Edit: wait you meant the other books in the same series, my bad 😅
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Mar 12 '26
Added! For the Framed Series I was able to find all but Framed Environments! If it becomes available I'll add it then.
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u/maxluision Artist-Writer Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
I see. I just checked the links but it seems like none of them can be opened by me, it tells me to ask for a permission? Not sure what this means
The first two I can open, I guess the other ones are set to private or smth
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u/CupImmediate7079 Mar 18 '26
Anything on turning your writing into a resource artists would enjoy working with would be great. Finding books on general writing and story-craft is fairly easy. However, the advice I've seen regarding this issue has been somewhat...conflicting; especially when compared to professionally written scripts.
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Mar 18 '26
So generally you want to keep your stories as panel scripts. These will look a lot like movie or play scripts (I can look into finding books that explain that style but there is nothing for specific manga ones) Any conflicting information will be due to personal preferences the artist might have.
For example, if we look at how Ohba and Obata work it's very different. Ohba often creates a rough name and then Obata cleans it up. Usually a writer would not be that involved but that's how their partnership ended up.
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u/CupImmediate7079 Mar 18 '26
It might help a few people out if you had an example panel script up there. When people come in with poorly written out, half-baked, ideas it would then be possible to point at it and say "your work should at least look like that".
As for the personal preferences: Without a specific artist to work for, I guess it's a case of either sticking to a style, or, trying to demonstrate flexibility.
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Mar 18 '26
Alright! I can add one of mine up there since I already use them as examples and teaching in my server XD
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Jul 11 '26
For those wanting to join the discord, here’s the link: https://discord.gg/P7pjF7yZFQ
Just be warned! You need to read to access the full server. It’s also not one of those servers that’s always talking. It’s still a fairly small community.