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REVIEW: Tokyopop Manga Creator 2


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Warll



Joined: 03 Apr 2008
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:47 am Reply with quote
"Also annoying is the fact that a small “Created with TOKYOPOP Manga Creator” caption shows up at the bottom of the page once it is published and there's seemingly no way to get rid of it. "
Open the page in MS Paint, then select the “Created with TOKYOPOP Manga Creator” and press the delete key.
Now on another note I'm no Mangaka but how does this stack up THE GIMP?
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 1:12 am Reply with quote
Well it sounds like mostly a placement and lettering tool. You can't do coloring or screen tones in it, so the gimp would be the way to go for that. It sounds like something fun to mess with, but nothing you want to use to do any "real"work.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8461
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 1:21 am Reply with quote
Please don't encourage any more OEL "manga".
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kirbyboy102



Joined: 04 Jul 2007
Posts: 157
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:01 am Reply with quote
I make my own panels on paint.NET, along with screentones. And If you are too lazy to DRAW bubbles yourself, then what's wrong with you?
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:21 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The bad part is, well… it's so simple that there's not all that much to do, really. Considering the word “creator” is part of the software title, there's really not all that much creation going on. There's no tool that allows the user to draw directly into the pages; all artwork must be imported from outside sources. If you're an artist and are looking for software that allows you to color, screentone, or even ink your work, you're similarly out of luck.
Even for $50 that's pretty lame. You might as well spend full money on a 'real' program 'real' artists use like Photoshop and Illustrator. Plus with student discounts you can find a good package deal.

This sounds like a glorified layout and lettering program. What utter bullcrap. This is no more an actual creation tool than Marvel's comic creator where you paste in Marvel Comics characters and bubbles. It's more of a glorified version of children's Colorforms.
Quote:
These inhibitions make Manga Creator a practically useless tool for comic artists.
I think that sums up the whole thing well.

Quote:
Manga Creator 2 includes audio and video options (these are not available in Version 1.0)
Well, gee. It's not comics / manga anymore. It's animation. Lame. I remember kids programs like this when I was younger

Quote:
if you're an aspiring young artist taking your first steps into the foray of comic creation
...then you'd be better off with a pencil and a sheet of paper. Hell, at least there you can draw your own panel layouts. Yeah, even MS Paint or certainly free open source software GIMP is better than this for a creator.
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Yukihime



Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:38 am Reply with quote
Wow...that sounds pretty useless to me. All you are doing is making a fanfiction with pictures.

Manga studio is $50 if you want to make manga as a hobby go buy that.



Quote:
Please don't encourage any more OEL "manga".


You know I am sick of this. Rolling Eyes All the crap Tokoyopop publishes doesn't reflect that there is talent amoung people who like to draw manga styled comics as a hobby. I've seen some pretty amazing webcomics.
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Viga_of_stars



Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 1240
Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 9:04 am Reply with quote
This doesn't sound like it's worth the price tag. 10 bucks, maybe. Pirate on (insert place here), definitely.

Really I say screw that and learn to use photoshop and learn to do comics the hard way. Your skills will end up so much better.

Didn't Tokyopop support Manga Studio? What happened to that?!
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Unholy_Nny



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 622
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 10:21 am Reply with quote
The program doesn't interest me, but lol@the pulp fiction thing.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher


Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10420
Location: Do not message me for support.
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 11:00 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Please don't encourage any more OEL "manga".


I say encourage it!

So far, the quality of most OEL manga has been piss poor, but it's only through tons of trial do we find the occasional diamond in the rough. Can you imagine where manga would be if Tezuka had listened to the people who said, "Please, don't encourage any more imitation of American comics."

-t
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minakichan





PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 11:59 am Reply with quote
Quote:
So far, the quality of most OEL manga has been piss poor, but it's only through tons of trial do we find the occasional diamond in the rough. Can you imagine where manga would be if Tezuka had listened to the people who said, "Please, don't encourage any more imitation of American comics."

