Ariel honestly looks like the artist saw manga style like twice and tried to recreate it...but by using references from like Betty Boop and other rubber hose cartoons
I had to pause the video and just stare quietly as my whole childhood came flooding back. I remembered carrying that book around with me, studying it, rereading it, paying more attention to it than my studies. I literally cried when I loaned it to a friend and her cat peed on it.
@@extra_ram_noodlesMy old graphic design teacher would have us flip drawings over a light box (you can do it over a window too) but that would only work if it were on standard paper or maybe a thinner canvas?
I used to follow the tutorials from these books in elementary 😭 the fact that i could replicate 90% of the drawings showed how amateurishly bad those “how to anime” books are. they looked so bad.
Every time you showed the original Ariel headshot while you were drawing over it was such a jumpscare 😭 Super insightful commentary as usual! Love this video ❤
I remember one time I got a really professional looking college textbook about drawing human anatomy, and I rage quit trying to read it halfway through the Intro chapter because the vocabulary was unnecessarily dense and the author went on this huge tangent about how “drawing realistically is the only way and people who draw cartoons are an insult to true artists”
Ew! I actually went to art school and although we learned that learning to draw realistically is important, it was like... so your cartoony stuff can look good, not that "oh drawing in a cartoon style is unprofessional and not real art" blegh. And like the majority of artwork that's not considered cartoony isn't even realistic, so would that guy be saying that 15th century wood engravings aren't REAL art because they don't look realistic either?
The irony is that the illustrations in his later books are somehow a lot better. I think it’s because he hired a bunch of artists that actually respect the style. Apparently Mark Crilley was and still is one of the better ones because he actually respects the anime art style. Same with Sophie Chan who I assume is very busy considering how little she uploads as of now. 😭😭😭
@@ashleyhansen4479 Funny you should say that, I bought a couple of Hart's earlier manga books and they actually taught me a decent number of things, compared to his recent ones. Sure the art is a bit dated, but the info given is actually info of value, as opposed to his dad jokes that he tells every paragraph in his recent "how to manga" books....
Christopher Hart actually has relatively good art tutorial books when they are not manga-related. Like his fairy tutorial book is like a silly little storybook with fairy-lore he came up with. It'a actually entergaining to read as a picture book, even if one isn't using it as a tutorial. Manga however, *shudders*. That guy does not understand manga at all.
This might sound weird, but thanks for not just saying chubbier but also fatter! I hate people dancing around the word fat and I want to reclaim it as a neutral description instead of what often still feels like an insult.
I agree. Anyway, there is actual, factual fat is involved, a lot of it :D I totally use the word fat when I talk about a fat person. My country isn't that super sensitive, thankfully but I would do that anyway.
plus it’s like not even a good descriptor word, like you can be “chubby” but not “fat” it’s stupid to treat em like synonyms. i have chub around parts of my body but i wouldn’t consider myself fat cause im not ?
I always thought the circle guideline was just a way to guide the face/chin and not a way to represent the back area of the skull for the rest of the face -
@@Asukasnumber1fan Ive been an artist for over 4 years and yet I somehow didnt fully understand what the head guideline was supposed to be and somehow never questioned it -
@9ightdreamer lol , been drawing for as long as I can remember and I always thought ppl just knew abt tbh, well atleast now you know so you can use it more to your benefit
@@Asukasnumber1fan Eh, I was a self-taught artist so I didnt learn the exact reasons to exist yet here I am - (But hey at least I caught onto the idea of it guiding the face haha!) And I think Im at a point where Im beginning to understand the things I really should-
@@Asukasnumber1fanNo, no. I've been drawing for like..... 7-9 years or so and I also thought it was just a place to build the jawline on.... I also didn't understand the point of the lines on faces when I was a kid because those "how to draw" books like the ones in this video just don't explain how to use proportions/anatomy guide lines
Part of me feels like a quarter of Ariel's page being dedicated to her backstory just shows how scattered the focus of that drawing book is. Like not only is it trying to teach readers how to draw anime, but also trying to introduce readers to the genre and or subculture of anime. Like "these are the characters and tropes you should expect" or "these are the kinds of characters people are making", which is a bold move considering how superficial their understanding of it seems.
