Customer Reviews

Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Well, actually I got it as a present during the summer vacations from my aunt so I feel pretty bad critizing it though it wasn't anime.

Before I begin on the good side I think I should start on the flaws. The noses were pathetic! They were totally not Japanesse (though if it had been for western comics I guess it wouldn't fit there either). The eyes were excellent though they were the hardest bit and were hardly explained at all. The colored pictures looked too Western (though they were very pretty to go through if you aren't learning how to draw Anime/Manga)and the shading and hands and feet were hardly explained when the bits that need to be explained to most as they are usually the weakness for most artisits.

Apart from these flaws it was quite allright. The panneling and elven bits were exceptionally good and the interview at the end was more than helpful. But then again you can get all these from the net tutorials.... which, if you were seriously going pro, you would've probably gone through.

The book lacked Japanesse Drawing though it was pretty good (if you just wanted to draw).

As many people know, both anime and manga are gaining an increasingly stronger and broader fan base in America. With this increase have come How-To-Draw books and the like. Chris Hart brings a Western to manga. Yes, there are books by Japanese artists out there, but I think that Western take should be given just as much respect. Hart did an excellent job in the chapter on fantasy which included tips on shadowing and drawing folds in clothing. Also, he gave some extra attention to drawing males. I know there are books on drawing bishoujo (pretty girls), but where are the books on bishonen (attractive guys) then? I found this book to be helpful and would reconmend it to beginning and intermediate manga artists.

Honestly, this is probably the best book on manga drawing technique published in the West for a variety of reasons: a) it's concise and to the point; b) it showcases DIFFERENT styles of manga art by some VERY good Western artists; and c) it manages to do all this in one book... If you listen to the Hart-bashers, you'll be spending well over $200 in books (I think there was something like 7, 8, or 9 "How to Draw Manga" books translated into English at last count when I checked) and probably won't be getting full coverage of the basics.

Is the book perfect? Of course not -- no book is! There are admittedly some low-res pics in it at the front of the book (NOT because of the lack of Adobe Streamline, but because someone at the book publisher DIDN'T scan in some artwork at a high enough res) and some of the artists aren't as good as others. Most of the pencil art (which tells you more than the finished art at any art) is reproduced well and shows off the caring attention put into the art.

For a relatively low price, you ARE getting coverage of a lot of the basics and good explanations on WHY things are drawn in certain ways. The same cannot be said for many other artbooks published today -- including the "How to Draw Manga" books. This book is a fairly good place to start for cartooning in a Japanese style.

I don't know if Hart is an afficianado of Manga, or whether he simply saw the opportunity to add to his library of (mostly excellent) drawing books. However, this book seems to lack a deeper feeling for what makes Manga unique, with little instruction on constructing truly Manga characters and situations.

The art throughout is done by excellent artists, with the stunning Colleen Doran providing quite a few illustrations. But somehow, a professional publishing house has made the most amateurish job of printing the art, with lots of "jaggies" from scanning at too low a resolution (or forgetting to include the high-resolution files when sending the book to the printer). Quite frankly, this book would rank higher without this problem, and I'm guessing that they'll fix it on the second printing. But scrapping a full-color book on good paper obviously was too expensive for the publishers, so the people who rush out to buy this will get an inferior product.

Many of the examples are simply full page drawings that aren't terribly instructional. A very small section on constructing faces doesn't cover the full range found in Manga. Discussions of machines and such are also a bit limited. Frankly, more instructional pages and fewer "pin-ups" would have benefitted the work.

The book also claims to be the only comprehensive guide to the style in English, which is far from true. You may have to hunt, but you'll learn a lot more from Tadashi Ozawa's How to Draw Anime and Game Characters series, with much better instruction on drawing the different types of characters found in this unique form. Volumes 1-3 of Graphics-sha's How to Draw Manga series are also a better guide, though each costs as much as this book.

Had it not been for the printing problems, this might have gotten a 3 star rating if you're looking for a kid's book. If you're serious about the form, hunt down the better guides.

