Professional Manga
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Featuring essential resources for professionals and students in many areas of media and mass communications, Focal Press books keep you up-to-date and demystify ever-changing technologies to help you gain success. Check out the Focal Press store. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
"Horton and Ahn deliver great action, crazy technology, and hot girls, but that doesn't cause it to read like some manga fan-fiction. The plot thickens almost as quickly as the action moves, and leaves you with a cliffhanger I dare you to say no to." Tim Demeter, editor, Graphic Smash (www.graphicsmash.com) on Strongarm
Product Description
Combine high-end manga storytelling theory and advice with the tools for digital creation in Manga Studio, guided by expert professional manga-ka. You'll discover manga storytelling techniques, from speed lines to technology, from toning to big sound effects. Steve Horton and Jeong Mo Yang then show you how best to accomplish these techniques using the leading manga art creation program, Manga Studio EX. Every ounce of theory is backed up with step-by-step manga illustrations and Manga Studio screenshots that show how these illustrations were created. See the techniques in action in "The Other Side of the Tracks", a new manga short story in the book centerfold which demonstrates at least one example from every technique described. You can also follow the continuing story as a webmanga available at comicspace.com. And there's more! The companion CD includes trial version of Manga Studio EX along with high-resolution image files from the book. Authors of the title are expert professional manga-ka (creators), with credits such as TokyoPop's Star Trek: the Manga and Dyoz, Image Comics' "Strongarm", and Grounded Angel on the web. There is no other Manga book that melds high - end Manga storytelling theory and advice, with the tools for digital creation in Manga Studio. In the book centerfold is a new manga short story: "The Other Side of the Tracks", which shows at least one example from every technique described. This story will continue after publication as a webmanga. There is demo version of Manga Studio EX on CD (plus exclusive value-adds not found elsewhere) along with high-resolution image files from the book.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
22 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Where's the 'Manga Studio' part?
27 Aug 2008
Format:Paperback
This book does not really cover much about the program 'Manga Studio EX' it is more of an "over all" how to draw manga comics or better yet 'general things to pay attention to'. I think the book might good for the "just learning how to draw" person but for help with the Manga Studio application it really lacks. It cover 3 things in Manga Studio, line quality(brushes), tones and speed lines which amounts to about 8 pages in the book and it doesn't go into any depth on those topics other than you can adjust the options to your liking. And it does not cover anything specific to the 'EX' version of Manga Studio.
The rest of the book is filled with drawings.. the same drawings over and over again. It will show a line drawing of a character then a proper shaded(toned) version of the same drawing then the line drawing again then 2 examples of improper shading of the same line drawing and finally the proper shaded version again. That's 6 pages and 2 of those 6 are duplicates. It does this over and over again, I guess to "up" the page count. About the whole last half of the book are rough sketches for some homemade comic with no explanation or anything. I returned my copy. Also, I have to say I did not open the included disc so I may have missed the real meat.. but I doubt it.
The rest of the book is filled with drawings.. the same drawings over and over again. It will show a line drawing of a character then a proper shaded(toned) version of the same drawing then the line drawing again then 2 examples of improper shading of the same line drawing and finally the proper shaded version again. That's 6 pages and 2 of those 6 are duplicates. It does this over and over again, I guess to "up" the page count. About the whole last half of the book are rough sketches for some homemade comic with no explanation or anything. I returned my copy. Also, I have to say I did not open the included disc so I may have missed the real meat.. but I doubt it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Not terribly useful
20 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
All in all, there's not much to recommend about this book. It has two sections, one dedicated to using the Manga Studio EX software, and the other giving general tips about creating Manga comics. Both sections are terribly light, with basic instructions but lacking the kind of depth or detail that other art books often offer. This is especially true of the section about creating comics, which is generic in its content--it really repeats basic comic advice that can be had in a dozen other books, without offering anything new.
The software itself (a trial comes with the book) seems an awful lot like Photoshop with a lot of preset custom brushes and such, but then lacking the versatility that PS offers to do more than Manga. Perhaps if the book had been dedicated solely to the program, and gone on from the basic-basics into highlighting tips, tricks, and tools more, I would see more value in it. As is, I couldn't recommend it.
