Kids Draw Anime [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Kids Draw

Interest in anime and manga—the arts of Japanese animation and comics—is exploding in the US children’s market. Pokémon, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon are just a few of the anime phenomena delighting kids ages 4–12.



Kids Draw Anime, the eighth book in the popular Kids Draw series, is the first book specifically designed to teach kids 6–12 how to draw the popular anime style themselves. Focusing on shõjo- and shõnen-style anime, the book teaches the familiar “big eye” look, in which characters are drawn cute and young as opposed to the angular, dramatic characters of -oriented styles.



Young artists will find a complete introduction to anime style, taught with engaging text and full-color art. Dozens of fun, hands-on lessons demonstrate how to draw heads, eyes, expressions, hairstyles, the basic body, hands and shoes, good guys and bad guys, goofy characters, fantasy characters, robots, and much more. As in all Kids Draw books, each dazzling spread is easy to follow, fun to look at, and guaranteed to charm a new generation of artists!





• Anime is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US alone


• Offers age-appropriate instruction and illustration


• Continues the wildly successful Kids Draw series

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-Hart supplies simple instructions for creating the distinctive eyes, exaggerated expressions, and dramatic poses that characterize Japanese-style cartoon figures. Intending to get budding artists off on the right foot, he shows how each body part and posture begins with basic geometric shapes and then, rather than furnish start-to-finish directions, he skips from the sketched outline to a finished, colored example. The brief captions mix practical advice, such as, "The neck isn't just plopped on the shoulders. It begins inside the body," with inspirational comments, and the book closes on a high note with pulse-elevating pictures of two large monsters and a general melee. Though this book never gets beyond the drawing of single figures, it makes a good start for serious beginners; more practiced young cartoonists looking for historical background, an extensive gallery of character types, or instruction in composition and page design will get more from Hart's Manga Mania (Watson-Guptill, 2001).
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Christopher Hart's Mecha Mania.

Gr. 4-8. Granted, these aren't graphic novels, but they fit right in as many kids want to draw their own comics and create their own stories. By a familiar writer of how-to-draw books, these large-format paperbacks explain the basics of drawing in the style of anime (Japanese animated films) and manga (Japanese comics). Hart's enthusiastic approach energizes the texts, and both books are loaded with full-color illustrations that will surely attract readers. Kids, for the younger end of the audience range, moves quickly through the preliminaries of sketching "big-eye" characters' physical attributes, then goes on to demonstrate how to put figures in motion and, using a few successive drawings, how to create some typical characters. Kids who want detailed anime instructions will need to look elsewhere; those who just want some basics will find plenty here. Mech Mania, aimed at older readers with more art experience, focuses on the futuristic robots, vehicles, and weapons found in anime and manga scenes as well as in video games. From the blueprints for a spaceship to advice on showing characters in action or revealing a robot's mood through its posture, this dynamic book offers a useful mix of creative inspiration and practical advice. Hart ends with an informative interview with the art director of Microsoft's Fasa Studio. Slick, heavy paper, vibrant colors, and sharply defined lines in the finished illustrations add to the appeal and make these books sturdier than most paperbacks. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823026906
• ISBN-13: 978-0823026906
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.2 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Art > Cartooning

More About the Author

Thanks for taking a look at my books, and this "Author Bio." I'm a competent tennis player, who also enjoys playing computer chess while I'm watching TV at night (Hey, it prevents me from channel-surfing). I'm keenly interested in M-theory, although i have become skeptical of it of late, despite Brian's Green's full-body gushing... I love being with my family, and even my extremely evil dog, a Welsh Springer Spaniel named "Rusty." Oh, yes, he truly is that evil.

As for my work, I'm the author of many How-To-Draw books, published by Watson-Guptill,the art imprint of Random House. Thanks to a lot of the wonderful readers (and you know who you are!), I have sold over 3 million copies domestically, which have been translated into 20 languages worldwide.

I'm fortunate to also have had 26 of the Best-Selling art books in the country, according to Bookscan.(Bookscan is the publishing industry's rating system for books, which is owned by same company that does the Neislen TV ratings.)

I also have my own drawing show on the Comcast Network, called, "How To Draw Action Heroes With Chris Hart." It's on Comcast's "Activity TV." I hope you like my books, and find them a valuable adjunct to your own imagination.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not bad.................., February 15, 2004

By 

"barracudaman232" (St.Paul, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kids Draw Anime (Paperback)

It was'nt that helpful to me, but the book is specificly about teaching YOUNGER kids how to draw. I am SO sorry if the book dosn't teach you how to draw REFINED manga, becouse once agian the book if for younger kids. I dunno, I just had to blab about that.
This book is good. It tells you how to draw manga eyes, exaturated emotions, manga noses, hands, feet, alittle bit on the body, "action line", good guys and bad guys, little bit on anime robots, anime animals, little bit(very small)on the martial arts and some more advanced characters with how-to-draw steps and subsections for all that. 3 different artists drawing in this book and it's 64 pages. Theres nothing immoral in this book, and I think its a good primer. I recomend this book for people ages 7 to 10.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not anime, not at all, February 20, 2005

By 

Hong Chen "Diana" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kids Draw Anime (Paperback)

I found this book at my local library and decided to see what this book was about after seeing all the reviews on amazon about this book. When I got home I starteded reading it, I realized that this book was not anime. I am a big anime and manga fan so I could tell. Christopher Hart can't draw anime correctly, his drawings are to american and not the japanese type ( like anime or manga is supposed to be). If you want to buy this book let me just tell you that you aren't drawing anime, you're drawing a cross between anime- and american cartooning. Which isn't really anime at all, so if you buy this book and give it to your kid, they'll think they're really drawing anime but aren't. for kids who just want to draw go ahead and buy this book. But if you seriously want to draw manga or anime i suggest a book by Hikaru Hayashi in his how to draw series which are accurate but somethimes not for younger kids.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not anime!, August 6, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Kids Draw Anime (Paperback)

I picked this up in hope that it would show me some simple anime techniques, IE chibi etc, but it's not only badly drawn and poorly explained, it's also nothing like anime. Do not get this book, it also teaches nothing. Get How to draw Manga, or for younger kids, The Art Of Creating and Drawing anime women/action series's.