QF-effing-T. OEL majorly sucks as it is right now, but people should seriously produce more of it. devART hosts tons of amazing young artists drawing manga-style comics and doujinshi (many of which are a head and shoulders above anything TP ever puts out), and we totally need to encourage it.

As for TP MC2, well, I hate TP with a passion so maybe I'm biased, but what weak sauce is this?! No way to draw into it? Premade speech bubbles and clip art? PANEL TEMPLATES?! Flippin' embarrassing. Mac's ComicLife would be a better choice. You can get MangaStudio Debut for $50 ($30 with a student discount) and it's not nearly as crippled as this seems to be. Freaking no.
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ZeetherKID77



Joined: 17 Jun 2007
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 1:56 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Please don't encourage any more OEL "manga".

Indeed. Smile
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Monsieur Pink



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 1:59 pm Reply with quote
What are you saying people!? The general quality of OEL seems to have skyrocketed over the years, there were a time when OEL bashing was the norm (aside from one or two titles), but now it seems that everybody agrees that they're more and more decent offerings being released, even at Tokyopop (of course originality wise it's far from being fantastic)! Oh, and by the way, I'm not even in favor of calling those graphic novels; manga.

Based on personal observation and not scientific studies.

Edit: Okay, scratch the skyrocketed part and let's just say improved.
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Cloe
Moderator


Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 3:17 pm Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
It's not comics / manga anymore. It's animation. Lame. I remember kids programs like this when I was younger.

Hahaha, that's funny, because "lame" is the first thing I thought when I saw the video option, too.

I made this dumb sample page to show off the vast ultimate power of video comics.
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Yukihime wrote:
Quote:
Please don't encourage any more OEL "manga".


You know I am sick of this. Rolling Eyes All the crap Tokoyopop publishes doesn't reflect that there is talent amoung people who like to draw manga styled comics as a hobby. I've seen some pretty amazing webcomics.


See, I nitpick that it's not 'manga'. It's like you said, manga styled comics. Oh noes! I said the C word. Actually, moreso, TokyoPop publishes original English language graphic novels, better term for what they do than comics.

Then again, I like a couple OEL TokyoPop books. (Books. There's another good word.) Becky Cloonan's pirate Tale East Coast Rising. Not as good as her more serious work like Demo or American Virgin, but it's a fun adventure tale.

Meanwhile, I was reading manga styled comics before TokyoPop was even TokyoPop. There have been manga styled comics for decades and mainly since TokyoPop have people had the audacity to call it manga. So their manga revolution can suck it. Where were they when Joe Mad was drawing X-men and Battle Chasers? Where were they when Oni was publishing Chyana Clugston Major's Rumiko Takahashi influenced Blue Monday? Where were they when Frank Miller created the Lone Wolf and Cub inspired Ronin?

Quit aiming for 'manga' and start aiming for storytelling and artwork. 'Manga' isn't the goal like TokyoPop makes it. Good story and artwork is. This program is a prime example. Manga is more than just a bunch of panels with word balloons. Sadly, that seems about all this program does. Again, it sounds like a glorified version of kids Colorforms. Save your money for a real program. Don't feed the TokyoPop propaganda machine.
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Scalfin



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 249
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 4:43 pm Reply with quote
Warll wrote:
"Also annoying is the fact that a small “Created with TOKYOPOP Manga Creator” caption shows up at the bottom of the page once it is published and there's seemingly no way to get rid of it. "
Open the page in MS Paint, then select the “Created with TOKYOPOP Manga Creator” and press the delete key.
Now on another note I'm no Mangaka but how does this stack up THE GIMP?


This is a specialized program, so it doesn't. That said, you could probably get a better product by paying the nearest geek to modify your version of THE GIMP, adding some extra functions and a selecable manga tool and settings scheme (the same way you can change the menu and settings in Micxrosoft word by selecting "classic" [I think]).

My question is how the fonts are authorized, as I wouldn't be surprised if TokyoPop saved a but of cash by only purchasing the fonts for noncomercial use (god I miss the spell-checker on firefox. Does anybody know why it's stuch in a loop where the log in menu takes me to the log in menu?)
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