Best How To Create Comics & Manga
In these action-packed pages, graphic novelist Mark Crilley shows you step-by-step how to achieve an authentic manga stylefrom drawing faces and figures to laying out awesome, high-drama spreads. This is the book fans have been requesting for years, packed with expert tips on everything from hairstyles and clothing to word bubbles and sound effects, delivered in the same friendly, easy-to-follow style that has made Mark Crilley one of the "25 Most Subscribed to Gurus on YouTube." Mark Crilley is the creator of several manga books, including the Akiko series, Miki Falls , the Billy Clikk novels and Brody's Ghost .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"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. The written instructions give tips about showing the gender, age and personality of the characters. There's information about inking drawings, laying out panels and adding speech bubbles and sound effects. 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."
"I got this for my artist son, but tried it myself first to see whether it was as easy as this author makes it look---and it was (well, at least the very first drawing was easy)."
"Great book for beginners wanting to learn how to draw manga."
"It is bad because it does not teach you "real" drawing before it gives you a specialized drawing (like manga style), but then again, its not a how to "figure draw" book its a manga only. It lists a lot of body tipes, proportions, shows the reader how to draw head-eye-hands and other usefull stuff. It even has a collection of eye tipes, and a list of moods, BUT when i got to that point i realized...instead of explaning and showing why "sad" experssion makes the character look sad, it shows the reader a sad manga character..."here it is, this is how it looks like"."
In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Richard Williams has won more than 250 international awards for his animation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"One of the best well written art books I have read in a long time, Mr. Williams is full of knowledge, which he generously shares with others."
"This is a must have for everyone learning animation, it could be used by yourself or by teachers to teach about animation principles, and the amount of knowlege in the content of the book and animation exercises is amazing."
"It has so much detail to it that it still blows my mind every time I. open it."
"If you are getting into animation this is the book for you; in depth information on all the necessary topics that you need."
"An excellent book."
"Bought this as a gift for a friend when she started her Animation degree."
"This is one of the most useful animation books I have every purchased."
"One of the most detailed animating books I have purchased so far, it is really helpful."
Nothing satisfies anime artists more than creating original characters for comics and graphic novels—and bestselling author Christopher Hart helps them achieve this goal. Christopher Hart is the leading author of art instruction books in the US.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am a professional animator myself and this books reminds me of the things I learned while getting my fine arts degrees. And the images are large enough to trace with tracing paper so my daughter can begin to get a feel for the correct angles and proportions of the character's features."
"As a budding artist, there were the typical things she claimed to have trouble with, and as soon as she got this book she immediately went to work."
"I would say this is a decent good book but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners because the book doesn't completely go over the steps."
"The most amazing Anime drawing guide ever."
"My granddaughter loves drawing anime characters."
"When it arrived, i skimmed through the pages, and I can assure that the contents inside both have already inspired me, and will be very helpful in improving upon my current skills."
"My daughters review because it was a gift for her: I love that it actually explains the steps on how to draw specific things; however I didn’t like that it didn’t explain how to draw the hands, eyes and heads thouroughly."
Best How to Create Anime & Cartoons
In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Richard Williams has won more than 250 international awards for his animation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"One of the best well written art books I have read in a long time, Mr. Williams is full of knowledge, which he generously shares with others."
"This is a must have for everyone learning animation, it could be used by yourself or by teachers to teach about animation principles, and the amount of knowlege in the content of the book and animation exercises is amazing."
"It has so much detail to it that it still blows my mind every time I. open it."
"If you are getting into animation this is the book for you; in depth information on all the necessary topics that you need."
"An excellent book."
"Bought this as a gift for a friend when she started her Animation degree."
"This is one of the most useful animation books I have every purchased."
"One of the most detailed animating books I have purchased so far, it is really helpful."
Best How to Create Comics
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. “If you read, write, teach or draw comics; if you want to; or if you simply want to watch a master explainer at work, you must read this book.” (Neil Gaiman). “Cleverly disguised as an easy-to-read comic book, Scott McCloud’s simple-looking tome deconstructs the secret language of comics while casually revealing secrets of time, space, art and the cosmos!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Helpful for not just understanding comics, but also the concepts of semiotics."
