Customer Reviews

How To Draw Manga Volume 14: Colorful Costumes (v. 14) (How to Draw Manga (Graphic-Sha Unnumbered))

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

 

 

I suspect most aspiring American manga artists are attracted to the medium in part because of the fanciful, out-of-the ordinary costumes that many manga characters wear in fantasy, otherworldly or futuristic environments. But the setting in a good number of manga stories--even those featuring super-powered protagonsists--live in the "real world." It's often a greater challenge for a would-be manga artist to create a contemporary wardrobe for main, supporting, and background characters, than is the task of devising a "cool" costume. And what about service uniforms for restaurant workers, candy-stripers, and the like. Details for such outfits can't be faked or improvised!

"Colorful Costumes" is a wonderful intoduction to the world of service uniforms. In his illustrations, Mr. Ozawa has reproduced the uniforms worn by employees of over a dozen actual restaurants in Japan (of course they were accurate as of the time of the publication of the original Japanese edition of this volume). Ozawa also includes clothing worn in ethnic-themed eateries, roadside snack-stands, and hospitials. He includes a detailed description of each outfit.

All illustrations are in color (hence the higher price), and the models are primarily female, drawn in a near-realistic style. The drawings clearly display the construction of each outfit. Since most of the costumes are made in a Western style, the reader should have no trouble adapting the uniforms for his or her purposes.

You never know when you might need a waitress in a scene, so this book makes a good reference. Of course, you should also observe the many outfits worn by people of different professions in your own community.

I found this book to be most helpful. The girls are draw realy style, almost like they've been photographed and traced. They have realistic proprotions and look natural. The uniforms are very detailed, with key elements highlighted. There are also segments on shoes, ties, blouse styles and what not that are not part of a particular uniform so you can make your own. I still flip through this one when fishing for random ideas, and something usually pops up.

I have purchased many of the How to draw manga books and a few from other how to art books. This one includes many useful costumes to add to your characters wardrob. The content of this book is in color to help the artist make color illustrations. Like many how to books it does not tell you how to do every detail step by step. It is like many from this series that expects you to have some artistic skill before you picked up this book. Intended for intermediate to advanced artists but could be usefull to new artists as practice material. You will get better with practice and there is good content in this book to help you improve.

This book is full of color pictures of uniforms (maid, restuarant, cat costume, female business dresses, and some "sexy" costumes.
The book shows the uniforms in simulated 3d both on a sample character and clothes only (no sample character in them). It will help you get a feel for the coloring and the details, but it doesn't have any steps for drawing the uniforms pretty much all you see is the final step. So if you want to see finished drawings of a good cross section of female uniforms and some costumes, then this is the book you want.