Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley: 30 drawing lessons from the creator of Akiko

I'm not usually one for writing reviews, but this book is definitely worth writing down a few sentences for. Unlike many others who enjoy Mark Crilley and his work, I had never seen his tutorials on YouTube or read any of his comics. I'm a self-taught comic artist and it's just something I like to do for fun. I'm a huge fan of the manga style of art, and I've tried in vain to learn from other "How-To Draw Manga" books. They were always either way too vague about the techniques they used or too advanced for my level of drawing. Sufficed to say, I made do with teaching myself a lot of techniques, until I reached an impasse. Mark Crilley starts you with the basics, giving you exact details on how to draw faces and proportions for full-body figures (something I'd always struggled with in the past). The chapters progressively get more advanced, covering still and action poses, romantic scenes, and even a few tips on how to compose a page in a manga. He also supplies a TON of examples of eyes and hairstyles, something very handy to get started in making a character. Each chapter builds on the previous one, and not only does this book show you how to draw males and females, but it also covers kids, middle-aged parents, the elderly, and heftier characters, all going into detail about proportions and construction of the face. I've only had this book a few weeks, and I've already made huge improvement in my drawings. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has never picked up a pencil before and wants to give drawing a shot. Many things in this book require at least some background in art, but at a very basic level. As someone who was just looking to self-improve, this book did wonders. I have never found a book to be so helpful and give such good tips! I'm already considering buying the other "Mastering Manga" book that Crilley released.

Crilley provides clear step by step instructions for the beginner. In the book, he emphasizes the importance of precise placement of facial features in order to achieve manga facial structure. He provides concrete suggestions as well as various grids/guidelines to help you learn the proper distances between eyes, eyes to nose, eyes to chin, etc. in an easily understandable way. As an added bonus, since Crilley has a strong youtube presence, you can watch his videos where he demonstrates a lot of what is in the book. At first, I was frustrated a little (as expected when you are learning new skills) that the faces I was drawing had an "almost" manga, but not quite right appearance. I'll add that I'm also new to digital drawing so I was learning two skills at the same time. Anyway, in case this tip helps someone else, I'll describe what I did to get over that bump. I copied Crilley's guidelines right into my digital program, then repeatedly traced over them to get a feel for his guidelines (I was especially having trouble drawing chins). Right next to my tracings, I would also draw equal sized guidelines (without tracing) and draw in the features. I learned two things. (1) for some reason, when I'd been marking the center line (horizontal) on my circles, I was drawing my line too low. I don't know why, I mean I'd been going for the "center." (2) when I put the manga features on Crilley's guidelines, or on the guidelines I drew next to his, I was succeeding in getting my drawings to look like real manga. Basically, his formula (feature placement) works, but you have to do it right or figure out where you are going wrong and fix the problem. I should add, while there is a formula for feature placement (and even that "formula" changes to age up/age down a character, etc), each character looks different because you draw the eyes/expression/hair in different ways. I'm really enjoying the lessons, and mostly seeing progress. I highly recommend the book and have purchased his two subsequent books as well. I'll review them once I've got a good grip on the lessons in this book and graduate to those books.

i LOVE this book so much, it covers most of the basics of manga for beginners, and it even shows how to draw clothing wrinkles, scenes, and manga panels! If you buy this book, you’ll be super excited to learn all about manga art :D

I liked the way the book gives a simple overview of each area and then a couple of well thought out examples for beginners and up. Can be re-read again and again. I would recommend it to anyone starting out, and who needs something that they can come back to for inspiration and quick a refresher.

Lots of very useful and pertinent tips that are rare or not in other books. Better than most of my other books about manga style it includes tips about full figured people, older ages, perspective, classic poses, hand poses, feet poses, facial expressions,walking poses, eyes, body types, and some of the best chibi tips including main expressions. I had trouble with chibis and now after only one day I find it easy to draw the chibi style which I have been struggling with for years! It also has kissing and fight scene tips, and more. It's presented in a kind, reasonable and easy to understand manner that has tips for the true beginner all the way up to more experienced artists. A fantastic book in my opinion.

Genial libro de un gran autoor. Muy bien estructurado y con muchos temas en muy poco espacio. el que esta serie tenga 3 libros habla por si misma

O livro aborda diversos aspectos do desenho de mangá. Para maiores aprofundamentos, talvez seja conveniente adquirir os volumes seguintes do mesmo autor, mas este já oferece um ótimo começo para quem quer se iniciar na técnica.

I bought mastering manga 1 and 2, both came in good condition, about the book, it's for basic to intermediate, easy to understand, I would suggests for those who want to learn manga this is the best . Worth the money.