The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga, Illustrated [Mass Market Paperback]

John Layman (Author), David Hutchison (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Idiot's Guide | Publication Date: May 3, 2005

Simple instructions for illustrating everything Manga.

This guide teaches manga lovers how to create their own characters and stories. From bodies to the nuts and bolts of "mech" (manga for anything mechanical), readers will learn all the basics necessary to start rendering the exotic worlds and creative characters that attracted them to manga as readers. Over 200 illustrations will show readers exactly how to draw everything from heroes to vehicles to backgrounds.

• Manga is the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry, with 2004 sales projected to reach 120 million, up 20% from 2003

• There are few instructional manga books that are truly instructional and even fewer with this guide's step-by-step directions

• The single most comprehensive source for learning all the manga basics

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Layman has been involved in manga and all sorts of comics for decades. The writer of Gambit for Marvel, he has written two miniseries each for Thundercats and Species. The creator of Puffed and Bay City Jive, Layman has edited and lettered comics for many comic companies.

David Hutchinson is a freelance illustrator who specializes in manga. He has contributed to many of Antarctic Press’s How to Draw Manga volumes.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592573355
• ISBN-13: 978-1592573356
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too bad, good basic information., August 11, 2005

By 

DeadlyFred - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga, Illustrated (Mass Market Paperback)

If you're looking for specific instruction on how to draw anything, this really isn't the book to get. I'd recommend it to an artist who already has a basic understanding and the ability to draw figures who is looking for some tips on making them fit into the Manga theme a bit more.

While this book does give you a good overview on many different Manga-styled body forms and facial features, it lacks the more in depth detail that other books on the subject present.

It's definitely not a bad little (ok, fairly large) book to have but someone just starting out in drawing would probably find themselves lost and/or frustrated with the fairly brief tutorials pretty quickly. While more adept artists would likely find them too simplistic to be very useful. Still, it does do a pretty good job of explaining most of the basic aspects of the Manga style.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Beginners like me!, November 9, 2006

By 

Renee Witgenstein "Raven" (Panama City, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga, Illustrated (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a great starting place for beginning manga artists such as myself. It gives real in-depth information and photos to give the artist/reader a good idea of what features should ideally look like. It gives an awesome starting point for poses and features, and even a little background information. There are sections for young, teenage, and adult males AND females, including sections on specific features. I'm thrilled to have made this purchase, and I recommend it! Especially to beginners.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I needed, May 23, 2006

By 

Maria D. (New London, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga, Illustrated (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is okay for beginner, so it was a little to basic for what I was looking for. If you've never been introduced to drawing Manga before, then this book is good for you. It vaguely goes over different nose styles (personally it could've done the same with eyes) and it could have gone over action and poses more, but again, I'd recommend this book for a beginner.