Product Description: In 1963, this popular comic book made television history by becoming Japan's first animated series. Ever since, it has inspired an entire subgenre of robot characters. Now, Astro Boy is making a comeback in Japan and America. In Fall 2003, Astro Boy will appear in a new animated television series and in a CGI-animated feature film. This volume of the Let's Draw Manga series teaches illustrators and animators the characteristics of this beloved robot boy with never-before-seen details. You will discover the cinematic techniques of Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka that revolutionized the look of manga.
Try Your Hand at Drawing Astro Boy! The "Let's Draw Manga" Series is the latest entry in the ever-growing field of instructional books aimed at Americans aspiring to create Japanese-style comics (or "manga"). As with the longer-running "How to Draw Manga" Series from Graphic-Sha, this new contender was originally published for a Japanese audience, and is now being made available in periodic English-language installments.
Do we need yet another bunch of "How-to" manga books competing for our dollars? I don't know. But "Let's Draw Astro Boy" is the one volume in this series that I can't recommend more highly.
To you younger folk, your first taste of "Astro Boy" may be the 2003 series currently running on Cartoon Network. But those of us manga/anime fans over 30 know that Astro Boy is one of the landmark characters of modern Japanese comics and animation, with a history going back almost 50 years. Created by Ozamu Tezuka (the "Walt Disney of Japanese Animation") as "Tetsuwan Atomu ("Mighty Atom" or "Strong-arm Atom")," Astro Boy appeared in one of the first anime programs to reach the US (in the 1960s). He's to sci-fi anime what Mickey Mouse is to mainstream US animation.
Astro Boy and Mickey Mouse also share this in common: they look SO EASY to draw, but soon you realize that if the slightest line is a few centimeters off, they just don't look like themselves. This book will give you enough pointers to avoid such pitfalls.
It's packed with tips for drawing Astro in typical movements like running, flying, and fighting. There's also a look at the insides of this robot's body (check out the BB gun that fires out of his...rump!). Especially valuable is a history the different interpretations of Astro over the years. Although pictures of much of his supporting cast are in the book, I would've liked more info about drawing them.
If you like drawing manga, anime, or non-Japanese cartoons, Astro (like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny), should be one of those characters you can whip out from memory whenever the occasion arises. After reading "Let's Draw Astro Boy," you'll appreciate his deceptive simplicity.
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