It was my understanding all these “how to draw” and other series for kids are book packaging. So a publishing company probably decided they wanted a bunch drawing books, found an artist who would do it for them, contracted him and had him stuck drawing in styles he had no idea about. It would explain the really bad ones at least
That's what I was thinking, seeing how many of these "how to draw" authors have such a wide variety of books and subjects. That they just got *a* guy who can draw, period, and were like "Okay we need you to do a How to Draw Horses book and then you have to do a How to Draw American Cartoons book after that, and then we need a How to Do Botanical Illustrations followed by a second How to Draw Anime book"
Lol omg I remember buying one of these when I first started taking illustration seriously. Thanks LT you made my soul cringe today with memories of "how to draw manga" Every artist needs to be close to that feeling. keeps us humble.
I’ve drawn realistically for years and am self taught. But this video really explained the proportions of the face, things I’ve drawn without knowing or understanding like that the bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and chin. And I didn’t know where the eye line was supposed to be until now, I couldn’t figure out if it was supposed to be the top bottom or middle of the eye. It is supposed to be the middle (though I suppose it can be personal preference but it will help me be consistent every time.)
YOOO I HAD THAT BOOK AT THE BEGINNING WTF 😭 i always thought it was funny how the tsundere, deredere and yandere (i think?) girls looked like DDLC characters like straight up. the tsundere one is just natsuki but orange ;_;
I think I actually have one of these how to draw books that were given to me as a gift, for its intended purpose, it was not very specific, it practically skipped crucial steps, and the end products I made when using their advice resulted in an amalgamation where I am firmly comfortable to literally burning it while not feeling bad for the tree that was used for the firewood, the paper used, and the pencil.
Listen, How to Draw Manga both volumes set me on my drawing path. There were just examples in there instead of fully drawn “copy this” examples. I see those books as things to be surpassed, but goodness, they were my friends in middle school 🥰
i remember a how to draw book that i really loved had a few pages where you use head-heights to manipulate the proportions and what genres may use them. Like one used 5 heads and was claimed to be more used in kids anime, and one was like 11 heads and was mainly used for shojo lol
Thank you for mentioning the bellybutton being flatter on fatter bodies! That and the way that the body folds & the droop on a belly are really important to know, because I've definitely seen people who didn't know that ending up with 'fat' characters that just look pregnant or really bloated 😅
omg this unlocked a core memory for me, I remember getting those awful "how to draw manga" books from my grandma when I was a weeby kid who was just starting out drawing. I remember even back then I looked at the weird melting faces and was like "uuuhhhhh thhaaaannkssss grandmaaa" and then kept just learning off the anime styles I already really loved before continuing to develop my own style and learning actual anatomy etc.
I grew up with and had some of these books as a kid, it was very easy for a well meaning parent or family member to buy these for you as a gift growing up in that era of anime first becoming popular. You did an awesome job with the redraws too, thanks for the awesome video.
I remember I had an anime book made by someone who didn’t do anime art. The face looks normal but the bodies of the women looked like they have no organs.
watching lavender improve over the years is a experience i wish everyone had because we see her change how she does shadows, shading, lines, colors, sketches, and everything it helped me improve too
Honestly i love how even while pointing out the obvious problems within the "how to draw" books, Lavender is never outwardly rude or claims that it's "bad" just that it doesn't have direction/isn't helpful. Even on the Ariel page it was very polite and direct and i love that about her. Lavender is such a calming presence online and i think that's wonderful💜
your videos were what got me into drawing around 2016, seeing a new one in my feed almost a decade later while looking for background noise as i work on a professional illustration feels kind of surreal😭 really cool to see you do another one of these silly how to draw videos, you've improved so much not just in art but also videomaking since then, honestly can't believe it's 2024 right now
These “How to Draw” books remind me of my Manga Art class, which was equally helpful. I learned many things in that class, I just wish how to draw was one of them.
There are some wonderful instructional how to draw books, BUT there’s also some REALLY REALLY bad ones out there too! Thankfully the collection of how to draw books I stared getting when I was 12 up to current are pretty good at explaining things and showing good examples. However those aren’t my only resources either, I study plenty of other peoples art work, different styles within a genre, and lots of practice as well.
@@serenegenerally, I have a current collection of around thirty how to draw books, is there a specific genera/topic you’re looking for recommendations for? I do know some of my earliest books were by Christopher Heart going over Manga/Anime(though he’s not the only author/artist who’s books on manga/anime), and NeonDragon goes over how to draw dragons really well and other fantasy creatures. They are the two who come to mind right off the top of my head, but if there’s a specific genre or topic I can help you find something.
