Customer Reviews

Super Character Design & Poses Volume 1: Hero

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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don't judge this book by it's cover !

the cover led me to believe the contents of this how-to art book would be sub-par, but for under two dollars (the used price) i was willing to take a chance and find out for sure. i am glad i did !

whoever selected the artwork for the cover should be fired (this had to be an intern at the publisher) for making such a terrible choice - this is the weakest (by a long shot) illustration in the entire book and is not representative of the contents at all ... i don't know how it came to be included in the book at all, now that i think about it

what the book does cover is basic character development (illustrating the drawing basics) for a wide range of characters, who are initially shown in simple poses (which helps to avoid unnecessarily complicating matters at this point). next come body and face drawing details, and then there are character development illustrations showing how slight changes can affect a character (this can be used to avoid mistakes or refine a character of your own). another section shows characters involved in a wide range of action poses, and there is also a collection of hand poses, with hands holding various weapons, and other items, in a variety of angles, etc. which should very useful to anyone without a model sheet. finally there are a few pages covering fabrics and folds in a business suit ... very simply demonstrated. and, of course, there is the obligatory section on materials and how to use them

and, finally, the book makes no claims to demonstrate rendering magna, or painting realistic landscapes - how do some people get so easily confused ?

The one I had was the original Japanese version, but they are the same anyway, so I hope my review will be helpful to you in a sense. ^^ Well, as mentioned in the book title “Super Character Design & Poses Volume 1: Hero”, this book teaches you how to draw Heroes, including “heroic” poses as well.

The book starts off with a few works of the artist, along with some explanations to help you determine what consists of the characteristics of a “hero”. Then the book moves on to teaching you how to draw heroes’ bodies, faces and hair. And there is also a section on hero’s character design and some basic pen’s techniques.

What I find really useful is the “poses” collection at the back of the book. There’re many really cool and dynamic poses of the hero in a variety of categories such as “fly”, “blade”, “run”, “kick”, “punch”, shot”, “bicycle”, “hand” and so forth. I wish there were more selection and collection of poses though, but I guess it’s understandable given the limited space of the book.

Also, there’s a CD-Rom that comes with the book. This CD-Rom contains the same -drawings as the book so you can use it to practice drawing or coloring. The only minus I can think about is book is that some of the characterizations have a certain “American” look to it. But then again, it’s probably the way the mangaka wants it to be.

Overall, it’s a great resource and reference book to have especially if you’re drawing lots of “hero” stuff!

This book, is very, very poorly translated...

It's important that you understand, that this books does
NOT teach you HOW to draw Manga(I say manga, because that's
what his style looks like, but he doesn't claim anywhere
that it indeed IS manga)!
Rather, it gives you a lot of good examples on what a hero could
look like, and the poses they could be in.

The artist is a beginner, and I could do some of the drawings a lot better...

The included CD-ROM, though, is pretty nifty with all the same
drawings from the book. I've found this to be extremely useful
for learning how to color pictures in photoshop...

Buy it at your own risk, make sure to check it at a bookstore
first, and have a look at it for yourself.

It's amazing how unknown and overlooked this author/artist and his books are.

Very little is known about You Kusano in the west.
He's a self taught comic book artist (never really mentions manga), according to the book's bio.

I wonder myself how well know he is even in japan. I'm also going to guess hes from the old school of Japanese manga styled art. (maybe before it was know as manga?) apparently he also did some "western" style hero art (he has another book covering this).
I don't remember exactly (my copies are boxed away from a move) but i'm not sure if he has a formal education in art or in general.
He mentions learning to draw from various methods including tracing over action wrestling photos off of magazine pages!

Anyway lets get to the books, there are 2 in this series the "hero" and then a "heroine" volume.
The translation is very rough in that oldschool basic Japanese "engrish translation".
Even then the tutorials are anemic at best, Kusano doesn't really focus on instruction and focuses on style instead.
So in that regard the books are NOT "How to" manuals, instead they appear to be aimed at experienced western artist looking to get that "Manga" flavor in their style. So are in actuality pose/style reference books.

There IS a bit of an oddity as his character designs are very "stereotypical" 70's "cool" styled heroes and "dames".
Back when anime art actually matched the manga that it was derived from and sought to offer a more rough noir or scifi look to the mood.

But IMPO this is a good thing since it beats some of todays Mangnime fuzed Bakupokeyugiruto styled "Manga" we see so much of.
I supposed the Bleach styled stuff is okay.
Kusano also uses a few characters to depict many poses, I like this as it adds a level of cohesiveness to the book.
As opposed to simply having different poses displayed by a bunch of random or unfinished character models.

As others have mentioned there are casual, action poses, resting and fighting stances, and some hand positions including holding items. Really polished impressive stylistic stuff, impressive for a self taught guy.

I find the Danish reviewer (Amazon) who claims to be able to draw better than the author amusing...

For the price these are going here at Amazon you would do well to pick up both volumes, the heroines volume is laid out exactly and has better female designs than the typical "mousy" or "oversexed" look of todays manga/anime women.