I've done this column three months in a row. This must be some kind of personal record for me. Anyway, I just wanted to welcome you back to Random Read for another month. This month I thought I would stick with something that is in the comic book format, but is not a comic book per-se. Back in 2004 the United States was in the grip of Manga and Anime fever. During this time, San Antonio based Antarctic Press released a twelve issue series of Manga Drawing comic books called You Can! Draw Manga that was sort of tutorial on drawing manga style by the top manga artists in the United States. I did not get this comic myself; I think it was part of the swag bags that we got at A-Kon back in 2005 or 2006. My younger brother was cleaning up some things to put away, give away, or toss out and this was in a stack of things he wanted me to go through along with some other comics that he got at the convention that I will get to at some point in the future. It has been a while since I looked at anything that had to do with art and Manga style art was always something I was curious about. It seems to have a bit more flexibility aesthetic wise then the traditional super hero comic book art that I started out wanting to do. Most of your Manga is also done in black and white rather than color and the comics that I enjoy the most are the ones that have the simple black, white and shades of gray in them. I can appreciate a good color drawing as well as the next comic fan, but what I really wanted to do is simple black and white are that can be enjoyed by everyone.

The Cover

The cover for this book is dominated by the drawing of a female on one of those low rider bicycles with her pinkish red hair back in a long braid and backpack. She has the traditional big manga eyes and is carrying a big katana. As you look down the cover, there is less color and it is turning more into completed pencils rather than a fully inked and colored drawing. It looks like it is on one of those art board pages that you can get in a set from a hobby or art supply and is on a desk or table of some sort. The Antarctic Press logo is on the upper left of the cover with a large #1 in green outlined in yellow. The title of the book takes up the top quarter of the cover. Then there is the drawing of the girl mentioned above and then on the bottom is a red starburst outlined in yellow with the words: The ALL NEW . . . HOW TO!!! in the starburst. On the bottom of the cover are the words "Masters Edition." Is it really not for beginners because that is what I am to the whole world of manga. The barcode in the bottom left has the price $4.95 US and $7.95 Canada. Good lord was the exchange rate of US Dollars to Canadian Dollars really that bad back then? The interior of the cover has the credits of the comic, as well as some in house advertising for the company. They are all in black, white and shades of gray.

The Interior

The book's first page is a sort of introduction to the series and asks "Are you ready for some manga?" right at the top. The description of what the comic series is all about is next, but it is not clear who is talking. Is it one of the instructors for the issue or is it one of the two editors of the book. There are some Kanji characters running down the side of this page and every other page. Darned if I know what they say. I barely had two weeks of Spanish my freshman year of high school let alone Japanese. The four instructors for the issue are Ben Dunn, Fred Perry, John Kantz, and Brian Denham. Above or below their name and what they are going to be doing in the book are drawings done by the artist of themselves done in a Manga style. Some look clean and polished while some of the others look something more like cartoons and one, well I am not sure how to put it. First up is Ben Dunn who teaches you how to do the basic manga body styles that are used for characters in the comics. I liked his because you could kind of see the thinking that went on in his laying out and sketching the characters that he was doing. With enough practice I am sure I could follow along with his style, but right now my drawing style is still in flux. Second is Fred Perry. He goes over some things about dynamic posing as well as foreshortening and point of view. His style is a little too sketchy for me, the fledgling artist, to follow but it is nice to look at. Third in the issue is a few pages dedicated to expressions by John Kantz. I liked this description and examples but again, am not able to follow along with my paper and pencil. He seems to go into the various expressions of happiness and anger, but very little beyond that. The last section is dedicated to Brian Denham. He shows us the various types of Manga faces you can draw and not only that, but also some in combination with American art styles. I would have liked to see a sample of how to combine the two, but I guess there was not space or time to get to that sort of thing in the book. He also covers a little bit of body types like Ben Dunn did in the first section. On the very bottom of the last page is the next month sentence where they go over what will be in the next issue. It is supposed to cover how to create characters that are unique, exciting, and personal. The inside back cover has a full page spread of Mega-Con 2004. It looks like the biggest names they were able to get were Allison Mack, Chloe of "Smallville" and Brad Dourif, Grima Wormtongue of "Lord of the Rings." The outside back cover has more in house advertising for some Antarctic Press drawing books and a DVD.

Overall Impressions

Writing: Extremely hit or miss. I think the ones that had the most to say were Dunn and Denham. The others looked like they did not have a lot to say and just wanted to show off their skills. Art: Mostly incomplete black and white pencil drawings with some inked ones from time to time. The ones that had the most to say were also the ones that had the most to show. There was no step by step in this book that really hurt it in my eyes because I thought that was what the book was all about; learning to draw Manga style. Letters: The lettering is good in the book because none of it gets in the way. They really planned this book out in advance and placed the various paragraphs where they needed to be. Although it can be hard from time to time to follow Dunn's section because of the placement of the paragraphs describing what is going on in the sketch might be near one that is entirely different than what is being described. I can look past that because you catch on after a while.

Final Thoughts

The book was not lying when it said it was the Masters Edition. I went into this wanting to learn more about drawing Manga and the book did not even scratch the surface of what I wanted to learn. Maybe it was the four disparate art styles and the people teaching them. Maybe I was going to the wrong place and should find a book that is more of a tutorial rather than a master's edition to learn more. What should I expect for free though? It was not enough to make me go out and buy the rest of the books, but just for jollies I looked it up on a local source and they are going for about $2 to $5 above cover price. For a book that is already five dollars (US) that is a lot to pay.   Next Month: I go back into the world of comic books with a trip into the 1970's via the Fantastic Four.

[Back to Collector Times]

[Prev.]

[Return to Comics]

[Disclaimer]

[Next]

Copyright © 2012 Mathew "thehammer" Bredfeldt About the Author