Artbookreview.net

Regular readers of ABR will know of my allergy to pocket-size books. This is art, fer goodness sake, make it big so we can see it, will you! Small is NOT beautiful, it’s hard to see and you have to force the pages back till your hands hurt in order to see them. The pages, not your hands, don’t get smart with me when I’m having a rant, it makes me angry.

However, just once in a while something comes along that doesn’t just float my boat, it launches a whole navy, kersplash, all at once. And these little books are one of those things. No, they shouldn’t work and, yes, at a fiver a pop, they are expensive, but what they do, really rather neatly, is offer you a single idea on a spread. Nothing so very unusual in that, I’ll grant you, but this is minimalism taken to its absolute limit and it really is just one thing, not even a whole concept. I like that. I like that you can have just Men’s Jeans or The Female Mouth just on their own. In fact, I’d recommend Manga Tips to anyone who wants to draw the human figure because it’s full of basic ideas (like the more comprehensive and better value Mega Manga). The other one that comes at the same time is Mecha Manga, which is more specialised, concentrating on that I take to be robot figures you can’t do without. Both books are arranged by category, so finding things is very easy, though flicking through and trusting to serendipity is a good approach too.

Like I said, a fiver’s a lot for a tiny book, but it’s not a fiver wasted, I’d also say. And I don’t say it often.

Mini Manga series on Amazon

Author: Yshan Li, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Mini Manga, Subject: Figure, Subject: Manga

Once again, Search Press have managed to come up with a book that’s a great deal more than it first appears. This may or may not be any good as a guide to drawing Manga; I can’t tell you because I’m just not qualified but, on the basis of its layout and presentation, I’d be prepared to guess that it is.

However, almost accidentally, what you also get is a near perfect primer in drawing people. Leave aside the stylised hair and big eyes that are (this much I do know) characteristic of Manga and what you have is very easy to follow and laid out to show you how figures are built up from a starting point of basic shapes. All the different parts of the body are covered and you get figures that are both static and in motion, as well as wearing a variety of clothes (including the inevitable martial arts but, hey, you never know…). The additional sections on vehicles and weapons are going to be superfluous for the general reader, but some of the animal drawings can be easily adapted to more domestic creatures.

I think the reason this works so well in the way that it does is because it’s not trying. Its prime aim is to introduce the more general reader to Manga drawing and it therefore operates for the most part on a basic level. By doing this, it becomes an absolutely invaluable primer for anyone looking for a basic guide to figure drawing and is a lot easier to follow than many more specialised guides. You just have to be able to see past the big-eyed kids.

Author: Keith Sparrow, Medium: Drawing, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Manga, Subject: People