Customer Reviews

How to Draw Manga: Costume Encyclopedia, Vol 1, Everyday Fashion

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just about every "how-to" book on drawing manga (and also "mainstream" comics) advises aspiring artists to gather reference material from "real-life" in order to draw realistic buildings, animals, trees, and so on. But when it comes to researching costumes and fashions for designing characters, the artists is confronted not only with the potentially confusing details of a particular item of clothing, but also the countless changes in fashion that have developed over history. And just how do you correctly draw that leg-of-mutton sleeve for your heroine's wedding dress?

I can't recommend this first volume of the "Costume Encylopedia" (Everyday Clothing) highly enough. There are more than a dozen different styles each of sleeves, skirts, coats, footwear, and other items of clothing, that are catalogued, diagrammed, and described for easy reference.

Don't know the difference between a tiered skirt and a sarong (you can raise your hand if you don't)? They're both in the book. The book is prefaced with several drawings of costumes created from the various styles featured in the encyclopedia. And for those of you interested in how clothes are constructed, the back of the book explains how basic articles of clothing are pattered and assembled.

This is not only perfect for creating costumes for your manga characters, but also for interpreting outfits featured in fashion magazines, history books, and on film and TV (be sure to observe what folks are wearing on the street,too). Students in fashion design courses also use guides similar to this one, but those texts are easily 2 to 3 times more expensive than the Encyclopedia (If you can afford it, I highly recommend "Fashion Sketchbook" by Bina Abling).

I would've liked to have seen more instruction on how to properly draw the clothing items upon a human figure, but much of this information can be obtained from other art instruction books, including other volumes in the "How to..." series.

I recommend this book for everyone, including non-manga comic artists, and I look forward to the two upcoming volumes (Yes!) in the Costume Encyclopedia.

If you are wondering why this book costs nearly twice as much as the other HTDM books in the series, the answer is: it's twice as long. Instead of the standard 120-odd pages, this one has 238 pages. And it's worth every penny. Every page is packed with pictures of all sorts of clothing, there is no nudity except for one page explaining body types and how they affect clothing (and it's only a line-drawing; you can draw underwear on them if worst comes to worst). The supposed section on how to draw men in women's clothing-which almost dissuaded me from buying the book-turns out to be an insignificant section at the end of a page, telling you that men are leaner in the hips than in the shoulders and that they aren't curvaceous. Boy. You could have fooled me.

This book is divided as follows:

1. How to Make the Most of This Book: (introduction)
About eight pages long, this preface has about eleven different girls wearing different costumes devised through use of this book. They are really cute and have neat poses, and there are arrows pointing to all parts of their apparel telling you what type of sleeve or dress it is, and on what page it can be found. There are some tips and information on making your own creations. (I really love this part!)

2. Chapter One: Shirts, vests, skirts, pants & jeans, dresses, jackets, coats, capes & cloaks.
This is, as you can guess, the longest chapter in the book. It covers all aspects of pretty much anything you could ever put on your body. Everything is for women, however, but many styles and clothes are genderless so it can work both ways. I like the section on dresses the best, but it isn't too extensive (if it was the book would be three times as long) but dresses are more or less the combination of shirts and dresses, so be creative! Everything is done in line-drawing with no use of screen tones, the pages are split into sections dialoguing each type of clothing and its characteristics. The clothes are all drawn on models, standing and sitting, and from all different angles. Very useful. =^-^=

3. Chapter Two: Necklines, collars, sleeves, cuffs.
Basically what the title would suggest. It isn't very interesting to look at or read, but very useful to add that little touch to your picture that brings it all together. Great as a reference. If you have ever had a dilemma over whether to choose a mandarin or chimney collar on your character's outfit, or can't stop drawing sailor suit tops, this is the chapter for you. It's good for making a creative, detailed look.

