"How to Draw Manga" Books

With a large subculture devoted entirely to creating comic and graphic art, Japan appears to lead the globe in comic art, with many publications dedicated to just the creation. The most prominent is Comickers, a publication whose raison d'etre seems to be to teach the various methods of comic art creation directly from the professionals. In this side publication dedicated to color technique, Comickers assembles a gathering of pros to teach us how it's done, and the lineup presented here is staggering in its talent.

After a brief introduction to the basic paints, papers, brushes and markers used for coloring, Oh Great! of Tenjo Tenge fame teaches us how he makes an awesome cover for Comickers, starting from the preliminary stages to the final product, employing over 100 Copic markers in the process. (Naturally we see his cover not only in the front, but as a mini poster as well, and his linework appears under the cover as well) Next is CG, with a look at some of the hottest pros in the business: Range Murata, Kim Hyung-Tae, Houden-Eizou, Chen Shu-Fen and Pin Fan, the latter who shows us how it's done in Painter with a step by step tutorial, while Lily Hoshino takes us through how she uses Photoshop. Drawing inks are given their proper due through the work of Hiroki Mafuyu, noa shows watercolor technique, and Hamlet Okinawa shows us the magic of acrylics.

An amazing book full of color wisdom that artists attempting to upgrade their techniques will definitely want to check out. 138 pages, perfectbound. 8.25" x 11.75".

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Comickers Art Style 1

"Manga Bible" is a series by leading pros in the field, aimed at artists who want to add more punch to their comic art. Not a "how to draw" as much as it is how to make your work more dynamic, each volume in the series takes a look at a particular problem and attacks it from various angles, addressing the problems in making good manga and how to overcome them.

Filled with tips, including use of materials, it also has "practice pages" so you can use the ideas expressed in the book and try on your own. The art in the book is created by "the Pencil club" giving a variety of styles for you to learn from as well. The first book in the series is written by Tsukamoto Hiroyoshi and is dedicated to the problem of lighting effects in comics. Lighting can add depth to comics, as well as emotion, and a sense of placement, and a sense of time.

As well as explaining where lighting should be used and how, it also explains how to do it with various methods, including crosshatching and screen tone. Shading of objects in motion, as well as shading in facial features and hair, as well as how to manipulate lighting to create tension and emotion in a scene. Finally, there is 23 pages of line drawings on Kent paper to allow you to practice the lighting techniques you have learned. An essential book for aspiring manga artists who want to learn more about how to make their art come to life. (Japanese reading ability is essential to be able to understand the written tips, but many of the illustrations speak for themselves). 160 pages plus 23 pages of Kent board. Perfectbound, 7.25" x 10".

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Manga Bible 1

Here is one of the coolest manga on the market today -- a how to draw manga book in English! Illustrated and written by the famous Ichiro Kamiya who has won awards for his work from Kodansha and works for Weekly Shonen.

This thick manga book focuses on guns and an inside look at how to draw characters, details (how to load weapons), clothing, accessories (gun belts, reloads), and makes excellent comments on history to make it a complete book of everything you need to know about drawing. Give your work that authentic feel with a book that thinks along with you and makes you think beyond that!

Artists to enthusiasts and fans will all love this thick book of B&W and illustrations. Straight from Japan. 135 pages.

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit How to Draw Manga -- Guns and Military vol. 1

Here is one of the coolest manga on the market today -- a how to draw manga book in English! The starting point for all new manga artists and fans of manga. Illustrated and written by Hikaru Hayashi, this thick manga book gives pointers on how to create those fantastic oversized mecha that we all dream about piloting one day.

From schematics and basic robot design, full action posing combat design robots, weapons, and even female adroid robots that are so prevalent into Japanese Sci Fi anime culture. A wide variety of animals are illustrated with dozens of tips to "step-up" your artistic skills. Artists to enthusiasts and fans will all love this thick book of B&W illustrations. English language.

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit How to Draw Manga -- Giant Robots Special Edition

Japanese kanji - the written characters adapted from Chinese - were originally drawings of images from real life. Japanese comic books and cartoons now provide fresh images to help us learn. "Kanji de Manga" uses today's manga images to make the kanji learning process fun and easy for "Otaku" of all ages. Enjoy the pictures and practice, you'll be reading and writing basic Japanese in no time at all!

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Kanji de Manga

Most anime fans secretly want to learn to draw, and now it's easy with the new Art of Otaku - How to Draw Anime, a fantastic 800+ page how-to-draw book that shows you all the steps to being a better artist. Lovingly created by fan artists on theOtaku.com and polished lovingly by the the editors. It's a great way to get started drawing anime and manga today. Requires Adobe PDF reader.

