You can draw manga characters.
You can draw faces, hairstyles, expressions, and maybe even dynamic poses.
But then you open a blank page and think:
“How do I turn these characters into an actual manga?”
You’re not alone.
Learning how to draw manga characters and learning how to create a manga are two different stages of the creative process.
Creating manga requires more than illustration skills. You also need to think about story, characters, storyboarding, manga panels, dialogue, backgrounds, pacing, and how each page guides the reader through your story.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the basic manga creation process step by step — from your first idea to a finished manga page.
At MANGA DOJO Online, we teach these skills live from Japan through professional Japanese manga artists, with English interpretation for international students.
Let’s create manga!
What Do You Need to Create a Manga?
Before you begin, you don’t need expensive equipment or professional-level drawing skills.
You can create manga traditionally with:
- Paper
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Ruler
- Manga pens
Or digitally with:
- iPad
- Drawing tablet
- Computer
- Digital drawing software
The tools are not the most important part.
To create a manga, you need to combine two major skills:
Drawing + Storytelling
A beautiful illustration can capture one moment.
Manga needs to connect multiple moments together to tell a story.
How to Make a Manga Step by Step
A simplified manga creation process looks like this:
Idea
↓
Characters
↓
Story
↓
Script / Plot
↓
Storyboard
↓
Manga Panels
↓
Pencils
↓
Inking
↓
Backgrounds & Details
↓
Dialogue & Sound Effects
↓
Editing
↓
Finished Manga
Let’s go through each stage.
Step 1: Start with a Simple Manga Idea
You don’t need to start with a 200-page epic.
In fact, if this is your first manga, starting small is often better.
Try explaining your manga idea in one sentence.
For example:
A shy student discovers that her new classmate can see ghosts.
Or:
A young chef enters a magical cooking competition to save his family’s restaurant.
Or even:
Two friends fight over the last piece of cake.
The idea doesn’t need to be complicated.
What matters is that something happens.
Ask yourself:
Who is the main character?
What do they want?
What is stopping them from getting it?
Those three questions can already give you the foundation of a story.
Step 2: Create Your Manga Characters
Characters are often the heart of manga.
Before drawing dozens of character sheets, think about who your characters are.
For your main character, ask:
- What do they want?
- What are they afraid of?
- What is their personality?
- What are their strengths?
- What are their weaknesses?
- How do they react under pressure?
- What makes them visually recognizable?
Then connect their personality to their visual design.
A confident character may stand differently from a shy character.
An energetic character may have a different silhouette, hairstyle, or clothing style from a quiet character.
Good manga character design isn’t only about making a character attractive.
The design should help communicate who the character is.
Step 3: Develop the Story
Once you have your basic idea and characters, think about what happens.
A simple story structure can be:
Beginning → Development → Conflict → Climax → Resolution
You don’t need to follow this formula exactly, but it can help beginners organize their ideas.
For a short manga, ask:
Beginning
Who is the character, and what is happening?
Development
What changes?
Conflict
What problem does the character face?
Climax
What is the most important moment?
Resolution
What happens because of the character’s actions?
Try to keep your first story manageable.
Finishing a short manga teaches you much more about the full creation process than endlessly planning a huge manga that never gets drawn.
Step 4: Write a Simple Manga Script
You don’t necessarily need a movie-style screenplay.
A simple outline can work.
For example:
Page 1
A girl is running toward school.
She looks at her phone.
“I’m late!”
She turns a corner.
Page 2
She crashes into someone.
Books fall everywhere.
She looks up.
It’s the mysterious new student from her class.
Even this simple outline tells you:
What happens
Who appears
What they say
What needs to be drawn
This makes the next step much easier.
Step 5: Create a Manga Storyboard
In Japan, the manga storyboard is commonly called a name (ネーム / nēmu).
This is one of the most important stages of manga creation.
The storyboard is a rough version of your manga where you decide:
- Panel layout
- Character placement
- Camera angles
- Dialogue
- Speech balloons
- Page turns
- Story pacing
The drawings do not need to look beautiful.
Stick figures are completely fine.
The goal is to answer:
“Does the manga work as a story?”
before spending hours creating finished artwork.
Professional manga creators often make major storytelling decisions during this stage.
Step 6: Learn Manga Paneling
This is where manga becomes different from a single illustration.
A manga page contains multiple panels, and each panel represents a moment in time.
The size and arrangement of those panels affect how the reader experiences the story.
For example:
A small panel may show a quick action.
A large panel may emphasize an important reveal.
Several narrow panels may create tension.
A large dramatic panel can slow the reader down and highlight an emotional moment.
Good manga paneling isn’t simply about fitting drawings onto a page.