The intro is so spot on. I love your content. Probably the only reason I'm still motivated to do art. Every time I see one of your videos I open up Procreate again and start drawing. I love your art style too.
in all my years of drawing experience, i NEVER knew the circle was for the back of the head, i just used it for funsies and to know where the eyes went but that makes so much sense! i kind of just sat there with my jaw on the floor when i heard that.
I usually hate long outros but I always gotta stick around for that ‘and of course, blehblehblehbleh’ (or however you spell it idk). Like I have no idea who they are but that’s my GUY
Oh god, I remember this book. I couldn't even believe a lot of these drawing were in here, they were so terrible. Like.... why would anyone think this should be in a how to book?
LAVENDER NEEDS TO MAKE A ART BOOK FOR BEGINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but like srrsly i think that if i had a how to draw book by lavender when i was younger i feel like i would atleast be able to draw wrists
The feeling when the video starts off with the exact two first tutorial books I ever used and which inspired me start replicating manga/anime artstyles in my own art. It was a mixture of cringing at the book and its lack of proper explanations in its material, laughing, and a "yeah, you're right". The 8-year-old me who sat down and studied those drawings tried to understand what everything displayed was whilst replicating what I saw. Boy have I drawn a lot of heads shaped like partially eaten apples with pointy chins because of that. When I got a little older I tried to study more closely and read the descriptions of more parts. I found most of the text to just state the obvious and not explain things too well. I also remember it being fairly specific about what materials were needed. I find that what it did best was inspire... I also learned what construction lines are and how to draw trees.
My grandma got me one of these books a few years ago, I looked into the side angles bc I couldn’t draw them. The first step was “First draw a side angle.”
I still have these books on my shelf as a 32 year old. As a kid these books were all we had to improve but half of them looked like the artists didn't put much effort into them and the tips were not helpful. Luckily I still draw
holy shit, i HAD the Ariel book as a kid. waaaayyyyy way back when i was just first figuring out that I liked to draw, i somehow ended up with that book and even at that point, it was baffling. honestly I was kinda half-convinced that my brain was pulling some Mandela effect thing and implanting a false memory that this book existed at all, it's *wild* that it's not only real but apparently known?? absurd. thank you and well done with the redraws, I really respect your adaptability in style :)
I like to do art but my focus is more on abstract art and alot of ppl say im "not a real artist" so I was wandering if you could do a video on more abstract art and tips. anygays love your videos they help me alot when I'm practicing my art.
Tbh, as an artist myself who’s also chubby, I think partly why some people are afraid of drawing fuller bodies is due to back lash.? Either way, there’s definitely a difference between people who say “my style can’t fit x type of feature” compared to people who are actively learning how to incorporate diversity into their artstyle. Like anime in general will usually make fat or chubby characters so extremely over weight that it becomes a characture of what people who actually are that weight look like. Yes, people can vary a lot within being fuller bodied, chubby and fat, but the way many anime’s I’ve seen do it is exaggerating the fatness of a character until that character is made to be a joke. Then again; I don’t agree with having fat characters be the gag characters only because of their weight. If you have a character that’s meant to be comic relief, but the only “funny” aspect of their character is body size, then you didn’t write a good character imo. Fat characters can be used as comic relief if the aspect of comic relief isn’t hinged on their weight. Edit: when I draw figures, more often than not, I struggle drawing more skinny figures, as I think I tend to lean towards drawing more fat on characters in general. That being said, that just means I need to study more skinny and lanky body types. No issue there.
Man...I wish they would re-release the How to Draw Manga books by Hikaru Hayashi. They were absolutely amazing. Had a friend borrow some of the ones I owned and never got them back 😭 those were by a real manga artist and I learned a lot
I find it interesting to hear that 3/4 is hard for beginners because I think I come from the other side of that. I found it easier to draw 3/4 than front facing. I've since developed my skills past that, but I remember drawing a lot of 3/4 as a default when I was a kid. I think it was just something I latched onto in my learning and did over and over. Probably what angle I find more difficult that I work at now is drawing looking up at a character, particularly when they're looking upwards at something because drawing the jawline that way never looks right and I have to keep redrawing it sometimes. I think that would be something good to put in, like an intermediate, how to draw book and do it with different jaw shapes.
