How To Color Manga Panels Without Photoshop? (Updated September 2024)

Summary: Learn how to color manga panels easily with these top 5 manga coloring apps including VanceAI and Adobe Photoshop, and also discover ways to create art without the complexities of photo editing.

In the realm of art and design, learning how to color manga panels can greatly enhance one's skills and provide a unique creative outlet. Manga, the illustrated counterpart to anime, boasts captivating visuals and intricate details. Users often struggle with finding an approachable method to color these panels without resorting to complex software like Photoshop.

Drawing from my extensive experience in this field, this review will present a straightforward and accessible guide on how to color manga panels without the need for Photoshop. By mastering this technique, users can enjoy the creative process and improve their artistic abilities without being overwhelmed by intricate editing tools.

How to Color Manga in Photoshop

Naturally, if you are someone experienced with editing and designing, Photoshop would most likely be your preferred software application to color manga. Though highly complicated to use, Photoshop offers a lot of features and ways of coloring sketch. Luckily, there is a really good video guide that you can find here detailing pretty much all the steps on how to color manga by using Photoshop.

The gist of it is that you will first need to find a manga image file and open it in Photoshop. After that you will need to make use of certain selection tools to select parts of the anime character. For instance, if you have a portrait of an anime character, such as Ichigo as shown in the video, you will have to select his outer and inner hair. Once done, color each of them and move on to the face. Keep repeating the process and follow the video. You will have your drawing in a short amount of time.

How to Color Manga without Photoshop-Best 5 Manga Coloring Apps Review (Updated April 2024)

1. Petalica Paint

Price: This online software is completely free to use and requires no downloads or account creations whatsoever.

Notable features: Free, automatic tool, easy to use.

Petalica Paint is a convenient online software that caters to those looking for a hassle-free experience in coloring manga panels. It requires no downloads, account creations, and is entirely free to use.

Similar to AI editing tools like VanceAI, Petalica Paint offers automatic sketching and coloring, simplifying the process for users. The AI is well-trained in handling anime-styled images, yielding decent results. Simply upload your sketches or use the provided sample images to see the tool in action.

Despite its benefits, Petalica Paint has limitations, such as varying results in quality and occasional website bugs. Additionally, it could benefit from more features.

Pros:

• Automatic tool.
• Free to use.
• Easy to use.

Cons:

• Results can vary in quality.
• The website can be buggy.
• Can add more features.

2. Adobe Photoshop

Price: You can start off with a free trial of the software that lasts for 7 days. As for the paid version, the monthly edition costs $31.49 and yearly edition costs $20.99 per month.

Notable features: Premium app, extensive features, consistent updates.

Adobe Photoshop is a top choice for professionals or individuals looking to create more than just colorful manga. It offers a 7-day free trial, while paid versions have a monthly or yearly subscription option.

The software boasts an array of features, providing users with limitless possibilities. Following video guides or searching online can help users learn how to color manga in Photoshop. However, it requires a capable system to run smoothly, as it can consume significant memory.

The downside of Photoshop includes its steep learning curve, performance issues, and costliness.

Pros:

• Premium app.
• All kinds of features.
• Consistent updates.

Cons:

• Difficult to use.
• Performance issues.
• A bit expensive.

3. Sketchbook

Price: The sketchbook is a comprehensive drawing software that costs around $14 for a one-time purchase and is available on multiple platforms.

Notable features: Comprehensive drawing tools, excellent app design, intuitive UI.

Sketchbook, a versatile drawing software available for a one-time purchase, is suitable for those interested in creating manga panels from scratch or coloring existing ones.

With a wide range of artistic tools, including brushes, colors, scales, and ellipses, the software complements drawing pads and offers an immersive creative experience.

The drawbacks of Sketchbook involve its potential expense if a drawing tablet isn't already owned, the time investment in learning the app, and the lack of automatic coloring.

Pros:

• Great features.
• Excellent app design.
• Intuitive UI.

Cons:

• Can get expensive if you don't have a tab already.
• Takes time to learn the app and drawing.
• No automatic coloring.

4. Krita

Price: Krita can be downloaded and used for absolutely free. Moreover, it is also an open source program that is available on multiple platforms.

Notable features: Free, open-source, multi-platform, active community.

Krita is an accessible, open-source drawing application designed to empower artists by eliminating financial barriers. It is available on multiple platforms and free to download.

The software provides a range of artistic features for coloring manga and more. Additionally, Krita's active community can be found on popular platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram.

While Krita offers many advantages, users need to invest time in learning the app. It also lacks automatic coloring and may occasionally crash.

Pros:

• Free to use.
• Amazing community.
• Good app design.

Cons:

• Need to learn the app.
• No automatic coloring.
• Can crash on some occasions.

5. Clip Studio Paint

Price: This software offers a free trial of 3 or 6 months, depending on the device you are using. When it comes to the paid versions, the Pro edition costs $49.99 and the Ex edition costs $219.

Notable features: Free, automatic tool, easy to use.

Petalica Paint is a convenient online software that caters to those looking for a hassle-free experience in coloring manga panels. It requires no downloads, account creations, and is entirely free to use.

Similar to AI editing tools like VanceAI, Petalica Paint offers automatic sketching and coloring, simplifying the process for users. The AI is well-trained in handling anime-styled images, yielding decent results. Simply upload your sketches or use the provided sample images to see the tool in action.

Despite its benefits, Petalica Paint has limitations, such as varying results in quality and occasional website bugs. Additionally, it could benefit from more features.

Pros:

• Sophisticated software.
• Huge free trials.
• Excellent UI.

Cons:

• No automatic coloring.
• Difficult to use.
• A few performance issues.

Conclusion

Coloring manga panels is certainly achievable. In fact, there are many ways to go about it. If you want quick but good results, the best solution would be a photo colorizer like VanceAI, Petalica Paint, or any other AI based automatic image processors.

When you want to be involved in the entire creative process, then Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint are ideal as they offer all kinds of features. With these tools, you will be able to create manga art and color them. As for Krita and Sketchbook, they are the best if you want to focus on coloring and drawing only, as they are specifically designed for that. Plus, Krita is absolutely free to use.

At last, if you are interested in white and black sketches, we have picked the most popular and useful tools to convert a photo to sketch online.