Product Description

A manga consists of showing characters' moves. One can learn to draw most manga-like poses and moves using this one book. The secret is in following these anatomically accurate drawings shown in expoded view. Slightly erotic poses are also covered. WARNING: This book contains nudity!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189334 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 136 pages

Customer Reviews

NOT for beginners.
Skipping past the complaints of nudity (or not) between genders, or just how "manga" the style is, this is a great reference book for bone and muscle structure. I suppose it helps that I'm not seriously into manga; honestly, most manga characters have about as much muscle definition as a 14-year-old, and the level of body structure in here is almost geared for superhero comics.
The majority of the book shows a fairly equal amount of males and females in action poses. The overarching lesson is where the muscles and bones connect and overlap, and relatedly how the surface of the body changes during movement, but you also learn a good bit about foreshortening and overlap. Most of the pictures first show a more geometric anatomical view, emphasizing the joints and bones and major muscle groups, and then next to it is the same pose shown as a surface drawing, with only light shading. The artist makes an effort to pick unusual angles and poses, ones most other books don't show--overhead views, reclining, mid-throw, etc--so it's decent reference. There is a lot of focus on the back, something very neglected. I will note if you're looking for different body types, not much help here, you've got the usual 36-24-36 anime hottie and a guy who looks like an olympic swimmer. And the book falls down when it tries to show "real" facial anatomy using the typical oversized eye/forehead manga face...stick with the body lessons.
I must reiterate, it's not for beginners. If you're just learning to draw, go far, far elsewhere. But, this is a good book for someone who is comfortable drawing the body as a whole, and just wants a little tweaking on particularly difficult poses--especially if you've got a well-built character. Can't get the neck tendons to look right on someone looking up and back? Try this.

Incredibly Detail
I currently own five of this series, and continue to be impressed by the amount of detail they contain, but this one truly takes it.

Bodies and Anatomy covers it all, and could be used for any drawing type, not just for use in manga. This book is PACKED with incredibly detailed, accurate drawings of the skeleton, muscular system, etc., for every part of the body.

To me, this book felt more professionally and maturely presented than the others in the series, and I highly recommend it for any artist looking for some extra help when drawing the human form.

The shame to the "How to Draw Manga" series
I feel that I'm a decent manga artist, but unfortunely I am unable to link to my artwork as a demonstration due to guidelines. I have 3 other books which are How to Draw manga for Male Characters, Female Characters, and Bishoujo Around the World. I was impress with all three of them, but with Bodies and Anatomy I was extremely disappointed.

First of all, other than a very few anime pictures, it does not even feel like an manga book at all. Like what someone else mentioned, it doesn't even have manga proportions. The book might as well not have manga in the title and I still wouldn't be able to tell that this was a manga book.

I was completely fooled by the cover of the book. The drawings inside do not even match the quality of the cover. The bodies on the cover are manga, the bodies within the book are not! Previous How to Draw Manga books had similarities with the cover and the content inside. At the end of the book, there is also no individual drawings from various artist.

The written information provided with the drawings are subpar when compared to the other 3 Manga books that I've mentioned earlier. Sometimes it goes into useless details and other times, it there isn't enough description. For example, it throws a few pictures of the ear and then the nose, but never says a single word about it. I would have liked for it to at least mentioned how it compare and contrast from human to anime form. Again, the other manga books mentioned the difference and similarities.

Also I have to question the source of the book as well. Almost every other How to Draw Manga book has a japanese author, but this one does not. It's source is 'The Society for the Study of Manga Techniques'. I can only guess that its origin is nonjapanese and it shows just like every other nonjapanese How to Draw Anime type book out there. Something is wrong if an amateur artist like myself can draw equal or better than what is provided in the book.

I would have returned the book the same day I received it if it weren't for the fact that the shipping to return it is almost half the cost of the book. In the end, I feel very cheated and do not want others to be fooled in the same way. An unforunate lesson I learn from this is that you can't judge a book by its cover.