"Excellent book selection for learning the history of comics!"
"This book is an incredible read for anyone interested in comic books."
"I consider this book as important as Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit and The Illusion Of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson."
"This book is very well written and the ideas are clearly explained."
"It's everything I wanted a comic about comics to be."
"For example, it isn't a history of comics or a how-to book for aspiring comics artists, but McCloud does show different ways of drawing the same thing, and points out how each different style carries a slightly different message for the reader."
"McCloud's books are amazing!"
Best How to Create Manga
In these action-packed pages, graphic novelist Mark Crilley shows you step-by-step how to achieve an authentic manga stylefrom drawing faces and figures to laying out awesome, high-drama spreads. This is the book fans have been requesting for years, packed with expert tips on everything from hairstyles and clothing to word bubbles and sound effects, delivered in the same friendly, easy-to-follow style that has made Mark Crilley one of the "25 Most Subscribed to Gurus on YouTube." Mark Crilley is the creator of several manga books, including the Akiko series, Miki Falls , the Billy Clikk novels and Brody's Ghost .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"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. The written instructions give tips about showing the gender, age and personality of the characters. There's information about inking drawings, laying out panels and adding speech bubbles and sound effects. 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."
"My son loves to draw and he uses this for his artwork."
"my daughter and niece draws these even before the book."
"I bought this for my son who loves to draw."
"I'm currently going to University for Art, so I already have a bit of training in drawing, but I don't think this would be very hard for absolute beginners to understand."
"I've been wanting to grab this book for ages, but the paper copy was cost-prohibitive for me at the time."
"but what i think of this book is that the art isn't very "eye-catching"."
"I saw other books with more pages, but this seems to be newer."
Best Plant & Animal Art
Draw 50 Animals: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Elephants, Tigers, Dogs, Fish, Birds, and Many More...
Draw 50 Animals is a step-by-step, easy-to-use drawing book that will help kids and adults alike develop their technical drawing skills and build a repertoire of animal subjects. Fifty furry, scaly and feathered friends are here for aspiring young artists to draw.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I bought this book for my special needs daughter in the hope that it would introduce her in the art of drawing and help her to easily understand each step in drawing animals."
"Got this for my little brother to get him off of the tablet and phone once in a while."
"Much less material than I expected."
"This book is great for beginning artists."
"It arrived quickly and, as described."
"This book was purchased for my 9 year old grandson who loves to draw, & was spending a week with us during the summer."
"Mailing issue: The book was torn and folded."
"Shipping was fast and good quality."
Best Pen & Ink Drawing
Chalkfulloflove was created to encourage, inspire and make you giggle, so just pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in to start your own unique, adorable lettering creations! Hardcover, oversized gold wire-o binding and gold corner protectors Step by step instructions on how to create various fonts and designs Thick premium paper, perfect for lettering Beautiful coffee table book and practical workbook. A day in her life looks like taking a crazy number of photos, dancing in the garage while packaging up orders, and cuddling with her pups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is beautiful!"
"I just started brush lettering and already trashed one pen on another book, so this book is perfect in my opinion."
"Gorgeous book!"
"BUT, the blank pages.... About 45% of the book is blank pages, not to mention all the white space. Pages 96-110 are ENTIRELY BLANK but for the page number, and so is almost half of the book."
"I should have listened to the other people who reported that this book was full of nothing, but I was encouraged by the the claim that additional content was added."
"If you want to learn upper case, you have to also buy Hand Lettering 201."
"I bought the book on my cell phone and should have taken the time to read the reviews on this book."
"In purchasing a $30.00 book I expect more inside information, tips and tricks and showing me HOW she achieves her style of lettering, etc... For example, the flourishes pages literally just tells you that flourishes and illustrations are great to add to your lettering then shows you a 2" x 2" example of the author's own "Bless Your Heart" design (with zero instructions on how she achieved it) and has about a 6"x3" area next to that design that says "Practice Here.""
