Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics, and Fantasy: Book & Workbook
Rating: 3
Thank you Walter Foster Publishing for providing an e-copy through NetGalley.

Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics, and Fantasy is a detailed guide to the tools and techniques of creating comics and manga. Readers will learn the basics like line drawing, shading techniques, shapes, textures, perspective, and inking, before moving on to the four categories: Comics and Graphic Novels, Manga & More, Science Fiction & Visions of the Future, and Fascinating Fantasy. In each category, a 2-page (or longer) spread is dedicated to a certain archetype character, from hero and villain to comic relief and ninja. They can get pretty specific, and each page instructs you how to draw that exact character, from the initial shapes to detailed shading. The bulk of the book and workbook have these “How to draw ____ character” pages, and, overall, this type of teaching is not really helpful in how to draw comic books or manga. Aside from the basics, readers will only learn specific characters to draw and ways to draw them, but not how to draw characters from scratch/your imagination or character design in general. You also will not learn visual storytelling, composition, environment design, creature design, comic/manga page layout, gestures and poses, or anatomy (which is essential to drawing characters). Also, the book assumes that readers can draw complicated items like intricate clothing, weapons, and robots, which are not intuitive for beginners. The workbook is exactly just the main book - all text and images are roughly the same - but with a small space dedicated to practice drawing and not as many characters (so you only need the main book and a sketchbook, as the workbook doesn’t provide anything). Despite the cool characters and step-by-step instructions, the book is bare bones when it comes to variety and readers will have a hard time learning how to draw from these books.

Who Would I Recommend this to: Artists who want to draw fun characters for practice.

Review Date: December 30, 2023

This is a treasure trove of all sorts of ideas that help you as an artist whether you’re creating a webcomic or just looking to become better with a pencil and paper or photoshop. Lots of great ideas and tips and techniques. I love the variety of styles and step by step ideas to help you find your own way to create art.

I really enjoyed reading this book and the space given in each section to practice yourself as you went along. I wish a little more time had been given to how to draw eyes, but otherwise it was a pretty good overview. I also liked that coloring digitally was included, and everything was cleanly broken up into easy-to-follow steps.

Sebbene molti dei consigli all'interno di questo breve libro siano molto interessanti e spiegati correttamente, l'ho trovato decisamente nel complesso un grande salto nel buio.
Avrei sicuramente inserito all'inizio una sezione sull'anatomia molto più dettagliata, magari qualche codice QR che rimanda a dei video collegati in cui si mostrano le varie tecniche di disegno, inchiostrazione e disegno digitale.
Ma la cosa che più mi ha infastidita, è il grande e confusionario mix di stili dei vari personaggi presentati all'interno di questo libro. Credo che sia meglio fare un libro per ogni stile di disegno, uno per i manga, uno per i comics e uno per i personaggi fantasy e sci-fi.
Inoltre per il disegno e la colorazione digitale ci vorrebbe assolutamente un libro a parte.
E' davvero tutto molto introduttivo e basico e nessuno degli stili (a parte quello della colorazione digitale della ragazza manga) mi ha particolarmente interessata.

Speravo di più!

Grazie Netgalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo in anteprima!

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While a lot of the advices within this short book is very interesting and well explained, I definitely found it overall to be a big leap in the dark.
I would certainly have included a much more detailed section on anatomy at the beginning, perhaps some QR codes that link to videos showing the various techniques, inking and digital drawing techniques.
But the thing that annoyed me the most is the large and confusing mix of styles of the various characters presented in this book. I think it's best to make a book for each drawing style, one for manga, one for comics and one for fantasy and sci-fi characters.
Furthermore, digital drawing and coloring would absolutely require a separate book.
It's all very introductory and basic and none of the styles (aside from the digital coloring of the manga girl) particularly interested me.

I was hoping for more!

Thanks Netgalley for letting me read it!

Content is very good but much of it is present in the Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics volume of which this is companion that is much richer. so I do not see the reason to buy both.

A Fun Workbook for Aspiring Artists

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The "Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics & Fantasy Workbook" by the Walter Foster Creative Team is a delightful and comprehensive guide for budding artists looking to delve into the worlds of manga, comics, and fantasy art.

What sets this workbook apart is its hands-on approach. It offers aspiring artists a chance to practice their skills and learn new techniques through a variety of engaging exercises. The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, making it accessible to artists of all skill levels. The book covers essential topics like character design, storytelling, and creating dynamic compositions, providing a solid foundation for those looking to explore these art forms.

