Customer Reviews

Draw Manga: How to Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Far too many aspiring artists who want to be the next big thing in comics or manga concentrate on the art; on how to draw their characters. What they often negelct is everything else that surrounds their characters: the backgrounds and environments, the plot and diologue, the underlying reason for their project in the first place.

Bruce Lewis' "Draw Manga" covers all of these things and more. People looking for one of those paint-by-numbers-hey-look-I-can-draw-a-hot-chick books will be sorely disappointed with this one, solely because it challenges the reader to think about everything concerned with what they're trying to accompish.

What the author is trying to convey here is that a successful (both to oneself as well as one's potential audience) manga is so much more than just nice pictures, and puts those critical elements first and foremost before the first character is ever drawn.

This is a book that should be on every new and experienced manga artist's reference bookshelf, right next to Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics".

What this book is not: a trace-this how-2 for drawing Princess VaVoom of Planet Whoopee.

Lewis' "Draw Manga" promises to show the reader "how to draw figures, create believable characters and develop stories." And the book delivers.

Back to Princess VaVoom for a moment: addressing the interests of hormone-addled male teenagers, the author does devote four paragraphs on page 57 to cheesecake.

Not everyone will find the brief history of ukiyo-e and Hokusai-san's best seller, "Hokusai Manga" as interesting as I did: but I found it useful in setting up a sort of mental cargo pallet to hold the book's other thoughts.

That pallet got pretty full after reading this book. Lewis covers obvious topics, like drawing eyes and hands, discusses workspace design, the importance of research (and how to avoid it), props real and imaginary, how to shamelessly swipe plots and characters, and how to create your own unique style of art, characters, and plots.

The edition of the book I bought had a howler in it. On page 101, four balloons march across the top of the page, illustrating two good, and two not-so-good choices for digital lettering. Problem is, all four balloons contain the same sans-serif font.

However, in the same section Lewis gives a pretty good introduction to leading, size, kerning, and other aspects of making lettering legible.

That's the only glitch I can recall finding in this book's 120-odd pages, which is pretty good for something as content-rich as this.

Someone could learn to create a manga with engaging characters and good plots without reading this book, but that person would be missing a fine resource.

well.. first i'd like to say that this book ... is f******* awesome.. really . you would have to have one of you own to really understand how helpful this book really is... im not an expert in manga but i've learn tons of things thanx to this book. And if you're wondering if this book has like thos "step-by-step" instruccion on how to draw characters their way instead of yours... well that's what make it so awesome. it gives you examples of the estructures of the characters so you can create your own style. I've read some other books about this subject but so far this has been the best one.. im really glad i bought it. And its even cheaper than those other books that only tells you how to draw certain things in each volume.. definetly a GREAT BOOK

I've been drawing manga-style comics for about six years (which is admittedly probably less than Mr. Lewis) and have been published in Rising Stars of Manga, and after reading all of the positive reviews for this item, I bought this book for potential text material for a mini-class I'm teaching this month. Now that I've read through it, I think I'll just give it away to any student who wants it. The art in this book is amateurish at best, and while I can forgive bad art if the instructional material is worthwhile, it simply isn't the case here. Shaky lineart and an unoriginal, derivative "manga" style do more to promote sloppiness and inaccuracies in budding young artists. The book claims to encourage "drawing in a unique style" as opposed to other works that might encourage carbon-copying, and it lives up to the claim solely because it is so vague that it gives no instructions at all. An example I might give is the talk of inking and toning-- Lewis explains how to use these implements technically but gives no advice on how to do so artistically or with any degree of thought or skill, and frankly, a lack of actual technique is one of the major problems with Western manga talent. The most standard instructional will at least talk about line weight or tone textural effects.

