Anime Mania: How to Draw Characters for Japanese Animation

by Christopher Hart

There’s no doubt about Japanese animation is hot. Television shows, films, and videos featuring the anime style of animation are wildly popular. Japanese animation is like a comic book come to life, retaining all its power but in moving form. It has a very different style from traditional western animation, incorporating heavy shading, dramatic camera angles, and beautifully rendered special effects—especially the fantastic anime depictions of ocean waves, storms, smoke, and explosions. Easier to draw than its western counterpart, anime is more limited and simpler in its execution. In Japanese anime the characters move, but their movements are generally staccato, sharp, and dramatic—not free-flowing with lots of overlapping action, anticipation, and follow-through.

In Anime Mania , famous cartoonist, teacher, and best-selling author Christopher Hart demonstrates how any comic book artist can become expert in this wonderful style of animation. Step by step, he details how to draw the coolest anime characters from the widest selection of popular high-tech cyberpunks who live in the world of the future; teen characters—with troubled relationships at school, home, and on the street; and mighty monsters, fantasy warriors, and giant robots. Aspiring animators will also find chapters on anime’s spectacular special effects, the role of storyboarding in anime, sketching and the art of character design, and a mini-crash course in perspective. The book concludes with interviews with Scott Frazier, an American anime director working in Japan, and Mahiro Meada, a renowned Japanese animation director.

Brimming with hundreds of spectacular examples, illustrations, and step-by-step exercises, Anime Mania details how anyone can become a real anime artist without having to reinvent the art of drawing.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Manga, Drawing, How To

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

I started drawing character designs and storyboards for a small animation studio in while in High School. Cartooning and animation was a magical experience to me. I try to bring that experience, as well as art tips, to my readers. Their enthusiasm also motivates me.

Early in my career, my cartoon work got noticed by Watson-Guptill, a premier publisher of art books. They asked me to do a book for them on drawing cartoons. It sold 200,000 copies, which is a healthy number. So we kept going. I discovered that I enjoyed the art of creating books, which has its own special requirements. I also worked as an author for Random House, Quarto and Soho Publishing. In total, I have had 8 million books sold, and have been translated into 20 languages.

My book, "The Master Guide to Drawing Anime: How to Draw Original Characters from Simple Templates" has sold over half a million copies to date and is still very actively in print. An earlier book of mine, "Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics:" reached the number one art book in the country, according to Bookscan.

I've also been a cover story on the industry trade magazine, "Publisher's Weekly." And if you've read this far into my Bio, then I'm more impressed with you than you are with me!

Thank you so very much for letting me offer some inspiration to you in your art adventures.

Christopher Hart

Reviews

[Loanne Cheng]

Hart, Christopher. How to Draw Characters for Japanese Animation (2002). A vibrant and colorful anime how-to book to inspire any artists who want to draw in this type of style. This book will take on the adventures of learning how to draw this unique style through an introduction of what anime means. Chapters include the how-tos of drawing basic character construction, teen characters, fantastic creatures, giant robots, and special effects to name a few. Each character has a description and full-color image to explain why it was drawn in a certain way, in addition to the pencil diagrams to help the artist with the basic step-to-step instructions. A special “cool stuff” section provides information to what a real animation studio looks like and how it functions, in addition, to learning more about the professionals in the anime drawing industry. Anime enthusiast artists will not be disappointed in this how-to-draw anime characters. Target audience: grades 7-12.

[Luas n(mendozaluas10) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no doubt about it: Japanese animation is hot. Television shows, films, and videos featuring the anime style of animation

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Artwork, and fun to read, but aimed at more knowledgeable artists, not quite for the beginner.

[Monani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series is really fantastic.

[Monani · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Sonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I looked through this book a while back, looking for inspiration in drawing in new styles. I was disappointed...The format is sloppy and confusing and does an awful job at actually teaching the style. Also, it shows that the author had little knowledge of anime and manga.

Definitely will NOT recommend to anyone who wants to learn the style.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in 2003 when I was in highschool an art teacher showed that book to me. That's when my anime drawing took off. :)

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that helped me a lot with how to draw manga. It rocks!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was lost in the mail and I never received it. Hope to find it in the very near future!

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cool book! I bought it for my niece, Sarah, since this is one of her hobbies. I read it so that I can discuss the topic with her. It's going to make a nice birthday gift.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking back, it really makes me want to get back into drawing. Anime mostly.

[Kaylee Rockbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the most 2002 thing I have ever read