Electricwoods LLC of Japan and Digital Lynx Systems Inc. of Canada have released MangaLoft 1.0, a manga drawing application for iPad and Mac that organizes creation around the manga page rather than a blank canvas. The app combines panel layout, inking, screentones, lettering, and cloud collaboration into a single workspace, a structure that could reduce the need for multiple specialized tools in digital manga production.
Instead of starting with an empty canvas, artists can divide a page into panels and draw within them, with panel frames adjustable as the page develops. Pressure-sensitive brushes support expressive inking via Apple Pencil on iPad or a pen tablet on Mac, with adjustable taper and stabilization. The inclusion of dot and gradient screentones, speed lines, and focus lines—along with the ability to adjust a tone's shape after placement—addresses tasks that often require separate software. Speech balloons and tails can be reshaped, and lettering tools support horizontal and vertical Japanese text, ruby characters, and outlined text, catering to both Japanese and international manga creators.
For teams working in different locations, MangaLoft allows collaborators to share a manuscript through the cloud. Artists can check out pages or layers to divide work and avoid overwriting one another, while a reviewer can be invited to leave comments without drawing on the manuscript. The Workbench feature lets an artist focus on a single panel and continue working on it on another device, supporting flexible workflows across iPad and Mac.
MangaLoft is free to download, and drawing, page editing, and collaboration are available without a subscription. Exporting a finished page for screen or print requires MangaLoft Plus, with options including PNG, TIFF, and PDF, and print settings such as bleed and registration marks. This pricing model lowers the barrier to entry for individual artists and small studios, while the paid export tier provides a revenue path for the developers.
The launch positions MangaLoft as a potential competitor in the digital manga tools market, where creators often juggle separate apps for layout, inking, and lettering. By integrating these functions and adding cloud-based collaboration, the app could streamline production for distributed teams and solo artists alike. MangaLoft 1.0 is available for iPad and Mac on the App Store, and more information can be found at https://mangaloft.org/.
