Cartooning Books

My artist teen draws from these books, likes this type of art.

First off: if you're one of those manga "purists" that considers Japanese-produced comics as the only "authentic" works of the genre, you probably won't like Antarctic Press' How to Draw Manga: Super Edition.

This is the first of several volumes, that compiles what was originally a monthly magazine series. Texas-based Antarctic Press (AP) was one of the first exponents of what has come to be called "American Manga," Japanese-style comics produced in the US. This "new" hybrid has been with us in some form for almost two decades now, so a "How to" book on "Amerimanga" such as this one is an idea whose time has come.

What distinguishes this HTDM series from the better-known translations of the Japanese "How to Draw Manga" books (published by Graphic-sha), is that the instruction is given by several of Antarctic's artists, all with years of experience working in the genre: Ben Dunn (the GODFATHER of American Manga--creator of Ninja High School, Warrior Nun Areala, Heaven Sent, just to name a few); Fred Perry (Gold Digger); and Rod Espinoza (Neotopia) among others.

Super Edition Vol. 1 presents the usual "basics" of comic art, particularly character and mechanical design. For example, Dunn gives a lesson on constructing bodies for several types of typical manga characters, while Perry show us how to build basic machines (or mecha) using simple geometric shapes.

The Super Edition has altered the original format of montly issues #1-4, grouping each section by artist. Interestingly enough, each artist covers some of the same topics, but approaches them in their distinctive styles (proving that US manga can be as artistically diverse as--if not more than--its Japanese progenitor). There are tons of examples from actual AP comics, used to demonstrate a particular technique.

My only reservation about Antarctic's HDTM is that there isn't a smoother progression from basic to more advanced concepts. You'll get better use from the book if you think of it as a "toolbox" or "workshop" of techniques.

But you get the first-hand know-how of AP's professionals, not merely theory. If you like this volume, keep in mind that there are three additional books in the series.

This is book is great for beginners, want to learn to draw manga? Then this book should be high (if not on top) of your need-to-buy resources. Trust me its well worth it, vehicles, characters and mecha are great for beginners. You may however need another book for characters as this one keeps it basic but still its worth your money and more!

The author goes into drawing characters, panels in comic books. Furthermore he tells you how to draw mecha and vehicles (meaning spaceships, aircraft and cars. Altough the sections may not be so well depth as in other books it is more complete seeing as the author combined al of these different subject as where other books tend to stick to one subject as mecha or chracter design.

What are you waiting for? Buy it!

This book is full of color pictures of uniforms (maid, restuarant, cat costume, female business dresses, and some "sexy" costumes.
The book shows the uniforms in simulated 3d both on a sample character and clothes only (no sample character in them). It will help you get a feel for the coloring and the details, but it doesn't have any steps for drawing the uniforms pretty much all you see is the final step. So if you want to see finished drawings of a good cross section of female uniforms and some costumes, then this is the book you want.

I found this book to be most helpful. The girls are draw realy style, almost like they've been photographed and traced. They have realistic proprotions and look natural. The uniforms are very detailed, with key elements highlighted. There are also segments on shoes, ties, blouse styles and what not that are not part of a particular uniform so you can make your own. I still flip through this one when fishing for random ideas, and something usually pops up.

I suspect most aspiring American manga artists are attracted to the medium in part because of the fanciful, out-of-the ordinary costumes that many manga characters wear in fantasy, otherworldly or futuristic environments. But the setting in a good number of manga stories--even those featuring super-powered protagonsists--live in the "real world." It's often a greater challenge for a would-be manga artist to create a contemporary wardrobe for main, supporting, and background characters, than is the task of devising a "cool" costume. And what about service uniforms for restaurant workers, candy-stripers, and the like. Details for such outfits can't be faked or improvised!

"Colorful Costumes" is a wonderful intoduction to the world of service uniforms. In his illustrations, Mr. Ozawa has reproduced the uniforms worn by employees of over a dozen actual restaurants in Japan (of course they were accurate as of the time of the publication of the original Japanese edition of this volume). Ozawa also includes clothing worn in ethnic-themed eateries, roadside snack-stands, and hospitials. He includes a detailed description of each outfit.

