You Can Draw Manga Chibis by Samantha Whitten, Jeannie Lee

You Can Draw Manga Chibis (Just for Kids!)

by Samantha Whitten and Jeannie Lee

Just for Kids: You Can Draw Manga Chibis shows how to draw in the chibi style using simple steps and easy-to-find art tools. Also included are tips and techniques for designing your own chibi characters.

You can draw chibi characterswith the easy, step-by-step art projects in Just for Kids: You Can Draw Manga Chibis. Also included in this 8.75 × 11.67–inch book are tips and techniques you can use to design your own characters once you are comfortable with the art style. No complicated tools are needed; you can create your own chibi art using just a pencil, pen, markers, and paper!

The book opens with helpful sections on tools and materials, essential drawing techniques, color basics, and an examination of typical chibi faces and bodies. The step-by-step projects that follow show you how to draw different chibi characters in any pose and from all angles. Included at the end of the book are templates to scan or photocopy and practice on over and over again. Throughout the book, take a closer look at different chibi characteristics and use the artist's tips to modify the templates to create your own characters, which you can then draw walking, jumping, dancing, falling, and flying. Tips and techniques for drawing chibi characters abound!
 
Written and illustrated by Samantha Whitten and Jeannie Lee, Just for Kids: You Can Draw Manga Chibis is perfect for beginning and intermediate artists, lovers of manga and anime, and more. You will love creating your own manga chibi characters!

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

You Can Draw Manga Chibis is a fun and very accessible tutorial art guide for drawing basic manga figures. Due out 3rd March 2020 from Quarto on their Walter Foster Jr imprint, it's 96 pages and will be available in paperback format.
I love to draw and doodle. Despite not being super advanced and skillful yet, I find drawing very relaxing most of the time. This is an accessible guide full of techniques and cheerful upbeat advice. The drawing style itself is completely adorable (chibi ちび translates to 'little'). They're big eyed and round faced with tiny hands.

This guide has an accessible and appealing format. A short introduction is followed by tools and supplies, basic techniques, some color theory, and then the individual drawing tutorials. The authors do a good job of explaining (and showing) proportions for different ages, positions, action and movement, etc.

Great selection for a gift for a young artist, perhaps with some added sketch pads and pencils. This would also make a superlative classroom or library book.I would also recommend this book to babysitters, grandparents, parents, and basically anyone who spends a fair bit of time with small kids in order to up their 'draw with me' game. I really enjoyed this. I will use these to decorate journals and notes for friends. I see some chibi style science stuff in my future (chibi microscope, chibi lab, chibi test tubes)!

Four stars. Fun collection.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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  • 16 February, 2020: Reviewed