'The Art of Drawing Manga' serves as an excellent resource for budding manga artists, offering comprehensive guidance on character creation, scene composition, and storytelling techniques. With clear step-by-step instructions, this book helps readers to unleash their creativity and develop their own unique style. I still can't draw, but many of my talented students enjoyed this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an advanced copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love to draw and have been working on improving, especially now that I draw more digitally.

Unfortunately, I can't draw people.

Really, I barely can manage stick people haha.

My daughter and I both love manga and the fun look of manga characters so I've been working to try and draw manga characters. I was excited when I came across this book and thought it might just be what I needed to improve.

I enjoyed all the different styles included and love the easy step-by-step instructions. My daughter has even learned quite a bit about drawing manga characters since using this book (she definitely draws better than I do!).

Definitely recommend for anyone wanting to learn or improve their drawing skills for drawing manga.

This book covers a lot more than I had expected. I thought it was just going to be showing people how to draw manga characters, which it does do that, but it also covers additional things such as page layout and composition, making this book an ideal place to start for anyone interested in learning to draw manga characters and also how to put them into manga stories.
A good book that will appeal to what is now much bigger than a niche market out there.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to be given the chance to read a copy of this book in advance in exchange for a review. Having already been a fan of Talia's work as well as a big fan of anime and manga in general, I was excited to learn more about her approach to teaching some of the essential fundamentals of drawing manga. While the majority of the information presented wasn't particularly new to me, it was presented in an engaging way that I really enjoyed and would love to own for reference. I'm keen to get my hands on my own copy as soon as I can!

I was impressed by the scope that the book covered, from basics such as what tools and materials to use, to a breakdown of two example manga pages at the end of the book. You can clearly see how familiar and passionate Talia is about manga as she breaks down common story tropes and artistic techniques where relevant throughout the chapters. She often mentions aspects of Japanese culture that are commonly reflected in the art and stories as well where relevant, which many readers will find helpful and interesting. I also appreciated that Talia draws characters throughout the book with a range of skin tones and hair textures, which isn't often the case in manga tutorial books. This detail makes her already great art style look more appealing and accessible for more readers in my opinion, which is exactly what you'd want to see from this kind of guide.

Even though this was a great guide, there were some aspects where I felt the book could have gone into a bit more detail. Chapter 1: The Basics had a great overview of tools and materials for both digital and traditional manga art, but it would have been helpful to have more specifics like recommendations for brands and programs (although there's a possibility this could have been excluded due to copyright or something similar). The colour theory and shading explanations in this chapter were worded concisely and along with the shading techniques would make a great quick reference to keep on hand for newer artists as well as more experienced ones.

Chapter 2: Faces & Hair and Chapter 3: Anatomy & Poses had similar information to many manga tutorial books I've read in the past. However, the expressions and hands/feet sections seemed to break these areas down in a more concise and easier to understand way. The author's way of emphasizing different aspects by highlighting them with colour is especially helpful in these chapters. This section is what convinced me to buy my own copy to refer to after reviewing, as drawing hands and feet is something I've struggled with in my own art for a long time.
I would have liked to have seen more detail in the clothing and accessories section about how fabric folds and creases in relation to the character wearing them, as this is something that artists often have difficulty with regardless of skill level. In addition, a tutorial specifically on drawing eyes would be super helpful for beginners, especially as this is such an iconic aspect of manga art. These chapters are still a useful reference to have especially for beginner artists even without these two aspects, however.

It feels like Chapter 4: Creatures could have been an entirely separate book due to the amount of detail (which would honestly be great to see). I felt that it seemed a bit longer than necessary due to the multiple tutorials, and it seems like the book would have benefitted from less detail here and more in perspective and storytelling. The tutorials that are included in this chapter are all easy to follow however, and the section on mascots is the highlight for me.

Chapter 5: Character Development is a little odd as most of the chapter is focused on the tutorials of how to colour the hero and villain with traditional and digital mediums rather than the visual character design and writing aspects that I expected. The breakdowns of different common character types of heroes, villains, and sidekicks are concise and easy to follow so more detail on common design elements for these character types would have gone perfectly here.

I was impressed to see that Chapter 6: Full Scenes had exercises with one-, two-, and three-point perspective scenes, as this isn't something I've often seen covered in manga tutorial books. The explanations of these explain the basics well but would be even better if an extra section about how to add characters and creatures was added instead of just briefly mentioned as this is something myself and many artists struggle with.

Chapter 7: Making Your Own was one of the strongest chapters in my opinion, and one that would be great as a reference for both beginner and more intermediate artists to have. In this chapter, Talia describes the main visual elements of manga storytelling before going through the creation of two different sample pages. It was great to see examples of both an action scene and a more slow-paced page, as these two sequences are done very different stylistically. The end part of this chapter also gives some additional exercise ideas about experimenting and trying out different styles as well as using references and tracing (and when which is appropriate). I loved Talia's inclusion of examples of her own art throughout the years as well as her encouraging ending notes for the reader, as you can really see her enthusiasm for drawing itself as well as manga come through both the art and her words here.

