Draw Manga

£14.99

Complete skills by Sonia Leong

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Book Description

For beginners up, everything you need to know. Includes 28 teaching videos to view online. This combined book and video-guide to drawing manga will allow artists of ANY ability to master this hugely popular drawing style. The 256 page book is packed with step-by-step tutorials on every aspect of manga drawing, basing the instructions around traditional sketching and colouring techniques, and including digital tools for rendering and finishing artwork. The author is highly accomplished professional artist Sonia Leong, who is also creating 28 two-minute video demonstrations designed to link specifically to the content of this book. These video clips are hosted online, and accessed from the book’s pages using QR codes (or URLs), making this one of the most user-friendly manga tutor books on the market. Readers will learn how to build up characters from basic shapes and measurements, get the anatomy and poses absolutely right, add crucial design elements to enhance drawings and stories, render artwork in different styles and mediums (including digital), and even start to create comic pages and sequences— for publication in print or online.

28 two -minute video demonstrations online which are linked to the content of the book
256 pages of step-by-step tutorials on every aspect of manga, including digital tools for finishing and rendering work
Authored by renowned manga artist and author, Sonia Leong, winner of the first Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga (UK & Ireland) competition in 2005

Prelims (5 pp)
Introduction (6 pp)
Manga is a dynamic and diverse comic art form originating from Japan. Its popularity is not only down to its looks, but also due to the wide range of its audience—there are characters and storylines for people of all ages and backgrounds. Perhaps you want a cute children’s story featuring adorable animals? Or would you prefer an intense political thriller, with darker, more realistic drawings? Manga is not just a style, it is a medium through which to tell stories and express yourself.
What is Manga?
Origins, history, and development
Current meaning, styles, and global reach
About this book
Chapter One / Drawing figures (58 pp)
All Manga artists need to start by learning how to draw characters based on real-life proportions and anatomy. This first section provides essential groundwork for drawing figures, from first principles through to keeping them consistent through different poses.
Head and facial structure
Front
Side
Other angles
Other shapes, gender, age
Facial features
Eyes, brows
Noses
Mouths
Ears, fantasy ears
Expressions
Hair
Basic principles (coverage, origin points, direction, styles, finish)
Textures (straight, waves, curls, thick, frizz, afro)
Lengths (short, mid, long, very long, how to get ends and styling right)
Complex styling (plaits, braids, buns, combinations)
Tying it all together (movement, angles, shading, character traits)
Bodies
Summary of differences in style, head-to-body proportions
Body and limb distribution, real life lengths/measurements
Flesh and muscle focus
Weighting and action lines
Interaction and multiple figures
Perspective and foreshortening
Depicting differences in age, gender, build, body types
Hands
Feet
Chibi proportion focus
RPG/semi-Chibi focus
Action/Shounen hero focus
Chapter Two / Creating Characters (22 pp)
Character development is the next step—design appropriate costumes, props, and settings. Learn how to create realistic folds in clothing, draw fancy weaponry, and gain the fundamental skills in drawing backgrounds.
Costumes
Body coverage and layering
Folds, draping, and movement
Fastenings and embellishments
Footwear
Accessories
Extraordinary elements
Anthropomorphism (animal features)
Sci-fi/fantasy features (markings, wings, cybernetics)
Mecha robots
Props and accompanying items
Close combat weaponry (swords, knives, sticks)
Projectile weaponry (guns, bows)
Other props
Vehicles
Mounts/pets
Chapter Three / Settings (10 pp)
Environments
Choosing and researching
Perspective
Theory
Putting into practice
Placing characters in environments
Interiors
Exteriors
Natural world
Chapter Four / Rendering Techniques and Processes ( 60 pp )
Once you’ve mastered your drawing skills, it is time to bring your characters to life with different mediums and shading. Learn how to use watercolors, markers, and other affordable materials to create a pleasing finish. Use your computer to create beautiful images.
Pencils
Rough drawing to prepare for inks
Finishing as pencil piece
Inks
Inking over pencils to prepare for colours/shading
Finishing as inked piece
Colours and shading
Choosing colours and palette
Basic shading principles (light, shadow, highlights)
Intermediate techniques (coloured shadows, backlighting, gradients, sharpness)
Advanced techniques (subsurface scatter, saturation drop-off, different materials)
Traditional media
Colour pencils
Watercolours
Markers
Screen tone
Mixed media combinations
Digital media
Tools/software required
Core skills for digital manga: Selection tools; Colouring tools; Layering
Preparation for digital colouring
Vector style line art and fills
Cel-art shading
Airbrush shading
Digital painting
Screen tone
Mixed media combinations
Chapter Five / Character Library (56 pp)
To provide inspiration, here are a variety of characters shown step-by-step from beginning to end in a mixture of traditional and digital styles.
Contemporary characters
Primary school (male and female)
Secondary school (male and female)
Young footballer boy
Young equestrian girl
Punk musician teenage male
Gothic/rockabilly teenage girl
Casual adult male (graphic designer)
Casual adult female (romance novelist)
Formal adult male (banker)
Formal adult female (editor)
Pensioner couple (male and female)
Historical characters
Medieval knight
Medieval princess
Renaissance artist (Leonardo Da Vinci)
Tudor noblewoman (Henry VIII’s wives)
Elizabethan pirate (Captain Jack Sparrow)
Georgian lady-in-waiting (Marie Antoinette-style)
Regency gentleman (Mr. Darcy)
Victorian lady (Lily Langtry or Sarah Bernhardt)
Japanese-specific characters
School kids in Japanese uniform (male & female)
EGL girl (Elegant Gothic Lolita)
EGA guy (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat)
Decora girl
Visual Kei guy
Ninja
Geisha
Samurai
Kimono (male and female)
Sci-fi and fantasy characters
Mecha pilot
Space marine
Steampunk explorer
Bionic agent
Vampire lord
Elven archer
Catgirl dancer
Beastmaster
Cleric
Sorceress
Chapter Six / Making Manga (30 pp)
You can draw the characters and their settings but how do you make a comic out of it all? This section is the culmination of all the skills you have built up throughout the book—it teaches you how to lay out your panels and pages to tell your stories in an exciting and intuitive way.
Preparation
Recommended tools, materials, and practices
Page setup and guidelines
Writing/directing scenes for Manga
Drawing comic pages
Reading direction and page flow
Intuitive panel order
Speech bubbles focus (size, shape, placement, fonts)
Sound effects and other devices
Panel shapes to influence pacing/understanding
Example layouts and uses
4-panel gag strips focus
Publishing comic pages
Traditional and digital considerations
Sizing and quality
Page 6 Copyright © 2012 Quarto Publishing plc
Screen tone focus
Cover and logo design
Web publishing
How to market your Manga
Resources (2 pp)
Glossary (2 pp)
Index and Credits (5 pp)