The workbook is beautifully illustrated, and filled with inspiring artwork and examples that encourage creativity. While it's packed with valuable information, it manages to maintain a playful and enjoyable tone throughout. This makes it an excellent resource for young artists looking to improve their craft.

However, one minor drawback is that some sections may feel a bit simplistic for experienced artists. While it's fantastic for beginners, those with more advanced skills might find themselves craving more in-depth techniques and challenges.

In summary, the "Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics & Fantasy Workbook" is an excellent resource for novice artists interested in manga, comics, and fantasy art. It's a hands-on, fun, and educational guide that can help you embark on your artistic journey. Whether you're a young artist looking to learn the basics or an adult seeking a creative outlet, this workbook provides an enjoyable and informative experience.

This is the perfect guide for anyone who is looking to develop an understanding of the basics when drawing manga. It gives guidance on how to draw faces, poses and takes the artist step by step through different projects. It also gives the basic instructions for inking, shading, linework and has a simple section about how to develop digital art skills.
I really had a lot of fun working on the projects in this book and it helped me develop some new skills.
The perfect book for the beginner artist looking to branch out into this fun area.
Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for providing an arc in return for an honest review.

Perfect for beginners, the Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics & Fantasy Workbook begins with basic pencil techniques, such as how to create texture and shading. Then follow along as you use those techniques to create unique characters step by step, with space provided on each page for you to follow along, as you learn to create your own realistic drawings.

A great how-to book for people who want to improve their drawing skills.

I love this Art Workbook!

It’s easy to follow and understand, love the step by step tutorials. I draw a lot myself and was still able to get a lot out of this workbook!

Thanks to NetGalley and Walter Foster Creative Team for giving me this ARC!

This book is somewhere in between being for beginner or for intermediate artists. It teaches the general knowledge of texture, shading, linework, and inking techniques. But it doesn't dive into much details beyond that. Some of the art demonstrations and follow along guides would probably be hard for an actually beginner to follow.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster for the opportunity to read this ARC !

This was generally a really good book. I thought it was insightful talking about shading and different texture as you can make with pencil work that also goes into colouring lighten dark and also about character creation so I think this is actually a really good book, especially if you’re starting off, or you want to go into comic writing or manga writing. I would highly recommend picking up this as one of your old Staples as it was easy to learn, it was simple. It wasn’t complicated are tall, and it was relatable.

Good for beginner to intermediate level. I like that they include information for photoshop and drawing on something like a tablet rather than just pencil to paper.

Short but interesting, with a good range of tutorial, although they could have been more detailed.

This a not a beginner's book, but it can be interesting for the people who want to get some extra training while not knowing what to draw.

This was an 'alright' book. It's purpose, to teach beginner artist how to draw their favorite comic book or anime character.

I cracked the book immediately. I don't consider myself a beginner artist, but I am always on the lookout for new techniques. The book does describe techniques such as line drawings, body proportion, drawing heads and faces, plus multiple characters you can practice drawing. It does have space for you to draw in, but I opted to use my own drawing notebook instead. I wish they had a section on drawing hands, hands being my shortcoming as an artist.

This book was an ARC.

Big School of Drawing Manga, Comics & Fantasy Workbook : Exercises and step-by-step drawing lessons for the beginning artist. This is a general how to book with a variety of projects and techniques. It is not really suited for complete beginners as there are not enough steps in the projects, but is good for trying to copy. It would be of great interest to Manga and comic book artists, especially those who are just starting out, but have some drawing experience under their belt.

I think the character on the cover gives a wrong impression on what's inside this book, which has a lot of basic techniques for beginners, but the style inside is from various artists with a very old-school style side apparently it was all copyright in 2007-2013. Jeannie Lee is the artist with the manga style that I enjoyed in this book who works as a freelance manga letterer nowadays.

This art workbook has many, many problems.
First, it tells you what to do, but not how to do it. does not explain some basic principles, or how to do specific things. Which will lead the beginners confused and frustrated. Will learn how to copy, not work on their own
Second, it focuses only on sketching and lining, and the later phases of drawing are went over very quickly (even tho shading and colouring can make or break a drawing, no matter how good the lineart is)
Third, it basically repeats the same process over different characters multiple times. Like come on. Go over something new. On that note, this should help learn manga and comics. Well? Where is the actual comic page creation part? Not just how to draw a single character. Combine it in action and story telling. How to lay out a page or something. How to include backrounds... but no (maybe thereareother parts to this? if so, badly named)
Fourth, why are the drawing examples made by a mediocre artist? It´s hard to take seriously someone when I can draw better and can see their mistakes.
Did I learn something new? No. Would a beginner artist learn something? Maybe? Mostly how to copy, but not the true fundamentals