4. Chapter Three: Hats, scarves, neckties, shoes, intimates, pockets & buttons, pleats, jeans & slacks.
Another useful chapter, with a very useful chart of the different kinds of heels and their names. Don't let `intimates' scare you away, it's just some underwear, nothing `naughty' (except for the thong underwear) that covers sports bras, slips and even some men's underwear. (No men's clothes yet you have some men's underwear...but whose complaining?)

5. Appendix: Creases, basic fashion knowledge, silhouette lines.
Some useful info on drawing fabrics on different body types, attaching screen tones to clothes, assorted pleats and cuffs, and the cuts of some fabric. Then there are the silhouette lines that describe the way clothing hangs on the body. Useful for talking `designer talk' and impressing your friends.

All in all, I loved this book, and it was definitely worth the money. Whether or not you draw manga, get the book; it's useful for fashion students, even cartoonists, not just manga artists. It's better than watching a fashion shows for ideas (fashion shows are nothing more than soft porn nowadays) because you see the line drawing of the clothes, and not have to guess how to draw the 3D color television image on your own. Buy it now!

This is one book I ever wondered what I did without. It takes a complex idea, such as drawing clothing, and makes it simple, easy and clean. The book is a treasure chest of examples and ideas that can help you define and polish your outfits. Often I flip through random pages and point, and whatever my finger falls on I design an outfit from, using other elements from the book.
As a previous reviewer started, a men's addition would be very nice. Instead we get a simple, half-page how-to on making a female form look more male. There is one page on men's undergarments, but that's the brunt of it. Otherwise, just use your common sence; a man is not going to want to wear a Medici collared, puffy sleaved shirt unless he's auditioning for Bishonen of the Year.
Still the lack of male content dose nothing to curb my enthusiasm for this book. It's a great buy for anyone studying art and fashion.

The only reason I'm giving this book 3 stars and not 4, is because the way this book was organized, was a little confusing. It's always hard for me to find a certain peice of clothing in it. I had to flip through the WHOLE book just to find a pair of friggin' pants. Other than than that. This book was very helpful to me. it has lot's of good ideas, but sadly, nothing as creative as the characters on the cover. TRUE, I usually find myself guiltily judging a book by it's cover *Slap self in face* I can't help myself! You'de think I'd have learned by now! But I would definetly reccomend this book to people who KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING! But as the title of this revew says: VARIETY!

I hoped to see a good number of illustrations and styles, but I am actually overwhelmed by the sheer number of variations and illustrations in this book. This is a fantastic resource. I definitely recommend it. The only drawback is that the illustrations are generally done in the over-simplified style of this series, but what the illustrations lack in tones and shading is more than compensated for by volume and diversity.

There's still no substitute for a good from-life reference, but this book makes it easy to pull from a whole universe of styles. Great stuff.

This book is a great referance and resource book. It covers almost any type of shirt, pants, hat, scarf, collar, cuff, etc.
Anything that you can imagine has a referance in this book.

The catagories are all laid out well and everything is easy to find, if you know what you are needing to create a costume. Even if you don't know what you need or want, just thumbing through the book can give you a lot of ideas.

It is a good book for artists, not just manga artists.
Definately on the "Must Have" list.

This book was exacly what I was looking for as a clothing reference except for one thing- WHERE IS THE MEN's CLOTHING. I am so tired of the "How to Draw Manga" series focusing mostly on women. News flash- good manga features both men and women. Hopefully volume two will give some coverage- but I doubt it.

Lots of different styles of clothes are shown with scenes of how to fit them to a body. But you are only given the final image, nothing about construction lines. Another problem is all the figures are the perfect 15 - 25 year old types. No children, old people, fat, etc.

I am an aspiring manga artist, (I admit I'm not very good yet) and clothes have always been an issue in my drawings. This book is invaluabe. It covers every kind of clothing you could imagine. It also touches on combining different styles to form your own costumes.


This book is a nessesity, I let my friend borrow my copy of it for a few days, and it is nearly impossible to draw without it now!

This book is good, the only thing missing is the male fashons. All of the cloths are women's, even though some could be altered to be men's cloths. There is a small section about drawing men in women's cloths, but that's it.