How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 1: Basics for Beginners and Beyond Reviews

• Excellent illustration instruction

  
  By A1NEI36ZQL17ZK on 2000-10-13
  Far and away the best of the English "How to Draw Manga" books. The art style is clean and the layout is well-done, with no issues of whether you should be reading left-to-right or right-to-left (a definite problem in some Japanese conversions).

  Best of all, Ozawa starts from the very basics, and urges you to do the exercises from the beginning. Sure, drawing cubes isn't exciting, but even for a non-beginners, it's a useful warm-up that improves technique. With the reassuring statement "if you can hold a pencil and draw straight lines, you can draw, " he skillfully leads the reader to develop or improve drawing skills.

  He also includes something I've never seen in a comics manual before: Drawings from different ability levels. He shows stuff by absolute beginers, intermediate, advanced and professional and critiques the problems and positives. Personally, I found this extremely helpful and reassuring. He also marks the time it took to create some of the professional drawings: Again, very reassuring that these things took time and weren't dashed off in minutes.

  Finally, Ozawa covers a broad range of character styles, from generally realistic to the SD (simple deformed) type. For each, he includes plenty of detail on what makes such characters work and why.

  These books can be hard to find, so if you're interested in this subject, don't wait. Get your copy now.
  
  

• A vey nice book

  
  By A12KDW2EB3JOLH on 2000-10-17
  I hesitated to buy this book at first because I was worried that it was one of those cheap, 12 page, how to draw book meant for 2nd graders. This book is not! It is pretty thick for a drawing book. I really liked the exercise suggestions, they helped a lot with my drawing.

  One quibble and that is not enough to bring down my rating, some of the translation is obscure (fringe for bangs, etc.) but you can usually figure out what was meant.

  This book is well worth it if you enjoy anime.
  
  

• Ahhhh this book rocks!!

  
  By A15OT3A3M5P3WA on 2003-01-04
  I... Well actually my dad bought this book for me (I bought volume 3), and trust me this book is worth every single penny! It talks about the basics like the face, body, poses, and more! The main reason I bought this book was to learn how to improve my anime eyes; and let me tell you, being the amateur I am, they've improved ALOT! I would show a scan of one of my practice sheets, but it's not allowed, oh well! XD

  I made a drawing of a kitty girl with the instructions the book gives you...*can't imagine all the critiques she would get from the author* But anyway, the book tells you to compare your drawings with other drawings, and it takes you think: "Man, I used to draw like THAT?" At least that's how I did...lol

  One of the things I loved about this book was that the author shows us these drawings made from 100% Amateurs, Intermediate *sp* and Advanced artists, plus proffessional versions of the drawings. It tells you WHAT'S wrong with the drawings, the errors etc. And that helps ALOT because these drawings have very common errors.

  May I add that the mascots are, hmm how do I put this...KAWAII?! (japanese for cute...heh) The author uses these adorable mascots that briefly explain you things like "We must learn the basics!"; that adds humor to the book, and that alone made me more confident of myself, and killed the thought of "Oh it'll probably be too hard for me". But let me tell you, if you put your heart and time to it, and practice with this book, you'll be a kick-arse anime artist in no time! And remember, if your first straight line comes out horrible, don't worry, by time you'll get it right, because practice makes perfect =3 If you plan on becoming an anime artist or illustrator or whatever, thi book MUST be on your bookshelf, you won't regret it. ^_^
  
  

• Excellent for someone with experience

  
  By A3KZYLK73TMO4A on 2001-11-30
  This is overall an excellent book. It shows lots of different styles of characters from many angles, plus lots of information on general anatomy and dynamic poses.

  This was the first book that I bought when I became interested in drawing anime characters. Though many people disagree with me on this, I found it very hard to pick up basic skills by reading it. The first section, which illustrates how to draw the basic outline, proportions, etc., of the face, was pretty inaccessible to me as a beginner, and trying to follow the step by step directions, drawing oval after oval trying to get it perfect, was discouraging. Additionally, all the drawings later in the book were so perfect as to be intimidating. In short, this book makes the task of learning to draw anime seem overwhelming to a beginner.

  However, now that I have become reasonably proficient in that area, this book has been immeasurably helpful. I use it as basically a source of images that I study when I want to see how to draw a specific thing. This is, I think, its best use; a resource rather than a way to actually learn. Still very good, though!
  
  

• "Let's get down to the basics!"

