The Manga Artist's Handbook - Drawing Basic Characters ― The Easy 1-2-3 Method for Beginners

This book provides a revolutionary new 3-step tracing technique that beginning artists can use to quickly learn to draw manga characters just like a pro!

Every page presents a classic manga pose, from walking and running to jumping for joy, in three different steps:

1. A simple outline of the body
2. The defining elements of the character (like clothes, hair and facial expression) highlighted for easy tracing so you can practice placing them onto the basic body outline
3. The finished drawing (for inspiration).

Popular manga artists Junka Morozumi and Tomomi Mizuna guide you through a series of carefully graded lessons to build up your skills gradually.

• Chapter 1 deals with the basic poses of standing, walking, and running.
• Chapter 2 presents signature manga poses such as turning around in surprise and being angry with hands on hips.
• Chapter 3 practices various sitting and sleeping poses.
• Chapter 4 deals with drawing perspective, looking at characters from above, below and diagonal viewpoints.
• Chapter 5 focuses on 2-person manga poses including the classic prince with a princess in his arms.
• Chapter 6 lets readers try out the skills they have acquired by tracing and copying a full-page manga illustration containing multiple characters.

These six lessons are supplemented by exercises for capturing the right facial expressions, drawing the clothes and getting the perspective and body proportions right.

Beginning manga artists are in good hands with Morozumi, who lectures at art academies in Tokyo, and Mizuna, whose work has been exhibited in the U.S., Europe and beyond. If you've been looking for an easy-to-use guide to drawing manga, The Manga Artist's Handbook: Drawing Basic Characters is the perfect place to start!

Tokyo-based manga artist Junka Morozumi is the author of the Cloud Heaven and Fantasy Matrix manga series. She also writes books on drawing manga and on costume design for manga characters, and lectures on illustration at the Amusement Media Academy in Tokyo. This is the first of her books to be translated into English.

Tomomi Mizuna is a popular Japanese manga artist who is best known in her home country for her Fantasy Matrix manga series. She is known to Western readers for the English-language version of her children's manga series The Big Adventures of Majoko, published by Udon Entertainment. Her drawing style is influenced by many different genres, but often has a pop-art feel to it. Her colorful work has been exhibited from California to London.