Chrisopher Hart Drawing Books

[ArcticMars]

I am a beginning artist and I absolutely love the Christopher Hart drawing books. I am learning to draw chibis right now and I have orders some more of his books. Have you used these books? What do you think of them?

[ninniku]

It's good to have things that make you want to draw. But the majority "how to draw" art books, especially those filling really specific niches, the main goal is making you think you really need to buy it, maybe even more than teaching you how to make good art. All art methods and teachers have their negatives, and learning from someone else's style can teach you their bad habits. Just be sure to keep an eye out for them, and try to avoid ingraining them into your own work.

[puppetbomb]

After he drew boobs as muscles, I keep a wide berth from his work.

[ArcticMars]

ninniku

It's good to have things that make you want to draw. But the majority "how to draw" art books, especially those filling really specific niches, the main goal is making you think you really need to buy it, maybe even more than teaching you how to make good art. All art methods and teachers have their negatives, and learning from someone else's style can teach you their bad habits. Just be sure to keep an eye out for them, and try to avoid ingraining them into your own work.

I like to copy the finished pictures from the book.

[ArcticMars]

puppetbomb

After he drew boobs as muscles, I keep a wide berth from his work.

You didn't have to do yours like that.

[puppetbomb]

LilithDraco

You didn't have to do yours like that.

I suppose I was a bit too blunt. Apologies.

Most of the art in these books are not done by Chris Hart himself. You'll find behind the front cover a list of Contributing Artists which will help narrow down whose art you really like.

[XMegantronX]

I actively avoid his books...After reading a few at the library, he seems to know very little about manga/anime art and is just one of those artists that want to cash in on the popularity of the style. You would have better luck in improving your art by studying from actual anime and manga artists and learning the basics from anatomy books.

If you like him, then to each their own, I suppose ^^

[PupperPrinceSam]

I used to read his books like my personal art bibles, especially the 'How to draw Fantasy' one.
But it turned out he was mostly showing a pretty drawing someone else drew for his books, and then gave little to no explanation on how to actually get better.

I enjoyed the books, but they taught me little to nothing. Turned out, when I actually tried the anatomy books I previously thought were boring, they actually helped me.
And then I looked for tutorials online.
They end up being not as boring, and more personal to me. You might benefit more for them.^^

[ZopelThe543]

Samanthai

I used to read his books like my personal art bibles, especially the 'How to draw Fantasy' one.
But it turned out he was mostly showing a pretty drawing someone else drew for his books, and then gave little to no explanation on how to actually get better.

I enjoyed the books, but they taught me little to nothing. Turned out, when I actually tried the anatomy books I previously thought were boring, they actually helped me.
And then I looked for tutorials online.
They end up being not as boring, and more personal to me. You might benefit more for them.^^

Pretty much what she said. Everyone has their own way of learning how to draw but these specific books I feel, only cripple ones imagination and limits them. If you're eager to follow someone's artwork, follow people that truly inspire you and draw from that reaction. if your eager to learn more about the body take on anatomy books.

I wont get to preachy about this stuff but if there comes to a point where you feel happy with your artwork and would love to pursue comics (don't care if you rather refer it as manga) and would like to find any resource, I would recommend reading this book. This book teaches you the ins and outs of how comics have developed over the years, how to understand the pacing of paneling, and storytelling in general and even goes into detail on the differences on Western Comics and Manga besides the art style. and the coolest part about it? its all told to you by comic form.

[Half-breed Vampire Wolf]

I have a mixture of different artbooks. I have Christopher Hart books, some Impact book, some How to Draw Manga books, some Japanese artbooks, and some others.
I don't like Christopher Hart books as much, because I don't like the drawing style of most of the earlier books, but I do get some ideas from certain ones.
I prefer the Impact books along with the others that aren't Christopher Hart books, because most of them go in slightly more detail. Also, the majority of Impact books are done by different artists that are credited for their work.
My Japanese book is one that focuses on drawing anime males in different styles, and since before that books mostly aimed at drawing females, I was glad I got it. An Impact book, which is a third in its series, aims at drawing boys that was recently released.
I still do like some ideas from the Christopher Hart books, but overall those books are the ones I try to avoid if I can.

[Its Sami-o]

Ah man! I loved these books growing up!! ESPECIALLY the fantasy one. I think theyre a great starting point and got me super inspired when i was starting out.

I think learning to break down the figure into simpler shapes and place them in space is a great take away from them, I dont know that theyre necessarily generating bad habits haha if youre starting out its being inspired and actually drawing that is the most important thing because its what going to keep you going and wanting to improve. If a book, comic or anything is inspiring you, you read and draw the s**t out of it. People might give you a hard time about the 'legitmacy' of your interests or what youre using to learn, but drawing is about creating what you want to. Have you posted any of youre drawings anywhere? I'd love to see em smile

[JC_Rose]

I think his books are good for beginning, but make sure you look at other sources too. (I personally hate Chris Hart, but I'll give him some credit) there are a few helpful people on youtube too that can be useful. Mark Crilley does videos every week on a variety of subjects including poses and surface textures.

[Ringo-Ichigo]

Chris Hart's book are mostly mediocre at best.

Personally, I recommend Impact's Shojo Fashion line. The line is really just about drawing clothes in general (with some basic, quick anatomy stuff) and really helpful. I have also supplemented this with the How to Draw Manga series. My favorites from their line are Costume Encyclopedia Vol. 4: Kimono and Gowns, Sketching Manga Style 5: Sketching Props, the two books on guns and military weapons/machines, and a couple different books on fighting. Since the How to Draw Manga series is mostly out of print, you'll probably have to hit Amazon to find them and you could be paying big money to get them. (My Kimono and Gowns one cost me over $100 with shipping, and that was cheap for it. Usually, that book runs higher than that. Fortunately, it has been a huge help so the investment was worthwhile.)

But honestly, the most helpful books in my many art books (seriously, I have close to 3 dozen) aren't the manga ones. They're the basic art books. The ones on color, lighting, anatomy, composition, and even just books full of pictures of weapons, buildings, and fashion. I really love James Gurney's book on color and light. It answered so many of my questions on how lighting impacts the colors themselves. Nita Leland also has some nice books out on color theory as well, some of which even include some basic palette suggestions.

The book doesn't even necessarily have to be about art for it to be useful. I picked up a lot of my reference books from Barnes and Noble's bargain section. I pop in there to see what they have for picture encyclopedias once in a while. Most of these books are under $20, and sometimes as cheap as $5. Usually, the ones I pick up tend to run more $10 - $15. But try to stick to books with a narrower theme if you're shopping the bargain books. Rather than just weapons, try to pick one that's just swords and daggers or just guns. Not only does it keep things simpler when you go to reference one, but usually you'll get a better selection of reference pictures in the narrower themes.

[Yuki Sayomi]

Christopher Hart books are okay, and I used to use them religiously, but after getting better and finding my own style, they lacked what I needed. Great for beginners trying to get into the art style itself.

But for people expanding their skill I recommend the great Mark Crilley on YouTube. He has I think two art books now and his series Brody's Ghost and Miki Falls are great, Dark Horse published of course. He is amazing for an English artist and has such a wide array of skill between anime and realism it's just beautiful. I strongly advise artist of any level and degree to browse his videos. He is fun and very entertaining.