GIGA TOWN: THE GUIDE TO MANGA ICONOGRAPHY BY FUMIYO KOUNO

Thanks to NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for providing a DARC.

Brilliantly useful book! I don’t read a lot of manga, but I do watch anime on occasion and sometimes wonder how much I’m missing because I don’t understand the symbolic language of the genre. Though short, this book opened my eyes to subtext I’ve been missing.

Much is self-explanatory to my western eyes, an iconography I’ve been trained to understand via comics and cartoons, but a lot is completely new and will reveal hidden meanings, and deepen my understanding when I see them in the wild. Great book! ★★★★★

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS FOR ARTISTS BY OLIVER SIN

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Facial Expressions for Artists by Oliver Sin.

The book begins with a short preface of the importance of anatomy, and then dives right into the five chapters covering the skull and essential muscles of the head, anatomy of the eye, anatomy of the ear, mouth and nose, expressions and the ageing face, and finally capturing expressions. It ends with a four-page index.

This book is dense with text and beautiful drawings. Covering facial anatomy in-depth and with clarity, it’s a book to return to time and time again, but it’s absolutely not aimed at beginners. Confident artists who want to level up their portraits should immediately buy a copy and devour it, they won’t regret it.

I’m buying a copy upon publication and will study it to the best of my ability, but in truth this is more of an inspirational and aspirational work for me right now. Meanwhile, I’ll be returning to Sin’s previous book, “Drawing The Head For Artists” which is also fantastic but a little more accessible for my level. ★★★★★

DEBT-FREE ART DEGREE: FOUNDATIONS IN DRAWING BY MARCO BUCCI

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Debt-Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci. Caveat: a scant few illustrations were missing from my copy, so I’ve not seen every single picture contained within the final copy.

The book consists of a short introduction, then eight chapters covering 2D shapes, gesture drawing, 3D form and space, building the figure, capturing poses, shapes and characters, constructing the head, shading and lighting, and finally colour, before ending with a helpful index.

The introduction details Bucci’s own journey and concludes with a helpful section on how to effectively study using the book. The chapters are very informative and thorough. So thorough, in fact, that I can in all honestly only give a cursory review. I’ll really need time to absorb and study the information in order to fully understand it all.

The QR codes scattered throughout lead to some fantastic videos showing the concepts in a way that can be easier for some to absorb. I also really like that assignments are given at the end of each chapter. Another thing I really appreciated was Bucci using pictures of himself showing poses etc. throughout, it’s helpful in reinforcing references are useful and that you can and should make them yourself.

This isn’t a book for complete novices, but I believe any experienced beginners and those of higher skill levels will gain a lot from this book. I’m a somewhat experienced beginner, and this is squarely aimed at my skill level and well above it. I can understand the concepts covered, and studying this book will help me learn how to leverage them better.

I really, really, really liked this book. I’m buying a copy of this to add to my art library immediately. ★★★★★

DYNAMIC CHARACTER DESIGN

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Dynamic Character Design by Fernanda Soares de Carvalho.

The book is composed of a short introduction, then five chapters covering, in order, tools, tutorials, sketching, drawing digitally, and tips.

I really liked this book. The art style is quite lovely, and the book is laid out very nicely. I found the tutorials very helpful, the illustrations and explanatory text clearly explaining things in nice, easy to digest chunks. I would have loved if the tutorial and sketching sections were longer.

The digital drawing chapter is mostly software-agnostic and is more about concepts applicable to the process of drawing digitally rather than how to use the digital tools available. That being said, the author uses the Procreate app, and has a couple of software specific tips that can be very helpful to beginners.

In summary, this book will not teach you how to draw photorealistic people, but does a nice job of guiding you through the process of creating stylised characters.

As I embarked on a drawing everyday challenge this year, and struggle terribly with people and faces, I really hope a few months of studying this book will get me closer to where I want to be. I’m definitely buying this book on publication. ★★★★★

KAWAII BIRDIES BY JEN BUDROCK

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Kawaii Birdies by Jen Budrock.

After a short intro of the artist, there’s a brief explanation of kawaii which is followed by notes on tools how to use the book. Pages of simple outlines showing the shapes of various anatomical parts, like wings, crests, beaks etc follow, before a directory of facial expressions and a quick guide to colouring.

A couple of pages categorising the various orders of bird follow, with a little bird drawn for each type. And they are adorable! So, so cute. The artist has really nailed the kawaii factor.

Most of the rest of the book is short one-page tutorials on how to draw specific types of bird, so they actually look like the type of bird you’re aiming for. A section at the end shows how to draw the birds in adorable poses, or with fun or cute accessories. The final section consists of four double spread colouring pages full of little birdies to colour.

Just flipping through this book is so much fun. It made me want to try drawing some myself, and I shall be giving it a try. Budrock makes it look easy. Admittedly, there might be a bit of the draw-the-rest-of-the-owl vibe, but how un-cute could they turn out?

Full disclosure, I really like birds, I love kawaii art, and I’m terribly biased in favour of kawaii animal characters that have little x’s for buttholes. Those x’ s make this an automatic 5 stars from me. ★★★★★

VIBRANT WATERCOLOR BY GEETHU CHANDRAMOHAN

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Vibrant Watercolor: A creative and colorful exploration into the art of watercolor painting by Geethu Chandramohan

The book is divided into two main sections, The Basics, and Projects. The Basics is split into eight sections detailing tools and materials, watercolour basics, colour theory, watercolour techniques, perspective, composition, light and shadow, landscape painting.

The author includes recommendations and useful tips throughout, and each chapter is full of photographs illustrating concepts introduced in the text.

The remainder of the book consists of 14 projects, which detail step-by-step how to achieve the finished product. The text and photos are clear and seem easy to follow.

This is a very nice book for beginners, and those new to watercolour. I have added it to my wish list along with some watercolour supplies and can’t wait to use Geethu Chandramohan’s techniques and advice to improve my painting skills. ★★★★★