I don't think I would buy "Manga Mania" again. While Christopher Hart has hired some talented artists to draw this book for him, most of them look like they have drawn in the style of american comics all their lives. It's like a book on basketball written by a rookie who has great potential, but has never really played as a pro. There's work from ten artists in this book, with Christopher Hart narrating. Only one of these artists (Svetlana Chmakova) seems to know what the manga art style is really like. As for the rest of the artists, it's like they said to themselves, "I think I'll draw manga today!" and applied for the job. Even if you have drawn american comics for years, you can't just jump into manga art and become a pro.
Topics in this book include an introduction(in which the pronunciation of the word, "anime" is written incorrectly), "manga basics", "action poses", "The bad boys of manga", "manga genres", "manga's fantasy realm", "drop-dead-gorgeous manga babes", "awesome robots and other cool stuff", "designing dynamic scenes", "common japanese terms"(why is this in here?), "So you wanna be a cartoonist?", "the inside view" (a nice interview with Viz man, Bill Flanagan), and an index.
Although the books by real manga-ka and manga-ka groups (like K's art, Hikaru Hayashi, the society for the study of manga techniques, and Kenkyukai Manga Gihou) are a little more expensive, I would definitley choose book by japanese pros over this.

I'm not a huge Manga fan, but I am an Anime fan. (There is a difference) The only reason I bought this book is because it's the only one I can get like it in my area. If you read the back it gives a miss leading idea about what the book is about. It has NOTHING in it on how to draw Manga. Just gives you vague ideas and references. It really does speak to you like you already know what your doing (I'm very green, nuff said). I would only recommend it for someone who is already skilled at drawing and knows what their doing. Other wise, avoid this book at all costs. There are much better books on this topic out there. Besides, his style is to American to look Manga. And that's pretty sad.

I picked up this book to broaden my manga How-To liberary, and I like it very much. It isn't a good place to start because it only gives very basic (and somewhat incomplete) directions on how to do the actual drawing, but what it DOES give you is a broader view of the different styles of manga.

How do characters look in shôjo mangas (comics for girls), how do characters look in shônen mangas (comics for boys), what's the visual differences between good-guys and bad-guys, dynamic poses, story-genres in mangas, shading, clothing and robotic designs. It's all here, but this book is more about ideas and inspiration, not a "draw like this, then add..." how-to.

This is a really good book with only one flaw, (which I'll tell you in a second). It has hundreds of very good drawings, some which are in full color. It has examples from all different kinds of anime comics, but they're missing one thing......
HOW TO DRAW THE DARN THING!!!!!!! This book has like 2 step by step instructions in the entire book. I recommend this book to experts and people who just want to look at a book. Not a beginner like me.

I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the past week and a half for this book, Manga Mania by Chris Hart, and I was absolutely enthralled when I received the box in the mail today. The box wasn't in the best shape, but the book was fine- and after reading through it, I decided it was more than fine- it was one of the best drawing books I've seen in a while. I've never liked drawing books that show, step by step, how to draw a certain thing... drawing like that is barely a step above tracing. This book isn't like that- this book is more for inspirational purposes. It does show wire frames of people to get the basic gist of things, but doesn't make you copy the drawing step by step, you're allowed to implement your own style. People who have never tried drawing manga before, or people that simply haven't had much drawing experience may want to try another book before this one... it's more of an intermidiate level book than it is an instructional book for begginers. But if you have had even a little practice with manga, and just need to perfect your technique, you're in luck. I've only had the book for one day and I've already had tremendous success with some practice sketches. Finally my characters' bodies are in proportion, finally I have people looking more professional and clean. I'm really enjoying this book, and for those who have some experience with manga already, I highly suggest it.

Two years ago I bought his 'How to Draw Japanese Animation" book and it was pretty well-made for me as I was an amateur at anime and manga styles.

So I was slightly hoping that this one would rival his other book.

I. Was. Wrong.

When I bought it, the art looked like that of a western animation, unworthy of any soon-to-be mangaka's collection of 'How to draw' books. If you'd take a look at the cover...I can draw ten times times better than that without looking at any sources for help. Hart has a lively sense of humor in his guides, but the art is lacking in volume and depth.