Product Description

Manga Clip Art provides you with the tools and know-how to create your very own stunning, personalized manga artwork. Not only that, but it provides the artwork to get you started, too! The CD is packed full of manga artwork, ready to be customized. There are characters in hundreds of poses, and you can choose costumes, backgrounds, and accessories from a wide variety.

The book explains in step-by-step detail all the techniques to create, color, and render your own manga illustrations. All of the exclusive manga illustrations supplied are royalty-free, so you can use them however you like.

Manga images featured include: science-fiction characters, giant robots, medieval fantasy characters, boys and girls, demons/monsters, and villains.

The CD files are supplied in Photoshop (.psd) format, which means virtually any image-editing application (such as Painter, Paintshop Pro, CorelPaint, Photoshop, and Photoshop Elements) can be used to customize them. The CD is cross-platform; files can be opened on both Mac and Windows computers.

As a bonus, the disc includes a free 30-day trial version of an application such as Photoshop Elements to get you started on your manga adventures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #282045 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

About the Author
Hayden Scott-Baron, better known as "Dock" to his fans, was always destined to create great artwork. Even before he got to high school he was selling his own comic. Back then, of course, his work was photocopied and sold for a quarter. Now he runs the flourishing manga house Sweatdrop Studios, giving his work a global reach.

Customer Reviews

Good for beginners
If you've always like the manga/anime art style but can't draw, then this book is for you. Just select different clipart from multiple character files to "create" your own characters. There are some good tutorials within the book, like how to apply different coloring techniques and effects in Photoshop, but individuals who already know how to use Photoshop might find this inadequate or merely a refresher course for what they already know.

On the plus side, there really are a great number of combinations and designs you can choose to create, including monsters, mecha designs, and male/female characters. And if you're short on ideas for character design, this might serve as a source for ideas. However, be wary of this item, as I truly think there maybe something wrong with the disc. Based upon the previous reviewer, I made a backup copy of the original CD, but I am happy to say, my CPU has had no problems reading it so far. However, while browsing through the book and comparing the files on the CD, I noticed that one of the character sets, "Evil Monsters", is missing from my disc. It is annoying to pay full price for a product and not receive everything promised to you... =/

Bottom Line: A good buy for the beginning manga artist and those who don't know how to use Photoshop. I think advanced artists who already know how to draw or use Photoshop might find it inadequete. Hope this review helped any potential buyers.

Soooo worth it!
I got this with the intention of practicing digital painting, and it is so worth it! I've read reviews (here and other sites) of people saying that they had trouble with the CD, that images were "missing" or files wouldn't open. Here's what I have to say about that: I have Vista, and thus far have had absolutely no problems with opening or reading files. Yes, the files are HUGE (the characters are mapped as Photoshop layers), so it takes a second or two for them to open. As for "missing" files, as the book explains, and the CD shows, some of the specific character traits are filed under other character titles. Overall, this is a completely fun and useful tool . . . it allows me to create wonderful characters (I can't draw at all!) in no time. I would highly recommend this as a source for other computer artists and anyone else with a basic knowledge of working with Photoshop (or Elements) layers.

Good for beginners or those needing some clip art for illustration
I'm surprised at the other negative reviews. This product is exactly what it says it is, "manga clip art." There are some very helpful step-by-step directions about how to use digital image editing software to provide a variety of coloring and shading styles, as well as a fairly wide selection of clip art components in different styles and poses. I have had the product for over a year and have had no trouble with the CD. I will say that the files are quite large, though, so you need enough memory to be able to work with them.