I Built an AI App to Make Manga (From Zero Art Skills)

This is my drawing skills. Yeah, I can't draw. But this is what I turned it into

draw. But this is what I turned it into using this AI tool that I vibe coded in less than 24 hours. Like I made an entire manga in less than 24 hours. Look

at it. It is called the in between.

There's character consistency, there's stylistic control, and I did it with this vibe coded manga generator studio without a single line of code. You can

create your characters, you can generate panels, even upload your own sketches or entire pages. It is not perfect, okay?

entire pages. It is not perfect, okay?

It's only V1, but oh my gosh, this unlocks so much either in just your normal workflow or if you want to just build a SAS product now without writing a single line of code. So, in this

video, let me show you the journey of how I did this in less than 24 hours.

So, I literally have no idea how to make manga. So, in classic Tina Huan style,

manga. So, in classic Tina Huan style, the first thing that I did was I took an entire course on how to make manga.

I will be using bolt new using bault.

I'm just going to write build a web app with the following features.

Click on the plan using sonnet and see what we can get from here. Let us see. Okay, a few

from here. Let us see. Okay, a few plans. AI image generation. Which AI

plans. AI image generation. Which AI

image generation service would you prefer? I'm going to use nano banana cuz

prefer? I'm going to use nano banana cuz I do think it has the best character consistency. So

consistency. So nano banana generate API key.

Cool. Okay. API key. Got this marker called a taro marker.

Taro marker. Here's the API key. Yeah.

Let's go.

No. An error. RIP. Okay. So we have the API key and I'm going to try it out. So we have the character. So B has generated these

the character. So B has generated these three features. We have the character

three features. We have the character creator where you can insert the character, describe the manga character and generate um the character designs at

the panel generator that you can upload the character reference description and also a sketch to generate the manga panels. Finally, a page composer to

panels. Finally, a page composer to compose all the different panels together. Now, let us see if it works.

together. Now, let us see if it works.

Fingers crossed. So, character creator.

Let's try something simple first.

So, it has the front view and the back view. Um, and here is the back view and

view. Um, and here is the back view and here's the front view. So, it doesn't actually look like the same person here.

So, that's not good. This is like mostly a prompting thing, though. So, I'm just going to ask to change the the system prompt here. Okay,

prompt here. Okay, let us see. Let us see. Let's try it.

I'm going to do since we're doing manga, let's just do like Japanese woman.

Okay, that's actually not bad. I quite

like that actually. Okay, I'm going to upload that reference image. Click to

upload character sheet. And then I'm going to write panel description character presenting a report. I'm going

to try that with just a description and then a sketch after.

Let us see. Let us see.

>> Yeah. No. What is this? No.

Definitely not. I'm going to take the image here, put it here, and be like for

the panel generator, I use this reference image.

Yeah. Yeah, actually that worked. I do

want to try with a reference, man.

Yeah. And another one that's like, here's a paper.

Yay.

Okay, I'm going to send this over.

It's a reference image.

Please work. Do you guys like my drawing? Really trying my best here.

drawing? Really trying my best here.

Let's see.

That's actually not bad. Now, let's

actually check the page composer. Now, I

will just upload a few panels maybe of like these and then see if it's able to put stuff together.

Ooh, that's not good. Okay, I need to do this. Take a screenshot. The dimensions

this. Take a screenshot. The dimensions

of the page composer is not correct.

Got to iron out these little details.

Okay, that actually works fine. And then

what if I describe it? The middle

picture with major. Nice. I'm actually

pretty impressed. Okay, I'm pretty happy with this. So, we know that all these

with this. So, we know that all these work now. So, on the technical side,

work now. So, on the technical side, things are okay. So, I feel a bit better. Great. Now, let's actually work

better. Great. Now, let's actually work on the story itself.

