Chuman Manga Cover Designs
About Chuman:
Chuman, the app I designed manga cover on, provided anime-style character templates that enabled amateur anime lovers to create manga with those templates, even if they couldn’t draw. I joined Chuman in 2018 and was forced to quit as it had shut down since 2024.
About the Designs:
I made designs after understanding the manga story, then drew lighting, arranged layers to the flat character templates, and added background and stylized texts .
I used digital drawing app such as ibisPaint and procreate to draw the lighting and arrange the layers of color. I never created images through the use of template-based filters or AI-powered editing functions.
(Designs of stylized texts)
Final
Original
Highlighting Works:
These highlighting works were created from G9 to G10. At this period, my designs emphasized heavily on the lighting of character, dreamy atmospheres, vibrant colors, and a natural warmth. I put more attention on the overall vibe and characters on my designs, de-emphasizing texts on the covers. This is because I realized that visuals can better guide readers in understanding the mood and emotions conveyed in those manga works.
Works of Distinct Style:
The design choices here prioritize a distinct visual style over creating an intriguing atmosphere. This is because these manga works serve different purposes beyond simply telling emotional stories—for example, some are comedic serials or personal profiles. Additionally, unique narrative structures, like flashbacks, also drove me to design a cover distinct from my usual aesthetic.
Works at the Middle Stage (G7-G8):
These works were designed during my middle stage as a cover designer. At this stage, I placed strong emphasis on the role of text within the image (such as manga titles and author information), while also attempting to build an overall atmosphere. However, my handling of character lighting and scene compositions was still developing. Despite this, these works maintained a fresh and warm style.
At this time, I began to use many natural elements (flowers, butterflies, feathers etc.) as decorative elements for my covers.
Works at the Beginning Stage (G5-G6):
Without formal training in art or design, my earliest works featured naive lettering and immature character lighting. However, this period of experimentation was crucial. It was through this process that I discovered my signature style - cover designs with a dreamy, surreal vibe.
At this stage, I mainly designed covers for romance manga stories. Because as a kid, I was very curious about this topic. Additionally, the romance stories were also what attracted me first to being a cover designer for Chuman.
Manga Cover Design - Afterword
During my manga cover designer career, I have read many manga stories.
For instance, a story about a girl who has the ability to see the countdown to death trapped in a moral dilemma - whether to tell the truth or conceal it; a story about whether we should buy a “regret pill” from a shop of second chances, although its true price is an unknown cost to be paid sometime later in our life. There are also stories about friendship, love, and school. Moreover from these manga I can always see elements from the normal contemporary Asian society: QQ chat, Anonymous Question Website, Gaokao......
Although manga is not a mainstream art form, I saw its power in conveying deep life thoughts from the marginalized, neglected social groups: the amateur manga creators were often associated with low income and limited education backgrounds. Their stories pushed me to continue my work for 5 years.
Being a manga cover designer taught me about the manga art. Manga characters’ vividly colored—sometimes even eccentric—hair and eyes carry more than aesthetic appeal. In East Asian societies, where natural black hair and dark eyes often carries a sense of conformity, these exaggerated colors become a subtle form of resistance: a way for ordinary people to imagine breaking free from Confucian moral expectations and expressing individuality.
Although Chuman has shut down, it has shaped my worldview on how I should understand, and be kind to people from different backgrounds, and how I should read and respect their stories.
I thought about what art means to me after the shutdown of Chuman. To me, art is a non-discriminatory way of connecting thoughts and hearts.
So I continued my design and drawing in my free time, in high school clubs, and in gardens.
(e.g. some manga on Chuman)
(My works; Scroll to view more)