Today we’re doing something completely different! We’re going to be looking at an upcoming how-to-draw-manga book that is really worth your time, whether you want to be be able to draw manga or just really want to understand the visual language manga uses. We’re looking at Manga Drawing Deluxe: Empower Your Drawing and Storytelling Skills by Nao Yazawa, creator of Wedding Peach and Moon and Blood. Yazawa-sensei has been teaching folks to draw at her Manga School Nakano for a number of years and these lessons and her own knowledge are boiled down in an understandable and fun book which will be hitting shelves in June 2020.

In the beginning of Manga Drawing Deluxe, Ann decides to draw her own manga, but her brother Dan tells her it’s crappy. Two manga fairies appear to guide the siblings through the steps of ideation and creation of a manga story – with tips and thoughts from Yazawa herself, through the course of the story – in order to help them, in the words of the fairies, make manga that isn’t crappy! ^_^

You’ve probably run in to the same kinds of how-to-draw manga guides I have, common in craft and book stores. Many of these are not drawn by manga artists, but by manga-influenced artists…many of whom are talented in their own right. (Camilla d’Errico’s Pop Manga series comes to mind.)  But it’s pretty rare to find an English-language book by a Japanese manga artist who has been specifically teaching how to draw manga to English-speakers for years. Which makes this book an extraordinary tool for a person trying to understand what makes manga different and what makes it work.

In this book, Yazawa dissects manga composition, story boarding, character design and give useful advice on timing, emotional impact, visual and sound effects, all from the perspective of, specifically, creating manga…although practically all of the book can be used for understanding many different kinds of visual media. I mean, vanishing point is universal and my wife and I ended up discussing de Chirico’s work when I was relating Yazawa’s discussion of how diagonal panels create an “unstable” emotional mood.

If you’re watching Keep Your Hands off Eizouken and enjoying how the series breaks down anime art and techniques, so you understand it more and become a better viewer (and you should be…it’s a magnificent anime series,) you will absolutely appreciate Manga Drawing Deluxe for doing the same with manga. I’ve been reading, and editing and publishing manga for decades, but I learned quite a bit from this book.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 8 Starting with “crappy manga” was perfect. ^_^
Characters – 8 Actually quite fun
Informative – 10

Overall – 10

If you are or know a budding manga artist, or just want to be able to understand what you’re seeing as you read manga, this is an exceptionally good place to begin.  Raise your MQ (Manga Quotient) and become a better artist – and a better manga reader – with this relatable, entertaining and informative how-to-guide.

My very sincere thanks to Yazawa-sensei for an ARC of this book, I will look forward to getting it in print and giving it out as gifts!