So, when I was hiking, the story that kind of like popped into my head a lot is Through the Looking Glass. Not sure

if you guys have read that story or like watched the movie before. I believe that Through the Looking Glass, it's like a sequel to Alice and Wonderland.

Actually, let me double check that.

Okay. Yeah, it actually says here Alice's Adventures in Wonderland came first and then To the Looking Glass is the sequel. Okay, cool. So, published 6

the sequel. Okay, cool. So, published 6 years later. This time, Alice steps

years later. This time, Alice steps through a mirror into a world structure like a chess game where everything is reversed or inverted. Yeah. So, she goes in uh into this mirror world and she starts off as a pawn and everything is

reversed where inverted, but the ultimate goal is to reach the end and become a queen. Okay, so the most famous example is when Alice tries to reach the red queen in the garden. Alice walks

directly toward her but kept finding herself at the front door. Finally, she

tries walking in the opposite direction away from the queen and suddenly finds herself face to face with her. Red Queen

explains, "Now here you see it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to go somewhere

same place. If you want to go somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that." So it's like this inverted logic. Yeah, I really like that

inverted logic. Yeah, I really like that concept. So yeah, that's sort of what I

concept. So yeah, that's sort of what I have in mind. Also thinking about a lot of mangas and anime, they're about having like is they call it Kai? Um you

know like they get transported to a different universe, right? So it's sort of like that as well. and the main protagonist. I wanted to be someone

protagonist. I wanted to be someone who's like very serious, like very going through life, everything is just like very straight edge, always like getting

all A's in school, you know, doing all the correct things and then just finding themselves suddenly in this kind of situation where they have to navigate an

entirely nonsensical way of life and where they have to grow as a character to be able to embrace that type of uncertainty. and then the crazy things

uncertainty. and then the crazy things that happen and just kind of succumbing to the will of the world. Okay, new

chat. Writing the script for a manga.

I first want to figure out what the world concept. Let us see. Okay. Option

world concept. Let us see. Okay. Option

one, the upside down corporate tower.

Shanders skyscraper which she must ascend from the ground floor to the top floor. That is pretty cool. Okay. Okay.

floor. That is pretty cool. Okay. Okay.

We're getting somewhere. Working titled

A Still Point. Ayaka is the perfect salary woman. Punctual, efficient, and

salary woman. Punctual, efficient, and devoted to doing everything right. She's

climbed every run exactly as she should, sacrificing spontaneity and joy for the security of following the rules. Then

one day, she slips through a crack in reality and finds herself in an impossible world where logic doesn't exist. Panicking, Ayaka watches as a

exist. Panicking, Ayaka watches as a massive floating pen appears in the sky and draws a glowing path before her. A

trickster guide appears and explains she must reach the still point, a place of perfect balance at the center of this chaos. Domain one, the infinite queue.

chaos. Domain one, the infinite queue.

The pen draws her toward an endless line that loops and twists through impossible architecture. Ayaka looks for a

architecture. Ayaka looks for a shortcut. She's efficient after all, but

shortcut. She's efficient after all, but the pen erases the ground everywhere except the Q entrance. Inside, she meets the efficiency expert, a frantic creature who's been optimizing the queue for eternity. Ayaka tries to help him

for eternity. Ayaka tries to help him fix the system, but every logical solution creates more chaos. The pen

keeps nudging her forward, refusing to let her solve it properly. Finally, in

frustration, she just cuts the line, breaks the rules, the domain dissolves.

The pen draws a check mark. She passed.

Domains to the inverted office. Pen

draws her into a corporate building where up is down and meetings happen backwards. She meets the burnt top

backwards. She meets the burnt top manager, not blissfully incompetent.

After achieving enlightenment through failure, Ayaka is given a crisis to solve. Every corporate skill she uses

solve. Every corporate skill she uses makes it exponentially worse. And when

she finally fails successfully by doing nothing at all, the domain dissolves.