It could be because I've read countless other similar books to compare to, but I feel that not only does this volume fail to present anything original in the field of manga instruction, it does a much more cursory and unprofessional job. The inside cover rags on the Graphic-sha How to Draw Manga book series for being a little too culturally impermeable, but at least even that series, rife with its own flaws, teaches something. I think the only saving grace of this book is the talk about self-publishing and convention promotion, not because these are particularly worthwhile topics, but because most other texts don't touch on them.

I only wish I could return this without having to pay for shipping. At least it's better than Chris Hart's books.

While the book might be great for some people, it wasn't at all what I expected. This doesn't really have much to do with drawing, but producing anime. I was more interested in drawing techniques versus laying out story boards, printing, selling, etc.

Let's face it: you won't learn how to draw with this book. But if you already have started drawing, and specially if you already have the HTDM series, this book will help you face manga in a way I've never seen before. The HTDM series is focused on specific subjects for each volume, which are translations from the original japanese versions (which means that some things are not explained, since they're common knowledge for japanese people), with lots of (dispair quality) drawings. You won't find that here. What you WILL find is a series of advices that will help you develop your own style of manga. I was dissapointed whe I opened the book for the first time. The first drawings I saw were not nearly as good as the ones you're used to on other books. But when I started reading it... It has a detailed method to create your first manga from the beginning: honing your skills. And it will guide you to the completion of your work (research, preparation, composition, coloring/toning, printing, etc.).

Summing up, a good complement for your collection (don't expect it to be THE one on it).

Though not exactly what one might call a "Draw by the numbers" book, "Draw Manga" offers a very interesting perspective on the concept of drawing in your own personal "manga" style. The author points out from the very beginning that there really isn't one unified "manga" style of cartooning, and delves into the history of Japanese caricature, explaining its very roots and drawing connections to the modern art form.

The book doesn't exactly tell you how to draw, it actually puts more emphasis on learning to draw from life, in order to build the reader's ability to visualize a subject. From here, the book describes the human anatomy, and its many different details. At this point, the reader is expected to practice drawing on their own, and learn at their own pace. Another major topic explained in this book is that of actual production, that is, how to piece together and sell one's work in book form.

"Draw Manga" isn't exactly an all-encompassing "how to draw" book, and to actually learn drawing, sketching, and coloring techniques that may be used to develop one's own style, it may be helpful to consider several different books or tutorials spanning different authors and art styles. That aside, "Draw Manga" is certainly a good place to start learning the ropes, especially since it helps remove a few common myths about drawing that may obstruct one's learning process, giving an aspiring artist a very fresh start.

The sheer completeness of Draw Manga alone earmarks it for the shortlist of indispensable guides, but add to that Bruce Lewis's own imitable artistry, his warm, forthcoming approach, his peerless knowledge on the subject, and you've got yourself that rarest of the rare: a Manga tutorial that does exactly what it says it does. Whether you're an aspiring Manga artist struggling to find your own voice, or a seasoned fan of Lewis's magnificent work in the genre, Draw Manga is a treasure trove. Strongly, strongly recommended.

This is a ok book but since I am starting from scratch its not that helpful to me it dose not have enough examples to get me off my feet. BUT with a couple basic life drawing books that cover the basics I think this would become one of the better how to draw manga books as the author seeks to teach what is manga and not merely duplicate it.

Doggeral trash at best. A horrible 'guide' that will influence future hacks to create their own trashy lazy work at worst. This book promises originality in its title but then goes on to show a bunch of amateurish imitative artwork as its examples. That the author trashes other 'how to draw manga' books is laughable when this book is such poor quality. I suspect that the people giving positive reviews of this waste of money are more swayed by the pretentious and misguided text in it than by the author's actual teaching or drawing talent. Want manga in your own unique style? You are better off studying traditional drawing technique without manga influence and then evolving into your own style as a consequence of being a strong artist regardless of whether you draw manga style or not. You will learn more about drawing better quality Manga through the teachings of George Bridgeman or Robert Beverly Hale than you will trusting an over-opinionated hack artist who trashes other mediocre talent.