Drawing Made Easy

This is a great book to start off with if you're new to drawing manga. It covers all the basics in a small travel-size package! Objectives of this volume: "The basics of faces, the basics of figures, the ABCs of tools and materials, producing an original draft of manga, and basic background and special effect techniques." Get this book if you are new to drawing manga or you need something to refresh your memory. I'm going to list the contents so that you can get a better idea of what's in this book. Contents: Introduction Objectives of This Volume Chapter 1: Manga Basics Part A: Learn by Copying -Practice by Copying I -Practice by Copying II -What Can Be Learnt from Copying Part B: The Basics in Drawing Faces -The Oval Human Head Part C: The Secret to Lines Part D: Pen and Ink -Holding the Pen -Inking -Drawing Pointy Lines -Drawing with a Straightedge Part E: The Basics in Paper Size Part F: Other Tools and Materials Part G: Steps to a Completed Manga - 1. Devising a Story - 2. Designing Characters - 3. Deciding the Panel Layout - 4. Sketching the Under Drawings - 5. Inking the Artwork - 6. Drawing Backgrounds and Special Effects - 7. Drawing Effect Lettering - 8. Erasing - 9. Spotting Blacks - 10. Doing Touch-ups - 11. Attaching Tone - 12, Final Touches Wrap Up Chapter 2: Basic Techniques in Character Depiction Part A: Character Fundamentals -Male vs. Female Characters -Differentiating Age Part B: Drawing Faces -Distinguishing Age -Making Characters Distinct -Basic Techniques in Facial Expression Part C: Drawing Figures -Use Boxes and Spheres for the Body -Skeletal Structure and Joints of the Trunk -Differentiating a Male Figure from a Female Figure -Posing Figures -Drawing Figures in Action Part D: Backgrounds -Learning from Photographs -Activity Settings Part E: Special Effect Lines and Tones Basics -The Two Common Types of Special Effect Lines -Tone Effects Wrap-up Chapter 3: Manga Techniques Learnt from the Pros Smiling Face/Happiness Grinning/Making Eye Contact with the Reader Unruffled, Dashing Face Crying/Looking Back Shut Eyes/Facing Down

After purchasing nearly every "How to Draw Manga" book in existence, I've finally found a series that delivers. The "Ultimate Manga Lessons" (UML from here on) series books may be smaller in dimension to their contemporaries but don't let that fool you, these books are packed full of useful materials for prospective and professional Manga artists. Instead of focusing on a pornographic perspective often seen in other "How To Draw Manga" series, the UML books offer a refreshing view of the art itself. "Drawing Made Easy" is excellent for beginners and a worthy companion handbook for intermediate-to-advanced artists. From describing the application and practice of varied-width lines (for internal details vs. external "contour" lines) to the differences in Manga-style gender features, this book presents a multitude of useful art techniques. If you're serious about learning to draw Manga and wish to purchase a book that actually has useful advice in a well compiled and written fashion, the UML series is for you. There are currently six (6) books in this series (as of this writing) and I'd suggest purchasing them all. "Drawing Made Easy" serves as a kind of "taster" that samples all material covered in the later books of the UML series. Your Manga art will greatly benefit y by reading every book in this series in succession and referring to them when you're applying pen/pencil to paper.

This was my very firt book my daddy bought me and let me tell you, he made a smart decision on buying How To Draw Manga: Ultimate Manga Lessons! This book is great for the basics of Manga. My personal favorite was the deep detail the author went into when drawing the head. I also liked how the author clearly showed the differences on age of the child, protagonist, younger adult, mother, and an elder. I would recommend this book to all ages, only one page with minor, let me repeat, MINOR nudity. Overall, this was a pretty great book.

The Good: Compared to the other How to Draw Manga series, I would say this book was a summary of every book in the series. With multiple artists and varying styles, it offers a beginning artist a definite edge and foundation for drawing manga. Not only does it show a more stylized version of manga, and also shows a more realistic version. This was one of the more useful books for head angles. The heads are a variety of , high, low, and side angles. This is very useful for a beginning artist so that their work doesn't look dull or monotonous. The Bad: I somewhat felt a little ripped off when I saw the price for such a small book. Also, it seems as if this book doesn't go deeply into each specific section. It's more of a 'general' help book. For instance, if you want to know more about anatomy, I recommend buying the 'Bodies and Anatomy' book in the How To Draw Manga series. This book is more of a 'overall' book. In conclusion, I'd recommend buying this book if I was a beginner or intermediate. You can always improve as an artist. Hope you found this helpful.

This is the most amazing drawing book I have ever purchased. This book is extremely helpful, especially towards the end. It shows characters in different poses to help you learn how to draw them. It does suggest in the beginning to copy some of your favorite artists' work. I copied pictures out of my manga books and then tried to do something original, and I have improved greatly! GET THIS BOOK!!