Step-By-Step Manga

I've been into anime and manga for years and have checked out dozens of How-To books on the subject. Step-By-Step Manga is definitely one of the better titles I've read through. The book focuses on character design; showing easy step-by step tutorials for creating 6 very unique manga characters in different poses and shows details of accessories and equipment. Although a little short in page count, there's a lot of clear diagrams and content throughout. I felt the style was a lot more "authentic Japanese" (if there is such a thing!) compared to artists such as Peter Gray and Christopher Heart. Step-by-Step Manga's tutorial process is a lot more informative than the "How to draw Manga" series, which seems to throw in too many finished illustrations without showing how they're constructed! Another Plus, is the fact the book is in full colour so many of the illustrations have a vibrant anime cel style look. It's more geared towards beginner artists- My younger brother is making more use of it than I am! So it's a great starting block for those wanting to get into the world of manga style art and the basics of drawing characters, but perhaps not for the pro manga elitists! A similar sort of book to Katy Coope's, but with richer content, clearer layout and nicer-looking artwork, plus it's only a few bucks!

This is a good book for ages 9 years and up. There are 6 characters to draw, a snow-boarding girl, a girl with attitude, a robot, a rockstar boy, a basketball player and a cat creature. All characters are drawn step by step, including action poses, and the accessories that they have. As you can see from the front cover the drawings do not look exactly like authentic Japanese style manga, but it is still a helpful book with good characters. The book comes with coloured pencils.