How to Draw manga series

[Red XIII]

I had an idea it would be useful to create a thread about the books in Graphic-Sha's How to Draw manga series, since they have been mentioned once or twice on the forums before, and I remember not being able to find much information about them when I started buying them. As with the online rentals thread I've started by writing about the ones I have in the hopes it'll be useful but as there many books in the series that I don't have, anyone who wants to add to the list is welcome (and feel free to ask questions too).

Just as cautionary warning; these books are indeed very useful and they've helped me a lot, but they may seem a little daunting at first, and they probably aren't for complete beginners. But if you've started drawing and want to really get to grips to increasing your skill and confidence, they are worth a look. The first book on my list is the one I'd recommend you pick up first. Pretty much all of them should be available from Amazon or Anime-On-Line.

How to Draw Anime and Game Characters
Vol 1 Basics for Beginners and Beyond
Not so much for complete beginners as for people who’ve started drawing but want to improve their technique and confidence; this book goes through the basics of drawing people, including sections on hairstyles, eyes, hands, feet and body types. The bulk of the book is taken up with examples characters from different genres, showing their heads and bodies from different angles with annotations pointing out the relevant details. In a section at the end, the author takes some examples drawn by young artists and demonstrates how to improve on them (this is a feature in all books in this series).

Vol 2 Expressing Emotions
As you can probably figure out from the title, this expands on the content of the first book by demonstrating how to convey characters’ emotions through facial expressions and the positioning of the body. Copying the style of the first book, most of the pages are taken up with examples of characters from different genres expressing a range of emotions, with the usual annotations.

Vol 3 Bringing Daily Actions to Life
A welcome addition to the series that delves into how to draw characters in a range of positions other than the neutral standing position seen in most concept art. Covers variations on sitting, lying down, walking and running, using the usual annotated example method. Even if the exact pose you want isn’t in there, it should help you to think about positioning the body.

Vol 4 Mastering Battle and Action Moves
Don’t be fooled by the sword-wielding girls adorning the cover, this is strictly unarmed combat only. The book covers the different stages of walking, running and various types of punches and kicks (from varying perspectives); however, it doesn’t show you how to set up battle scenes containing more than one person. Quite an advanced and specialised book that may not be terribly useful to most people.

How to Draw Manga
Occult and Horror
Far too big a genre to be covered completely in one volume, but this makes a good attempt to convey the basics. As well as including sections on how to create special effects (fireballs, lightning, psychic powers), mutated creatures and even mutilated bodies, there are reference pictures of bugs, mythical creatures and various types of mystic and religious figures. A good introduction but well worth supplementing with more reference material.

Couples
One of the more useful books in the series as it actually covers people interacting rather than just standing or running around on their. After covering the basic theory of drawing couples (not just romantic couples), the bulk of the book is taken up with a section entitled “From Dating to making Loveâ€

 

[Charter_Mage]

Good idea, i always wonder how good some of these books actually are. Does anyone have the How to Draw Male Characters book, i've been wanting to get it for a while now, but i'm not sure how useful it will actually be

 

[The Sakura Alchemist]

Thanks for the advice!*me starting to draw on a peice of paper*

 

[Ash]

There some good tip's I'll have to try them out I'm really bad at drawing so maybe this will help

 

[Kurogane]

I may have to buy one of those books to improve my technique 0_0

 

[Patrick]

I have most of the 'How To Manga' series and recommend them fully. They break everything down to a level where even I have been able to produce something ok.

However, for anyone on a limited budget, 'How to Draw Manga: A Step-by-Step Guide' by Katy Coope covers a lot of the basics in a clear way.

 

[Kurogane]

If you want to learn how to draw figures, study hentai.

I have never been more serious, folks.

 

[Patrick]

If you want to learn how to draw figures, study hentai.

I have never been more serious, folks.

I have to ask:

Why?

 

[Sy]

I have to ask:

Why?

I guess becuase you can see the actual form of the body rather than trying to draw clothes on directly. I can't imagine it being that different that life drawing (studying real naked peopl) except of course being more sexual... that can obviously be ommited though.

 

[Kurogane]

I have to ask:

Why?

I guess becuase you can see the actual form of the body rather than trying to draw clothes on directly. I can't imagine it being that different that life drawing (studying real naked peopl) except of course being more sexual... that can obviously be ommited though.

Ecchi drawings will help just as well too.

