Manga Mania™: Shonen: Drawing Action-Style Japanese Comics

Thought this book bears Christopher Hart's name it doesn't contain any of his art, not a big deal since 90% of the contributing artists are great.Feels more like a "coffee table book" than a "how to book", but then again it never really claims to be a how to book.I have just recently come to the realization that 80% of "how to books" in the market all follow the same approach to "supposedly" teaching you how to draw...its a poor approach that unintentionally encourages you to copy and produce flat lifeless work. This book is no different, don't get me wrong the art is great and the character designs are cool, but the tutorials are poor and don't really get into any real detail or cover any basic structures of drawing (save for the head), then again its not a "beginners guide" but it would be nice to have a all in one book.Its also covers some page design and a few other subjects.I suppose its a great "ideas" book since it covers a wide range of "Shonen" inspired characters. But in my opinion if you really want to learn how to capture the action of "Manga" try Michael D. Mattesi's "FORCE: Dynamic life drawing for animators"

Hi there! I am an art teacher. This book is really good for many reasons. First, it gives you everything to create a figure from the start. From the basic 8 head figure to the sticky one. Also it has a great simplified scheme for drawing the head. All my students love the style. Its seats on the "neutral side" of the manga aesthetics. But the best point is the huge amount of poses it gives. From the most subtle to the most radical ones. Even some students that do not want to draw manga, sometimes check this book in order to find good ideas for poses. I usually find that people are too harsh with Christopher Hart books on reviews. Okay, they might not be the best one, but they are usually very well done and cover the basics to more finished steps quite nicely. This one is no exception on this matter. Great book. Strongly recommended.

My daughter loved getting this book and loves working on her drawing techniques. It shipped fast and was in great condition.

The book is supposed to be giving cliche'd character designs because it is good to know the fundamentals before people break off into complex personalities. I liked most of the art style, I think obviously an art book should be allowed to judge it's content by the talent. It covers some good points about action such as the center of gravity and portraying ongoing actions with a still drawing.If you are interested in stepping into fighting-styled comics it doesn't really hurt to look.

If you want to step up your original character manga game, get this book! There are many things to learn about Shonen Manga as an art form, and this book has them!

Judging from my granddaughters response this was a major successful purchase. She was so excited and happy!

Good

It had good tips but I would highly recommend getting a book on the basics before buying this one.

Great Book ! I would recommend it for anyone who wants to draw there own manga.

Not a lot of detail on the basic approaches to drawing, it deals more with action and setting scenes, but since I already had a lot of his other books that was ideal for me.

Its realy rare to find a good book for learning manga. This book has the taste of learning. I recommend it.