I have to admit. When it comes to body types many are tend to be afraid with a chubby or fat body type because they think it is ' ugly ' and the character won't be pleasing. It is very common I can understand why. I am still a young artist and I am trying to experiment with body types early so that it won't be a hassle when I am older TvT Btw , love ur videos and art!
There would be really anything in these 'how to draw anime' books XD My guess is because anime was 'new' at the time in America, especially art books for beginner artists? For sure a lot of the artists improved over time, I personally still like some Christopher Hart books that I still have from childhood, but yep these were so bad XD Especially the body types thing. Maybe that's one of the reasons why a lot of artists still don't draw actually different body types, a lot of us grew up on these books.
Ah, one of my favorite books back in the day. LOL! It's hilarious to look at now though. Katy Coope was really young when she made it, 16 I think? She's a much better artist now~!
i really hated how to draw books a long time ago, because when I tried to get my friend into anime, the "ariel" image from the how to draw book was the first image they saw, and it made them think I was a weirdo who liked that kind of art. to this day, seeing that face makes me mad. especially now that i own good anime how to draw books.
I had a Shoujo-Manga tutorial book as a kid (well technically my sister did but I stole it lol) and felt compelled to look at it again after seeing your videos on this. I'm pleased to say it holds up pretty well! It was quite helpful on my art journey, I learned a lot about feature placement (very similar to what you describe with the guidelines), facial expressions, hair, clothing folds, even perspective and posing. Some things didn't age well, like the author basically insinuates that you can have chubby characters, but only as side characters, the main character was gonna have to be thin (in general there was close to no body type variety in there). But overall I definitely feel like I lucked out compared to what I see on your screen 😂
On the cover with the blue haired boy in the intro, I actually came across the artist a year or 2 ago when a redraw trend for it was popular. She redrew it and explained that she was 16 when the book was published. The boy was never meant to be the cover art of the book. The publishers' went against her wishes and put the boy on the cover, flipping the drawing in the process. That's why it looks so bad (edit: the artist's name is Katy Coope, if you want to look her up)
Haha DEFINITELY had tonnes of books like these growing up and learning! I loved most of these tho you are right that your more muscular bodies definitely could benefit from a bit more observational practice maybe?
The first one took me by surprise because a family member literally borrowed that book yesterday and the coincidence just feels a little unsettling...😰
Sadly I did own A how to draw book. Never used it, just wanted to own one then donated it a few years later. Some of these examples are hilarious but we all started out like that once upon a time. I haven't improved much in my style (or lack of) but at least i'm getting the correct anatomy down.
3:35 man I have a hard time drawing curvy women and soft women, but I can ROCK muscular women. And men are still hard for me to draw despite practicing a lot. I will say its my own criticism for men but I wish I could more easily draw a variety of men and women.
![TESTING A BIZARRE KID'S HOW-TO-DRAW BOOK [from 15 years ago]](/img/n.gif)
the repeated hiding and unhiding of the Ariel layer is like a jumpscare every time
In case of Ariel the eyes are the biggest flaw
Ong
@@chimera9818 indeed ! It looks ... unethical I'd say ?
@@SpreadingMisinformation Yeah, it looks like the human equivalent of whatever happened to pugs. 😂
she had severe ptosis 😔
Ariel honestly looks like the artist saw manga style like twice and tried to recreate it...but by using references from like Betty Boop and other rubber hose cartoons
I read this before she got to that part and I thought you meant the Little Mermaid lol
@@yourshoulderdevil5229 me too
Yes! Exactly! It reminded me of the most wonky character designs from old Fleischer cartoons.
omg that's actually true
Yes!! Her facial design would be perfect for a modern/rubber hose style blend! The art style is VERY Betty Boop - coded
I had to pause the video and just stare quietly as my whole childhood came flooding back. I remembered carrying that book around with me, studying it, rereading it, paying more attention to it than my studies.
I literally cried when I loaned it to a friend and her cat peed on it.
The cat knew it was bad.
Probably
the cat knew the book wasn't gonna help
BAHAHAHAHA
This video and comment section is so chaotic 💀💀
that cat did you a favor! lol jk
some drawings in these books are the definition of “when you forget to flip the canvas”
Can't really do that in traditional art, but still, these are horrid XD
@@extra_ram_noodleswdym just rotate the notebook/paper
@@extra_ram_noodlesyou can use a mirror
@@extra_ram_noodlesig you can flip the paper? 😭
@@extra_ram_noodlesMy old graphic design teacher would have us flip drawings over a light box (you can do it over a window too) but that would only work if it were on standard paper or maybe a thinner canvas?
