Mastering Manga 2: Level Up with Mark Crilley

The title "Mastering Manga 2 level up with Crilley" describes this book very well. With this book, Mark Crilley delivers a most anticipated second lesson on Mastering Manga. For some manga aficionados, this is the Manga 102 that they wished the first book were. As in the previous iteration, this book is divided into 3 main parts, with some introductory and final sections: Introduction What You Need Putting Your Materials to Work: Making the Manga Eye Anatomy of a Manga Panel Part 1: Head and Faces Part 2: Proportion and Poses Part 3: Bringing it all Together Conclusion Index About the Author Like in the previous book, several sections of this book are introduced with a comic-book-style page. The introductory sections provide the basis of what you need to know to draw manga which makes this book a stand alone how-to-draw-manga book. Part 1 to Part 3 also cover similar material as in the first book, with more detailed drawings, but with less reference material. Part 1 focus on the head and faces. This section includes 7 to 8 steps tutorials on how to draw detailed female and male heads in front, profile and 3/4 views, bird's eye, worm's eye views and even a fantasy cat girl character. There is also reference material for 16 female and male hairstyles for female, 7 facial expressions, various samples of real and manga styled eyes (3), ears (2), noses (3) and mouths (4), various samples of glasses (4) and hats (4). Part 2 focus on the body. This section picks up with body proportions for various ages, 7 steps tutorials on how to draw female and male bodies in front, bird's eye, worm's eye and foreshortening views. There is also 7 step tutorials on how to draw the hand, sitting pose, fighting scene and kissing scene. There is good reference material on arms (4), hands (7), legs (2) and feet (3), various poses (16), various clothes (4), folds (6), styles (8) and footwear (6). This section finalizes with Chibis (5 samples) and a 4 steps tutorial on how to draw one from a full-sized character. Part 3 focus on drawing the manga. This part starts with a 4 to 5 steps lessons on perspective, drawing a forest or a desert, and cover common elements such as rocks grass, rivers and rain. There is also reference material on water effect (3) and surface detail (4). This section includes a brief demonstration of Crilley's process of drawing a single Manga page. It also includes thoughts on planning panels, composition, inking and layouts. This book feels brief, but this is expected of a 128 pages book. In summary, the first book was a better resource for reference material with a plethora of hairstyles, eyes, hands, feet … while this book is a better resource for demonstrations. Well, not exactly true, but that was the intention as we are constantly reminded to go to impact books to download a free bonus demonstration. Unfortunately, at the time of this review the link was not available. So, which book is for you? For reference material and basic instruction, the first one. For more advanced instructions, this one. However, once you pick either book you may end up buying the other one book as well.

In the intro, Crilley says he did his best to make this 'a real how-to-draw-manga' book, meaning an emphasis on conveying narrative rather than just drawing manga-style characters as art. There are sections that explain his process start to finish, planning a panel, composition, sequencing, inking, page layout and more. I especially liked the section on using point of view to convey narrative purpose. The bulk of the book focuses on drawing characters, both male and female. Some of the basics do overlap with volume I, like basic proportions of the body/face. However this book includes variations such as a worm's eye view, sitting, a standing kiss and foreshortened views. The harder poses are a good continuation as a level-up from volume I, but the instructions are clear enough that I think beginners could follow them if they take their time to get it right. I follow the author's Youtube channel and I've noticed that his style has evolved a bit since the first book was written. Lately he seems to be doing more traditionally realistic drawings, many of which are quite impressive. However, this book is more rooted in the manga style. I've read some criticisms of the first book that say it's not authentically Japanese enough, but personally I like that he portrays people of different ethnicities and ages, which I haven't seen as much in the Japanese books I have. Both volumes of Mastering Manga are good, but if you can only get one, consider what you want to learn. This book would be a better choice if you want to learn more about putting together a full story, whereas the first book had more examples of variations for details such as hands or eyes. Each book does stand on its own, so get both if you can.

Love the product, the love the author. Seller was great, too. No complaints. Sorry it took me so long to review: I forgot. I'd buy from this seller again. The Mastering Manga series in general is great because it doesn't teach you to just copy the pictures: It details how to build the bodies/forms, as well as touching upon techniques. You're not just given a copy paste method, but the understanding of how the shapes connect and what they represent. In addition, the author/illustrator goes into details about paneling, composition, value, and other elements besides constructing figures. Great books all around, and the this first volume I actually READ through. The text is conversational and engaging, which is not always the case with instructive texts.

