A studio service
Manga for readers who are still learning to read comics.
A seven-year-old cannot follow a dense shonen page, and a twelve-year-old will not read a picture book. Children's manga sits between them: the ink-and-screentone look young readers already love, with panel counts, reading order and figure sizes chosen for the age. We illustrate original children's manga for creators, small presses and educational publishers, from character sheets to lettering-ready pages, and we spend the rest of the week on children's books, which is why the reading-level decisions come first.
Sample work
Sample work.
A spread for the seven-to-nine band: four large panels, wide gutters, one action each, screentone kept light. Balloons are placed and left empty — pages leave us lettering-ready.
Manga interior page, right to left
Five panels with diagonal borders in right-to-left order, screentone rain, solid black shadows, two empty balloons. The same boy as the cover, drawn from the same sheet.
Children's manga spread, ages 7 to 9
Four large panels across a spread, wide calm gutters, one clear action each, screentone kept light. Panel density is a reading-age decision before it is an art decision.
Studio demonstration pieces made to show the work — not client commissions.
N° 01Reading level first
Panel density is a reading-age decision.
Before any art, we decide how many panels a page carries, how the eye moves across a spread, how large the figures are and how much screentone the page can take before it turns grey. A seven-year-old reads two to four panels a page with big clear faces; a twelve-year-old can handle six with diagonal borders and a little drama.
Then the character work: original characters with simple, repeatable designs that survive two hundred panels and a young reader's expectation that the hero looks the same on every page. Only then do the pages get drawn.
01
Age-banded page grids
A panel grid and gutter width chosen for the age band, and kept consistent, so the reader learns the page once and never gets lost.
02
Original characters
Simple, expressive designs with clear silhouettes and a model sheet, so the character is recognisable at any size and in any pose.
03
Screentone kept light
Manga's dot shading is part of the look children want, but too much of it reads as grey mud to a young eye. We use it for depth, not texture.
04
Reading direction, decided
Right-to-left in the Japanese convention or left-to-right for a Western readership. Decided with you before thumbnails, because it changes every page.
05
Lettering-ready pages
Balloons placed and tails aimed, text set afterwards at a size the age band can read. Delivered with a lettering guide if your team sets the type.
06
Educational and library formats
Non-fiction manga for schools and libraries: a subject explained through characters, with the fact-checking pass and the reading-level review the format needs.
N° 02How it runs
Script, characters, thumbnails, then pages.
We break your script into pages and spreads, design the cast, and thumbnail every page as rough layouts for approval before a single finished panel is drawn. Approvals happen at the thumbnail stage, where a change costs minutes. Finished pages are delivered chapter by chapter so you see the book arrive.
Investment
Named engagements. Quoted per project.
From a pitch chapter to a full volume or an educational series. Page count, cast size and whether the interior is black and white or colour set the scope, so each engagement is quoted per project.
Sample chapter
Quoted per projectpitch or pilot
Characters and a short chapter to test the idea or pitch it to a publisher.
- Character sheets for the main cast
- Page breakdown of the chapter
- Thumbnails for approval
- Finished lettering-ready pages
- One sample cover crop
- Pages
- up to 12
- Main characters designed
- up to 3
- Revision rounds
- 2 on thumbnails, 1 on finished pages
- Reading direction
- 1 (decided at brief)
- Delivery
- 4 weeks from approved script
Not included
- Script writing or editing
- Lettering and final type (lettering guide included)
- Full cover wrap (Manga cover design)
- Printing or publishing
- Licensed or franchise characters
Full volume
Quoted per projectchapter by chapter
A complete children's manga volume from script to lettering-ready interior.
- Everything in Sample chapter
- Full cast and location designs
- Every page thumbnailed and approved
- Finished pages delivered by chapter
- Chapter title pages
- Interior files to your trim
- Pages
- up to 120 (longer quoted)
- Characters designed
- up to 8
- Locations designed
- up to 6
- Revision rounds
- 2 on thumbnails, 1 on finished pages, per chapter
- Delivery
- one chapter every 3 weeks, schedule agreed at brief
Not included
- Script writing or editing
- Lettering and final type (quoted as an add-on)
- Cover wrap (Manga cover design)
- Printing or publishing (Manga self-publishing)
- Colour interiors (quoted separately)
- Licensed or franchise characters
Educational series
Quoted per projectmulti-title
Non-fiction or curriculum manga for schools, libraries and education publishers.
- Everything in Full volume, per title
- Reading-level review per title
- Fact-check pass on visual content
- Consistent cast and format across titles
- Teacher-facing extras planned in
- Titles in this engagement
- up to 4 (more quoted)
- Pages per title
- up to 64
- Shared cast
- up to 6 characters
- Revision rounds
- 2 on thumbnails, 1 on finished pages, per title
- Delivery
- schedule agreed at brief
Not included
- Curriculum writing or subject-matter authorship
- Lettering and final type (quoted as an add-on)
- Translation
- Printing or distribution
- Licensed or franchise characters
Quoted per project. Black-and-white interiors with screentone are the default and the format's own convention; colour interiors are quoted separately. Lettering is a small add-on if your team does not set type.
How every package works
- One engagement covers one title or one agreed series. A new story is a new engagement.
- The caps on each card are the scope. More pages, more characters, colour interiors or extra revision rounds are quoted before we do them.
- Approvals happen at thumbnails. Changes requested after a page is finished count as a new page, not a revision.
- You supply the script. We break it into pages; we do not write or edit the story.
- Delivery runs from an approved script and reading-direction decision, chapter by chapter.
- You own the finished pages and characters for your title. We keep the right to show the work as a sample unless you ask us not to.
- We do not draw licensed or franchise characters, fan art, or anything the site's content rules exclude.
- Nothing here promises sales, publisher acceptance or reviews.
- Anything not written on the card is not in the package. Ask before you buy; the answer is the same afterwards.
Questions
The answers we give most often.
- What age is children's manga for?
- We work in two bands: seven to nine, with two to four large panels a page and very light screentone, and ten to twelve, with up to six panels, diagonal borders and a little more drama. The band is decided at the brief because it changes the page grid, the figure size and the lettering size.
- Right-to-left or left-to-right?
- Either, decided before thumbnails. Right-to-left is the Japanese convention and what manga readers expect; left-to-right is easier for a young Western reader who has never read manga. Educational publishers usually choose left-to-right. It affects every page, so it is not something to change halfway.
- Can it be in colour?
- Yes, quoted separately. Black-and-white with screentone is the convention and prints far more cheaply, which matters for a series. Colour makes sense for a picture-book crossover or a digital-first release; we will tell you which we would pick for your readership.
- Do you write the story?
- No. You supply the script or a detailed outline; we break it into pages and spreads. If the script needs editing for the age band, we say so and point you to an editor.
- Can you make manga for a school subject?
- Yes, that is the educational series engagement. A subject explained through a recurring cast, with a reading-level review and a fact-check pass on what the pictures show. It draws on the same team that builds our educational products.
- Do you letter the pages?
- Pages are delivered lettering-ready, with balloons placed and tails aimed, plus a guide with the intended text size for the age band. Lettering and final type is a small add-on if your team does not set it.
Next step
Start with the sample chapter.
Send us the script or outline, the age band, and whether it reads right-to-left or left-to-right. We'll reply within two business days with a page breakdown and a per-project quote.