Ayaka, you're not helping me. You're

torturing me with lessons I didn't ask for. The pen writes, "You asked me to

for. The pen writes, "You asked me to reach a still point. This is the way."

Ayaka, "Your way. What about my way?"

The pen writes, "Show me." The garden of forgotten hobbies. Domain three. The pen

forgotten hobbies. Domain three. The pen

draws her into an overgrown landscape where abandoned dreams bloom as strange plants. Ayaka finds her own forgotten

plants. Ayaka finds her own forgotten dreams here. Ayaka tries to revive them

dreams here. Ayaka tries to revive them all. She can optimize her life to fit

all. She can optimize her life to fit everything in. The pen erases her

everything in. The pen erases her schedules, her plans. Ayaka, let me fix this. Let me do it right. The pen

this. Let me do it right. The pen

writes, "You can't do everything. Ayaka,

watch me." But the more she struggles, the more the garden overgrows, choking itself. When she finally releases them,

itself. When she finally releases them, the garden becomes beautiful. Bayaka is

exhausted, resentful. Domain 4, the deadline desert. The pen draws her into

deadline desert. The pen draws her into a vast empty space where time behaves unpredictably. She meets the timekeeper

unpredictably. She meets the timekeeper who forgot. Ayaka is given something

who forgot. Ayaka is given something urgent to deliver, but time speeds up and slows down randomly. Following the

pen's guidance makes her miss every deadline. Ignoring it gets her stuck in

deadline. Ignoring it gets her stuck in time loops. She finally snaps. I'm done.

time loops. She finally snaps. I'm done.

I'm not paying her game anymore. She

sits down in the sand, refuses to move.

The pen hovers silently. The abandonment

using Balt the mango generator studio that we created, the app that we created to start generating the characters there so we can use them as reference photos.

Ayaka, a perfectionist salary woman in her late 20s to early 30s, always in business attire. The trickster, a small

business attire. The trickster, a small fox-like creature with a mischievous grin, appears in puffs of smoke. The

efficiency expert. Rabbit-like creature

with wild eyes, multiple clipboards, frantic energy. The burntout manager.

frantic energy. The burntout manager.

Disheveled human man who lounges peacefully despite chaos. The collector

of may. Ethereal plant-like creature who tends the garden of forgotten hobbies.

The timekeeper who forgot. Ethereal

being with clock hands for arms. Face is serene. Okay, now let's do the pen. A

serene. Okay, now let's do the pen. A

uh a ball pen. A ball pen. I don't know if that would work cuz it's not like a people character. I don't see. Okay.

people character. I don't see. Okay.

Yeah, I don't think that works because it's like a character sheet specifically. That's fair. I feel like

specifically. That's fair. I feel like that's fair. Okay. So, for the pen

that's fair. Okay. So, for the pen itself, I'm actually just going to use Gemini for this for V1 of this app. So,

create image a ballpoint pen in manga black and white style. Cool. Wait, why

does this have two clips? It should not have two clips. No, it still has two clips. That's weird. Why is this the

clips. That's weird. Why is this the hardest thing to generate? Like, I feel like generating the characters was not even that hard, but generating like a ballpoint pen apparently is um rocket

science. Wow, that wasn't so hard, was

science. Wow, that wasn't so hard, was it? Reference image done. Onwards. I'm

it? Reference image done. Onwards. I'm

going to try one. Let's try like a random panel. Why should a Tokyo office

random panel. Why should a Tokyo office building at dusk? Okay, I'm going to do right to left. Wow, the floor tiles beneath her feet.

Let's go with this for now. Oh my gosh, if this works, that would be very interesting. Oh, hey, not bad. Can we

interesting. Oh, hey, not bad. Can we

just give the AI some credit here?

Okay, good. How would you rate my drawing from a scale of 1 to 10? Maybe

minus three. You can't possibly be worse than my drawing. So, I guess like how many of you guys are equal to my inability to draw? Let me know.

