Cartooning Books

The art does not represent Manga drawings at all, in my opinion. This book was a big disappointment to me and a waste of money.

My experience drawing Manga/Anime figures is that of a beginner. I bought about 10 different books to get started as I have zero drawing experience. Of the many fine works that have helped me improve my sketching in a very short time, this one was one of the two most helpful. The "tutorials" in the beginning of the book are great, especially helping a novice draw figures from different angles. The second half of the book is devoted to examples of various manga-style(and yes, in response to another comment...they ARE MANGA) figures for inspiration.

I am sure the book may not offer much to veteran manga artists...but this newb really appreciated the leg up offered by Mr.Galea's book.

this book contains nothing about drawing and manga. you may only consider buying this book if you want to waste your time and money.

It does show about drawing. It shows the basic block body and how you build off of that pose (block body is a step above stick figure drawing. Both work, but block body, you can build up the drawing better b/c it uses like the width of a leg or arm or upper body, so think of like a robot.) Anyway after that it shows some GREAT EXAMPLES of what a comic book drawing body should look like which i need to be able to draw. It shows the difference b/w a manga drawing of this popular character vs. American manga drawing (which is basically a comic book superhero look vs. big glassy eyes).

Another of the basics is it shows hands in different poses and the head shape and how to draw that.

the guy above is correct, this should be comic book in the title and not really manga, unless you add realistic manga to it. But on the same token, comic book artists are adding manga elements to comic books so, it's sorta misleading but sorta not.

on one token you see manga hair for the comic book look then on another page, you'll see old school comic book hair with the little red/green/blue lines that emphasize detail (like girls of archie, or old school mary-jane's from spiderman.)

Good book for what i need, but it has most of the basics in it

I always hope with things like this that they are teaching you how to draw scenery. I'm a comic artist, and it's remarkably hard for me to draw the room around me, so I'm always looking for something that will teach me how to just draw that, instead of all these landscape books.
This, however, is not it. Don't think that you're getting any sort of lesson here expect for how to place tone sheets.
These are pre-drawn scenes that they suggest you CUT OUT and stick in your own comics. My suggestion for those would-be comic artists like myself and so many others? Go get a real drawing book. Like something that doesn't have the word "Manga" in the title. The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study is a good start that teaches you to draw from life, which is what you're trying to do for scenery anyway! It's also available relatively cheaply, and while it may take some work, all good things do!

The Manga University Background Collection Workbook is actually a collection of pre-drawn backgrounds that you can use for your own manga works. There are currently about 3 workbooks; this third part being a background collection of Japanese neighborhoods.

The pictures are divided into 2 parts; one in plain ink, and the other fully done in ink and tone. Depending on your preferences, you can use the one in plain ink and do your own “toning”, or you can just used the finished background.

There’s also an “advanced technique” section that teaches you advanced screen tones technique. Personally, I find this greatly useful and handy, although I would greatly appreciate if there were MORE examples in the book! It seems a little too “thin”, but then again, maybe that’s why it’s called a “workbook”. -_-0

Overall, the workbook makes for a really handy reference for both beginners and intermediate artists alike. Give this a try if you have trouble drawing backgrounds or would like to learn and practice drawing backgrounds.

I hate to be harsh-but I am so glad that I didn't pay $14.95 for this! This is a big book, it has 126 pages in it and it is very colorful. But there are alot of things that I just don't like about this book.I do not agree with the way the artist draws the profile and 3/4th angle head.Many of the finished figures look poorly drawn and guant, even ugly. I am sure that if someone really studied this thing-they might learn something from it.(hopefully something useful!) but why bother when there are so many other great how to draw comic art books out there? If your looking for a place to start-try How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, it will start you down the right track.

This book isn't bad, but almost right out of the gate there are exercises in which the original artist has made mistakes. Like, a nose isn't at the same angle as the rest of the face. Eyes are too heavily stylized and don't look natural. The shape of the head isn't quite right. This makes it more likely that the student will make the same mistakes (I sure did) and then feel stuck. That nose...the author fixes it, to a degree, by using shading in the final version of the drawing in the book. But it's *colored* shading...in the very first exercise! (In the early pencil drawings it just looks flat-out wrong.) It seems to me that the first several exercises should be basic pencil drawings only. And even with the colored shading, the nose still doesn't look quite right.

