How to Draw Manga: Some Recent Guides Worth Investigating
Sarah •
Over the past two years or so, Watson-Guptill has been releasing ‘how to’ books to encourage would-be mangaka and instruct them in the art of drawing manga-style. So how helpful are these guides if you’re an aspiring artist? What secrets of the mangaka’s trade do they divulge, if any? And how close to true manga are they?
First up are two titles from Yishan Li (a professional manga artist living in Scotland): SHOUJO ART STUDIO and SHONEN ART STUDIO, each hardback containing a CD ‘to help you draw your own…manga stories!’ These books deal with digital manga and start with a guide to using Photoshop, progressing on from gaining your techniques to developing your story. Everything is covered here, from arranging panels, speed and focus lines, and tone, to inserting speech bubbles and sound effects. Character design follows, then backgrounds and accessories. Out of all the titles reviewed here, these are the only two to deal with story-telling, pacing and creation of characters.
I have a slight problem with Yishan Li’s art in that I don’t find it especially inspiring (the shoujo work is particularly bland.) However, these books are filled with helpful tips and tricks of the mangaka’s trade, so even if you’re feeling uninspired by the drawn examples, or even by the cookie cutter definitions of shoujo or shounen manga, then there’s plenty on the practical side to get your creative juices flowing.
The prolific Christopher Hart has produced an impressive list of guides to drawing and cartooning and one of his most recent volumes is ‘Manga for the Beginner: Chibis’ with the subtitle ‘Everything You Need to Start Drawing the Super-Cute Characters of Japanese Comics.’ The guide uses drawings by twelve artists (including himself) and is produced on super-shiny paper, so that the copious colour illustrations are seen at their best. ‘With their big round eyes and chubby little bodies, who can resist chibis, the unbelievably cute characters and creatures of Japanese comics?’ asks the blurb. And this is a pretty irresistible book, showing how to cut everything down to chibi-size; I particularly enjoyed the examples Hart gives of normal to chibi expressions and feelings:
‘Normal Manga Disgust: A slight grimace with teeth showing lets us know that she is slightly repulsed’ whereas ‘Chibi Disgust: Stick out your tongue and say ‘Yuck!’ Green blush underscores the grossed-out expression. The hair gets a little squirelly. The mouth gets so wide that it almost runs off the face.’
There’s a vast range of different styles to try, from fox girls to mad scientists, mechas with drills to transforming magical girls – and animals too.
For younger would-be manga artists, the most practical ‘hands-on’ of all the guides is Christopher Hart’s ‘The Manga Artist’s Workbook’ which comes in a neat notebook format, with pages already marked out in grids so you can copy the helpful examples. Or, as the blurb says, ‘A sketchbook and art tutorial rolled into one portable journal, this workbook contains tracing paper, blank practice pages, and exercise to help you become a true manga artist.’ This title has already been tested by several keen acquaintances and it gets the thumbs-up from them (it also makes a great birthday gift!) Another guide that’s proved very popular with younger readers is Hart’s ‘Big Book of Everything Manga’ from the Kids Draw series at Watson-Guptill, which covers all the usual subjects from mecha and monsters to shounen and shoujo staples.
But I’ve saved my own personal favourite for last: ‘Animals, Chibis, and Other Adorable Creatures’ by J.C. Amberlyn comes from the Drawing Manga series. The cute animals and chibis may prove a little too wide and dewy-eyed for strong stomachs (mine included) but where this book scores over the others is in the two chapters: ‘Mythological and Supernatural Manga Creatures’ and ‘Manga Creatures Based on Real Animals.’ Here J.C. Amberlyn provides well-researched and fascinating information about mythological creatures such as Ryu (dragon), Kirin (Asian Unicorn), Baku (Dream-devouring Creature), as well as real animals that figure in Japanese folklore, such as the fox and the tanuki. The final chapter is filled with practical information in which J.C. Amberlyn demonstrates how she created the illustrations in the book using Photoshop and Corel Painter.
Even though Watson-Guptill is an American list (part of Random House) all of these titles are available to order through the usual channels (Amazon etc. ) in the UK.
