Manga Watercolor

Book excerpt: Learn how to create beautiful manga art from pencil sketch to finished painting, with this comprehensive guide. As the popularity of Manga art continues to soar, manga and comic book artist Lisa Santrau shows beginners how to create subtle and beautiful manga pictures using pencil and watercolors—the simplest of art materials. Lisa explains the materials and tools needed and then explores the fundamentals of how to draw manga—from color theory and breaking down drawings into basic shapes, to body proportions and faces for both classic manga and chibi manga figures. You will learn how to sketch, how to create depth in your work with shading, and a range of watercolor techniques including washes, wet-on-wet and layering, as well as special techniques involving masking fluid and an innovative “film” technique for creating texture and patterns. The exercises that follow the basics explore a wide range of techniques including manga poses, hair and eyes, then learn about backgrounds, textures, gradients and more. Finally, there are twelve step-by-step painting projects to perfect your manga art skills, with downloadable templates if you want to skip the drawing and get straight to the painting. The projects are varied and fun, and comprise: Sweet chibi girl on a slice of cake, using the dry technique Fresh steampunk chibis against a bright background, using the wet-on-wet technique Chibi sorcerer’s apprentice in a flying teacup, with a galaxy background Chibi Harry, aka a world-famous wizard, teaching you character design Young girl framed by a romantic floral design, using a monochrome palette Sailor boy in a symbolic sun circle, created with masking fluid Girl in a kimono backlit by a window with flowers, using the white of the paper Historical heroine in a voluminous ballgown, using the film technique Melancholic schoolgirl against a fluorescent background, again with the film technique Silhouette in the evening sunset, using the wet-on-wet technique Food overload boy in the land of plenty, featuring surface textures Girl’s face with expressive eyes, exploring cool versus warm colors This easy-to-follow book by the creator of the popular Mechanical Princess comics, contains all you need to successfully paint your own watercolor manga art.