Draw With Jazza - Creating Characters: Fun and Easy Guide to Drawing Cartoons and Comics

The book is broken up into five stages of the design process. This is a design book more than a how to draw the book. However, there a lot of tutorials in Stage 2, so you will learn how to draw as well.Through the design process, you learn how to focus on portions of your entire project through these stages, so you do not get overwhelmed, and it's how the process works in a studio setting if you're interested in that kind of work.I don't want to give too much away, but here's what you learn in each stage:Stage 1 - you learn to research and develop your character before you start designing him/her. The book poses a lot of great questions that will bring more life to the character(s) you're designing. You also get a few pages on the different styles used in comics and animation. I didn't know what these styles were called before, so that was nice.Stage 2 - This is the stage where you design your character and there are some tutorials to help with character anatomy. Mostly human anatomy. There is no animal anatomy in this book. You'll also get a blurp on character personalities and archetypes.Stage 3 - You learn to polish the character design.Stage 4 - You learn to properly present your characters for yourself or a client, such as turnarounds and poses.Stage 5 - There are various characters that Jazza takes you through the design process and we see how each process works with actual characters.Overall, I like the simplicity of the book. The pages were easy to read through. I got through it in a day. I'm studying through it again, but the simplicity allows for anyone to jump right in and get started. Even during the discovery stage, I used a few of the questions to shape out a character I'm working on and I was able to design and create him in a day. That time frame will vary of course, but the questions helped spark a lot of ideas.This book is appropriate for all ages. I'm in my 30s, and I plan to buy one for my 13-year-old nephew and my 17-year-old godson. It's easy for anyone to understand and a great addition to your library. Update: I showed my older brother the book and I will be getting it for him on his birthday.I wanted to leave this to the end so you wouldn't think my review was skewed. I've been a fan of Jazza's content online for almost four years, and that does not sway my opinion of this book. One thing I hate is when people do videos to get you to pay for their content, but you end up getting the same old stuff. So I looked at this book with a critical and skeptical eye because of that reason. I am happy to say that I've gained new knowledge here; very helpful knowledge. Very few books are written about character design. There's only one other good one that I know of. This book is the culmination of a lot of growth from this artist, and he knocked it out of the park.

I just got this newly published book last week and have been studying it. It is not so much a how to draw book as how to create characters for your stories/comics/illustrations in cartoon/manga styles. Jazza does cover basics of drawing quite well, but this book really does an excellent job of covering styles of characters and the development of a character into the image you are wanting to portray and to draw it from any side or angle. He has you draw typical male and female figures and modify them into body types: skinny, thin, fat, child, teen, adult, old, cute, sexy, repulsive, and muscular. Then he goes on to show how to develop your characters into action poses and expressions. You learn about creating pose sheets and expression sheets for your character so you can be consistent when drawing them over and over again. The there is clothing and period costuming. He covers archetypes: Heroes, sidekicks, villains antiheroes, henchmen, mentors and and caretakers. Sex appeal of your leading figures is also discussed. There is truly a lot packed into this book and I think it will be a great reference for artists just starting out as well as those that have been drawing for a long time but may need inspiration to get past a stuck place in their work. I know this book will be in a prominent spot by my drawing table.I have followed Jazza's "Draw With Jazza" on his You Tube channel for over a year now. He has the heart of a teacher and gladly shows his talents as well as his struggles and encourages everyone to keep drawing and learning. His demonstrations of the uses of digital drawing and the technology is a whole other aspect of his work worth tuning in for..

I LOVE watching Jazza draw on Youtube. Watching his videos has increase my own drawing skills greatly in a short time. I've learned to be more fearless, to not worry about something not turning out quite right, because all the things I don't like come out in the design process and what I am left with is a design I do like. And it's also improved my sculpting by following this same process of discovery and elimination.When I found out he was publishing a book I pre-ordered on the spot. My copy arrived and it's fantastic. It outlines his process of character creation, going over the steps he takes to bring a series of rough character concepts into a finished piece of artwork. It's fantastic, and it's helpful in more than just drawing. I've applied similar concepts to my writing as well, sometimes writing several versions of a sentence, picking the parts I like from each one, paring them down until I find the right one. It's a great process and this book outlines it so well.Beyond that Jazza is a great artist. I've watched him grow himself on his youtube channel, from admitting his limitations to working to correct them. His videos that show how he learned to draw the female body really show how far his has come, and as an artist he is an inspiration to others, especially those of us who might not be as good as we would like to be. There is hope there that with practice, patience, and passion you too can become a really good artist and turn your character ideas into finished drawings.I love this book, and it has become a favorite on my shelf of art books. I refer to it often. I highly recommend it, and his youtube channel, just search Draw with Jazza.