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How To Draw Manga: Illustrating Battles

How To Draw Manga: Illustrating Battles

List Price: $18.95
Your Price: $12.89
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Alright
Review: This book is a book for people who have experience drawing characters. I found it useful as I have problems drawing battles and stuff, but I found that it could have been better had they included, step-by-step, how to draw the characters. The only other thing that bothered me was the illustrations for "Having Your Doors Blown Off, Being Hurled Against Something". Is it so hard to put a frickin' bra on the women? I mean, they have underwear, why not a bra or shirt? But, all in all, its an excellent book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ZANG! (excellent)
Review: This book is a lot oof help to those who can't quite get down the body formations of battle scenes. I myself needed a lot of help and this book helped out a lot. Took quite a while to get it shipped to me, but it was worth it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Useful
Review: This book is for more advanced artists wishing to expand their skills to fight scenes. It shows both battle technique of various styles and the resulting injuries given. It is particularly useful in that it doesn't hold one's hand, but just give guidelines and examples.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Much better than Hart's how to books.
Review: This book is great for anyone trying to figure out just how the body looks durring a fight. I have found it not only useful in drawing comics but also using it for drawing realistic fight illustrations.

I agree that it is not for the beginner, but anyone with a little experience drawing anatomy from books or life will be able to get a lot out of this book. It covers the physics of fighting very well in the actions of the attacker and the reactions of the one being attacked.

I found the school girl fighting part amusing, although if I were a guy I probably would have spent more time in that section of the book. :)

I feel that this is better book than Hart's manga how to book because it really gets in to the physics and the perspective instead of just spending one or two pages on these subjects as Hart's book does.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great book for experienced artists
Review: This book is great! It has pictures and scenes worth it all. Although this book is great, you need to be a pretty experienced drawer. And what i mean is you have to have experience with drawing characters and their details. Like hair, and eyes, and the way there body is shaped. The book does not include how to draw a character. Just battle positions. But it sure is a great book for all your favorite fighting needs

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wonderful For Drawing Fight Scenes!
Review: This book is one of a large series of books, and is not for beginners. It doesn't provide a step-by-step guide for drawing, and if you are a beginner I suggest searching for the first three books in the series. The guidelines and pictures provided in the book are very helpful, however. It covers many different forms of fighting, how to show a character dodging or being hit, jumping, tired or defeated characters, and an entire section devoted to fighting girls in sailor suits. Be warned, there is a bit of nudity to provide outlines for the characters, but it is fairly mild. The translation can be a bit choppy in placed, which is why I gave it four stars, but the illustrations are very helpful. Check it out if you want to draw manga!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great
Review: This book is so good at showing you the art of battle. Of course it is hard to rely on this book alone, you should start on the basics but this book definatly helped me to heighten the fun of my manga.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome! A Must Buy!
Review: This book is the best how to draw book that I own. I use it every day and my drawing has improved greatly thanks to it. If you are just starting to pick up the art of manga or it you are an experienced artist, this is the book for you.

There is a huge variety of moves that this book discusses and it gives you pointers on how to make them look great. Overall this book teaches you everything you need to know about illustrating battles.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: All fat, no substance
Review: This book would be absolutely worthless to an amateur - and probably the majority of advanced artists. And here's why:

For amateurs, they will definitely be more interested in the style that it is done in rather than the lessons it's trying to teach, since the art is fairly high quality for the role it plays. Amateurs haven't yet developed their own style to its fullest, most professional potential, and so books about fighting and so on will be of no use to them if they can't yet correctly draw their characters in said poses.

The inevitable result is copying and learning very little from it - which is even worse with the books about drawing specific types of people. You CANNOT learn to draw from second-hand information - especially stylised second hand information. That's someone else's interpretation, and you have to find your own.

All of the How to Draw Manga books are purely circumstancial, and if you ever decide to lean towards a less stylised art more than the big-eye-small-mouth manga as I did, you'll probably find that everything these books 'taught' you is a complete waste. The books about "sexy girls" - where even the woman on the cover is entirely disproportionate - will go for nothing.

There is nothing these books can teach you that you couldn't get from going out in the street and drawing it yourself, or getting enrolled in a life drawing class. Maybe it's not as thrilling to draw a portly old lady reclining in a chair for forty minutes, but at least you can guarantee your drawing will improve on things you personally enjoy in your spare time.

This book, even though it talks about fighting, is entirely the same. Go and flip through some action manga - and some action art that isn't stylised. See how it's done in the different ways, find out what you like the most, and combine elements until you have something of your own. Take some photos of you and your mates pulling funny poses and blurry punching motions. Leave it on a long exposure if you want to see the full movement. Buy a freaking karate book with real people pulling all the funny moves. Buy a book on basic human and animal locomotion. There's so many other better options, and you can guarantee that even if your style changes, these books and references will change to accomodate. They'll never stop teaching you lessons.

I think the fact that they have a full section at the end about girls fighting in school outfits should cement my argument. Because, you know, what kind of artist would you be if you couldn't draw knickers and skirts that flare up at the drop of a hat?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for artists.
Review: This is a great book. One of my favorites. This book shows many different fighting styles, and how a fighter would react to certain moves. I'm makin my own comic series, Gladiator. And I'm having trouble holding out a good fight scene; especially since I'm goin to make a 3-part issue that is just one huge fight. So I needed help. And I came to this book. And it covers a section of women fighters and how they would react. That helped me greatly since I'm a male artist, and I can't draw women too good; making a stretch putting them in fight scenes. And there are two women in my superhero team. When I draw a women in a fight scene they look like men. But this book helped me a lot. Though if you are a beginer to drawing, I wouldn't recommend this book. It's too complex. And that's where I demoted one star. This book is great for: American artists who are approaching anime art styles, anime artists, and artists who just want to approach a new art style. This also makes a great gift for the holiday rush.


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