All illustrations are in color (hence the higher price), and the models are primarily female, drawn in a near-realistic style. The drawings clearly display the construction of each outfit. Since most of the costumes are made in a Western style, the reader should have no trouble adapting the uniforms for his or her purposes.

You never know when you might need a waitress in a scene, so this book makes a good reference. Of course, you should also observe the many outfits worn by people of different professions in your own community.

This book is full of great tips. It has hundreds of various poses and positions that can defintely help in the long run. It shows the creases in certain skirts and tops and also covers swimsuits, such as one and two-pieces. It even shows the styles from way back in ancient times with the Eqyptians and their swimsuits!

It is a great reference book for poses. There are not step-by-step instructions, but it is definetly worth the time and money. It's a definte keep on my How To Draw shelf.

Trust me when I say, some of the titles can be very misleading. Fortunately, this book was not misleading at all. This book has what the title suggests, sport wear. In the book, it shows you a variety of sport wear that characters wear in their active lifestyles. Not only does it have sporty wear, but they also managed to sneak in some fantasy style clothing as well as cheerleading outfits in there as well. This book has a good bit of poses that would be very useful, and it shows how the body would look in certain outfits. If you are looking for a book that helps you come up with some cute and sporty ideas for a sport genre manga then this is definately a must buy! Also, there is very, I mean very little nudity in this book, so I would also recommend this book for those who are offended by nudity.

I was a little skeptical when I first saw the cover of this book, not to mention the title of this book. I think they titled it that so men would be drawn to it and buy it. But I must say this book is actually pretty good. It has some really creative ideas when it comes to fashion designs. You can also use the ideas to not only make sports wear, but anything your imagination can come up with. You could design simple bathing suits to active sports wear to even a hero's outfit or even yet a cool space suit. With this book you can even design a fashion that best suites a unique characters personality, that could have nothing to do with sports, the book is fantastically inspiring.

The only down fall is its awfully weak when it comes to men's. Not that very many men will have sexy sports wear, but neither the first or second Costume Encyclopedias have much of anything for the men. The whole How To Draw Manga series kind of left in the dark when it comes to men. They have one book for Male Characters and five for Female Characters.

Yet, this book is worth buying. But if you don't have the first Costume Encyclopedia, get that one first and skip over the second one.

So, I bought this book based on a review by another aspiring artist. The review said it was "good for beginners". So, naturally I thought being a NOOB, that it meant me too. Unfortunately, it was good, but in the "here it is, draw it" kind of sense. Now, while perspective is better, I found it hard to break down some of the more complex hairstyles, among other things. This book is good for clothing, hair, setting, perspective, and pretty much everything in it. However, being "good for beginners", but not in the A, B, C, D sort of sense. Still a great book, but don't expect miracles if you can't draw a circle...

Though it covers a topic that is covered in many how to draw books, I have to say it is a pleasant addition to my reference collection. I bought it because the title was 'striking the right note,' which I assumed would help to translate mood into environment, and other basic storytelling-meets-illustration techniques; however, the book is not appropriately titled. "How to draw manga: Ultimate Manga Lessons Volume six: Fleshing Out Characters" is the actual title, and to be honest, I would not have purchased it if I had known that it would be mostly about developing characters. However, the book has decent artwork, and some pretty good reference and review, so I'm keeping it. I'm giving it a four out of five because this book belongs in anyone's reference collection!

Another book that I am proud to own from my fav how to draw artist Hikaru Hayashi. In this volume of how to draw manga ultimate manga lessons, Hikaru shows us how to flesh out our characters. This book teaches you about using hair styles to distinguish the character as well as their personality,their costumes,
designing the settings such as backgrounds, stylized backgrounds, hand-on practice on drawing easy backgrounds, and backgrounds to establish a setting,
The lighting and angles of your scenes to make them more dynamic, and learning from the orginal manga draft.
This book is truly worth looking into, and I think you will be very pleased with this book, as well as all the other volumes to this book (which I own all 6!) A must buy, I totally recommend this book!!

The book is geared mostly to kids and fans of the show. It does offer good drawing tips and how to draw in the animated style. There isn't enough attention paid to the bad guys and other characters. But overall, it would help out those wanting to draw in the Bruce Timm style.

