How To Draw...What's the Best?

[KikiSpaghetti]

There are many how to draw manga books.....From Manga Mania by Hart to How to Draw Manga by the manga university. But who makes the best books? Most of my how to draw collection consists of mostly Harts, and they have proved helpful....But is it really taking my skills to the next level?  

[Errol McGillivray]

I lol'd.

Seriously though, I couldn't recommend any of them at all. I personally find them all to be trash that will hurt you more than help you in the long run if you're not already pretty sound in your skills before you pick them up.  

[Danaidae]

Personally, I've found that artbooks of any sort hinder my style because I tend to subconsciously integrate them into my drawing.

Which of those makes the best books, I leave to personal preference.  

[cookieDoUgh]

If you go for any, I recomment How To Draw Manga. They style they employ in those books are more traditional imo. I actually don't think it's bad to learn from How to Draw Manga, but I think you shouldn't use those books until you have reasonable basic knowledge and skill in drawing real things from life. Otherwise you'll just be drawing what they say but not knowing why sweatdrop  

[Ice Cold Hatred]

how to draw books in my opinion are no help  

[lemonsky]

In general they are not that helpful. But, I did pick up one of the most basic skills from a 'How to Draw Manga' book that my sister bought. It taught me to use a skeleton or base to structure my figures around. Before that I'd been drawing freestyle, which made my figures look very disproportioned.

So.. they're not completely useless after all. : D  

[LavenderMintRose]

lemonsky

In general they are not that helpful. But, I did pick up one of the most basic skills from a 'How to Draw Manga' book that my sister bought. It taught me to use a skeleton or base to structure my figures around. Before that I'd been drawing freestyle, which made my figures look very disproportioned.

So.. they're not completely useless after all. : D

Same with me.  

[Murkytea]

I find most how to draw books to be rather useless. Everything by Christopher Hart and most things in the How to draw Manga series, useless! (to me anyways)

I have actually found that the Wizard's How to Draw series is rather fun!  

[LavenderMintRose]

I had the first Wizard How To Draw book... it fell apart completely, so I kept some of the pages and threw the rest out. I found that one less useful to me than the How to Draw Manga books because it's geared toward people who want to work at DC and Marvel. It gives advice like "never draw anime", because "Marvel won't hire people who just copy from that Pokemon crap". Drawing anime is what I need to do for my art because the reason I draw is to sell my art in the Artist Alley at anime conventions.

 

[love the fruit 02]

how to draw manga books are great if you need to learn the fundementals
such as anatomy and facial stuctures. So if your not good in those areas i recommend them, however you should never buy Christopher Hart books,
I have seen to many people use his books and then complain later that there style is exactually the same as his.

So if you are going to by one i would by the ORIGINAL How to Draw Manga set  

[LavenderMintRose]

lycheebuddy

...however you should never buy Christopher Hart books,
I have seen to many people use his books and then complain later that there style is exactually the same as his.

neutral But he doesn't even draw most of the illustration in those books...

 

[Ohnomysweet]

Give all your How to Draw books to Goodwill or something because they are of absolutely no use to you. Like others have said you will subconsciously begin to develop a style that resembles the ones in those books and it seriously hinders your creativity.
If you want to get anywhere, buy an anatomy book with PHOTOS and not drawings. I couldn't possibly stress the importance of photographs enough. It would be preferable to buy an anatomy for artists book because it will include more than just anatomy and will focus on what is important for the artist to know rather than going on about things that are not going to help you.
I would also invest in a book of facial expressions and another book on movement. There is a wonderful book that has stills of film as a person walks, runs, jumps etc. (if I can find the name I will post a link).

Err, and Christopher Hart is a cartoonist, all the drawings in his books are compiled from other artists. So in the end you are getting two dozen different versions of how the skull can be drawn and no real image to reference. That is why photographs are so important, you can see for yourself how they look and change it to fit your style.  

[3_twisted_roses]

I prefer the manga books by Hart, cuz they tell great examples, techniques, and color ideas. Highly reccomend 3nodding  

[LifeAs]

I agree with everyone before hand but most important, you have to draw from life. Even when you stylize your art, you have to know what it really looks like before you can stylize it. So yeah, get out ur sketchbook and draw!  

[Yuri Mono]

LifeAs

I agree with everyone before hand but most important, you have to draw from life. Even when you stylize your art, you have to know what it really looks like before you can stylize it. So yeah, get out ur sketchbook and draw!