Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Superheroes and Villains

Book excerpt: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Superheroes and Villains, Illustratedis the series' fourth release in the step-by-step, how-to-draw arena, and the first to venture outside the realm of manga. But like the two manga books before it (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Manga- Fantasy Creatures andThe Complete Idiot's Guide to Manga- Shoujo), this guide follows the same 4-color format in which readers learn how to create a variety of characters with more than 400 illustrations that are broken up into six- to eight-step series. Colour is used in each sequential step to clarify how the new strokes add to the work in progress as the reader works toward each final full-colour character. In this book, readers learn to create original superheroes and villains that are patterned after the underlying traits associated with well-known characters, but without replicating what's already been done by the likes of Marvel and DC Comics. By drawing these unique figures and seeing how they are both similar to and different from the established superheroes and villains, readers gain inspiration for creating their own truly original characters.