Bishoujo Around the World

One of my favorites in the "How to Draw Manga" series, this book is a great starting point for new & exciting ideas. I love this & the Giant Robots book by Hikaru Hayashi. Both efforts are absolutely jam-packed & crammed with interesting visual information, similar to the more traditional western-style titles by Jack Hamm. This beautiful, black & white book is *filled* with women & traditional clothing styles from all over the world. It's divided into three main parts: drawing beautiful nude women of different ethnicities (32 pages); drawing stereotypical & cultural attire (52 pages); and then drawing ancient & prehistoric clothing (26 pages). I like the emphasis on figure drawing in the first part; "Bishoujo" means pretty/ beautiful girls, so the clothing is just meant to emphasize & enhance the women of different ethnicities. Three types of women are depicted: Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid. These are just technical terms. Key differences in the three types of women are consistently detailed. Then it's on to specific countries & regions of the world. A general listing: East, Southeast, and Southern Asian; Oceanian; West, East, North and South European; Mediterranean; Middle Eastern; African; North, Central & South American. I didn't see anything Hebraic or Jewish here. Some of the stereotypes are maybe unintentionally hilarious(?). The New Yorker girl is wearing a Statue of Liberty headband(!). In any case, my favorite section is probably the ancient/ prehistoric one. This part includes: Greeks; Celts; Indians; Chinese; Egyptians; Japanese; Prehistoric; and then for some reason 2-pages on today's modern music scenes (rocker; heavy metal; and punk!). Yes, this book pretty much has it all. P.S. One reviewer mentioned their copy of the book had 8 blank pages- that's probably a rare thing. My copy had text and/ or pictures on every page.

this was a great learning tool for me and it shows many different period costumes and how they are put together. very good buy for people looking into the female anatomy and period clothing from around the world.

This really helps in seeing the various clothing females wear around the world. They go from Japan to Africa. There's also a section for Prehistoric Bishoujo if you like that. The illustrations are wonderful for they show how each of the races are: Mangolid, Causcoid, and Negroid are illustrated in this book.

When I saw this book, I simply had to have it! If you are looking for a book that helps you get a good idea of different ethinicities, then this is a book for you! This book teaches you the certain attributes of different race characters on how to correctly draw them, and how to give them their own individuality. As a warning to those who don't like nudity,this book does contain a good bit of nudity, so I don't recommend this book to those of you who are offended by nudity. I think all of the characters are beautifully drawn, Hikaru Hayashi is one of my favorite how to draw artists'. Also in the book, it gives you some descriptions of clothing each race wear, hair types, and skin types. This is a good book for those who would like to draw different races in their manga, (which I do).So if you are a big Hayashi fan, then you will be very pleased with this book!

When I got this book I was very excited to look inside. I have been drawing manga/anime since I was eleven (I'm 19 now) and literally had to self teach myself. I learned by staring at pre-existing pictures and drawing from that. And this book is perfect for doing just that(where were these when I was younger!?) This is an amazing book for people who are in this art field and are having trouble expanding their characters outside of the box. I like the fact that they seperate the races and present the differences between each...finally dispells that myth that all anime characters are the same except for the hair. The costuming is amazing...even has directions on how to make certain kinds (ie. ancient greek tunics or "togas!")My particular favorite is the Spanish flamenco dancer and female bullfighter costumes!I also liked the Middle Eastern bishoujos...the Iranian girl is such a good picture. This book is ideal for those who like diversity and expansion as well as those who are familiar with the field and already know the basics!!!! A great How to draw manga and an a requirement for anyone who does draw this genre.