Chalk Art Manga and Manga Art: How-To Books Unlike Anything Else on the Market (Danica Davidson)

I have eighteen books out now, but before I sold any of my books, I was working as a journalist covering manga and anime. This came out of my love of the medium, which really took off while I was a teenager. It was writing about anime and manga that actually led me to selling my first book — Manga Art for Beginners — and this past summer, I’ve come out with two new manga how-to-draw books.

For both of these, I worked with Rena Saiya, a bilingual Japanese manga creator who also wants to publish abroad. I found her on LinkedIn, if you believe it, and we’ve been working together ever since. 

The first book, Manga Art for Everyone, is a sequel to Manga Art for Beginners. Manga Art for Beginners starts out showing how to draw different body parts (eyes, faces, hair) and then overall anatomy (the form of the body) then moves on to drawing different character types. One of my frustrations with other how-to-draw books is that they don’t show enough steps. That’s why with each of these manga books, the steps are laid out in great detail, so that people can really follow what happens.

With the sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, we don’t show the introduction on drawing body parts, but we do open with details on how manga is made in Japan. That means it discusses the pens, the software, the ways mangaka (manga creators) create shine and put on screentone. Then it goes on to show how to create seventeen different characters, including a shojo heroine, a shonen hero (you see him on the cover), a female warrior, a bride and groom, a Victorian Man, and some yokai (Japanese legendary creatures).

The second book, Chalk Art Manga, is unlike anything else out there. Do you love manga? Do you love (or loved as a kid) creating chalk art on your sidewalk or driveway? Then this book is for you: the first-ever book on how to draw manga-style characters using chalk art.

Like Manga Art for Beginners and Manga Art for Everyone, Chalk Art Manga breaks down the steps so you can follow what is happening. The artwork also ranges from very simple (like the smiling sushi) to more complex. Chalk art also lets you go wild with colors, so we have pink-haired girls and brightly colored kawaii candy. The last drawing is a Harajuku Girl, which references the vibrant Harajuku fashion in Japan.

There’s also a ninja, a magical girl, two chibi characters, a T-Rex and a unicorn. Chalk Art Manga is meant for fans of all ages and all art skills, so you can start at the beginning and work your way up.

With Manga Art for Everyone and Chalk Art Manga, you can bring manga characters to life on your notebook, on your screen, or on your pavement. That’s a lot of manga characters!

Snag a copy of Chalk Art Manga here!