Cartooning Books

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! ^_^

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 love this book. The articles are excellent and interesting. This is the first book of it's kind that I have ever seen. It is nice to see something critically reviewing anime and manga story lines like native books and television shows have been reviewed and studied for years. I suggest it.

An "academic journal" on this J-Pop phenomenon that should interest anyone/everyone, accessible to all. Don't miss the second issue, "Networks of Desire." A thousand ideas per second.

The full table of contents for this book is as follows:

"The Japan Fad in Global Youth Culture and Millennial Capitalism"
by Anne Allison

"Globalizing Manga: From Japan to Hong Kong and Beyond"
by Wendy Siuyi Wong

"The World of Anime Fandom in America"
by Susan Napier

"Costuming the Imagination: Origins of Anime and Manga Cosplay"
by Theresa Winge

"Assessing Interactivity in Video Game Design"
by Mark J.P. Wolf

"Mori Minoru's Day of Resurrection"
Introduced by Takayuki Tatsumi

"Superflat and the Layers of Image and History in 1990's Japan"
by Thomas Looser

Kurenai no Metalsuits, "Anime to wa nani ka/What is animation"
by Ueno Toshiya, translated by Michael Arnold

"Anime: The Multiplanar Image."
by Thomas Lamarre

"The Werewolf in the Crested Kimono: The Wolf-Human Dynamic in Anime and Manga"
by Antonia Levi

"Metamorphosis of the Japanese Girl: The Girl, the Hyper-Girl, and the Fighting Beauty"
by Mari Kotani

"Revolutionary Girl Utena: Manga and Anime Citations"
Compiled by Timothy Perper and Martha Cornog


REVIEW & COMMENTARY SECTION
(Edited by Timothy Perper and Martha Cornog)

"Metropolis," reviewed by Bill Benzon; "Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society," by Sharon Kinsella, reviewed by Vern Bullough; "Mobile Suit Gundam," by Tomino Yoshiyuki, translated by Fred Schodt, reviewed by Patrick Drazen; "Maria-Sama ga Miteru" and "Azumanga Daioh," reviewed by Marc Hairston; "Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics," by Paul Gravett and "Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews," by Fred Patten, reviewed By Brian Ruh; "Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena,"by Saito Chiho, reviewed by Timothy Perper and Martha Cornog.

TORENDO SECTION
(Edited by Michelle Ollie)

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.

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...

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!

The pictures alone make this book worth getting. If the story had been better, I would have given this book a five. As it is though, the story felt like each page was written separately, to be collected together in the end. Perhaps I need someone to explain the story to me, but it seems like many of the pages are only related to one another if you're in the habit of disengaging your brain from reality.

This nifty book defies summarization. Traipsing along through 30 pages of illustrations and text, the story draws the reader along a whimsically surreal story, where each event leads inexorably to the next completely unconnected event! The illustrations are black-and-white, stark like the text, reminding one of the whimsical images that featured at the beginning of PBS's mystery show. This book is not to be taken too seriously, but is also not to be missed; it is an enchanting book.This nifty book defies summarization. Traipsing along through 30 pages of illustrations and text, the story draws the reader along a whimsically surreal story, where each event leads inexorably to the next completely unconnected event! The illustrations are black-and-white, stark like the text, reminding one of the whimsical images that featured at the beginning of PBS's mystery show. This book is not to be taken too seriously, but is also not to be missed; it is an enchanting book.

Edward Gorey, most easily recognizable for the opening animation of the television show "Mystery!", wrote dozens of strangely comic picture-books that were not intended for children. The Object-Lesson shines among them.

The first sentence, divided amongst six elaborately crosshatched panoramic ink drawings, initiates what is only the first of several surreal and non-sequiturial narratives and gives readers the sense that an elaborate story of some sort is unfolding and they are mearly seeing brief snippets.

Having just read the book, I'd say the effect is of looking out from inside a novel: a story is happening, but the large passages of narration that connect the individual events of "The Object-Lesson" into a single story are as unavailable to the reader as they are to the characters. It's mysterious, it's exciting, it's lots and lots of fun.

I reccomend buying this and leaving it anywhere in your home where people will be waiting for the maybe-five minutes it takes to finish the book, as the wierdness of it all will make their day that much more fun.

classic in it's fabrication, a book pop-up collector must have

MY MOM LOVED THIS WE GAVE IT TO HERE FOR B-DAY AND SHE LOVED IT AND LOOKED OVER AND OVER AND OVER
IT MADE HERE DAY

Okay, it's only 16 pages but this is an adorable pop-up book for any fan of Charlie Brown and his cast of Peanuts characters. This must-have 3D view of Charles Schulz's world features six quintessential Peanuts scenarios from the archives of 50 years of comic strips: Snoopy atop his red doghouse, Lucy mooning over Schroeder at the piano, Charlie Brown "kicking" the football, Lucy's psychiatrist's stand, Peppermint Patty dozing in school, and what "happiness is..." for each of the characters. Brilliant paper engineering by Bruce Foster turns Schulz's flat comics strip format into larger than life, movable pop-ups. This one-of-a-kind edition also includes reprints of the original strips from which the pop-ups were adapted.