This book, as well as the how to draw the animated Batman book are incredible. Not too complex, colorful examples on an oversized book make it easy to learn the style of the animated Batman series, and it's similar style counterpart Superman. It has good tips on perspective, so beginners will be able to learn the basics, and more advanced fans of this kind of style will be able to work on the examples to hone their skill. Plus the writing is upbeat and fun, the characters often tell you how to do different parts of the book. 5 Stars for Fun and Style!

This beautifully illustrated, easy to follow, step-by-step, how-to guide is the first book you should buy to learn the basic drawing techniques you need to accurately depict each cartoon character from the Superman universe (in the Bruce Timm/Animated Series style).
The information and instructions contained in this book are wonderfully organized and presented in step-by-step format (from rough sketch to finished drawing), include a list of tools and materials you need to get started and cover topics that include: guidelines on basic figure drawing, head and figure proportions, movements and expressions, comparisons of male and female figure features, and perspective and foreshortening for backgrounds and figures. The book also contains a detailed treatment on how to draw each character, including Superman (and Clark Kent), Lois Lane, Martha and Jonathan Kent, Jor-El and Lara, Lex Luthor, Parasite, Bizarro, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Metallo and Brainiac. As a bonus, the book teaches us how to draw settings and accessories like Metropolis, The Daily Planet, guns, cars and Superman's X-Ray and Heat vision.
This book is a simple, yet excellent resource on how to create your own adventures for the Man of Steel, at the same time that you begin to understand the basic principles of cartooning and animation.
A must buy for kids and adults who want to draw the Superman universe like professional artists in a relatively short time. If you prefer a more general book on how to draw DC Comics super heroes, I recommend buying How to Draw Batman and the DC Comics Super Heroes by Ty Templeton instead, since it contains around 90% of the characters featured in this book, plus a lot of other characters from other DC Comics universes.
--Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

This book is really inspirining the art is great and the steps are fun! This book starts off by teaching you how to draw charaters from popular shoujos step by step so you can get the feeling of what drawing manga is like. Then it teaches you how to draw and create your own charaters ( hair, cloths,assesories ect.).Last it teaches you how to make backrounds, inking,the do's and the don'ts of manga,and how to create you own comics. Very fun and inspiring!

Over all this book deservise 4.5 stars just because it doesn't teach much about how to draw guys, so I find this book more of a how to draw manga females with out the nudity and all that stuff.Still very Kawaii and helpful.But if you buy this book buy the how to draw manga males with it.

This book is perfect if you already have some experience. I use this book to get ideas and poses and different hair ideas. If you are just a begginer who wants to learn how to draw manga, I would recomend Katie Coope, How to draw manga. It shows more basic proportions. Then practice on your own for a bit to get the hang of it. When you already know how to draw manga this book will come in handy. Also the "how to draw manga" series are a good intermediate to expert book.

This book is really great the only bad part is Akaro doesn't teach how to draw a three quarter view and some of the steps you have to practice really hard and long to get. If your a beginer I whould recamend Katie Coope's How To Draw Manga and How To Draw More Manga books or the How to draw manga seires but what I DON'T recamend at all is Kids draw, Extreme art, or Manga Mainia. This book is more of a advanced begginer so the steps are a little harder but once you master it it you art looks twice as good! In the begining of the book it shows how to draw a girl who looks like Sakura from Card captors! It also shows how to draw a bunch of charaters from fermilair shojuos too.So if you love shojou this book is for you! ^_^

An excellent collection of information... it "speaks" the language of cartooning! This may not be a huge volume on the subject but if you plan on a career in cartooning or if you're just a serious amateur you'll want this book.

It is quite an OK book for beginners.
I was disappointed with it because the tools he uses can be seen in Daily comic strips. So I don't think Mort Walker researched Worldwide comics. The examples are Limited not vast as you would expect in a "Lexicon".
Also it doesnot go into details about Technique and only gives you bare essentials. Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art is a better book for beginners and professionals alike.
You could finish reading Lexicon in a day and start drawing your own strip immediately. Recommended as a Quick Fix.

Veteran cartoonist Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey, Boner's Ark, Hi & Lois, plus founder of the Museum of Cartoon Art) has penned an easy-to-read, well-illustrated book on cartooning. It's humorous and accessible for anyone who's ever doodled in notebooks (or textbooks!) and wanted to make their silly drawings look more like real comics. Mort's book breaks down the basic iconography of expression for funny drawings, and he does it in plain English and pencil-friendly drawings. Highly recommended for serious cartoonists and amateur doodlers alike, even kids!

