Photoshop allows for the creation of perfect lines, which allows you to create very smooth, crisp line art. However, creating the variation of line-thickness found in traditional manga can be tricky without a tablet and the power of pen pressure. With the right techniques, and some of the right equipment, manga art can be perfectly duplicated.
Instructions
1. Plug in the tablet into the USB port on your computer.
2. Press "B" to activate the brush tool. At the top of the screen where it says "Brush" on the right, click on brush to drop-down a list of options for the brush.
3. Un-check all of the boxes except for shape dynamics. On shape dynamics, slide all of the sliders to the farthest left except the size jitter. Slide that one a little bit to the right.
4. Click on the drop-down menu next to control: underneath the size jitter and select pen pressure. Now you will be able to vary the size of your pen by pressing down harder or lighter on the tablet. The harder you press, the thicker the lines will be, while the lighter you press, the thinner they'll be.
5. Click on the "Window" drop-down menu and select "layers," bringing forth the layer's panel. At the bottom of the layer's panel to the left of the garbage can icon is a page icon. Create a new layer by activating that button.
6. Determine where you want your light source to be on the page. Start drawing the line art for the manga, pressing down harder wherever there you can picture less light hitting the lines in order to create the illusion of shading.
7. Create a new layer like in step 5. Click and drag that layer below the layer beneath it. On the toolbar, there will be two squares, one black and one white, overlapping each other. Select the top one.
8. Choose a color that you want to use on the dialogue box that pops up.
9. Color in the line using the color you selected, returning to the color picker for new colors whenever you see fit.
10. Press "P" when you are ready to shade. One line is created by clicking down once at a point where you want to create a line, then clicking and holding at a second point. While clicking and holding, you can drag the mouse in order to change the curve of the line that was just created. Then, you can click and hold at another point to create another line connected to the first line you created. Keep doing this until you have the shape you want for the shading and then click the original point in order to close the shape.
11. Pick a color from the color picker. Right-click and find "fill selection" on the dialogue box that comes up. Click on that. Right-click again. Delete the selection.