I used to have a book like this, i never finished it because of how repetitive and mundane it was.
Same
The first book cover was atrocious 💀
I used to follow the tutorials from these books in elementary 😭 the fact that i could replicate 90% of the drawings showed how amateurishly bad those “how to anime” books are. they looked so bad.
Same I had the "how to draw more manga" book from the library of my school (I hated it)
Peter Gray. 💀 now that’s a name I’ve not heard in many moons. I had his book as a kid and picked up so many bad habits from it.
I feel like at this point Haley should make her own how to draw book
OMG YESSSSSSS
YE
YESS
I would pay so much money for an art book let alone her own how to draw omg 😭
Pls omg PLA
Every time you showed the original Ariel headshot while you were drawing over it was such a jumpscare 😭
Super insightful commentary as usual! Love this video ❤
I remember one time I got a really professional looking college textbook about drawing human anatomy, and I rage quit trying to read it halfway through the Intro chapter because the vocabulary was unnecessarily dense and the author went on this huge tangent about how “drawing realistically is the only way and people who draw cartoons are an insult to true artists”
Ew! I actually went to art school and although we learned that learning to draw realistically is important, it was like... so your cartoony stuff can look good, not that "oh drawing in a cartoon style is unprofessional and not real art" blegh. And like the majority of artwork that's not considered cartoony isn't even realistic, so would that guy be saying that 15th century wood engravings aren't REAL art because they don't look realistic either?
I had the second one shown in the video. My art teacher went through the entire book for the class to show everything wrong with it 😂
Freaking Christopher hart the bane of my existence
And this one too
This is why our art teachers laughed at us when we tried to draw anime
The irony is that the illustrations in his later books are somehow a lot better. I think it’s because he hired a bunch of artists that actually respect the style.
Apparently Mark Crilley was and still is one of the better ones because he actually respects the anime art style. Same with Sophie Chan who I assume is very busy considering how little she uploads as of now. 😭😭😭
@@ashleyhansen4479True, I think I have one of the newer ones, luckily. 😂
@@ashleyhansen4479 Funny you should say that, I bought a couple of Hart's earlier manga books and they actually taught me a decent number of things, compared to his recent ones. Sure the art is a bit dated, but the info given is actually info of value, as opposed to his dad jokes that he tells every paragraph in his recent "how to manga" books....
STOP I USED TO USE HIS BOOKS ALL TYE TIME 😭😭
Christopher Hart actually has relatively good art tutorial books when they are not manga-related. Like his fairy tutorial book is like a silly little storybook with fairy-lore he came up with. It'a actually entergaining to read as a picture book, even if one isn't using it as a tutorial.
Manga however, *shudders*. That guy does not understand manga at all.
This might sound weird, but thanks for not just saying chubbier but also fatter! I hate people dancing around the word fat and I want to reclaim it as a neutral description instead of what often still feels like an insult.
I also hate that people think chubby = fat. Like I'm chubby but I'm not fat.
Hear hear! Fat is normal and natural and everyone has it!
I agree. Anyway, there is actual, factual fat is involved, a lot of it :D I totally use the word fat when I talk about a fat person. My country isn't that super sensitive, thankfully but I would do that anyway.
plus it’s like not even a good descriptor word, like you can be “chubby” but not “fat” it’s stupid to treat em like synonyms. i have chub around parts of my body but i wouldn’t consider myself fat cause im not ?
I agree! And also, chubby and fat are not the same thing! Like when someone says “very chubby” and they mean fat I am confused.
I always thought the circle guideline was just a way to guide the face/chin and not a way to represent the back area of the skull for the rest of the face -
Wait you didn't know that?
@@Asukasnumber1fan
Ive been an artist for over 4 years and yet I somehow didnt fully understand what the head guideline was supposed to be and somehow never questioned it -
@9ightdreamer lol , been drawing for as long as I can remember and I always thought ppl just knew abt tbh, well atleast now you know so you can use it more to your benefit
@@Asukasnumber1fan
Eh, I was a self-taught artist so I didnt learn the exact reasons to exist yet here I am -
(But hey at least I caught onto the idea of it guiding the face haha!)