A must have for Charlie Brown Fans!

Now, first off, this book isn't for everyone. If you're not pretty open-minded, you won't like it. If you don't like to laugh, you won't like it. If you don't enjoy the simple pleasure of watching a human life unfold before your very eyes, you won't like it. As far as I'm concerned, The Snake Pit Book (as well as the local Snake Pit zine and the Snake Quarterly and the Snake Pit Annuals) contains some of the funniest and most real comix you'll ever read. This is the personal zine taken to the next insane level. You wouldn't think an endless series of daily comix about a guy getting either drunk or stoned or both and falling in and out of love and just sort of struggling with the endless hassles of everyday life could be funny and also somehow inspiring. But you'd be wrong. So, unless you're all uptight and weird (in a bad way), buy it and get ready to be a part of the weird (in a good way), wonderful, awful, exciting, boring, and very real world of Ben Snakepit, the Punk Everyman.

Ben Snakepit has not only created an uninspired legacy, a cartoon diary of his life that sums up an entire day in three tiny ink drawn panels, but his work about his life that became his life is an everyman triumph of genius. His zine turned novel, Snakepit, is a comic strip diary, a summation of a punkrock/slacker lifestyle that, upon first appearance is totally unenviable. But the greater truth lies in that the documentation when taken as a whole reveals that he has probably accomplished more then most people ever will. The various bands and recordings, exaggerated substance abuse and the plethora of trips to the local copy marts to craft his art. We could only wish our lives were as full. This book is highly recommended and a must for anyone who enjoys zines, comix or punk rock.

Remember when you were a kid and you had those little "flipbooks?" You know the ones that I'm talking about, where they had a different picture on each page and when you fanned the pages, the moving pictures approximated a crude animated story. In many ways, that's what Ben "Snakepit" White's The Snakepit Book reminds me of. Published as a zine since the summer of 2000, Snakepit is a daily three-panel strip describing the writer/artist's day. Taken individually, the rough-drawn strips portray the daily grind of its punk protagonist - work, play, love and loss - in excruciating repetition.

When taken as a whole, however, The Snakepit Book, collecting three years of daily strips, fascinates like the flipbooks of our youth. White is a friendly music fan, musician and punk aficionado, and what he lacks in artistic direction he more than makes up for with unflagging spirit and dedication to the DIY aesthetic. The Snakepit Book is a charming, entertaining read, best experienced by tasting a week or so of White's life at a time. During the couple of weeks that it will take you to digest the book, White's charming autobiographical tales will have fired your imagination, forcing the reader to take a closer look at their own daily accomplishments.

Personally, I also appreciate the song titles listed at the top of each day's strip, White's creative and often times appropriate song choices providing a running soundtrack to the story. A member of punk band J Church, White's extensive musical knowledge and far-ranging tastes mirror my own, his song-a-day approach leading me to dig into my own record collection to rediscover some of the tunes he matches so well to the daily strips. Highly recommended, White's Snakepit strip breathes new life into a stale zine medium, The Snakepit Book an entertaining read that is full of energy and intelligence. (From the ALT.CULTURE.GUIDE webzine)

This book is full of outstanding digital, arcrylic,oil and sculptures of just amazing art work. I showed most of these Spectrum books to my art classes and they went over well. I enjoy looking at the pictures as weel it creates a spark in my imagination to draw and paint better. I reccomend this book to any one that can handle a slight bit of nudity. But its great you should buy it.

Spectrum 3 book is the best reference book in fantasy drawing, painting, illustration, digital art and sculpture. You'll see amazing styles and techniques of artist from all over the world. You'll notice some famous artist's work when they were unknown... very impressive. Do you feel the need for inspirations? Do you have feeling that you're not improving? This book will fire you up and make you work all tonight long~!!!

I have become a collector of this series. Each year I am there to get my copy as soon as the publication comes out. Nothing but the best is presented here. Highly recommended.

Grandparents are always looking for fun activities to do with their grandchildren...This book and a giant box of chalk provide lots of hours of "togetherness" laughter and fun. "Squeaky Chalk" is a wonderfully simple guide for kids to draw many ideas easily- instant results with no frustration.
Thank you, Joy, for your series of books.

This is a great book to teach children how to draw using simple shapes and lines. The step by step diagrams lead to fun animals, people and food, to name a few. There are even instructions for extras like trees and snow. Scattered thoughout the book are jokes, short stories, simple crafts, science and history facts, and even recipes, each relating to the drawings. All of these make this small book of 152 pages one that can be enjoyed by children alone, or with their parents, for 365 days and beyond.

As an adult, I had fun copying the pages and learning a new style of drawing. The story and characters are charming and I plan on getting the other books written by Joy Sikorski.