POP MANGA DRAWING is Great for Comfortable Artists

I am not a skilled artist. I have always wanted to be one, but I always get frustrated and stop practicing before it can actually go anywhere. Regardless, I was very interested to see what Camilla d’Errico’s book POP MANGA DRAWING was like. The style intrigued me, and I was lucky enough to get a copy. Well, the book is now available, and I’ve decided to test out the step-by-step instructions.

My experience with the book has led me to the following conclusion: POP MANGA DRAWING is great if you’re already at a comfortable skill level. If you are a complete novice like me, you may want to first find another source to really get the basics down and get comfortable with drawing in general. Once you get the basics down, you may want to look at getting POP MANGA if you like the style.

D’Errico starts the book by breaking down different types of materials you can use such as different pencils and paper and what she uses. She then has a warm-up exercise that is pretty good for getting creative juices flowing. Then, we get to the Beginner sections. I decided to tackle the first lesson and here’s my result:

I know that it looks bad. Hair and shading are very clearly not strong suits of mine. However, the instructions are clear. Another great thing about POP MANGA is that there’s enough wiggle room for you to take creative license. This is what the final piece from the book looks like:

As a how-to book, POP MANGA is well-done. This isn’t something for new artists to get though. Once you’re comfortable drawing though and if you love this mix of manga and surreal art, this is definitely something to pick up. Depending on your skill level, you’ll struggle with different areas, but like drawing a simple face, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.