And I think Im at a point where Im beginning to understand the things I really should-
@@Asukasnumber1fanNo, no. I've been drawing for like..... 7-9 years or so and I also thought it was just a place to build the jawline on.... I also didn't understand the point of the lines on faces when I was a kid because those "how to draw" books like the ones in this video just don't explain how to use proportions/anatomy guide lines
these books are the very essence of "the nice man at the store said you'd love this one"
Part of me feels like a quarter of Ariel's page being dedicated to her backstory just shows how scattered the focus of that drawing book is. Like not only is it trying to teach readers how to draw anime, but also trying to introduce readers to the genre and or subculture of anime. Like "these are the characters and tropes you should expect" or "these are the kinds of characters people are making", which is a bold move considering how superficial their understanding of it seems.
The opening- Oh my God, I love your channel so much…
Feral over how you changed the body types, why are artists so afraid of giving their characters SHAPE
Mostly out of uneasiness when it comes to trying something they aren’t used to, or my most favorite reason: “It Doesn’t Fit My Art Style!”
That chubby character is so stinking cute ngl. I love how Haley draws heavyset characters.
@@makaylaserniotti1474 totally agree, it always makes me want to draw
Maybe for the first one they did nkt wanna make people feel bad 😊
The original did have differences, just that LavanderTowne's one is more exagerated.
It was my understanding all these “how to draw” and other series for kids are book packaging. So a publishing company probably decided they wanted a bunch drawing books, found an artist who would do it for them, contracted him and had him stuck drawing in styles he had no idea about. It would explain the really bad ones at least
That's what I was thinking, seeing how many of these "how to draw" authors have such a wide variety of books and subjects. That they just got *a* guy who can draw, period, and were like "Okay we need you to do a How to Draw Horses book and then you have to do a How to Draw American Cartoons book after that, and then we need a How to Do Botanical Illustrations followed by a second How to Draw Anime book"
the "this is porbably someone who would rather be drawing a horse" line made actually laugh out loud I'm not sure why :""D
Porbably
porbably
Porbably
Porbably
Porbably
Lol omg I remember buying one of these when I first started taking illustration seriously. Thanks LT you made my soul cringe today with memories of "how to draw manga" Every artist needs to be close to that feeling. keeps us humble.
I’ve drawn realistically for years and am self taught. But this video really explained the proportions of the face, things I’ve drawn without knowing or understanding like that the bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and chin. And I didn’t know where the eye line was supposed to be until now, I couldn’t figure out if it was supposed to be the top bottom or middle of the eye. It is supposed to be the middle (though I suppose it can be personal preference but it will help me be consistent every time.)
YOOO I HAD THAT BOOK AT THE BEGINNING WTF 😭 i always thought it was funny how the tsundere, deredere and yandere (i think?) girls looked like DDLC characters
like straight up. the tsundere one is just natsuki but orange ;_;
wait so ddlc… unoriginal?!
@@cryingwatercolours yes!!!!! 😨😨😨😨😨 so sad ddlc moment
I think I actually have one of these how to draw books that were given to me as a gift, for its intended purpose, it was not very specific, it practically skipped crucial steps, and the end products I made when using their advice resulted in an amalgamation where I am firmly comfortable to literally burning it while not feeling bad for the tree that was used for the firewood, the paper used, and the pencil.
not the intro-
also "he's probably someone who would rather be drawing a horse" 😂😂😂
honestly if lavender towne made a art book i would happily buy a hundred copies
The intro had me dying 😂
Listen, How to Draw Manga both volumes set me on my drawing path. There were just examples in there instead of fully drawn “copy this” examples. I see those books as things to be surpassed, but goodness, they were my friends in middle school 🥰
i remember a how to draw book that i really loved had a few pages where you use head-heights to manipulate the proportions and what genres may use them. Like one used 5 heads and was claimed to be more used in kids anime, and one was like 11 heads and was mainly used for shojo lol
I don't know what you think but that durian haircut at 0:05 is kinda lit tho.
Thank you for mentioning the bellybutton being flatter on fatter bodies! That and the way that the body folds & the droop on a belly are really important to know, because I've definitely seen people who didn't know that ending up with 'fat' characters that just look pregnant or really bloated 😅
5:55 the fact that I used that exact how to draw book when I first started getting into art
omg this unlocked a core memory for me, I remember getting those awful "how to draw manga" books from my grandma when I was a weeby kid who was just starting out drawing. I remember even back then I looked at the weird melting faces and was like "uuuhhhhh thhaaaannkssss grandmaaa" and then kept just learning off the anime styles I already really loved before continuing to develop my own style and learning actual anatomy etc.