  
  By A2PDVF7C6KGYAO on 2005-09-09
  I'd only suggest this book for total beginners -- the first portion of the book is spent on proportions of the face/body, and how to make things look 3D. The rest is spent studying a few generic characters that have been already created; their clothes, what the shape of their eyes mean, so on. So if you need to work on giving your characters proper body sizes, or need to give them dimension, or if you just want some reference material, this book will show you all of this. Otherwise, I'd look elsewhere.
  
  
• tasteless
  By A25B5IVKBOD407 on 2006-06-27
  This book tasteless. There are comics in the back of the book where there is a pedophilia scene. A young boy is seduced by a older man. It's not very nice. It also shows how to draw seductivley. This book is not appropriate for young people.
  
  
• Lots of good tips but a steep learning curve.
  By on 2001-09-07
  How to Draw Anime & Game Characters is a very good reference book with many "professional" examples of Manga / Anime art. Although the order of the lessions seems a bit back to front. In general the information is very good and a lot better than the learn to draw manga titles and is certainly very good value for money. Those with some drawing ability will find the tips a valuable source of information to help their own drawing ability. All that said it is a steep learning curve for the complete beginner. Hence 4 stars.
  
  
• Bought "Sight Unseen" and am GLAD I DID!
  By A1ZQQU328HLQDR on 2000-10-12
  I bought this book from Amazon, without so much as a picture of the cover, because there aren't many "how to draw manga" books out there, and I need as much reference as I can get!

  Unfortunately, this still isn't the "Ultimate How to Draw Manga" book, I don't think it exists yet, but this comes very close. I've been drawing for over 20 years now, so I don't need some steps that I think beginners would benefit from, that never seem to make it into these "how to" books.

  I felt a twang of discomfort seeing the pictures in this one, going by it's ratings, my style falls somewhere in between "intermediate" and "very close but..." levels and not the "pro" level, but perhaps with some of the lessons in this book, I'll finally cross that threshold!

  The art is beautiful, looking like a cross between Disney and manga, it illustrates several different genres, and has pages and pages of examples of each "type" of character. Lots of "how to draw guys" too, which is a subject often ignored in "how to" books and tutorials.

  I highly recommend this book, even for the "non-beginner," it has lots to show!
  
  

• Great Book but...
  By on 2000-10-13
  First of all, I think this book is great, and it will be very helpful to many people. This book gives you many types of anime characters and examples. Very detailed, such as different chars' facial expressions, hairstyle, view from different angles, and body type, custom, etc. It also has many different learners' drawings compared with pro's revised versions, which is very helpful, I think. It gives you pointers about where you should watch out for... However, although this book has some instructions on how to draw face, body and other parts, they are not very detailed, not like step by step as the "How to Draw Manga 1." I would assume that this book is not for absolute beginners. So... Overall, it's a very good book. Recommended: "How to Draw Manga 1"
  
  
• GREAT BOOK!
  By A2GK4IWPVX1MU on 2000-12-29
  I used to draw anime pretty well, but after just READING this book, I realized all the places that I went wrong. I could hardly recognize my own work! I reccomend this book for beginners and experts alike. FIVE STARS!
  
  
• Just as the title says.
  By AV57G4XYDZUSM on 2001-10-05
  Yeah, as the title says this is a book with just the basics.

  It's not a step by step "how to draw" book as you would first think, it's rather a book on "test and learn", for example it shows a variety of characters and tells things like "separated eyes express lonelines, the small mouth expresses a delicate nature", so this book will only teach you how to design plain characters and it's wonderful for beginners like me; In no way must be considered a complete "How to Draw Anime" lesson, but its perfect for start cooking, even if you don't even know how to hold your pencil (that was my case some months ago when I bought it).

  If you're a complete beginner buy this book, I gave it 5 stars because it helped me a lot, but keep this mind: drawing characters is one thing, to give life to them is something else... for that buy the Volume 2, or do some research.
  
  

• Think 3-Dimensional
  By A3NPLA19LD5E23 on 2004-11-22
  Ozawa covers parts of the body he deems important (head, feet, hands, eyes, hair) and the rest of the book focuses examples of 15 character-archetypes on the head and whole character body shown in different views giving a lot of examples of various character types. You get to know different ways of drawing the hair, eyes, nose, and other details while learning various tips. He even has a nice section on character arrangement for a pin-up and a critique section of artists with various skill levels.
  