It’s about controlling:
Time
Attention
Emotion
Reading flow
How Do Manga Panels Guide the Reader?
A manga page should feel natural to read.
The reader shouldn’t constantly stop and wonder:
“Which panel do I read next?”
Panel placement, character positioning, speech balloons, and visual direction all help guide the reader’s eyes.
When creating your storyboard, check:
- Is the reading order clear?
- Are speech balloons easy to follow?
- Does the character’s movement guide the eye?
- Is the most important moment emphasized?
- Are too many panels competing for attention?
Clear storytelling is often more important than complicated panel layouts.
Especially as a beginner, don’t make every page unnecessarily complex.
Step 7: Choose the Right Camera Angles
Imagine that you are a movie director.
Your manga doesn’t need to show every scene from the same distance.
You can use:
Close-up
Good for expressions and emotional moments.
Medium Shot
Useful for dialogue and character interaction.
Wide Shot
Shows the environment and establishes where the characters are.
High Angle
Looks down on the character or scene.
Low Angle
Looks upward and can make a character feel powerful or dramatic.
Changing the “camera” helps keep manga visually interesting.
But every angle should have a reason.
Ask:
“What does the reader need to see in this moment?”
Step 8: Draw Your Manga Characters Consistently
This is another challenge that appears when you move from illustration to manga.
You might be able to draw one beautiful image of your character.
But manga requires you to draw that same character:
- From different angles
- With different expressions
- In different poses
- At different distances
- Across many panels
Character consistency is therefore an important manga skill.
Create reference sheets for your main characters showing:
Front
Side
3/4 View
Different Expressions
Full Body
Important Clothing Details
These references can help you keep your character recognizable throughout the manga.
Step 9: Add Backgrounds and Establish the Scene
Characters need somewhere to exist.
Backgrounds tell readers:
Where are we?
A classroom?
Tokyo street?
Bedroom?
Fantasy castle?
Spaceship?
You don’t need a detailed background in every single panel.
Some panels can focus entirely on the character.
But establishing shots and important environmental details help readers understand the scene.
When learning manga backgrounds, practice:
- Perspective
- Horizon lines
- One-point perspective
- Two-point perspective
- Interior spaces
- Streets
- Objects
- Environmental storytelling
Backgrounds don’t just fill empty space.
They are part of your story.
Step 10: Ink Your Manga
Once you’re happy with your storyboard and pencil drawings, you can begin creating cleaner final lines.
Traditional manga artists may use manga pens and ink.
Digital artists can use digital inking tools.
During the inking stage, pay attention to:
- Line weight
- Clean silhouettes
- Facial details
- Clothing folds
- Foreground vs. background
- Black-and-white balance
- Texture
Different line weights can help create depth.
For example, important foreground elements may use stronger lines while background details are lighter.
Step 11: Add Speech Balloons and Dialogue
Manga is visual storytelling, so dialogue should work together with the artwork.
Avoid explaining everything through text if the drawing can communicate it.
Instead of writing:
“I am very angry because you ate my cake!”
perhaps the character’s expression, clenched fist, and empty cake box already communicate most of that information.
Dialogue can then add personality.
Also consider speech-balloon placement early in the storyboard.
If you add balloons only after finishing the artwork, you may discover that there isn’t enough space.
Step 12: Use Manga Sound Effects
Sound effects are an iconic part of manga.
They can communicate:
- Movement
- Impact
- Atmosphere
- Silence
- Emotion
- Environmental sounds
You don’t need to use Japanese sound effects simply because you’re creating manga.
What matters is how the sound contributes to the visual experience.
Typography, size, placement, and shape can all change how a sound feels.
A tiny sound effect in the corner creates a very different impression from giant lettering covering half the panel.
Step 13: Think About Manga Pacing
Pacing determines how quickly or slowly readers experience your story.
Imagine this moment:
A character opens a mysterious door.
You could show it in one panel.
Or you could show:
Hand reaches for handle
↓
Close-up of nervous eyes
↓
Door slowly opens
↓
Dark room
↓
Character reacts
The second version makes the same action feel slower and more suspenseful.
This is manga pacing.
Panel size, number of panels, dialogue, page turns, and composition can all affect the reader’s sense of time.
Step 14: Review and Edit Your Manga
Finishing the artwork doesn’t mean the manga is finished.
Read it again.
Better yet, let someone else read it without explaining anything first.
Then ask:
Was the story easy to understand?
Was the panel order clear?
Did you understand what the characters wanted?
Were any scenes confusing?
Did any parts feel too fast or too slow?
Creators often understand their own stories so well that they don’t notice missing information.
This is one reason outside feedback can be extremely valuable.
