Fun to Draw Mini Mangas by T Beaudenon

9/10

How to draw manga books normally revolve around teaching people how to draw standard manga style characters, yet there is the issue of the underused chibi characters, or mini mangas as they are known in this book.

T. Beaudenon takes readers through a selection of characters readers might want to have a go at drawing. The chibi character is always at the heart of humorous moments in comic manga. A character might have been told off, or made to look foolish in front of their classmates at school. This version can be a shorter, chubbier faced version or even a baby depending on which manga artist, or manga-ka is drawing it.

Chibi is a stylized form of manga where the heads are as big as the bodies, and their limbs are very small, and have no details to them. Many would consider this a strange, even weird style to draw in, but it works, and the look still raises plenty of laughs. The hands in these characters are drawn complete with four fingers and a thumb, which also creates more of a challenge. They can be winking, screaming, laughing or shouting angrily at the top of their voices, but they still look cute and hilariously funny to the reader.

For the budding artist however, they are a challenge to draw, and T. Beaudenon uses this book to give a step-by-step account of what each individual mini manga character should look like. On the first page, she has a chapter called Mini Manga Basics where she shows the height ratios of the head to the body, and details on how to draw the head, hair, eyes nose and mouth so that they look right.

Once the reader has got over that initial stage, there are pages of characters to go through and each one with a step-by-step way of drawing them in an easy way. From Cheerful Girl, Wind Dancer, Roller Skater, to Sled Rider, Boxer, Shy Girl and Cat Girl, there is something for everyone whether you're a girl or boy who wants to get into drawing in this style. From pencil sketch to final colour illustration, this book is ideal for either the beginner or budding artist as it contains easy to follow illustrations, and general looks that could persuade the reader to come up with styles of their own, and unlike many how to books, this one is anything but serious - it's amazingly funny and perfect to stave off those winter blues.