Best Colored Pencil Guides
Take colored pencils beyond the ordinary with Colored Pencil Painting Bible ! ALYONA NICKELSEN is an award-winning artist whose work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions as well as in most of the country’s major art magazines, including American Artist, American Artist Drawing, The Artist’s Magazine, International Artist, American Art Collector, and Art Business News.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I also liked the fact that it said Colored Pencil PAINTING, because I have always thought the style and technique I favor - a heavy, opaque coloring, rather than a soft sketchy style - was more akin to painting than the drawing/sketching that most people think of when they think of colored pencils. I knew that when I was last heavily involved in this medium, a good 25 or so years ago, this style or approach, and the colored pencil medium in general was still considered a relatively new medium (in the general scheme of artist's media through the ages) and that people had been experimenting and pushing the techinique envelope, and new products had been developing as well. Not only does this book cover the ultrarealistic effects and luminous colors that are the author's forte, it also gives a good overview of principles of design, composition, color theory, fundamentals of light, shading and shadows, and other topics that are applicable to just about all visual art media, not just colored pencil. The focus of the book, as promised by the title, is on colored pencil drawing (painting), specifically with "dry" wax or oil based pencils (not watercolor pencils) So naturally a lot of pages are devoted to materials, media, supplies and tools. It covers the difference and similarities between wax and oil based pencils and specific brands thereof - including hardness, blendability, color range, and the "feel" of the pencil on the page plus an appendix with charts of all the major manufacturers' colored pencils and their ratings for lightfastness. This book is an essential in the library of anyone who is interested in making art with colored pencils."
"(Hopefully you can see that without my help) also I included a sample of a crystal candle stick, a leaf with a water droplet or two, pears, an apple, a brass pitcher, we'll you can tell what they all are except maybe red , yellow and blue peppermill."
"May I suggest additionally using the same techniques with water and watercolor pencils too, if you don't feel like getting fancy."
"cherry, orange-peeled and unpeeled, red pepper--cut and uncut, peach--cut and uncut, strawberry, indian corn in husk, dandelion, mortar and pestle, brass pitcher, crumpled paper, white eggs, glass of water, multicolored glass shaker, swirled marbles, and decorative perfume bottle."
"If you're an intermediate or advanced artist with colored pencil experience this is a good book. If you're new to colored pencils like I am this is not the right book for you. And it shows one small photo of the drawing. You need a lot of experience drawing and working with colors and so much else to create drawings that look ultra realistic."
Best Pastel Drawing
Turn your stress into success with this best-selling motivational swear word adult coloring book by John T! Jam packed with funny and unique motivational adult coloring book pages! Don't forget to pick up a copy for your friends, family, and co-workers and check out the other swear word coloring books by John T! My name is John T here is something about me I am an all-around artist and best-selling publisher-ist My catalog contains over 10 adult coloring books but with a sorta different look you will find swear word designs to make you laugh when you feel like to cry Did someone ruin your day?
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I took 1 star off because the coloring pages are rather basic and I like a little more detail in my coloring books."
"Bought as a gift, recipient is very pleased with the quality, black pages, phrases, and lineart!"
"I've already finished this book."
"Love the humor in this coloring book."
"This book is hysterical... purchased as a gift and recipient LOVED it!"
"Snarky and fun to color."
"This was a gift."
"You're basically just coloring words."
Best Pencil Drawing
How to Draw Cool Stuff: Basics, Shading, Texture, Pattern and Optical Illusions is the second book in the How to Draw Cool Stuff series. Illustrated optical illusions involve images that are sensed and perceived to be different from what they really are, showing examples of how the mind and the eyes can play tricks on each other. Catherine V. Holmes is an art/ELA teacher and visual artist from historical Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The author starts with the basics and builds up to more complicated drawings."
"Simple step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow and sample drawings to show how to get there."
"Some people can't automatically draw illusions, not sure if anyone can."
"The Artist breaks things down so a person can understand how to draw!"
"I love the cool things that I have learned to draw so far and am looking forward to learning more."
"I wasn't sure that this book could live up to the first one I read but it does!"
"Some really basic instructions."
"Lot's of cool examples."
