Manga Mania Villains: How to Draw the Dastardly Characters of Japanese Comics [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Manga Mania | Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Heroes, schmeroes! It’s the bad guys that have all the fun! With Christopher Hart’s Manga Mania Villains: How to Draw the Dastardly Characters of Japanese Comics, everyday artists and manga/anime fans can have fun, too, as they capture the worst guys the art form has to offer in all their nefarious glory.

Since manga’s inception, its characters have had to battle the powerful forces of evil. Nothing short of world domination would satisfy them! They’ve wreaked havoc on the streets of Tokyo, invaded our skies, and launched torpedoes from the sea. While heroes are burdened with morals and ethics, there is no depth to which diabolical villains won’t sink in order to win!

Chapters oozing with evil villains instruct readers on drawing evil heads and evil bodies, evil poses and evil expressions, evil costumes, and more endlessly evil stuff. Chris Hart, the best-selling author of drawing and cartooning books, makes drawing evil fun and leaves out no villain: there are space pirates, mad scientists, mutants, even corporate sharks! But he doesn’t stop with characters and poses: this illustration- and instruction-filled guide shows amateur artists how they can easily capture the intricacies of the villains’ weaponry and hide-outs, and even shows them how to draw a futuristic, maximum security prison that houses the most wicked guys in the galaxy. The book also includes examples of manga and anime art from some of the biggest names in the business.

Animators, anime fans, comic book lovers, and serious artists will thrill to the evil art in Christopher Hart’s latest manga tutorial, a companion title to Manga Mania, Anime Mania, and Mecha Mania.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Hart is the best-selling author of drawing and cartooning books, and has sold more than one million copies of his books worldwide. He lives in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823029719
• ISBN-13: 978-0823029716
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.5 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,187,460 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars $20 down the drain, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Manga Mania Villains: How to Draw the Dastardly Characters of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

I have read this book and I returned it to the store minutes after buying it. Not only is the artwork ugly and non- manga style but it tells you nothing about how to draw the pictures. How can they call this manga when it is clear mr. hart has never read a manga in his life. warning: stay FAR away from this book

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars As an instructional volume...it's pretty mediocre., June 14, 2005

By 

S.E. Engstrom (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manga Mania Villains: How to Draw the Dastardly Characters of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

I've been hosting anime drawing workshops at local libraries, and I've always been on the lookout for books I can recommend to kids interested in continuing to draw in the anime and manga styles. So I checked out this book at a library recently with the intention of compiling a new list of drawing books that I would recommend to the people attending the workshops this summer.
This book will not be on that list.
Quite frankly, despite the fact that there are several very talented artists who contributed to this book, it's lousy. Most of the artwork featured is either mediocre or *not* done in the manga style Hart claims the book revolves around; in fact, seeing how Mr. Hart's art numbers among the worst in the book, I'm skeptical as to whether or not he is a credible source regarding non-Western artistry at all. (His Western-style cartooning is really quite good, so I'm rather surprised at his ineptitude in this field, myself.)
As I said, there are some very good pieces in this book as well--they really stand out when you see them--but they simply make for good references, as most of the "step-by-step" diagrams are about four steps long, adding up to a pretty useless instruction method overall. The proposed "villains" in the book, in fact, are rather one-dimensional from a character perspective, but I can understand how it would be far easier to resort to stereotypical black-and-white personalities than to flesh out a really interesting villain (because, well, that wasn't what this book was supposed to be about, so I can't really hold it against him.)
Most, if not all, pictures were colored digitally--something that most people won't have access to--and a number of them were printed with rough and jagged edges as if they had been drawn with the pencil tool in a Photoshop (or even paint. Strangely enough, these rougher works are actually some of the better ones in the book, if I recall correctly.)

Please, if you're interested in drawing in the anime or manga style, find another book. If you're interested in Western comics, check out Hart's other work (or the Marvel/DC instructional books, which are quite good.) But if it's manga style you're looking to learn about...then this is NOT the book for you.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mainly American Style Art though..., January 26, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Manga Mania Villains: How to Draw the Dastardly Characters of Japanese Comics (Paperback)

I had mixed reviews about this book, but I had to admit the reason why I bought this book was because of the title. Afterall, no one has drawn a book totally dedicated to villians.

First of all, the book starts off by introducing you to drawing villian’s eyes, which is rather helpful since eyes are one of the important aspects when drawing villains. There’re also the “Good” vs “Bad” expressions and some explanations to go along. Then, there’re various types of baddies, from fighter chicks to medieval villains, and not to forget villains such as monsters, demons and aliens.

Unfortunately, there are mostly one or two examples for most villains, which can be rather limiting if you’re trying to draw the same type of villain in a different way. However, I think this is where your imagination will come in. Some of the arts also strike me as rather kiddy (or perhaps, it's meant to be more for children), although some of the full-page color artworks are very nice.

In addition, I’ve also noticed that most of the examples have a certain “American” (instead of Japanese”) style to it. For the serious mangaka-wannabe though, you are better off getting more “technical” and “Japanese-Style” books such as the “How to Draw Manga” Series, but overall, this book will make a nice reference or resource book for people interested drawing American cartoon.