In this book you learn how to draw the japanese version of comic art manga. one thing i have to say is that this is a bit more of a cartoony version of manga. You still learn a lot of drawing techniques and its still a good book, but whats on the cover is what you learn how to draw. if you would like to draw advanced manga i suggest the complete idiots guide to manga. anyways over good book.

This book is really neat, especially if you want to draw stories that have to do with superheroes and villians. The drawings are really cool, and it tells you the common things included in many hero mangas (very helpful if you are looking to make your own manga story).

I'll start off by saying this: don't be deceived by the cartoony cover. It's actually probably the best HTDM (How to Draw Manga) book I own. It teaches you everything from the origin of manga, to backgrounds, different coloring methods, chibis, robots, comics, and, of course, the basics of drawing characters.

Pages 6-7 cover the tools of drawing manga. It explains what kind of paper you need (size and such), what kind of pencils are best, what kind of eraser is best, and much more.

Page 8 explains anime/manga related terms, and even the origin of manga itself. The terms covered are anime, bishoujo, bishounen, chibi, doujinshi, kawaii, manga, otaku, RPG, shoujo, and shounen.

Page 9 gives illustrations of the eight step process the pros use to create manga. They include brainstorming, writing the script and drawing a rough layout, penciling (which, as a side note, I found was misspelled in the book), lettering, inking, lettering, erasing, coloring, and (finally) publishing.

Page 10 discusses the basic elements of manga style. This has a quick explanation of how hair, mouths, and noses or manga characters differ from that of standard American comic books.

Page 11 tells the origin and differences of shounen and shoujo. In case you didn't know, shoujo (as quoted from page 8)"refers to comics aimed at young males", and shoujo "refers to comics aimed at young girls".

Pages 12-15 point out some basic elements of heroes and villains. The heroes include "the dashing hero", "the magical girl", "the rebellious hero", "the big guy", "the kid", and "the mascot". The villains include "the big bad", "the evil queen", "the fallen hero", and "mindless goons".

Pages 16-17 basically explain that everything drawn is a collection of basic shapes. It also gives you a few examples of three-dimensional figures.

Page 18 is very helpful. It explains about light sources, and how shadows work.

Page 19 discusses and gives examples of the difference between soft shading and cel shading.

Pages 20-21 show the difference between coloring in markers, colored pencils, watercolors, acrylic on acetate, and computer coloring. I found these two pages to be quite helpful.

Pages 22-23 cover manga eyes. It shows the difference between male and female eyes, and shows you the steps of drawing both. Personally, I wish they had more examples on faces instead of simply drawn directly onto the page.

Pages 24-25 explain hair styles. These pages are incredibly informative! It gives you a color chart that includes several colors and what the typical personality is for its wearer (for example, blue = youthful, energetic, cool and introverted; red = energetic, good fighter, outspoken, stubborn and strong-willed.) and a picture of several styles and the typical personality of its wearer (long, straight hair: Traditional and down-to-earth; spiky: Energetic and youthful; ponytails: Cute, energetic, and a little ditzy.)

Pages 26-31 demonstrate how to draw faces facing forward, to the side, and even a three-quarter view.

Pages 32-33 have a list of emotions and a small example. The list is large and includes twenty-one emotions. They are pleased, laughing, happy, joyous, embarrassed, confused, sleepy, sly, pouting, bored, annoyed, angry, enraged, shocked, terrified, worried, crying, bawling, blubbering, yawning, and smug.

Pages 34-36 break down proportions for the adult male and female, the teenaged male and female, the young female and male, the chibi male and female, and one super-deformed female. I was quite pleased to see children who weren't chibis. Most How-To-Draw books only include how to draw chibi children. And best of all, no nudity!

Pages 37-38 explain a little bit about poses. This section is very short compared to most HTDM and quite uninformative.

Page 39 also isn't very helpful. It explains a bit about foreshortening.

Page 40 gives fantastic demonstrations of hands, as well as a great measurement tip.

Page 41 is great for drawing feet. It shows a few different poses, and even a foot in a high heel shoe.