What if I get really lazy and I don't even draw it and I just prompt it directly? I might not even have to draw.

directly? I might not even have to draw.

Let's prompt vault. going to create lazy mode full page generator where you only have to put in a text prompt and it'll generate the entire page of manga for you. The panels arranged too. Yeah, I

you. The panels arranged too. Yeah, I

wonder did it do it. Okay, let's go here. We'll put this as the character

here. We'll put this as the character sheet art style have this and puty panels text.

Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. This

looks good. Okay, there's like some mixture between the Japanese and the English, but you know, actually, I'm not even mad. Like, this looks good.

even mad. Like, this looks good.

Yo, I'm thinking about how the I don't have to draw anywhere. Oh my god. Okay,

let me let me try let me try the next page as well. Tweaking a few things here and there, especially when there's multiple characters. But look, oh my

multiple characters. But look, oh my gosh, it actually worked with just text prompting. Okay, so overall, this looked

prompting. Okay, so overall, this looked pretty good. But we have problems

pretty good. But we have problems rendering the text itself. I don't think I can actually try to like prompt it better in order to make the situation better. Okay, I'm going to try this. I'm

better. Okay, I'm going to try this. I'm

going to try to have it generate the bubbles, right? The text bubbles and

bubbles, right? The text bubbles and then try to have it like have text directly overlaid on it. I don't know if this is going to work.

>> One hour later.

>> It did work. You can add the dialogue as like speech bubbles onto the manga pages, but it isn't the nicest user interface. It's like it takes a while

interface. It's like it takes a while for you to be able to adjust the dialogue box the way that you want it to. Also to be able to match the quality

to. Also to be able to match the quality of the manga itself. I would need to be able to generate like different shapes of boxes, different styles, different fonts, which I'm pretty confident is doable, but for the V1 version, I just

stuck it into Canva and you can do it so much faster. So here it is. Cue the

much faster. So here it is. Cue the

montage. Tokyo at night. Here's the

office building. Ayaka with her coffee cup going to refill her coffee.

Suddenly, her she goes, "Ah!" and gets spirited away into the in between land.

"Where am I? This can't be real. This is

impossible. I'm dreaming." While a shadow looms behind her. So scary. It's

a giant floating pen. And she says, "Gosh, haha. A pen. Is it showing me the

"Gosh, haha. A pen. Is it showing me the way out?" Trickster appears. Welcome,

way out?" Trickster appears. Welcome,

lost one. Who are you? What is this place? You've slipped into the in

place? You've slipped into the in between. A world where your rules don't

between. A world where your rules don't apply. How do I get home? Simple. Reach

apply. How do I get home? Simple. Reach

the still point. A place of perfect balance at the center of all this chaos.

The pen will guide you there. Just

follow its path and then I can go home.

Perhaps, perhaps not. Who knows? All

right, I'm going to let you read the rest of the manga in peace without my narration. Link is in the description.

narration. Link is in the description.

Let me know what you think in the comments. This is my debut manga.

comments. This is my debut manga.

All right, thank you so much for making it until end of this video. That was my journey of making a manga and a manga generator app in less than 24 hours.

Took me 17 hours and 32 minutes to be precise. This experience has taught me

precise. This experience has taught me so much. It's also shown me like this

so much. It's also shown me like this wider trend of being able to improve your workflows by building your own apps like vibe coding your own apps and you know if it does well you can literally like sell it as a SAS product if you

wish. I really think learning how to

wish. I really think learning how to vibe code just like unlocks so much power. I have like so much to say about

power. I have like so much to say about this topic and how like it fits into your work streams and the tips that I have. So maybe we're overdue for a new

have. So maybe we're overdue for a new vibe coding video. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to make one. And in the meantime, I hope you're

one. And in the meantime, I hope you're inspired to have a go at vibe coding yourself. Let me know in the comments

yourself. Let me know in the comments ideas that you want to build. And I will see you guys in the next video or live stream.