It's just that in most manga/anime, some parts of the body are exaggerated slightly, and it's really just the best place to study it.

 

[Sy]

A life drawing class would help you a lot. I did life drawing in addition to everything else I was doing and I learnt a lot of helpful techniques. I recommend it to everybody who wants to get a better understanding of drawing form. It also helped me to draw a lot more quickly and more loosly and the outcome was my drawings becoming less stiff and more natural looking. What they do is the set you a time to draw it in. Staring at about half an hour they cut the time down and down until you only get ten seconds. It's very effective.

Example!

 

[Kurogane]

A life drawing class would help you a lot. I did life drawing in addition to everything else I was doing and I learnt a lot of helpful techniques. I recommend it to everybody who wants to get a better understanding of drawing form. It also helped me to draw a lot more quickly and more loosly and the outcome was my drawings becoming less stiff and more natural looking. What they do is the set you a time to draw it in. Staring at about half an hour they cut the time down and down until you only get ten seconds. It's very effective.

Example!

Man, the very notion of such an image in the flesh is almost impotency-inducing.

Looks like it helped a lot though.

 

[Sy]

Man, the very notion of such an image in the flesh is almost impotency-inducing.

They actually have somebody on the door to stop people wandering in for a jolly roger.

Apparently the year before they had one person crawling along the floor trying to sneak in to have a look. Mongish.

 

[Cheeky]

Indeed.

Life drawing would be rather useful. But until I get round to it, I'll make do with Jack Hamm's Drawing The Head And Figure. A freelance animator recommended it to me and it's a very useful book for drawing more realistic human poses.

 

[Kurogane]

Bought 5 of these books the other night; mostly the issues covering figure drawing, but two were on clothing etc.

Should be here soon. XD

 

[shira]

I have most of the 'How To Manga' series and recommend them fully. They break everything down to a level where even I have been able to produce something ok.

However, for anyone on a limited budget, 'How to Draw Manga: A Step-by-Step Guide' by Katy Coope covers a lot of the basics in a clear way.

Have you got a link to that?? Cause im really hopeless with drawing lol

 

[Kurogane]

I have most of the 'How To Manga' series and recommend them fully. They break everything down to a level where even I have been able to produce something ok.

However, for anyone on a limited budget, 'How to Draw Manga: A Step-by-Step Guide' by Katy Coope covers a lot of the basics in a clear way.

Have you got a link to that?? Cause im really hopeless with drawing lol

Use Julie Dillon's tutorial; best on the net: http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial.html

 

[shira]

oh cool i think someone linked me to that before. i really need to practise lol

 

[Charter_Mage]

I noticed that this topic hasn't really been updated with and new reviews since it was first started. Since i now have quite a few volumes that havn't been listed i thought i would start adding a few entries.

Volume 2 - Compiling Techniques
For a beginner this volume may seem a little daunting, as many of the techniques described will look quite complicated.
This isn’t a book that deals with drawing characters, but it’s a great volume if you are ready to take your illustrations to the next level with tones and effects.
The techniques described range in difficulty, but there should be something for all skill levels, though much of the time it is definitely a case of ‘practise makes perfect’!
There is a lot of information packed into this volume, so it is well worth the money.

Volume 4 - Dressing Your Characters in Casual Wear
This volume gives a very brief description of the principals of what creates folds in fabrics. The book could come in fairly useful if you are interested in seeing characters drawn in a variety of different poses and angles. Unfortunately that’s where it’s usefulness ends. The section detailing underwear is fairly informative, but the underwear section of your average catalogue would probably serve just as well. The rest of the volume sadly doesn’t provide much help.
Most of the poses the model is in are just plain weird and would never be used. With it being casual wear, the clothes are too baggy to really illustrate how the material should fold around the body. And of course, as fashion is constantly changing the clothes worn are just too out of date to assist with anything you might actually draw. As far as I’m concerned, not a book worth your money.

Volume 5 Developing Shoujo Manga Techniques
The majority of this volume does a brief attempt at covering all basic drawing bases. There are brief descriptions covering everything from body proportions to clothing. None of which, as far as I can see, has any specific connection with Shoujo in particular. It is only in the last third of this volume that it delves into Shoujo manga itself, discussing character types, themes, and useful information on how to create your own manuscript. If you want a book that covers all the manga creating basics very briefly then you will probably find this volume useful, but I recommend that you spend your money on a couple of the more comprehensive guides.

 

[goku]

nice idea thanks for the help