However, there are other very well-drawn graphics in other exercises. Plenty of ideas on drawing superheroes. And the author shows several examples of coloring drawings with colored pencils, and gives some tips (that I know from experience are good ones) on how to use colored pencils effectively. I haven't seen anyone else talk about colored pencils in comic drawing. Considering that most budding artists can afford and use colored pencils more easily and cheaply than paint, this is a nice touch.

I bought the book used for a very low price so I feel like I got a bargain in spite of the problems.

Being a Simpsons fan, I was a little dissapointed. The 2004 Simpsons day calendar is okay, the cover is the most interesting thing you're going to see in this entire purchase. I should have kept the box, it was more interesting. Basically each day there's a Simpsons picture and a trivia question, I guess I didn't read the title before I bought this item - it said the "TRIVIAL SIMPSONS 2004 366- DAY BOX CALENDAR". So it's all about trivia and even smart Simpsons fans of mine couldn't get some of the answers correctly, which makes it difficult, and therefore not too fun.

Other than that, for the life of me, I can't get this calendar to stand, it keeps falling over. It's lesser quality than other day calendars I've owned. It's supposed to snap and stand there and it just doesn't.

This calendar would be a deal if you get it at 1/2 off or more in the upcoming months. Besides that, it's not too good of an investment and probably won't keep you entertained for an entire year. If I had to grade it, it'd be a C+, B-.

The calendar isn't fantastic and unless you really like the Simpsons you shouldn't buy it from here. Amazon.com charges way too much for this calender. I purchased the exact same calender in a local mall for only $3. It's much better than the 10.99 price that amazon.com charges.

Worst book I've ever paid for. If I could have rated this book zero stars I would have. I'll never pick up another book by this author ever again, let alone buy one.

The title "Creating 3D Comix" would excite anyone interested in either graphics or 3D animation. Unfortunately, Mr. Mortier's book does not fully deliver on this exciting premise. Why are all the comics in this book so infantile? I was expecting something on the lines of a slick Heavy Metal cartoon. What I got instead was silly children stories. Some of Mr. Mortier artwork could be deemed original, but it is not very practical. Why does he have an obsession with distorted and morphed figures? What use would I get out of a character with large ears and a pointed nose? Some of his images also have a disturbing hallucinogenic look. For example, on page 364 there is a strange three-headed bug man. It is interesting for a few seconds, but what the heck I am going to do with it. With this book, Mr Mortier seems to be playing around like a child with a toy. However, playing with toys is something we all eventually grow out of.

3D comics is a speciality topic, and what a book on such a topic requires is an author with the proper speciality experience. Mr. Mortier demeonstrates quite clearly that he knows very little about the topic (or about writing). I, myself don't know much about 3D comics, should I write a book and try and sell it too?

The images and characters in this book are distored, ugly aliens. Why? For one, I'm sure that Mr. Shamms really likes screwed up alien creatures, but this might also have to do with the fact that warped faced creatures are much easier to make, and require far less artistry/exprience/knowledge then anything photorealistic. A child could make Mr. Mortier's 'art'. Dumping your money into the sewer would be much more satisfying than paying for this book, and would essentially be the same thing.

The title "Creating 3D Comix" would excite anyone interested in either graphics or 3D animation. Unfortunately, Mr. Mortier's book does not fully deliver on this exciting premise. Why are all the comics in this book so infantile? I was expecting something on the lines of a slick Heavy Metal cartoon. What I got instead was silly children stories. Some of Mr. Mortier artwork could be deemed original, but it is not very practical. Why does he have an obsession with distorted and morphed figures? What use would I get out of a character with large ears and a pointed nose? Some of his images also have a disturbing hallucinogenic look. For example, on page 364 there is a strange three-headed bug man. It is interesting for a few seconds, but what the heck I am going to do with it. With this book, Mr Mortier seems to be playing around like a child with a toy. However, playing with toys is something we all eventually grow out of.

