Mini Manga: Mecha Manga by Yishan Li

Mini Manga: Mecha Manga by Yishan Li

Manga characters can be large and menacing, or cute and cuddly. The basic techniques to master in order to create convincing manga characters and backgrounds are not difficult to learn. In this handy little book, the essentials of drawing manga robots and machines are highlighted and explained, and scores of examples are shown so that anyone can practise and easily create great manga works of art. After a round-up of the tools and materials readers are likely to find most useful, the book highlights mecha as one of the features that must be mastered to draw convincing manga. Through a mix of step-by-step photographs and finished examples, the book provides readers with a complete visual reference to working in this art form, using a mix of pencil, inked, and coloured illustrations.

Feb 10

Regular readers of ABR will know of my allergy to pocket-size booksThis is art, fer goodness sake, make it big so we can see it, will you! Small is NOT beautiful, it's hard to see and you have to force the pages back till your hands hurt in order to see them. The pages, not your hands, don't get smart with me when I'm having a rant, it makes me angry. However, just once in a while something comes along that doesn't just float my boat, it launches a whole navy, kersplash, all at once. And these little books are one of those things. No, they shouldn't work and, yes, at a fiver a pop, they are expensive, but what they do, really rather neatly, is offer you a single idea on a spread. Nothing so very unusual in that, I'll grant you, but this is minimalism taken to its absolute limit and it really is just one thing, not even a whole concept. I like that. I like that you can have just Men's Jeans or The Female Mouth just on their own. In fact, I'd recommend Manga Tips to anyone who wants to draw the human figure because it's full of basic ideas (like the more comprehensive and better value Mega Manga). The other one that comes at the same time is Mecha Manga, which is more specialised, concentrating on that I take to be robot figures you can't do without. Both books are arranged by category, so finding things is very easy, though flicking through and trusting to serendipity is a good approach too.

Like I said, a fiver's a lot for a tiny book, but it's not a fiver wasted, I'd also say. And I don't say it often.

* Artbookreview.net *

Yishan Li is a professional Manga artist who lives in Shanghai. Yishan has been drawing Manga since 1998 when she was in high school and she has subsequently been published internationally including China, North America, France and the UK. Visit her website www.liyishan.com

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781844485215
ISBN 10	1844485218
Title	Mini Manga: Mecha Manga
Author	Yishan Li
Series	Mini Manga
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Search Press Ltd
Year published	2009-12-01
Number of pages	192
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable