Manga Mania Fantasy Worlds: How to Draw the Amazing Worlds of Japanese Comics [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Manga fantasy is the swords-and-sorcery Japanese animation style featured in the most popular video role-playing games on the market. Best-selling author Christopher Hart’s latest tutorial reveals the secrets and techniques that go into building these worlds of wonder.

An increasingly fashionable style among both digital and traditional animators, manga enjoys unrivaled popularity among the game players themselves, allowing them entry into fabled worlds of startling beauty, terror, and adventure. Manga Mania Fantasy Worlds throws down the gauntlet for people interested in creating these scenes for themselves. Artists will learn how to illustrate detailed backdrops and landscapes, rugged weaponry, and, of course, fearsome creatures—aliens, faeries, ogres, and much more. In the straightforward style that is his trademark, Christopher Hart teaches the basics and the intricacies of creating manga fantasy illustrations that practically jump off the page.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Hart is the acclaimed author of countless how-to-draw tutorials, including two of the best-selling art books in the US—Manga Mania and Anime Mania. He has sold more than one million books worldwide and makes his home in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823029727
• ISBN-13: 978-0823029723
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.4 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Nice Artworks but somewhat Westernized., January 26, 2005

By 

Hong M. Sharon "@SweetStoryCafe" (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manga Mania Fantasy Worlds: How to Draw the Amazing Worlds of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

I had mixed reviews about this book, but I had to admit that the reason why I bought this book was because of his fantastic cover art. :)

First of all, there’re some really good references on the fantasy, science fiction and medieval world. For example, you can find knights, faeries, monsters, dragons and even aliens in the book. Plus, topics on evolving medieval weapons, differences between elves and faeries, special effects and even the turnaround section (which tells you how a person looks like when “turned around) are covered. There’s also a section telling you what’s a weak and dynamic drawing looks like, which helps if you’re interested in honing your manga-drawing craft. Another great section I would like to point out is the “Castle” section. The book also covers some different places within the castle, such as the dungeon and drawbridge, and I find this really helpful when drawing the inside of the castle.

Unfortunately, there are only one example for most creature, beast or place, which can be rather limiting if you’re trying to draw the same creature in a different way. However, I think this is where your imagination will come in. Also, I noticed that some of the artworks have a certain “American” style (instead of Japanese) to it, but many of the artworks are very nice and attractive.

For the serious mangaka-wannabe though, you are better off getting more “technical” & "Japanese style" books such as the “How to Draw Manga” Series, but overall, this book will make a great reference or resource book for people interested in fantasy and drawing cartoon/manga.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not All Its Said To Be.., July 10, 2005

By 

Lupus "Angela" (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manga Mania Fantasy Worlds: How to Draw the Amazing Worlds of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

Quiet honestly the one thing that makes Chrisopher Hart's books on Anime and Manga "less" than others is the fact that he isn't very good at it. Oh, he makes some good points, especially when comparing American comic drawing with manga style drawing, but there are better books out there.

If this is all that is available then you won't be to dissapointed in buying it, but being as they are usually around $20 (at least where I am) then you might want to get your moneys worth and stick around for one of Hikaru Hayashi's many How to Draw Manga books as they are usually more detailed and better drawn.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If not for the drawings I'd say it's a little kidish one...., March 13, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Manga Mania Fantasy Worlds: How to Draw the Amazing Worlds of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

This books O.K. It tells you how to draw four type sof dragons,faeries, "gothic creatures", and some si-fi stuff. He tells you all this stuff, but in doing so I think he might be limiting your imagination by saying "here's how you draw this and that". Whatever. I think he would be better off by adding "here's the basic anatomy of a person(front and back), here's some armor variations, weapon variations, basic clothing folds, dragon skin options, maybe what a medevial town looks like, and all that.

He Does tell you how to do turn arounds, and some of the pictures in this book are dang tight!

Maybbe I'm picky, but I think those pictures in there should in pencil so he(Christopher Hart) wouldn't be lording over you with his fancy inked-and-colored pictures. This book isn't that bad, though. Drawing these things using his step-by-step instructions will improve your drawing skills.