Let's Draw Manga: Transforming Robots

Rating:
Summary: Professional-quality art, but...
Review: It's obvious professional mecha toy artists worked on this book. The book is packed with well-rendered mecha and clear diagrams on the transformation process. You learn how to break down a normal, everyday vehicle and fold it into a robot with a minimum of artistic "cheating" with proportions.

While most how-to-draw books try to simplify the drawing of a complex subject, this book attempts to complicate the process of drawing over-simplified mechs. Remember those Go-bots that were neat, but not as complex or organic as the Transformers? Plex designed them and it shows. The book teaches you how to design simple, clunky Gobots and Power Rangers robots that can easily be translated into toys. If this is what you want, this book may be for you. If you want a greater variety of mecha styles to learn, or more inspiration on how to come up with your own styles, I'd recommend the great books by Sherard Jackson of Antarctic Press and the How to Draw Manga volumes translated from Japanese published by Graphic-Sha: "Giant Robots" by Hikaru Hayashi and "Mech. Drawing" by Katsuya Yamakami.

The pro-Plex propaganda smattered throughout the book reads like a corporate statement of a company about to go IPO. You shouldn't have to pay so much for a blatant advertisement.

Buy the book if you really want to draw transforming robots and like the particular design aesthetic that Plex embraces.

Rating:
Summary: Reviewed by einsteinecker; "This book helped me alot"
Review: Let's Draw Manga: Transforming Robots, is a great book, written by a notable company. The moment I opened the book, I knew that I was going to learn alot of things, and I was very excited. I am one who is also getting into the manga biz, and I also love to learn whatever I can, from what ever can teach me. And this book showed me that I can take practically any object in this world, and turn it into a robot.

By using the techniques they show you in this book, you are able to turn planes, trains and automobiles into any kind of robot imaginable. And with the techniques they show you on how to transform a animal, the possiblities are quite endless, depending on your limit of imagination. By using the tips and tricks they taught me, I was able to transform a PlayStation1 into a robot!

I found this book very promising in my future as a manga artist, and I'm sure you would be able to learn as much as I, or even more.

Rating:
Summary: Uninspiring for general use. OK for researching PLEX.
Review: The book has a good premise, and the cover art is interesting. Unfortunately, the contents between the covers fail to live up to the promise.

If you can avoid choking on the force-fed propaganda that the PLEX company is, and always has been, the only company in the world that makes transforming robots, you'll be tripped up by the boring designs and uninspired art. While there is good art and the occasional basic concept to be found, they won't be on the same pages.

There are several much better books on the same subject. If you must consider purchasing this volume, please get hold of a copy and flip through it first before committing to purchase.

What drags this book up from the depths of uselessness is that it's a rough guide to the way PLEX designers think. If you need to sketch a couple of robots that mimick the simplistic PLEX look, this book gives you some design boundaries for avoiding too much mechanical elegance or visual appeal.

Rating:
Summary: A useful introduction to drawing transformable mecha.
Review: The first thing that is readily apparent upon flipping through the book is that the presentation is very straightforward and to the point. There is a LOT of artwork and comparatively little text, which presents a good step-by-step visual tutorial for drawing.

There are a great many types of transforming robots discussed in the book, with one or more examples for each. Everything from aircraft to cars to insects to dinosaurs, and more.

The art quality is very good, with an obviously professional hand behind the pen.

There are a couple things that detract from this book, however. Firstly, there is almost no reference to the mechanics behind the transformations - no hydraulics, gears, etc. The book's origins in the toy business are evident here. Second, there are no references to other mainstream transformers - like Macross Valkyries, Transformers, etc.

Even with these minor quibbles though, I still have to give this book 4 out of 5. It can be a very good introduction to drawing transforming robots. Just be aware that it's an introduction, and not an advanced guide!