Manga Mania Magical Girls and Friends: How to Draw the Super-Popular Action Fantasy Characters of Manga [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Manga Mania | Publication Date: September 29, 2006

Sailor Moon. Card Captor Sakura. Magical Girl Rayearth. They’re magical girls, and they’re some of the biggest names in manga. Magical girls, ordinary schoolgirls given superpowers, are hugely popular in Japan and the United States. Now Christopher Hart shows fans everywhere how to draw these manga shoujo faves. Faces and body proportions, action poses, costumes, expressions, transformations, special effects—they’re all here, all in Hart’s distinctive step-by-step approach. So are magical fighting boys and everybody’s favorite, the cute, furry manga mascots. Hart demonstrates how to create funny mascots, magical boys, fighting teams, and supporting characters, plus how to design layouts. Magical girls show us that we all have special powers deep inside—now Manga Mania: Magical Girls and Friends let those special drawing powers reveal themselves at last!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Hart is an award-winning and best-selling author whose books have set the standard for art instruction, both nationally and internationally, with more than two million copies in print in seventeen languages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (September 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823029689
• ISBN-13: 978-0823029686
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.4 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > Arts & Photography > Drawing > 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

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Magical, December 13, 2006

By 

Larry "Larry" (Fairfield, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manga Mania Magical Girls and Friends: How to Draw the Super-Popular Action Fantasy Characters of Manga (Paperback)

This book, like the title is magical. Like all of Christopher Hart's books, the instruction is excellent, but I will say that this time Christopher Hart has surpassed himself. The sections on drawing the eyes, the drawing of the body step by step, the various angles, the poses, are all enlightening. My daughters and I also enjoyed the historical information on Manga and the difference between American and Japanese Styles. This book is highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another amazing book from Christopher Hart!, May 22, 2007

By 

LiamsMommy "AK" (AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manga Mania Magical Girls and Friends: How to Draw the Super-Popular Action Fantasy Characters of Manga (Paperback)

I am a big fan of Christopher Hart and his work. His books are the best manga tutorial books I have come across.
This one is no exception. The drawing are gorgeous, the instruction is easy to understand for beginners and is still useful for advanced manga artists who want to learn new techniques.
It has everything from cute chibis to the transformation of a regular girl to a magical girl. (step by step instruction)
My favorite is the cute little mascots which are also transformed into magical mascots.
This is worth every penny!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magically fun and resourceful, February 27, 2007

By 

Charsya Paul "Manga publisher/manga writer/ar... (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manga Mania Magical Girls and Friends: How to Draw the Super-Popular Action Fantasy Characters of Manga (Paperback)

I don't really own many of Hart's books, this one makes it my fourth book, but for the ones that I do own, I have to say that I am very pleased with this one. This book gives you a general idea of magical school girls, their costumes, hair, transformations, and even animal helpers. This book really doesn't go into depth on step by step guides to drawing magical girls, but it gives you tidbits of general info on how to go about designing your own magical girl as well as her specific powers and/or costumes. I would definitely recommend this book for those who are a little advanced than beginners. Since this book doesn't break down the drawings in steps. This is a little info on what to expect about the book:

Magical girl faces, their eyes, and expressions
The body
Magical girl costumes
Magical girl varieties
Magical boys
The villains
Essential supporting characters
Magical mascots
Magical fighters teams
Magical transformation