The software itself (a trial comes with the book) seems an awful lot like Photoshop with a lot of preset custom brushes and such, but then lacking the versatility that PS offers to do more than Manga. Perhaps if the book had been dedicated solely to the program, and gone on from the basic-basics into highlighting tips, tricks, and tools more, I would see more value in it. As is, I couldn't recommend it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Informative...
29 July 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
More a 3.5 than 4.0 :)
Looking at this book from a purely objective artistic viewpoint, this is a good book as an instructional guide to using Manga Studio 3.0/4.0. Aside from the tutorial on how to use Manga Studio to achieve certain affects, it also covers some basics of the concept of "Manga". Manga as the comic book form of east asian cultures, and more specifically, the black and white variant.
The book also covers some comic book pre-press basics as well as pitching your work to various comic book publications, which isn't something new to me, but what I consider more helpful and informative than the "how to manga" or "how to with Manga Studio" aspects.
This is not a "how to draw" book, but a how to create manga using Manga Studio book, and in this sense, it does a decent job. I tested this on the Manga Studio 3.0 EX Demo provided on disc with the book. I am not sure how much more indepth a guide to the software could be, but in my opinion Manga Studio (the version I tested) was not all that intuitive.
I have provided some examples of what Manga Studio does. I took the short route because I work full time (a blessing these days) and am only showing how Manga Studio "manga-nizes" an imported image. The image is something I did and painted digitally with a type of watercolor effect and then imported into Manga Studio. As noted, the book does come with a $100 off Manga Studio EX coupon, however, it seems to be only usable at Smith Micro's website and not here via Amazon.
As for the manga aspect of things, "manga" would allow the aspiring artist to publish their work in a more economical fashion, yet still not skimp on some of the visual impact all that much.
Just keep in mind, "manga" is a style but be original and genuine. The provided images are my work so I don't have to worry about copyrights. ;)
Looking at this book from a purely objective artistic viewpoint, this is a good book as an instructional guide to using Manga Studio 3.0/4.0. Aside from the tutorial on how to use Manga Studio to achieve certain affects, it also covers some basics of the concept of "Manga". Manga as the comic book form of east asian cultures, and more specifically, the black and white variant.
The book also covers some comic book pre-press basics as well as pitching your work to various comic book publications, which isn't something new to me, but what I consider more helpful and informative than the "how to manga" or "how to with Manga Studio" aspects.
This is not a "how to draw" book, but a how to create manga using Manga Studio book, and in this sense, it does a decent job. I tested this on the Manga Studio 3.0 EX Demo provided on disc with the book. I am not sure how much more indepth a guide to the software could be, but in my opinion Manga Studio (the version I tested) was not all that intuitive.
I have provided some examples of what Manga Studio does. I took the short route because I work full time (a blessing these days) and am only showing how Manga Studio "manga-nizes" an imported image. The image is something I did and painted digitally with a type of watercolor effect and then imported into Manga Studio. As noted, the book does come with a $100 off Manga Studio EX coupon, however, it seems to be only usable at Smith Micro's website and not here via Amazon.
As for the manga aspect of things, "manga" would allow the aspiring artist to publish their work in a more economical fashion, yet still not skimp on some of the visual impact all that much.
Just keep in mind, "manga" is a style but be original and genuine. The provided images are my work so I don't have to worry about copyrights. ;)
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Design Studies > Illustration
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Graphic Arts > Illustration
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Painting & Drawing > Techniques & Tools > Drawing
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > E-Commerce > E-business
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > E-Commerce > Web Marketing
- Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Anime & Manga
- Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Cartooning
- Books > Computing & Internet > Digital Lifestyle > Online Shopping > Amazon
- Books > Computing & Internet > Digital Music
- Books > Computing & Internet > Software & Graphics > Graphics & Multimedia > Image Manipulation & Creation
- Books > Study Books > Undergraduate & Postgraduate > Arts & Humanities > Art > Digital Art
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