Common Beginner Manga Mistakes
If you’re creating your first manga, don’t worry about making it perfect.
But watch for a few common problems.
Too Many Panels
Trying to show every tiny movement can make pages crowded.
Too Much Dialogue
Remember that manga is visual storytelling.
Drawing Before Storyboarding
Spending five hours on a finished panel and then realizing the page doesn’t work is frustrating.
Plan first.
Every Panel Looks the Same
Mix close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots.
Focusing Only on Beautiful Drawings
A manga with beautiful illustrations can still be difficult to read.
Clarity comes first.
Do You Need to Be Good at Drawing Before Creating Manga?
No.
You should start creating manga before you feel “ready.”
If you wait until your anatomy, backgrounds, perspective, hands, clothing, and every other skill are perfect, you may never begin.
Making manga itself teaches you what you need to improve.
You may finish your first short manga and realize:
“I need to practice backgrounds.”
Great.
Your next manga gives you a reason to practice them.
Then you may realize:
“My characters look inconsistent between panels.”
Now you know what to study next.
Creating finished work reveals your weaknesses — and that’s useful.
Can You Learn to Create Manga Online?
Yes.
Manga creation involves skills that can be taught and practiced online:
- Character design
- Anatomy
- Paneling
- Storyboarding
- Inking
- Backgrounds
- Dialogue
- Storytelling
- Pacing
A live online manga class also allows students to see demonstrations, ask questions, complete assignments, and receive feedback.
This can be especially useful when moving from character illustration into sequential storytelling.
Learn Manga Creation from Professional Japanese Manga Artists
At MANGA DOJO Online, students around the world can learn manga live from professional Japanese manga artists.
Our head instructor, Kazuo Maekawa, has more than 30 years of professional manga experience and is known for his work on the manga adaptation of Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban).
You don’t need to speak Japanese.
Live English interpretation is provided in every class.
Our goal is to make manga education from Japan accessible to aspiring creators around the world.
Manga Creation – Intermediate
If you can already draw characters and want to start making manga, our Manga Creation course is designed for this next stage.
Students learn topics such as:
- Character drawing and anatomy
- Manga panel layout
- Reading flow
- Speech balloons
- Sound effects
- Story development
- Plotting
- Storyboarding
- Inking
- Backgrounds
- Character relationships
- Pacing
- Storytelling
You don’t need to be a professional artist.
A simple way to decide whether the course is right for you is:
“I enjoy drawing manga characters, but now I want to learn how to create an actual manga.”
If that sounds like you, Manga Creation may be your next step.
Learn, Practice, and Get Professional Feedback
Watching a professional artist create manga can teach you a lot.
But improvement happens when you create something yourself.
Students enrolled in the MANGA DOJO Online 12-Lesson Course follow this cycle:
Live Class
↓
Assignment
↓
Create Your Work
↓
Submit via Google Classroom
↓
Professional Manga Artist Feedback
↓
Improve
This process repeats throughout the semester.
The goal isn’t simply to watch manga being made.
The goal is to make manga yourself.
From Your First Manga to Your Manga Portfolio
Once you finish your first manga, create another one.
And another.
Over time, you can begin building a portfolio of your work.
If your goal is eventually to become a professional manga creator, your journey might look like:
Learn Manga
↓
Practice
↓
Create Short Manga
↓
Receive Professional Feedback
↓
Improve
↓
Build Your Portfolio
↓
Enter Manga Contests
↓
Submit Your Manga to Publishers
For international creators, opportunities are expanding.
Some Japanese publishers now offer ways for creators outside Japan to submit manga online — including opportunities where English-language manga can be accepted.
If you’re interested in taking that step, read our guide:
Can You Submit Your Manga to a Japanese Publisher in English?
Your First Manga Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect
This may be the most important lesson.
Your first manga probably won’t look like the manga you see in bookstores.
That’s okay.
Your first manga has one important job:
Teach you how to finish a manga.
Start small.
Create four panels.
Then create one page.
Then create four pages.
Then try a short story.
Every completed manga teaches you something that an unfinished idea cannot.
Ready to Create Your Own Manga? 🇯🇵
You don’t need to live in Japan to start learning manga creation from Japan.
At MANGA DOJO Online, students around the world can learn directly from professional Japanese manga artists through live online classes with English interpretation.
If you’re not sure whether the course is right for you, start by experiencing a class.
Try a FREE Online Manga Lesson
✓ Live from Japan
✓ Professional Japanese Manga Artist
✓ Live English Interpretation
✓ Learn Real Manga Creation Techniques
✓ Join from Anywhere
Join a FREE Online Manga Trial | MANGA DOJO Online
Learn Manga from Japan, Wherever You Are.
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