Manga (B&W)

A manga book from your photos

Classic black-and-white manga, expressive linework and screentone shading.

Sample spread illustrated in the Manga (B&W) style

The world of Manga (B&W)

Ink, speed lines, expressive eyes, the crackle of black-and-white manga. This style tells stories at full emotional volume, panel by panel. Teen chapters, friendship arcs and sports sagas belong here.

Best for: Teens, anime fans, friendship and rivalry stories.

Who it suits

A reader who already reads manga, and a story with an arc rather than an anecdote. Training for something, falling out and making up, a year of trying, this style is built for progress over time.

Which photos work best

Eyes and posture carry it, so photos where somebody is looking straight at the camera work best. Colour is discarded anyway, which means a badly white-balanced photo costs you nothing here.

How it differs from Comic Book

Comic book is colour, noise and event. Manga is ink, restraint and interior life, with screentone doing the work colour would do elsewhere. See Comic Book

Questions about this style

Is it read right to left?

No. The look is manga, the binding and reading order stay the same as any other book we print, which is what most recipients expect.

Does black and white make it feel cheaper?

It is a choice, not a saving: the same page count, the same paper, the same print. Screentone shading is its own craft and the books it produces are the ones teenagers keep.

Your photos, this style

Every Fableself book starts from your photos. Your people are redrawn faithfully, same faces, same hair, same spark, inside this style's world, across every page of an original story written for you. Every page is reviewed before it reaches you. You approve a full digital proof before any payment.