Pages 42-43 focus on clothing. Page 42 centers on the flow and detail of clothing; while page 43 reminds you of the manga-specific clothing, such as kimonos, samurai armor, and the oh-so popular school uniforms. This page also has an example of two styles of uniforms for both girls and boys. I find myself referring to this section often.

Pages 44-85 include an example of many different characters as well as some tips and characteristics. The characters include the mischievous chibi, dashing hero, magical girl, rebellious hero, the kid (shounen), girls (shoujo), the big guy, the mascot, fallen hero, evil queen, the big bad, mindless goons, unstoppable fiend, fantasy warrior, elf princess warrior, martial artists, cat girl, android boy, Victorian rose (bishoujo), school girl (bishoujo), Victorian gentleman (bishounen), hipster student, skate girl (shounen youth), cyberpunk kid (shounen youth), space hero, space pirate, mecha, humanoid robot, and the crab robot. Most of them include a drawing in both colored pencil and computer colored.

Pages 86-87 give some interesting tips on martial art moves and battles.

Pages 88-89 remind you to consider the weight of weapons in your drawings. For being the weapons section, it isn't elaborate as most HTDM.

Pages 90-93 show examples of different actions and explains some important details such as what a character does when he/she jumps.

Pages 94-97 aren't necessarily for beginners. These pages are very, very helpful for hard core manga artists. These two pages cover the basics of linear perspective, and drawing figure in perspective. They go into amazing detail and explanation.

Pages 90-105 list some very helpful tips of drawing backgrounds and such. The examples include city buildings, the fantasy castle, the space station, and the traditional Japanese home.

Pages 106-113 show you how to draw vehicles. In order, the examples included are a jumbo jet (simple sketch only), old car (simple sketch only), sporty car, flying car, sky cycle, good-guy space fighter, pirate space fighter, good-guy spaceship, and pirate spaceship.

Pages 114-121 are about the design of a manga page. Now, the comics aren't good at all, but the pointers are. This includes the basic elements of a manga page (basically defining and giving examples of speed lines, bold lettering, narrative captions, and such), planning a comic page (teaching smooth transition of text), designing dynamic panels (different "camera" angles), basic panel shots (mostly different panel sizes), and pacing and panel flow (great tips on how to set up an interesting and sensible panel).

Page 122 defines the different kinds of word balloons and shows some lettering options.

Page 123 discusses sound effects. This page also includes sound effects in both English and Japanese. This page is also great to refer to when you'd like to see the meaning of a Japanese sound effect while reading manga.

Page 124 covers features commonly found in manga, such as speed lines, the big head yell, and falling cherry blossoms.

And finally...

Page 126 summarizes "the business of making manga". This covers six steps of drawing manga professionally.
Step One: Know your strength and weaknesses
Step Two: Meet people and get feedback
Step Three: Promote your work
Step Four: Be persistent
Step Five: Keep Learning
Step Six: Stick with it

Thanks for reading my (incredibly long) review!

I would love to give this book five stars, as I think Craig's caricatures are absolutely brilliant, deserving TEN stars on their own. However, the design of this book was very poorly thought out, so I have to give it only three.
Firstly, I think they should have made the people larger, at least as large as on the cover, but probably even a little larger. I believe the true beauty of pixel art becomes more apparent the larger the pixels appear. Yeah, I get it, MINIpops, but whatever, the size does not do justice to Craig's work.
Secondly, and this is my major beef, there is NO INDEX. There is an answer key in the back for each page in the book, so you can play fun little guessing games with your friends, but if you want to find a specific person, there is no way to figure out what page they are on (short of a brilliant photographic memory). I design books for a living, so I know they had a page count to adhere to, but I would've rather trimmed out some of the more obscure celebrities to make the book more user-friendly. Something to think about for volume two...

who doesn't want to have hundreds of famous people in their own home? i know i do!

now that i own my own copy of mini-pops i have tiny famous people all over my house. craig's drawings are delightful and his words are witty. this is a great book of pixelated pals to pick up and peruse or pass around at a party! and excellent & unique gift even for those friends who seem to have everything!

the printing and paper quality is very nice as well, if you are interested in things like that.

