Using Chitra Studio

Before you begin

You need an approved publisher account. Apply through Publish; applications are reviewed manually.

On approval you receive 15 expansion credits, which pay for translating episodes. One further credit is added when your first chapter or episode is published. Both grants are one-time.

Building an episode

1. Create the series

   Set the title, cover, genres and the language you letter in. Episodes live inside the series.

2. Find your way around

   The editor has three regions:

   • Left — your episodes with their status, and the tool rail: Create (move, draw, bubble, sound effect), History (undo, redo) and View.
   • Middle — the canvas, with your panels stacked in reading order, a zoom control, and a Desktop / Mobile toggle.
   • Right — episode settings: title, number, thumbnail, release time, content warnings and background music.

3. Upload your panels

   Add your finished artwork. Panels stack on the canvas in the order a reader will scroll through them.

4. Letter the episode

   Use the Create tools to place speech bubbles and sound effects over the art, then set the type inside them.

   Lettering is stored as editable text rather than being flattened into the image. That is what makes translation possible later without redrawing anything.

5. Check the mobile layout

   Switch the canvas to Mobile before you publish. Bubble sizes that read comfortably on a desktop canvas are frequently too small on a phone, which is where most of your readers will be.

6. Set warnings and release timing

   Content warnings appear to readers as a brief notice before the episode begins. You can also attach background music by link.

   Set a release time and the episode publishes at that moment once it has been approved. Leave it empty to release as soon as it clears review. Scheduled slots need at least two hours' notice, so the review can finish first.

7. Release it

   Action	What happens
   Read draft	Shows the episode as a reader will see it.
   Duplicate	Copies the episode as a starting point for the next one.
   Save draft	Keeps your work private.
   Publish	Sends the episode for review. It goes live once approved, or at the release time you set.

   Publishing submits your episode for review; it does not put it live straight away. Every episode passes a quality check before readers see it.

Translating an episode

Episode translation uses expansion credits — the same balance Katha draws on, and a different balance from the one Novira Translate uses.

Sound effects

Translating sound effects is optional and currently in beta. When enabled, Novira redraws the sound-effect lettering in your target language and matches the original styling where it can. Results vary considerably with art style. Left switched off, your original sound-effect artwork is untouched.

How a translation reaches readers

A finished translation arrives as a draft in a Novira review queue. A reviewer opens the translated pages and either approves it, which publishes it, or rejects it. A rejected translation does not go live.

Your own original episodes go through the same quality check before release.

What Chitra Studio does not do

• It does not draw. There is no panel drawing, sketching or painting. Bring finished art.
• Every episode starts from uploaded artwork. There is no blank canvas mode.
• Bubble shapes come from the built-in catalogue. Importing your own shapes as SVG is not supported.
• It does not run on mobile. The editor is desktop only.
• It does not publish on demand. Episodes pass a quality check first, so leave time between finishing and release.

If something goes wrong

Where do I draw the panels?

Outside Novira, in your own drawing software. Chitra Studio letters and publishes; it does not draw.

My bubbles look right on desktop but cramped on a phone

Use the Mobile toggle on the canvas and resize there before publishing.

The editor will not open on my phone

That is expected. Open Novira on a laptop or desktop.

I pressed Publish but the episode is not live

Publishing submits the episode for a quality check. It goes live once a reviewer approves it, or at your scheduled time if you set one.

My translated episode is not visible to readers

It is a draft in the review queue. A reviewer has to approve it before it publishes, and it may also be rejected.