How to Storyboard for a Manga: A Simple Guide
If you have ever dreamed of creating your own manga series, you have likely stared at a blank piece of paper and wondered, "Where do I actually begin?" You might have a script in your head and a character design in your sketchbook, but bridging the gap between a written idea and a finished page is the hardest part of the process.
This bridge is called the Storyboard (or Name in the Japanese industry).
Think of storyboarding as the architectural blueprint for your building. You wouldn't start laying bricks without a floor plan, and you shouldn't start inking without a storyboard. It allows you to map out your pacing, camera angles, and dialogue before you commit to the time-consuming process of final illustration.
In this guide, we will walk through the professional workflow of manga storyboarding, helping you turn your raw ideas into a polished, readable narrative.
Why is Storyboarding Important for Manga Creation?
Storyboarding is far more than just a rough sketch; it serves as the unshakeable foundation of your entire storytelling process. By forcing you to step back and look at the big picture, it prevents you from getting lost in tiny rendering details and ensures your scenes connect smoothly.
It gives you mastery over time, allowing you to control the pacing by manipulating panel sizes to speed up action or slow down emotional moments.
Crucially, it acts as a safety net, maintaining visual consistency across chapters and catching expensive mistakes—like confusing action or text-heavy "talking heads"—long before you waste hours on the final ink.
Step 1: Plan Your Story and Visualise the Script
Before you draw a single line, you must have a solid understanding of your plot because the storyboard is not the place to write your story—it is the place to adapt it.
Start by clearly identifying the conflict and the specific goal of the chapter, then break the narrative down into key "beats" like the introduction, rising action, and climax.
When it comes to visualising the script, I have found from experience that a simple bulleted list of major events, a "breakdown" is often far more effective than a dense prose script, as it allows you to see the structural flow clearly when you finally sit down to draw.
Step 2: Create Thumbnails and Define Manga Page Layouts
Do not start on your final large paper. Start small. Really small.
Grab a piece of A4 paper and draw 8 to 10 small rectangles on it. These represent your pages. This "bird's eye view" allows you to see the flow of the entire chapter at once. Additionally, you can also check out how to plan panel layouts for manga storyboarding.
Determining Manga Page Layouts
In this stage, your focus should shift entirely from drawing details to deciding on the geometry of the page.
Stick figures are king here; use simple lines for characters and abstract blobs for backgrounds, because this phase is strictly about composition rather than illustration.
This is also the perfect time to deploy the "Page Turn," a secret weapon used by manga pros. By ensuring the bottom-left panel (in traditional Right-to-Left manga) ends with a cliffhanger or a lingering question, you subconsciously force the reader to physically turn the page to resolve the tension.
Step 3: Draw Rough Layouts and Determine Panel Count
Once your thumbnails are done, move to the actual page size. This is where you refine your ideas into a "Rough Layout."
How Many Panels Are in a Manga Page?
A common struggle for beginners is the tendency to overcrowd the page, which ruins readability. As a general standard, aim for an average of 5 panels per page.
The logic here is simple: if you squeeze 8 or 9 panels onto a single sheet, the art becomes microscopic and the text cramped, whereas using only 1 or 2 panels causes the story to drag due to decompression.
Balance is key: use fewer, larger panels to give big action moments impact, and utilize more, smaller panels for dialogue-heavy scenes or rapid sequences of movement.
Why is Storyboarding Important for Manga Creation
Step 4: Mastering the Manga Panel Reading Order
Now that your panels are in place, the priority shifts to ensuring the reader instinctively knows which way to go. It doesn't matter if you are drawing in the traditional Japanese Right-to-Left style or the Western Left-to-Right format, the human eye generally scans the page in a "Z" pattern.
To maintain this natural flow, you must avoid "4-way intersections" where four panels meet at a single point as this creates a visual crossroad that confuses the reader about which panel to read next.
A pro tip for smoothing out this path is to use your characters to point the way; if a character is looking or pointing to the left, the reader’s eye will naturally follow that gaze to the next panel.
Step 5: Add Dialogue and Refine the "Name"
The final step in the layout phase is placing your dialogue bubbles, captions, and sound effects. You should always place your speech bubbles before committing to the final art; one of the most heartbreaking rookie mistakes is drawing a detailed, beautiful face, only to realise later that you have to cover it up with a balloon because you didn't plan for the text.
Keep the "50% Rule" in mind: because manga is a visual medium, if a panel is half-covered by speech bubbles, you have written too much. In these cases, split the dialogue across multiple panels or simply cut the words and let the character's expression do the talking—show, don't tell.
Lastly, sketch in your sound effects (SFX) now rather than treating them as an afterthought. In manga, SFX are part of the artwork itself, so give them a shape and weight that matches the audio, using jagged lines for a harsh crash or fluffy borders for a soft poof.
manga scene bird
How to Draw Manga Digitally vs. Traditional Tools
You do not need expensive equipment to create a professional storyboard, but knowing your options helps.
Traditional Tools
For traditional creators, the most common tools for storyboards (or 'Names') remain simple cheap printer paper and a mechanical pencil.
The goal here is speed and freedom; you want a surface you don't feel "precious" about, allowing you to erase vigorously or crumple up the page without hesitation. Alternatively, if structure is your priority, some artists prefer using grid paper to ensure their panel lines remain straight and proportional from the start.
Digital Workflow
If you want to learn how to draw manga digitally, storyboarding is the perfect entry point because digital tools like story-boards.ai can drastically accelerate the planning phase.
The industry standard, Clip Studio Paint, is particularly powerful here, offering built-in paneling tools and 3D models that help you nail difficult camera angles without needing advanced drawing skills.
Alternatively, if you prefer working on the go, tablet apps like Procreate or MediBang Paint are excellent choices for thumbnailing; they give you the flexibility to resize, drag, and reorganize panels instantly without ever needing to reach for an eraser.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Storyboarding is a skill that demands patience, and even pros must remain vigilant against common pitfalls. One of the biggest offenders is the "Wall of Text"; avoid heavy paragraphs and keep your dialogue snappy and conversational to maintain the visual flow.
Visually, you must also fight against static camera angles—if every panel is drawn at eye level, the page becomes monotonous.
Instead, experiment with a "Worm's Eye View" (looking up) to project power, or a "Bird's Eye View" (looking down) to establish the environment. Finally, never ignore the "Safe Zone."
Since printed manga pages are often trimmed at the edges, you must keep all text and crucial facial expressions at least 1-2cm away from the border to ensure they don't get chopped off.
At The End
Every great manga series, from One Piece to Naruto, started as a messy, stick-figure storyboard. It is the most creative part of the process—the moment where you are the director, the cameraman, and the editor all at once.
By following these steps—starting with thumbnails, respecting the panel count, and prioritizing readability—you will transform your ideas into a compelling visual narrative. Do not worry about making the storyboard look "pretty"; worry about making it read well.
An organized storyboard is the key to unlocking the potential of your captivating visuals and deep emotional story arcs. So pull out your pencil, draw those rectangles, and start telling your story!