Best Coloring Books for Grown-Ups
Through a series of creative and quirky prompts, acclaimed guerilla artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in destructive acts — poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting pages with coffee, coloring outside the lines, and more — in order to experience the true creative process. “ Wreck This Journal encourages you to stop fretting about quality and start relishing the artistic process.” —Oprah.com. “I love this book and the playful way that Keri Smith teaches people the act of creating by putting you right on the spot. Wreck This Journal is a fun, interactive book that you will want to work in every day. “Wreck this Journal makes a great gift for someone who's going through a stressful time, needs a form of release, or anyone who could use a few minutes of fun.” — Jactionary. “Calling all bookworms and creative doodlers, Wreck This Journal is the perfect book to spruce up your summer. “A conceptual artist and author luring kids into questioning the world and appreciating every smell, texture and mystery in it.” — TIME Magazine.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I never even realized I was creative until this book came around."
"Somewhere in the book you will find a page that tells you to attach a string to the spine of the book and swing wildly."
"The book so them we are on the hunt for those. It's a very creative book and I think she really likes it cause it's everything you have been told to never do with books."
"My one complaint is that if you did everything the book tells you to do, the book would never survive."
"They had fun throwing it out the window, freezing it, taking it in the shower...just all kinds of things. My daughters girl scout troop uses them as well and they have fun."
"I plan to purchase another copy for myself, it will be a fun summer activity."
"The book can be purchased with several different front covers, so you can choose the one you like the best (they’re all the same book, so don’t get the set unless you want 4 of the same book in order to start another when you finish your first one or give the others as a gift)."
"My 10 yr old daughter loves this book."
Best Figure Drawing Guides
Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces is an inspiring, mixed media workbook on how to draw and paint beautiful, fashion illustration-style faces. "From an upbeat, lighthearted point of view, this workbook, written by working artist and art educator Davenport, encourages readers to get in touch with their creativity through drawing female faces in whimsical styles. Simplified styles of drawing prevail, but the author still takes on anatomy and underlying facial structure, explaining how to represent them convincingly in two dimensions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is great - not a quick flick, but an ongoing reference which has helped me understand more about drawing portraits with my own unique style."
"The book has a breezy, cheerful quality, but don't let Jane's relaxed attitude fool you -- she teaches serious drawing techniques. The author also has crazy, beautiful artistic skill and the book is liberally illustrated with her lovely and inspiring work."
"Beautiful Book, pictures and colors soft and enjoyable to look at, directions easy to follow."
"I have just demanded my husband send me to "my room" (aka studio) for an unreasonable amount of time! I purchased the art lesson - Whimsical faces this past weekend and have just finished my second try."
"Wonderful book!"
"I can't comment on whether this is suitable for experienced artists, only for myself, so if you want to learn to draw beautiful faces, you are a nervous beginner or looking for ways to make your faces more interesting with colour and shading then this is well worth purchasing."
"An update: I am now enrolled in my 7th online class with Jane and I can tell you, buy the book AND treat yourself to her classes!"
"i got my book in september and after two weeks of reading it i joined Jane Davenport's online drawing course and i ve been taking courses with her regularly."
Best Drawing Specific Objects
Using superb, specially commissioned photographs of male and female models, together with historical and contemporary works of art and her own illustrations, Sarah Simblet shows us how to see inside the human frame, to map its muscle groups and skeletal structure, to capture its balance, poise, and grace. Sarah Simblet teaches at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, and at the Royal College of Art in London.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Arrived quickly, in great shape, just as advertised."
"Fantastic."
"Complementary for your figure drawing lessons, ilustration and art very well done, my only, if I could say "issue", was they didnt focus on the anatomy of eyes, nose and lips and facial tissue."
"This book is the best anatomy book i have seen.the see through sheets of internal anatomy line up with with actual human photo's so you see where in the body they really lay,and how it affects the topographic(?"
"An awesome book!"
"I find that the pictures are useful as supplementary material to more rigorous books, such as Goldfinger's famous Human Anatomy for Artists. Also, most of the models that you find in online image stores (or other anatomy books, for that matter) are not nearly as fit or well-proportioned as the models from this book. The pictures you get are very good, but trading some of the more "artistic" poses for neutral positions from multiple angles would make the book much more useful. If you want to develop figure drawing skills and care less about learning the exact details of skeletons and muscles, I'd recommend the books by Andrew Loomis and Gottfried Bammes(his German books, not the English ones!"
"I bought this book when I took a figure drawing class, it was helpful in studying the bone and muscle structures."