27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Manga for Dummies is not just for dummies..., February 11, 2007
This review is from: Manga For Dummies (Paperback)
What I liked best is that this book is that it doesn't just help you to "draw manga" like a "how to draw cats" book (which it does quite well), but it connected me to with the whole manga genre. I got some sense that manga has a really creative and innovative history, starting with Hokusai (which was really news to me, because I always liked his prints and crazy drawings) and extending through some key creative artists I had never heard of who have brought manga to where it is today. This is an inspiration because it gets you thinking about what new could be done that could be really compelling in the future. Another thing I liked was that it gives a good sense of how different story lines and roles get articulated graphically. This Manga for Dummies is not just for dummies...
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Manga for Dummies, February 12, 2007
This review is from: Manga For Dummies (Paperback)
I bought this book because of my interest in Manga art but, this book took me beyond drawing. The author, besides being a good artist, is a great teacher. This book is full of information and history. I got this book to learn to draw Manga type art but, I became drawn into the words of the author. You can sense his respect for it's history and his want for the reader to understand all there is to know about Manga. The book is very easy to follow and when (and if) you get to the "How to Draw" part of the book, it takes you through a very easy, step by step process.
I feel this book was a wonderful purchase on my part.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Manga by Dummies., November 8, 2009
This review is from: Manga For Dummies (Paperback)
What we have here is a disorganized, schizophrenic text which alternates between irrelevant hyper-detail and total disregard for the student as the author neglects to provide key instruction on fundamentals. I am amazed at the positive reviews for such a shallow, monkey-see, monkey-do book. Let me give some examples.
Mr. Okobayashi begins with teaching the drawing of the head. All is going well, even if he just kind of tells you what to do without providing much underlying rationale other than how it relates to the overall manga style. Close attention to his drawings will show, however, that he is failing to mention some key issues in regard to the contour of the line, the methods of shading, etc -- but not that big of a deal so far.
Now, he makes it quite clear that it is a good idea to master "simple" characters before going on to attempt more realistic portrayals. Then why in the world does he then devote one of the very first lessons on how to sketch out a hyper-realistic ear? He even suggests taking a picture of your own and studying all of the folds and creases. What? We have not even begun to learn the first elements of assembling a character yet. It's like a lesson from an advanced figure drawing textbook inserted right in the middle of learning how to draw cute manga girls.
It gets worse. After barely learning to sketch out the different parts of the face, exclusively from the front and side views, on page 78 all of a sudden the book leaps ahead and tells the student to draw 3/4 perspective heads and portray advanced expressions! Come again? We barely even know how to draw a 3/4 head much less place its constituent parts within it -- not to mention the fact that we can't even draw these individual parts (eyes, mouth, ears) in this perspective. In fact, there has been nary a mention of perspective technique thus far. He does not even indicate so much as where to place an "eyeline" within the sphere of the head-shape. It's a stunning lapse of instruction and utterly incompetent.
Page 89: He has just started a chapter on how to approach the concepts of figure drawing when the first "visual exercise" is to draw an entire character design sheet. This is before the first chapter lesson has been started. Did "Manga for Dummies" have an editor? Having ignored face drawing after Chapter 4, the subject then pops up again nearly 200 pages later in Chapter 12. So after endless examples of drawing all of the accessories and minutiae for different archetypical characters, we get back to basic eye structure. Brilliant.
Like so much of our culture and media these days, Okabayashi's tone is casual, familiar, and unassuming -- but when it comes to what's actually under the hood the substance is seriously lacking. While there is some good insight into manga style and methods (he certainly can draw well), it does not result in a successful lesson when there is no follow-through.
Compare this book to a classic text like Bert Dodson's "Keys to Drawing" and the shortcomings are abundantly clear. While it is true that Dodson is teaching a more intuitive, freeform, and expressive kind of technique, his methodology is to get you to think for yourself and he provides you with everything necessary to succeed. Okabayashi, like the worst instructors, seems unable not only to approach drawing with anything close to an artistic sensibility, but on a strictly technical level his book is a haphazard, frustrating experience.
To Wiley: I see you have been a respected publisher since 1807. If you would like some editorial assistance, please feel free to contact me.
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