Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley: 30 drawing lessons from the creator of Akiko [Kindle Edition]

Like most people, I discovered Mark Crilley from his excellent tutorials on Youtube. I had high expectations of this book because I know he's a great teacher, but I wasn't sure how it would compare with the videos. You're probably wondering what you get from buying a book that the Youtube videos don't show for free. I've watched lots of Mark Crilley's tutorials, but there's something special about seeing the drawing printed on the page in front of me, there as a reference. If you wanted to, you could trace drawings for practice. The book also allows you to go at your own pace, which may take much longer than a ten-minute video can allow for. I think the book works well on its own or in combination with the videos.

The book is divided into three chapters: Heads and Faces, Proportions and Poses, and Setting the Scene. The bulk of the book is made up of step-by-step guides for drawing specific character types. Adults, teens, kids and toddlers are covered, as well as chibis. The written instructions give tips about showing the gender, age and personality of the characters. One thing that sets this book apart is that several pages are devoted to portraying fuller-figured characters, something that I haven't seen much in other manga how-to books.

There are also more advanced tutorials for kissing poses and drawing a martial arts scene, as well as thorough instruction for drawing folds and wrinkles in clothing. Some of the most useful content is towards the end. There's information about inking drawings, laying out panels and adding speech bubbles and sound effects. One of the most interesting parts is a page showing Mark Crilley's process in creating a manga page from start to finish.

Quite a few page spreads feature a large number of small drawings, for example 101 manga eyes or 50 ways to draw hands. These are good for reference and include some pointers, but there are some that would be worth expanding into a full step-by-step tutorial. I'd love a whole book based on the 20 classic poses! Perspective and backgrounds are covered in the third chapter, and this is another area that I wouldn't mind seeing expanded. The tutorials cover the technicalities of perspective, but they don't show much about how to work characters into these settings. I would also have liked to see more discussion of shading and color. Everything included in the book is great and it's absolutely packed with helpful information on every page, but I do think the author has even more to offer and I'd love it if this turned out to be the first part of a series.

One final note: There's no nudity in this book; all figures are drawn either fully clothed or wearing simple underclothes. Busty vixens and muscle men are notably absent. There's no gore, the content is very family-friendly. This book would be an appropriate gift for adolescents interested in drawing manga. However, the detailed level of instruction would probably be too difficult for young children.

Don't let the title fool you. This is an art book first, 'how to draw' manga-style book second.

This book as a TON of useful information that other manga drawing series lack ranging from Art 101 topics like perspective and scale to basic anatomy. Even if you are not a complete newbie it serves as a nice refreasher course and reminder, all while keeping its manga slant. Beyond the educational values of the early lessons it also has great referance material ranging from various emotions, folds in clothing, hands, feet, and even various age groups/character archtypes.

It is a great educational resource and is presented in a very fun Japanese-inspired manner. I have a collection of maybe 20 'how to draw' books , including a 12 book series on how to draw in a manga style specifically. If I could only recommend one book it would have to be this one. Plus if this book is not enough for you be sure to check out Mark Crilley's YouTube channel for additional instruction.

I've been a fan of Mr. Crilley's work for some time. My Daughter loved his work Miki Falls, and I have to admit I enjoyed it, too. I have to say without reservation, Mr. Crilley's book is better that 95% of what's out there. He's also one of the few artists who actually has recognizable work when it comes to comics, manga and graphic novels. I think the only other one I'm aware of is the Shojo Fashion Manga Art School by Irene Flores (She's one of the artists for Windstorm's Welcome to Tranquility.)

I'm sure more than a few of us might have purchased other Manga how-tos from author's like Christopher Hart and been extremely disappointed at the quality of the artwork. I didn't get a sense of anything like that with this book. First of all, he's not trying to mimic anyone else's style. The drawings are done more so to illustrate technique then they are to look like someone else's work. I think he purposefully kept it that way so that people can use his lessons to develop their own style. He keeps the depictions simple and consistent throughout the book. It doesn't matter if you're looking at page five or page eighty five, all of the pictures are done by the same artist and its a good thing. One of the chief drawbacks of those other manga books is that they ricochet back and forth from one artistic style to another, confusing anyone who's trying to develop because instead of concentrating on one style, they're trying to do ten different anime styles. In addition, Mr. Crilley does an excellent job of giving little tips that are truly useful like the way he suggests laying out the hair when drawing.

I hope that he makes a few more of these kinds of books. There were some things I would have liked to have seen covered that he didn't. Mostly, I wonder if he uses any tricks in particular to manage consistent proportions between characters. I wish that someone would touch on things like perhaps laying out facial expressions that concentrates more on maintaining consistency for one character, rather than illustrating a hundred different faces. All in all, though. I think this is one of the better guides to Manga for us beginners.

I wish other books took these kinds of things into account. As it stands now, I keep two books in my bag next to my sketch pad. This is one of them, the other is the one I mentioned by Ms. Flores.