  The approach of this book to drawing is in a different manner than the typical drawing book. He doesn't go into sections on how to draw specific sections of the body such as the hips, arms, etc. He starts you off drawing the whole body and getting you into the mindset of critiqueing your own drawing and improving it. He also gets you into thinking of your characters in terms of 3D. Some people may be detered by this and others may not.
  
  The highest form of nudity in this book is the wire frame and nothing further. An excellent book for younger artists.
  
  
• Perfect for beginner
  By AOM6Y2A4J0WOG on 2005-05-27
  This book has really helped me build skills in manga drawing. Out of the 20 or so books I've purchased for manga instruction, this is by far my favorite. Vol 2 (Expressing Emotions) is also a great find - definitely pickup both.
  
  
• Just like everyone else says, not for complete beginners
  By A37HOAKA59KL5C on 2004-08-08
  I am what I would call an "absolute beginner". My drawing experience is virtually nil. Other than seeing lots of anime and comics, I have no hands-on experience. I bought this book hoping that it would have a step-by-step process for how to draw anime characters. While it starts off promising, by having you drawing a cube from various perspective, the book's introductory nature almost disappears after that. To draw heads, the book says to draw boxes and then draw head-shaped ovals inside. But I had trouble even drawing the ovals to fit the boxes correctly. It gives one step-by-step process for a head from one perspective, but that's it. It then gives about 10 different head models and says "if you can draw these, then you can do your own work". But HOW to draw those? I was basically on my own to figure it out by guessing, but heck, I could do that just from copying what I see on websites.
  
  The book's methodology seems very confused, as well. At first it tries to say drawing is like connecting dots. But dot-connecting is never mentioned after that. It says to draw heads in boxes, but I was unsure how to even draw the boxes for the various perspectives I was supposed to draw, and the book gave no indication. No rules were give for face proportions (I ended up trying to make my own rules), but later on in the book there were rules for body proportions.
  
  The examples given of "absolute beginner", intermediate and pro were discouraging, in that the book gives very little help even getting to "absolute beginner". The book makes comments like "this gun looks like a toy" but doesn't explain specifically WHAT could be done to improve it other than by carefully examining the "pro" picture. It gives examples of very fancy outfits but it doesn't suggest how to actually draw those outfits.
  
  I think this book could have been improved by just getting rid of the small amount of absolute-beginner stuff and making it a book for intermediate drawers.
  
  
• Great but definitely could be better,
  By A1S8NJZIF9MSHE on 2003-10-23
  I was sceptical as whether to purchase this book or any of the other 4 volumes. I paused and thought over carefully. Well, I could give it a try. I mean if I didn't like it at the end of the day I could always return it. But guess what? I'm keeping this one. Oh no, better still!! I am getting 2 other different volumes of this series. Why? I think this series is great. Worth my every cent!!! 4 stars only for volume one, not 5? My complaint; not purely a step-by-step guide on how to draw anime/manga. Don't get me wrong though. This book does teach you what and how you should probably go about drawing your favourite characters. To others this is a godsend, more than what they could ask for. But, I would prefer if they made it a real step-by-step guide explaining every step that they have. This book does tell you what you should avoid doing in order to get the professional or near-professional look by comparing amatuerish and professional drawings. This book basically instills you with pertinent notions about getting it right most of the time. For those who are new, I believe you should check this one out. NEVER a time waster but DEFINITELY an inspiring and helpful guide!!! Get it before it runs out of print. For me, as I mentioned earlier, I am getting 2 other volumes; volume 2 and 4. I am not rushing to get 3 and 5 though but might get them also in the future. Anyway, gook luck to all the beginners, like myself, out there.
  
  
• Beginners Only
  By A2ZF6EJJE2S33F on 2004-08-13
  This was my first art book purchase, recommended by a dear friend who is an accomplished comic artist. On first glance, I was a little disappointed by the simplicity--of the illustrations, of the exercises. But as a beginner, I needed to hone my technique so I went straight through the book and did every exercise from drawing shapes to eventually drawing my own characters. You'll find basic information on perspective, types of characters, hairstyles, eyes, hands and feet. Tadashi Ozawa truly does make it easy to learn to draw anime characters. He helped improve my technique greatly and I would strongly recommend this and the other books in this series for any one who is interested in drawing anime or game characters. One caution: if you are beyond the beginner/intermediate stage, these books may not prove as useful unless you are looking to brush up on the basics.
  
