Manga Studio Ex 5 Cookbook

You will love it.

I purchased this because I already owned "Mastering Manga Studio 5" by the same author and had found that book useful. This book looked like something that might come in handy to solve specific problems or answer specific questions I still had, even after using MS5EX for a few months.It is very useful and, most importantly, is well documented and illustrated. Rather than simply giving you the steps to achieve something, the book includes copious screen shots and images to be sure that everything is clear. If you aren't sure how to do something, it is unlikely because it wasn't explained clearly enough.I removed a star because a few of "recipes" I felt were not really necessary, and might have been used just to pad out the book. Nevertheless, the rest of the content is useful and handy. This is, like any good cookbook, not the sort of thing you read from front to back. This is instead where you look when you can't figure out how a feature works or how to do something in the software, and that is a job it does very well.

A great addition to your shelf if you use Manga Studio 5.Parts of this book are pure gold, such as information showing how to create a custom fabric and transform it to the contours of the garment or its wearer. This is valuable information that you would otherwise have to struggle to find piecemeal, and which would be nearly impossible to adapt directly from tutorials for other software.It falls short of 5 stars because it suffers some confusion as to whether it is a cookbook or a user manual. Some chapters, such as making brushes or creating special effects, are presented as true cookbook recipe examples that provide insight and inspiration as well as adding to your repertoire of skills, while other chapters are presented as "how to use the tool" instructions or explanations with simple examples.Admittedly the information in the latter-mentioned chapters is valuable and presented with clarity, but (for example) showing every blending mode with the same two boring thumbnail layers of coloured stripes (which become a variety of greys in the print version) misses so much potential for providing recipes for how specific blending modes can be used for shading and lighting, adding textures, making white paper transparent in scanned line art, and similar effects.Apart from the impression that this is combined from parts of two different books, I would still recommend this book to any user who is not already at expert level of familiarity with Manga Studio 5 features.

Full disclosure: I was asked to be one of the original reviewers of this book during the editorial process. I am listed inside the book and was compensated with a final printed edition.I'm a professional artist and I use Manga Studio EX5 on a daily basis. I found this book be extremely well written and easy to follow for both the experienced artist and novice. As part of my review process I purposely followed each step in order along with my copy of Manga Studio to make sure each "recipe" brought me to the same conclusion as the author intended. If you're a beginner to this wonderful program I believe you'll find this book extremely helpful in getting you started from the moment you open it up. If you're already experienced in Manga Studio you will probably have your own art techniques in place but this book may help with file set up, page layout, navigating the materials palette and a few other tricks.I kept this at four stars instead of five only because of the overall visual presentation. This has nothing to do with how author Elizabeth Staley presents her tutorials which are very well thought out. As stated before, you'll have no problems following along. My disappointment has to do with the use of gray scale images. For the most part if dealing with just menus, for example, the images work fine. But when dealing with special effects, layer blending modes and other color specific tutorials the gray scale images detract from the usefulness of what the tutorial is illustrating.With that said, don't let that be the deciding factor. This book is crammed with a lot of information that doesn't require color images. Especially the first and last parts of the book which go into copious amounts of detail regarding page set-up, book set-up and exporting of your finished comic. There is also a section on using the powerful 3-D model tools in Manga Studio EX5 that I found very helpful!

I was fortunate enough to be considered to review this book: Manga Studio Ex 5To start with, I was quite amazed to see how well-written the chapters were. Every recipe is supported really well with good amount of pictures/ illustrations., making it easier for the readers to understand and follow the concepts thoroughly There are some techniques that I used in another way, but with this project, I noticed the new way and it became easier to work with Manga Studio EX 5.I have also recommended this book to some of my friends, who are inexperienced, to try to follow the cookbook approach and test the techniques and tutorials. Every one could implement the techniques following the guidelines mentioned in the book, without any bugs; which clearly reflects the fact how well-written and easy-to-follow the book is.The chapters include several different aspects on how to use the program, from basics to advanced things. I promise that a lot of knowledge will be gained about this program after you read the cookbook and follow the tutorials.Again, I am honored that I got the chance to work with this project and very pleased with the result. I also believe that this book will be a good aid for beginners and even pros.

useful