So what makes Art of Otaku special? Here are some extra reasons.

* Art of Otaku is long and full of interesting drawing projects for you to challenge yourself with -- 850 full-color pages.
* Art of Otaku is co-authored by 8 popular anime fan/doujinshi artists. Each artist has her own syle, so you can develop your own style.
* Art of Otaku takes a step-by-step approach to teaching you how to draw anime-style artwork. Many other guides will expect you to draw a complex character in only 3 steps.
* Art of Otaku will teach you how to use a vast mix of both traditional and next-generation art tools. Photoshop, watercolors, colored pencils, and more.
* Art of Otaku is completely printer-friendly, so you can print out and practice individual tutorials on-the-go.
* Art of Otaku features the works of young, well-ranked fan artists. This creates a more comfortable and down-to-earth learning environment. Learn from talented peers!

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Art of Otaku

An in-depth reference manual of very cool costume illustration. From capes to cuffs, all you need to know to bang out some fierce styles for your newly conceived characters. Handy for concocting your next real-world-esque persona as well! Includes extensive pictures and poses from various angles.

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit How to Draw Costumes

With a large subculture devoted entirely to creating comic and graphic art, Japan appears to lead the globe in comic art, with many publications dedicated to just the creation. The most prominent is Comickers, a publication whose raison d'etre seems to be to teach the various methods of comic art creation directly from the professionals.

This side publication of Comickers called Japanese Comickers is no exception -- featuring a dozen popular artists, they show the step-by-step creation of masterpieces through Photoshop screenshots and photos of their technique at work. Each artist gets room to breathe, with all full-color pages showing some of their work and a step-by-step breakdown of how the picture is accomplished, starting from a rough sketch to the final product.

In volume 2, game art, yaoi art, cyberpunk is all showcased here through a variety of talents, including Shigeki Maeshima, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Waka Miyama, Lily Hoshino, Jeong Juno, Kim Hyung-Tae, Kuroboshi Kouhaku, HACCAN, Kaoru Yukifuna, Shukei, Chen Shu-Fen & Pin Fan and noa. A beautiful artbook on its own featuring full pages of color work, this is not just of interest to artists but anyone who enjoys the diversity of Japanese comics. 128 pages, full color, perfectbound. 8.25" x 11.75".

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Japanese Comickers 2

"Manga Bible" is a series by leading pros in the field, aimed at artists who want to add more punch to their comic art. Not a "how to draw" as much as it is how to make your work more dynamic, each volume in the series takes a look at a particular problem and attacks it from various angles, addressing the problems in making good manga and how to overcome them.

Filled with tips, including use of materials, it also has "practice pages" so you can use the ideas expressed in the book and try on your own. The art in the book is created by "the Pencil club" giving a variety of styles for you to learn from as well. The second book in the series is written by Michinobu Tanaka and is dedicated to the problem of picture layout in comics. The first section shows the general shapes used in classic art and how they relate to comic art (e.g. the triangle shape to show power, the S shape to show flowing beauty, etc). How to use your materials to make the most of these effects follows, as well as how to use these effects to create compelling character portraits. The second section illustrates how to do one page illustrations, showing effective layouts using 1 person, 2 people, 3 people etc. up to large group shots. Also included is a tutorial for using tracing paper to achieve layered shots as well as using tracing paper as a way of improving on previous sketches, and many examples showing the thought processes and intermediate sketches along the way. The third section shows how to use these perspective and layout techniques in the confined space of a manga panel.

Finally, there are line drawings on tracing paper from the examples in the second section for you to practice the layering techniques you have learned. An essential book for aspiring manga artists who want to learn more about how to make their art come to life. (Japanese reading ability is essential to be able to understand the written tips, but many of the illustrations speak for themselves.) 164 pages plus 15 pages of Kent board. Perfectbound, 7.25" x 10".

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Manga Bible 2

Have you ever wondered what a cat's meow sounds like in Japanese? How about the grumble of an empty stomach, the wail of a police car's siren or the crash of an ocean wave? Japanese manga artists rely heavily upon onomatopoeia - sound-effect words - and this special entry in the best-selling Kana de Manga / Kanji de Manga language-learning series from Japanime is jam-packed with illustrated examples of those sounds (and more!) in action.

Featuring more than 100 Japanese onomatopoeia and their English equivalents in categories such as "Humans," "Animals," "Machines" and "Nature." Japanese/English text. From Japanime, the masterminds behind the Kanji de Manga, Manga Moods, and How to Draw anime character series.

To order this book, or any of our other Manga books, please visit Kana de Manga: Japanese Sound FX