  
• Not exactly the basics...
  By AZXEM720UOCX2 on 2001-12-30
  This is an excellent book and all, it has improved my drawing a ton! There are plenty of examples to draw by (showing different kinds of characters including the cool looking comedian, the quiet hero, and the flirty school girl)
  I'd say that the one problem would be the fact that it details how to put a pencil against a piece of paper and gives a bunch of warm-ups, but then immediatly goes to the examples. This book is mostly for those who draw flawed drawings and want to find tips (located in the back) or people who want to learn a little more on how anime works.
  THIS IS NOT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS! I REPEAT NOT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS!
  
  
• THE single most useful "how to draw" book to date!
  By A302VKAMA0FKJ7 on 2001-07-12
  I thought it was a very good book, very easy to understand with maybe a rare bit of amusing little translation errors, but still, it was very easy to understand and made a lot of sense. I can honestly say that even practicing on cubes and cylinders recommended in the book made for a big difference. My skill was perhaps mediocre at best but now I can say that it's gotten a lot better, maybe even advanced!. The body from different angles, the heads and faces from different angles, and 15 virtually different characters to practice on, both head shots and full body with costumes and all! Also has a gallery of hairstyles, eyes, hands, feet, and generalized character body types. It even has outlines for creating incredible scene pictures, like the types that you'd see on posters. Tips, pointers, numbers, critiques, and diagrams as well as example pictures throughout the book make the learning process very easy with no difficulty that I experienced. A great resource for those who are truly willing to learn and are motivated to get better in this field.
  
  
• A Good Investment
  By ARFPO4DDCV5VX on 2001-08-29
  When I had the urge to want to learn how to draw anime, I searched everywhere on the internet for tutorials. When I just couldn't get a good amount of information, I decided that I needed to have a book with everything I needed to know. I looked around a little and finally came upon this book, which I had thought I had seen before. It dismayed me when wherever I looked it was on back order and wouldn't ship for a month or more. I finally found it somewhere in stock, so I bought it. I've only had this book for a couple days so I can't say my drawing skills have really improved, but they are steadily building. (I plan to write a manga, so I need all the help I can get.) Before I bought this book, my skills were okay but very inconsistant. I was hesitant before to get a drawing book because I didn't like to be told what to do and how to do it. When I got this book by Tadashi Ozawa, however, it allowed me to be free in what I drew, and suggested simple guidelines to follow. For your information, this book will NOT teach you how to draw. It only suggests techniques that will help you draw. The ability to draw cannot be taught; it comes naturally. All in all, this book is worth the price and will help you. Get it while you can; it's awfully hard to come by! :)
  
  
• How to Draw Anime and Game Characters Series
  By A35CB412K44HXR on 2002-04-27
  I bought this book for my 15 year old daughter who loves anime and manga from Japan. She absolutely enjoys drawing anime and has made me look at all of her pictures at least a thousand times. Her drawings have greatly improved after studying these books. If only she studied math just as hard...
  
  
• Very Educational
  By A107M4V1DPJYFO on 2004-10-07
  Well to start off,I have had this book for years since it first published,and I still use it till today.
  
  Basically this book is not exactly for the absolute beginner to drawing manga but it gives an outline of what to look out for and what kind of techniques an individual can use when drawing manga.Its not a step by step book as others have stated and can be really fustrating for the beginner looking to improve their drawing but can't seem to find the instructions to do so.And for the more advance,this book can serve as a reference and some what a critic in your drawings.I've used the book as a way to measure the quality and level of my drawings by comparing the illustrations presented by tadashi.And till today I find the book very useful and educational,as it had taught me how to keep an eye out for details.(yes the book does tell you so)Its not easy to draw manga but this book made the learning and starting process easier.Though I wished that it could have a lot more step by step details,perhapes so that the readers can grasp the concept of drawing manga better.Overall I recommend this book to anyone who wants to start drawing manga or those who wants to improve ther drawings.
  
  
• ....yawn...
  By on 2005-06-04
  When I 1st picked this book up I was rather excited...only to be dissapointed.the only reason that I gave it 2 (instead of 1) stars was because I found the page on head angles and body proportions rather helpful. And thats about the only thing you'll find of much use(and it's only 1 page!).The book has you drawing cubes to break down the body when circles and cylinders are much faster, easier, and far more effective. There is also no section on how to do hair or hands,and a very bland,unhelpful section on eyes.just"how to's" for generic characters.NOT a must buy,so dont waste your money.
  