About the Author

About Sonia Leong

Sonia Leong is a professional Manga artist and illustrator with over 80 publications across magazines, comics/ graphic novels, art books, and film/TV projects to her credit. Since becoming a Winner of the first Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga (UK & Ireland) competition in 2005, her best-selling debut graphic novel Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (SelfMadeHero) has made it into recommended reading lists worldwide and has been translated into various global editions. She is the Company Secretary of Sweatdrop Studios, a UK-based Manga collective and independent publisher. Sonia has been teaching Manga workshops since 2004, where she began by giving lectures at the Artist & Illustrators Magazine Exhibition. Her UK appearances include the Guardian Hay Festival, the Victoria & Albert Museum and London County Hall. She frequently represents UK creators overseas, working with the British Council and invited as a special guest at events and conventions across Europe, America, and Asia.

Press

Colour with Claire

If I could have one talent I would love to be able to draw. I've always marveled at the skill of illustrators to be able to pick up a pencil and draw whatever is in their mind so perfectly on the page before them. When I try to draw it looks like a spider fell in an inkwell and ran across the paper! I usually trace characters that I have printed out on my lightboard, but it would be so special to be able to draw my own work instead of a wobbly imitation of someone else's. I've found it much easier to draw cartoons than realism, so Manga is an ideal starting point for me and I suppose many other wannabe artists! That's where Draw Manga comes in.

This book was written by Sonia Leong, a professional comic book artist and graphic designer who specialises in Anime and Manga. It is a comprehensive step-by-step guide on the famous Japanese art style and includes a plethora of information, written and pictorial, to help both the beginner and seasoned artist. Here's a look through some of the pages in the book.

I don't think there's any book out there that explains and demonstrates Manga in so much detail and in such a user-friendly way- this book even includes 28 tutorial QR codes that you can scan and watch Sonia draw in action, which of course can be much easier to follow than in print.

There is 256 full-colour pages in total for just over £13, and I'm certain anyone at any skill level will be able to pick up some great tips from Draw Manga to master this comic art form. Whether you're just starting out or have experience and want to hone your ability, this book contains everything from drawing your first character to marketing and publishing your own work.

http://www.colourwithclaire.com/blog/draw-manga-by-sonia-leong

Marian Carr, Bradford College

June 14

What makes this manga book special- this book really covers all the aspects of making a fully formed manga comic. There are a number of books on manga but these can sometimes simply be pose after pose of a fully formed character. This book shows you from the ground up all the elements. It doesn't predispose any prior drawing knowledge; yet in a friendly and helpful tone goes into a surprising amount of detail. This is a book from an author who is a self confessed fan of the genre and this shines through. By the end you'll be wanting to make and market your own manga!

Leisure Painter, The

Jan 14

Those of you with children or grandchildren will know of their fascination for drawing and painting cartoon figures known as Manga a Japanese word referring to comics and cartooning. This book will teach them everything they want to know. Using the book, as well as following techniques shown in online tutorials via a smartphone, laptop or desktop computer, they will be able to study every aspect of this fascinating art form.

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