Chapter 8: Templates has some great examples of different poses and anatomy that would be a helpful reference for beginner to intermediate artists to be able to easily flip to at the back of the book and finishes off the book nicely.

I think that overall, this is a great guide that gives a helpful overview to many aspects of the manga drawing process. I would recommend it to beginner artists who are at least a little comfortable at the basics of drawing figures, as well as intermediate artists who are looking to get more specifically into manga style drawing and comic making.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for this ARC!

When I looked at the title I assumed that this was going to be about drawing characters in a manga style but this book surprised me by being so much more. It has step by step lessons on page composition/layout, expressions, types of hero or villain character designing. How to choose costumers, genres, color theory. It is a fantastic resource for people just starting out making their own comics or drawing in an manga style.

I’ve been making comics for awhile so it wasn’t necessarily new information to me but it’s presented so clearly and thoughtfully that I’m going to purchase my own copy for reference. This is a must have for new artists and mangaka!

This is a great all encompassing book for people looking to learn how to draw manga. It gives a really nice detailed explanation of the basics and where to start. It also goes really in depth looking at the different aspects of faces like the hair and eyes. I really liked that they included the color section with complementary colors and the best ways to pick and stylize. I had a lot of fun doing the different expressions and practicing different characters.

A solidly illustrated piece that is nice to look at in many places and has a very surface-level instruction to it. This is not breaking any new ground, but it does provide a solid explanation for the basics. There is at least a little bit of a 'Draw the Rest of the Owl' aspect to the instruction that can't be overlooked, however.

This is a very good book, both in terms of content and presentation.

From an artistic point of view I think this book is perfect for beginners as well as for advanced artists.

The classic codes of manga have been well explained and detailed. Allowing beginners to understand and apprehend the manga universe in all its categories "shonen", "shojo", "illustrations", "manga" up to the "chibi"

Keep the good work !

This is a beautiful book with lovely drawings and examples for the aspiring mangaka. There are many great tips and a few pages guide the reader (artist) in step by step processes to draw faces, postures and even examples of digital art colouring. The book seems to be catered more for beginner artists who are just starting out, though there are places where it would have been great to have seen more examples/tutorials instead of a brief set of tips. That said, the examples provided are thorough and the art stunning. Talia Horsburgh is clearly a talented artist.

This was a fun book to read and learn from. However as a beginner, it was a bit hard for me to follow. The Art of Drawing Manga is written by Talia Horsburgh and is an interesting book that helps a person learn to draw manga. I was really excited for this because it said that you do not need to be an expert to try out this book. However, I am a beginner and I had quite a bit of trouble with the book.
I liked how this book was set up with a detailed introduction in the beginning. It was really helpful as I did not know anything about drawing manga. But once I got to the drawing part, it got complicated. The first thing it tried to show me how to draw was a face. But it did not really have a lot of steps so it was hard for me to follow. I did like the way the book was set up though, and I think that if a person already knows how to draw this is perfect for them.
The Art of Drawing Manga is a great book especially if you already have some drawing skills. However it would be a harder book to start with if you are a beginner. All in all, I would recommend this book but I would probably recommend it to those who already have a firm foundation in regards to drawing.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, a positive review was not required.

tl;dr
A great resource for beginner or hobby artists with very nice artwork, and some incredibly useful tips. Covers a lot of ground, so doesn't manage to be terribly in depth.

About
A how-to-draw book covering manga-styled artwork with succinct notes on character design, anatomy, and page layouts. Contains several step-by-step instructions of a variety of characters to draw.

What I Liked
I've been drawing for a long time, so these days most of my art books are references, and not how-tos. However, people often ask me for suggestions for beginners, so I'm always on the lookout for a new how-to-draw book. It's always been a struggle; there are a lot of how to draw manga books on the market that just sort of... look bad. This is not one of them. The art is very cute and competently done. Poses, perspective, and other complex ideas are well-executed. The coloring is particularly good, and I am more than happy to learn from this artist. The tips that we get are very helpful. (e.g. Breaking down hair, hands, or feet, into "zones.") Anatomy is consistent, and I appreciated that there were multiple examples of most things. The step-by-step content breaks down shapes really well, and is easy to follow. Chapters cover the basics in a quick and easy to understand manner. My favorite section was how to draw hair. I love how the artist draws hair, and I'm glad I got to learn from it. Overall, I think this is a very accessible book, especially for newcomers to art.

What Wasn't for Me
Being good at something doesn't necessarily mean being good at teaching it, and I think the text of the book falls short of the quality of the art in a few places. For example, a couple step-by-step illustrations outline the shape of the body first before adding clothing, but I can't find anywhere in the text (specifically the section about clothing) that discusses why this is important. Very little time is spent on how to color, which is a shame because I adore the artist's coloring style and would like to have learned more about it. Not a lot of body types explored in the anatomy section.

I really enjoyed reading this book because it actually explains what you’re supposed to do. A lot of art books only show you pictures and they are never detailed enough. This one had at least 4 drops for each type of drawing. I also loved that it actually shows you how to outline the shape of the face and body. It’s nice to have all the steps in one book. As a beginner artist that enjoys reading manga and watching anime, this book was extremely helpful.