  
  
• Not a bad book
  By A1CEOUX28DF8QU on 2000-10-26
  its the first "how to draw manga" book i had ever bought, so its quite hard for me to judge how good this book is. but anyway, i find this book interesting and its very organized. it teaches you basic beganner stuffs and then slowly show you the professional way of doing it i am only half way done with the book and i had learn much, its a book better then an average "how to draw" book
  
  
• Great book for beginners
  By A30RA36THKXTMX on 2004-02-27
  This is the first in a the "How to Draw Anime & Game Characters" series of books, so obviously this one starts with the basics beginning with shapes and lines. With that done, it progressively moves on to how you adapt those techniques into making your characters body, parts of the body, and face. They show how to draw many different body sizes, eye shapes, hairstyles, hands, feet, and so on from different angles. They also have some areas that put a beginner, intermediate, and professional artists work side by side and examine the problem areas. A nice feature to help you prevent common (and not so common) mistakes. Overall, it's a great buy to those who want to draw anime.
  
  
• The How-To Book That Lets You Teach Yourself
  By A2ILN83LWT9FR9 on 2001-08-11
  You won't find step by step tutorials on faces, nor bodies really. This book is indeed for beginners, but solid-base beginners. It will improve how you draw as well as what you draw, often you'll find yourself drawing out of this book instead of designing your own characters with it's help, but after a few of those your creativity will be liberated. If you are a total stranger to manga, get Manga Mania (Christopher Hart), which is actually a lot like this book, but it does begin with what you need and you can see how what you learned can be adapted for other bodies&faces. Finally, I find this book amazing, because it educates so efficiently that it is easy to tell the importance of what you're learning the moment you do.
  
  
• While good, this is not for complete beginners.
  By A1QNSKMX1M5XK9 on 2004-06-17
  To begin, this is a good book. On first glance, it has a lot of detail and reference. It has excellent models, and wonderful in-depth descriptions.
  It has a few big shortcomings, tho. Seeing as the title is "Basics for Beginners and Beyond" I thought that this would be the perfect book for me, seeing as I couldn't draw at all. After I got the book and started reading it, I realized that this is not the first book I should have bought. While this book does give great reference, it does not give step by step instructions. For those of you who are like me and cannot draw at all, you're going to want something a little more simplistic and instructive. This should be the *second* book you buy. (Three stars because this is NOT for complete beginners, as the title belies.

  Fot total and complete beginners, I'd recommend that you buy How to Draw Manga by Katy Coope, ISBN 0439317452. It's extremely cheap, short and to the point. While it has it's own flaws, it was just what I needed and recommend for those of you who are just starting out. NEXT I'd recommend this book. Once you've gotten the simple skills from Katy Coope, then Tadashi Ozawa will show you a where to go with it.
  
  

• HUGE help
  By ANBCMH3PR8WHO on 2004-08-26
  You definetly want to buy this book before the 2nd one (Expressing Emotions)This was very helpful. I had just learned a little about anime when I got this book and was already a little experienced with drawing. Not only did it help with body structures and different angles, it also helped with basic character ideas. I totally reccomend this book to people who are interested in learning how to draw anime, or manga. It's a great reference book and very helpful for beginners. Hail to Tadashi!
  
  
• A Best Buy
  By on 2005-05-23
  THis is a defenatly the best how to draw manga book i've ever bought. although it is hard to understand at the begining of the book(especailly if your a beginer) it moves along quickly and gets easier to understand. i was very good at drawing manga, but this book defianatly helped me make it much better.if anyone wants to learn or refine their skills, i recomend this book.
  
  
• Drawing Mangaq
  By on 2000-10-01
  I bought this book for my son and found that it was ideal. He has no art training but is able to draw these characters using the methods shown in the book. Great investment!
  
  
• A very valuable addition to any manga artist's collection
  By A1FDI5OGJ9TPUE on 2001-07-19
  This book is an extremely well written guide to drawing manga for both beginers and advanced artists alike. IT includes guides on drawing the faces, bodies, hands, eyes, etc. that are well written and very detailed. It includes some bonus features as well, my favorite being the how to draw covers of manga, a critique of work sent in by other artists as well as a redrawing of the originals, descriptions of various popular and commonly used manga characters, and short helpful notes by budding artists in the field. Note, too, that the artist has had some impressive experience in his field, including work with Studio Ghibli and work on such international hits as Akira. Highly reccomended.
  
  

• How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 2: Expressing Emotions
• How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 3: Bringing Daily Actions to Life
• How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 4: Mastering Battle and Action Moves
• Draw Manga: How to Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style
• How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 5: Bishoujo Game Characters