How2Draw Manga review

There are dozens and dozens of books with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides on creating your own manga masterpieces, which suggests it’s a popular enough hobby to support such a vast educational and artistic market.

So naturally those books and guides are beginning to spill over onto the App Store, and published Brazilian comic creator Fabio Yabu has put together a sterling example of how Apple’s platform can enhance your artistic bent.

How2Draw Manga is the first volume in Yabu’s planned series, and quite rightly begins with the basics of creating characters.

The app gives you the option of working through two different projects - creating a manga boy, and creating a manga girl. It doesn’t get bogged down in the intricate details of actually constructing a comic, but focuses on the essentials of putting together your first character creations.

In a simple step-by-step, screen-by-screen guide, the app takes you through each stage of character creation from head to toes.

The sequence of anatomy is quite crucial in drawing in the Japanese manga style, as the proportions aren’t what Western artists are generally used to. One of the real skills is in keeping the number of lines to a minimum, which How2Draw Manga is careful to teach through its clear and concise method.

But so far, this isn’t anything you couldn’t get from a book, and although the book might be cheaper, it’d also be more comprehensive. Where the iPhone app really comes into its own (and, admittedly, this doesn’t help iPod touch users) is in the camera function.

How2Draw Manga provides sketch outlines used for planning your drawings and keeping character proportions, and by taking a photo of your current work, you can overlay the app’s outlines on your own drawings.

Using the official guides so seamlessly on your own artwork is every bit as helpful as it sounds, and could prove to be the difference between actually learning to draw manga, and remaining in the amateur leagues.

And since no one is an artist until their work has been officially showcased, How2Draw Manga also incorporates Twitter access, allowing you to upload your creations to the web and share your new world of manga with friends.

How2Draw Manga info

Ease of use:
Value:
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Overall

Platform: iPhone

Cost: £0.59

Version:1.1

Developer: ZeroUm Digital

Website/Demo: ZeroUm website

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