Like the first Mastering Manga, the target audience of this book are those looking to start drawing manga. It is written with the assumption that the person has a basic background in drawing, but that is not necessarily required for the majority of the book. Recommended for 13+ unsupervised; assistance for younger users may be needed. Highlights: - The book is set in sequence for drawing (head, different hair and facial styles, bodies, poses, environment). - Step-by-step instructions on how to draw heads, body parts, poses/movement, and environments are provided. - Less focus on sexualization of characters compared to other manga guides. - Explanation of environment and character integration (to include step-by-step how-to) is provided. - Faces and drawings more detailed than first book. Concerns - The material is drawn more towards Shojo Manga, but can be adapted to other styles. - Some material is similar to first, but others different, meaning that one may want to start with the first Mastering Manga. - Drawing of some poses, styles, and faces/hair/emotions not included from first volume. - There are jumps in skill between parts that will give issues to younger audiences and those with less patience. - Increase in drawing complexity may be more difficult for newcomers to pick up compared to the first volume. - As with most Manga drawings, those with practice/experience in drawing will have an easier time and less practice needed than those without experience. - Other thoughts: - Unlike some other Manga books, I wouldn't be concerned with giving this book to a thirteen-year-old to start them off with drawing Manga. - You will need paper with no lines, a pencil, eraser, and a pen of some sort. You may also want a ruler and wide variety of colors for a fine-tip pen set. - I included a couple of drawings that I did to show the difference that two months of practice and the two books accomplishes.

I liked this book, it's a great reference book cause it has a lot of different poses and clothing types! I liked the clothing folds page very much, haven't seen it in a drawing book before and their great references! this book doesn't go super super into detail about basic shapes and turning them into body parts and junk, it's more of a copying with steps and some instruction that's not a bad thing, it's just not the best book if you wanna learn more of how and beginning shapes with every detail along the way, more of a practice book with lots of poses to practice on along with a lot of references to help out beginner artists. but I think this book is great for learning all basic different things for manga/anime, not only does it teach bodies of both genders and lots of poses, but it also goes into detail on clothing folds, chibis, and even has a handful of cool backgrounds to learn!

My teen daughter started showing a talent for drawing. This book is fabulous in its step by step breakdown of the characters. Even young children can learn to mimic the very animated and pleasing looking characters in the book. We purchased this after the owning the 1st book. I would highly recommend from Mark Crilley who is an authority in this style of drawing. For the beginner drawer this is a very methodical approach that helps the student to see their progress from start to finish. Where so much of art and music can be subjective and hard to mimic and or reproduce, this give the young artist a clear form to build on. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!

This book expands upon the lessons of the first Mastering Manga book, but can also stand alone for intermediate artists as well. Where the first book focuses on the basics of the manga art style, this one sheds some light on the comic book aspect of manga (panels, word bubbles, etc.). One thing that I found the most useful is greater level of diversity in the lessons. I have always had difficulty with how to draw manga books (especially ones written by Americans), but Mark Crilley's books are a definite exception. Though I highly recommend both Mastering Manga books to anyone, I'd suggest taking a look at Mark Crilley's YouTube videos first.

I honestly expected no less. If you get around to reading this I would ask that you friend me on facebook and or deviant art. I know you're a busy man but it would be good to have someone to talk shop with. You know I pre ordered this back in July and have been biting my nails for it to arrive. It did come sooner than expected (thanks Amazon). Mark, you've been an inspiration to many and after 30 years of working in the construction industry on CAD it was a frightening experience to pick up the pencil again. I shook like I had epilepsy! I just had to tell myself I could do this... and I knew I could when I drew a rather "large" scale "Miki" from one of your videos. Because of your inspiration I have built a studio and equipped it with the finest tools I can afford. I would also like to offer a gift of sorts to you for your kindness to others and your brilliance shown in your tutorials presented on YouTUBE. As I get to it from time I will 3D model some of your backgrounds and once you get the screen shots we'll figure a way to get the actual vector data to you. Thanks again for all the inspiration.

wer die videos kennt wird auch dieses buch lieben! dieses buch ist einfach nur toll! ich kann es nur jeden weiter empfehlen! :D

Very informative and adds new and related tips beyond what is in the first mastering manga. This master of the craft explains things in easy to understand and non pretentious manner. For example important tips about: Footwear, chibis, hairstyles, hands, high and low angles of the human figure, useful poses, Kissing, backgrounds, weather, paneling and creating manga itself, and more! Upon use of this and the first book I've already pre-ordered Mastering Manga 3! I highly recommend all of Mark Crilley's books.

This book teach as how to draw manga, infant to adult, cover perspective view, poses, clothes, its a beginners friendly, I would suggest for beginners, buy mastering manga 1st and then go for 2nd .Book received in good condition,worth the price. To learn manga, Mark Crilley is one among the other best manga artists.

You can't go wrong with this book, yet another useful, fun to read book by Mark Crilley! This book not only contains a lot of reference but other than the reference pages every single drawing in this has plenty of steps that take it slow so you don't lag behind like many other books. This is extremely useful for a beginner like myself, when I finished a drawing and shaded it i felt very satisfied that the steps made it much easier to draw than other books. Ontop of that every page has plenty of explaining on the steps and what you will be drawing. For a beginner you CANNOT go wrong with this book I'd get it as soon as you can, with the very useful addition of the environment page and many new additions to the previous book. Mark Crilley manages to make every page seem fresh and not like he is repeating himself from the previous book which is nice since I know I'm getting my monies worth. I thank Mark Crilley for writing this it has helped me a lot with my drawing!

This is an excellent book, everything is useful and well explained. I'm a beginner and this is perfect for me