On November 20th, Shueisha's free manga creation app Jump PAINT, published by Weekly Shonen Jump, was updated with a new start guide function supervised by the editorial department of the company's manga app Shonen Jump+ and the editorial department of the girls' manga magazine Ribon.
The app provides a guide on how to use the app and how to draw manga, so that even elementary and junior high school students can easily start drawing manga with the digital tool Jump PAINT. Based on actual pages from My Hero Academia and Hatsu x Kon, users can experience everything from choosing pens and tones to filling in the blanks and writing. The app is suitable for anyone who is trying to draw manga for the first time, not just elementary and junior high school students.
In the past, elementary and junior high school students mainly used analog methods to create manga, but in recent years, it has become common for aspiring elementary and junior high school students to use digital tools, such as the winners of the Ribon Elementary School Manga Award and the Ribon x Jump Elementary School Manga Award. This led to the implementation of the start guide function.
The editors-in-chief of Shonen Jump+ (digital) and Ribon commented, "There aren't many manga magazines that offer support programs for elementary and junior high school students who want to become manga artists. This may be because it takes a long time to serialize and develop into a hit artist. However, our editorial departments believe that it is necessary to create and nurture manga artists of the future, rather than just supporting those who can draw interesting manga 'now.' We sincerely hope that this start guide function will encourage as many elementary and junior high school students with fresh sensibilities as possible to start drawing manga."
Jump PAINT is a painting tool jointly developed by Shueisha and MediBang, the developer of the illustration and manga production tool MediBang Paint, and offers free use of pens, tone materials, fonts, and more. Some of the fonts actually used in manga from Weekly Shonen Jump and Ribon are also available. It also has a link function with the manga submission site Jump Rookie, allowing users to submit their manga. The service began in June 2017.
