The Art of Drawing Manga

by Ben Krefta

Book Overview

Japanese manga art has taken the world by storm. Master-manga artist Ben Krefta guides you through the essential features of this high-energy cartoon style, from drawing the characters' large... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760746931
• ISBN13: 9780760746936
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very good

Compared to some other manga books outt here, this is probably the best Western book. Not only do the drawings look like Japanese manga, but there's some handy PhotoShop tips. Definately for those wanting to get into the world of manga!^_^

Excellent for beginning and intermediate manga artists

Out of the four "how to" manga books I bought this one was by far the best. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because some of the examples and guidelines still look a little americanized. Even so, after twenty minutes I had great sketches with my first try. I highly recommend this for anyone trying to get started!

This book really accelerated my progress!

The book starts out with explanations of materials, stating advantages and disadvantages- Extremely useful for beginners to understand what to use (and WHY to use them) to create professional looking manga artwork.Following on are informative and easy to understand methods to constructing anime heads and faces- probably the most important part of anime characters. Details such as eyes and mouths are explained to allow the reader to quickly get stuck into producing quality manga character faces, just like professionals!I learned about simple ways to create full head-to-toe bodies later advancing onto character in action and finishing with a step by step process to how Ben created a finished comic page. Toward the end there are some fantastic examples of finished CG character designs.This book is well presented and unlike similar How-To-Manga books, it TEACHES how to draw instead of SHOWING how it's drawn, plus this one's in full glossy color. Well worth the money.

Excellent Instruction for ALL wannabe Manga Artists...

I have to say this is an excellent book. I've seen so many instructional art manuals during my time in this world, but this one is so much clearer. Most books tend to skip past their teaching methods, and leave the pupil confused, but Ben Krefta manages to excel in making things clear and detailed. If you can't learn a thing or two here, you are doomed. The line art inside is perfectly crisp, allowing for no misunderstanding. If you want to learn to draw Manga, or just want to improve your existing skills, then this is a great place to start!

A great book for beginners and intermediate artists!

I've been drawing for almost 40 years and my style has changed over the years, but I had always leaned toward a Jack Kirby style of drawing. I am currently working on illustrating my first comic book; but I wanted to develop a faster method of drawing, so I started looking closely at Manga. I have read many drawing books, but "The Art of Drawing Manga" is one that I really like. One of my biggest trouble points was hands. This book showed me how do draw hands easily and quickly without having to burn eraser holes in my drawing pad trying to get them right. Now, I can draw hands that look great and with a lot more confidence thanks to this book!My cousin's daughter who just started drawing for the first time in her life 2 years ago, now has become a fantastic artist thanks to this book! Her stuff looks just as good as any I've seen in any comic book! The thing that I like about this book is that it instructs you on how to draw like a pro by illustrating the basics without all of the boring, detailed blah-blah about anatomy (although it is important to understand it). Although I understand the basics pretty well, it's always good to bone up on them from time to time. I think that this book has helped me to sharpen up my style a great deal. There are a lot of pros in the comic book business today who could probably use a little refresher course. The book is divided into sections on differents points of drawing, inking and coloring. The illustration in this book is stunning!I would highly recommend this book to any beginner seriously thinking of becoming an illustrator. I would also recommend this book to intermediate and even professional artists interested in improving their skills.