Dear doujin,

Have you ever found yourself in a situation? Your script is done…but you still have to draw every single desk and chair in a classroom.

Drawing backgrounds is a nightmare for doujin and mangaka. Although it consumes 70% but fans only read it for several seconds.

In this post, I show you how to turn AI tool into a Background assistant. We will use it to convert Real-life photos into manga-style line art. We will do it with precision.

How will we do it?

Instead of drawing a blank canvas and wasting time, we can use a simple workflow.

• Input: A real-life photo
• Tool: Using Stable Diffusion with ControlNet to extract the lines.
• Output: Clean Line Art

Then you only add screentones and effects.

Step-by-step process

Step 1: preparation

There are 3 ways

First way: you snap a photo with your phone. Any angle you want.

Second way: Using free royalty images like Unsplash, Pixabay

Third way: Create a rough block-out in SketchUp or Blender to get the perspective, then take a screenshot.

Step2: Using Stable Diffusion + ControlNet

• Open Stable Diffusion
• Upload your photo to the ControlNet section
• Select the Preprocessor as “Lineart_anime” or “Canny”
• Creates lines that look similar to manga, removing noise
• In the Prompt, type some keywords:  scenery, train station, manga style, monochrome, high-quality line art, white background.
• Select Create to finish

Step 3: Post-Processing

AI tool has done 80% work; the rest is your art.

Import Line art into Clip Studio Paint or Photoshop

Change the layer Blending Mode to Multiply to filter out the white background.

Overpaint/Clean up: Erase messy lines created by the AI and thicken the main lines.

Apply Screen Tones: Add gray tones and shadows to create depth.

Add Characters: Place your character on the top layer.

If you use the traditional way, you will lose 3-4h. And you will use an AI tool, you will only lose more 30 minutes.

And the rest is up to you

Using AI to draw a background is not lazy or cheating. Professional mangaka like Inio Asano (the author of Oyasumi Punpun) used a digital way for years.

AI is the only tool that helps you devote your heart and soul to character expressions. It is work that AI can’t replace.

Hope my post is useful for you!