Craig Robinson, the genius behind FlipFlopFlyin.com, has taken his huge collection of pixelated celebrities and put them in a book. Seems simple, right? But it's such a work of art! High quality printing (not to mention all of Mr. Robinson's Minipops collected in one place that you can access anywhere) really makes this book a perfect addition to any [insert winter holiday here] wish-list. Or you could just buy it. Yes, why don't you just do that.

Speaking as a writer of humorous cat books (most recently, "Scratching the 'Net: Web Sites for Cats"), it seems to me quite fitting that a classy creature like the cat should be hilariously immortalized by a classy magazine like the New Yorker. This is another wonderful collection of cartoons by an exceptionally talented group of cartoonists. I defy any cat lover not to find at least several cartoons in this book that remind them of their own personal furry friend.

Cat lovers will treasure this book! The New Yorker’s staff has created a second volume of cat cartoons by adding more recent cat cartoons since the first book came out as well as some older cartoons.

As before, the 86 pages bristle with humor about our relationships to cats, a cat’s eye on our world, and the usual switching of cats and people into each other’s roles.

To my taste, over half of the cartoons were outstanding, and all were good.

Here are some of my favorites.

Man visiting bare-chested yogi on a ledge outside a cave entrance is surrounded by cats. "The meaning of life is cats." Sam Gross;

Wall of books with signs about them "Travel, Science, History, Fiction, Cute Cats." A well-dressed man is standing in front of Cute Cats holding a book with an illustration of a cat. Sidney Harris;

"Dog Days" is the caption for a subway car filled with dogs looking hot, with their tongues hanging out, wearing disheveled suits. A lone cat in the middle is neatly dressed and is definitely the cool cat of the illustration. William Hamilton;

Cat executive sits behind a large desk that covers an aquarium filled with very large fish. Bernard Sshoenbaum;

Cat speaks to a bird in a tree. "Hey, let's do lunch.
" Robert Mankoff;

Man and woman in a restaurant find themselves staring at a cat in the middle of their small table for two. The waiter explains "We're out of flowers." Danny Shanahan;

Four panels of a man and woman. In the third panel, a cat walks through and both stop to beam happily at the cat. Joseph Farris;

Cat with a television playing in the background is outside of a mousehole. "Jeopardy is on." Sam Gross;

Lawyer has cat on shoulder and holds out an envelope to a dog. "We're slapping you with a stress suit . . . . "Danny Shanahan;

Cat is driving a taxi cab and speaks to human passenger, "Yeah, I was into the pet thing for a while, but that scene wasn't for me." Eldon Didini;

Cat holding a smoking gun as a dead bird lies outside the window. "What was I supposed to do? I've been declawed." Frank Cotham;

General arrives home and sees cat in the foyer, "As you were." Mick Stevens;

Cat to owner near cat door, "I'm going out. Do you need any voles." Sam Gross;

Fortune teller holding woman's hand, "A wonderful cat is coming into your life." Edward Koren;

Cat in bed waking up, while the alarm goes "Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet." Arnie Levin;

Two dogs are looking at a cat walking by, "Are we talking about life style or orientation?" Peter Steiner.

The book’s weaknesses are two. First, it lacks an essay to tie together the humor and deepen your appreciation of it. So it’s more like a scrapbook of cartoons than a book of cartoons. Second, the dog-cat humor was not nearly as good as in the first book of New Yorker cat cartoons. You would think that there would be an endless supply of outstanding work available . . . but I guess not.

The positive aspect of the book is to realize how much better most of us relate to cats than to other people. Keeping that same wonderful cat relationship, how can you improve your human connections? How about bringing along a cat to enjoy with others?

Love a cat today!

As one who has owned over thirty cats in my life time (as many as five at one time) it is quite obvious that I am, indeed, a cat lover to the utmost degree! While it is difficult to compete with some of the world's greatest and best loved cats, such as Garfield and Norton, most cat lovers will agree this book provides a good supply of absolutely purr-fect humour! It is written in the same witty manner of the previous New Yorker cat cartoons, but I actually preferred this one. There was something about the cat antics in this one that were more true to life. The whole book comes together quite nicely and is equally as amusing and entertaining, if not moreso, than the first New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons! The antics are great...and so true to life, as any serious cat lover will recognize. The personalities of cats are not much different than humans; our feline friends are just a little better at showing us who is in charge!