R. Shamms Mortier - Creating 3D Comix

This was the first book I bought from this author, and the last. I have read his other books, and they seemed to get progressively worse. This book, while with good intentions, falls flat on it's proverbial face. A long time fan of comics and used to reading instructional books written by competent and qualified writers, I was sorely disappointed with this book.
His models were atrocious, his page formatting and stories were poor, and his technique left much to be desired.
One can tell that this book was poorly researched, and I have doubts that anyone actually opened the book if they rated it over "two stars".
If you have the desire to create digital comics, I would recomment reading these following books:
Creating Comics, The Marvel Way - Stan Lee
Drawing Power - Bart Sears
and anything by Christopher Hart
You can take from these MUCH better written books, and apply them to your computer graphics, and get more out of them. Good luck on all your comic book endevours!

"Just like their calendars for the last four or five years, this desk calendar reminds me daily of the genius that is The Simpsons. I look forward to turning the page each and every morning (twice on Mondays!) to get my day started on a humorous note. I often test my co-workers and boss with the trivia questions. It's amazing how many people are still into the Simpsons after all these years!" --actual letter from a fan

Commits the cardinal sin of any spin-off product of a well-known comedy: it's completely, painfully unfunny. The art and the questions display a complete lack of effort at every level. I bought this item at a clearance sale for $4.00, and I *still* returned it.

This calendar is a complete waste of money.

The questions cover only about five of over fifteen seasons.

The art is limited and repetitive, often not even from the episode referenced.

Considering how impressive the Simpsons wall calendar is, this should have been much better.

This calendar is terrible. There are NO questions referencing episodes prior to season 10. Just like the reruns on tv, apparantly the first 6 or 7 seasons of the simpsons have been swept under the rug.
I would have a lot less problem with this if it were advertised on the box as being the case.

I wrote a review of this book a while back, but Amazon opted not to print it, apparently because it wasn't permissible to comment about the author him/herself but only the material. (Amazon was a lot more uptight then.) However, when an author is unqualified to write a book, this becomes pertinent information to potential buyers.

Aspiring cartoonists should know that Gautier is a cartooning HOBBYIST and not a "career cartoonist." He earned a living as an actor, playing, among other things, "Hymie" the robot on the old series "Get Smart." He may have had a cartoon published here and there (he never says, but my guess would be no), but he didn't write cartoons for a living, nor could he, with his limited talent, have ever come close to doing so. Would you buy a book called "How to Earn $1,000,000 in Five Years" by someone who earned 30 grand a year? It's the same thing here.

Gautier frequently cites as examples his own cartoons, which are horrible. He draws better than the average guy off the street, but his captions are unthinkably bad and serve EXTREMELY poorly in a how-to capacity.

Example: 1) A cockroach and a rat are eating dinner. The rat says, "I feel I was destined for the finer things in life." 2) The two are shown chewing. 3) The cockroach says, "Shut up and eat your garbage."

Please... you wouldn't even give this a "pity laugh" if your mother drew it!

The other cartoons he includes are as bad is his, if such a thing is possible. Example: a a self-portrait of an strikingly unattractive cartoonist in a bunny suit with the caption "Bustering with pride!"

Valuable information concerning what format various kinds of work should be in when sent to different publishers is absent. The information regarding selling your material is outdated and can today be easily accessed via the Internet, although of course this is no fault of Gautier's.

The book gets two stars because it does contain some useful information about artist's materials. Other than that, it's a bomb. Nothing against you personally, Dick. I loved "Get Smart." But your cartooning steeee-eeenks. (And yes, I bought the book, so how smart does that make me?)

When a kid is trying to draw a cartoon insect, there are a few ways they could approach the task. One might make the cartoon bug a sort of characature of the insect by exagerrating the existing features of the insect. Another might be to abandon reality and go a more creative route, giving the bug life and personality. Unfortunatly, this book does niether. The scant 24 page book consists of only 6 pages that having drawing insructions. The result of these pages produce unimaginative drawings of only six different bugs that resemble unimpressive clip art style renderings that aren't at all anatomically correct. The Mosquito looks like a flying ant-eater. If you want to teach a kid to draw bugs, a quick internet image search would produce a better outcome.

It's got some information, but nothing I really didn't know. It's full of pictures, and not necessarily help for creating characters. I think I was looking for something that wasn't intended to be in here, as it is clearly a book on Anime and Manga mechanics.