I grew up with and had some of these books as a kid, it was very easy for a well meaning parent or family member to buy these for you as a gift growing up in that era of anime first becoming popular. You did an awesome job with the redraws too, thanks for the awesome video.
THE INTO IM CRYING 😭🤚
It blows my mind these books are real and actually published
I remember being like 7 and thinking im so cool bc i had like 5 of these books💀
That intro got me cackling-
I remember I had an anime book made by someone who didn’t do anime art. The face looks normal but the bodies of the women looked like they have no organs.
I seriously love how you changed these and explained it all. If you ever make an art book sign me up!
watching lavender improve over the years is a experience i wish everyone had because we see her change how she does shadows, shading, lines, colors, sketches, and everything
it helped me improve too
Honestly i love how even while pointing out the obvious problems within the "how to draw" books, Lavender is never outwardly rude or claims that it's "bad" just that it doesn't have direction/isn't helpful. Even on the Ariel page it was very polite and direct and i love that about her. Lavender is such a calming presence online and i think that's wonderful💜
your videos were what got me into drawing around 2016, seeing a new one in my feed almost a decade later while looking for background noise as i work on a professional illustration feels kind of surreal😭
really cool to see you do another one of these silly how to draw videos, you've improved so much not just in art but also videomaking since then, honestly can't believe it's 2024 right now
These “How to Draw” books remind me of my Manga Art class, which was equally helpful. I learned many things in that class, I just wish how to draw was one of them.
There are some wonderful instructional how to draw books, BUT there’s also some REALLY REALLY bad ones out there too! Thankfully the collection of how to draw books I stared getting when I was 12 up to current are pretty good at explaining things and showing good examples. However those aren’t my only resources either, I study plenty of other peoples art work, different styles within a genre, and lots of practice as well.
What books did you have?
@@serenegenerally, I have a current collection of around thirty how to draw books, is there a specific genera/topic you’re looking for recommendations for? I do know some of my earliest books were by Christopher Heart going over Manga/Anime(though he’s not the only author/artist who’s books on manga/anime), and NeonDragon goes over how to draw dragons really well and other fantasy creatures. They are the two who come to mind right off the top of my head, but if there’s a specific genre or topic I can help you find something.
The intro is so spot on. I love your content. Probably the only reason I'm still motivated to do art. Every time I see one of your videos I open up Procreate again and start drawing. I love your art style too.
In the body type portion of the vid, THE CHUBBY ONE LOOKS SO HUGABL 😭I WANNA HUG HER
in all my years of drawing experience, i NEVER knew the circle was for the back of the head, i just used it for funsies and to know where the eyes went but that makes so much sense! i kind of just sat there with my jaw on the floor when i heard that.
I usually hate long outros but I always gotta stick around for that ‘and of course, blehblehblehbleh’ (or however you spell it idk). Like I have no idea who they are but that’s my GUY
That last one's example's gonna make me not be able to sleep tonight.
11:14 WHEN I SAW SCREAM 1 I GASPED SO LOUD, MY CAT FREAKED OUT😭
Oh god, I remember this book. I couldn't even believe a lot of these drawing were in here, they were so terrible. Like.... why would anyone think this should be in a how to book?
LAVENDER NEEDS TO MAKE A ART BOOK FOR BEGINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but like srrsly i think that if i had a how to draw book by lavender when i was younger i feel like i would atleast be able to draw wrists
The feeling when the video starts off with the exact two first tutorial books I ever used and which inspired me start replicating manga/anime artstyles in my own art. It was a mixture of cringing at the book and its lack of proper explanations in its material, laughing, and a "yeah, you're right".
The 8-year-old me who sat down and studied those drawings tried to understand what everything displayed was whilst replicating what I saw. Boy have I drawn a lot of heads shaped like partially eaten apples with pointy chins because of that. When I got a little older I tried to study more closely and read the descriptions of more parts. I found most of the text to just state the obvious and not explain things too well. I also remember it being fairly specific about what materials were needed. I find that what it did best was inspire... I also learned what construction lines are and how to draw trees.
My grandma got me one of these books a few years ago, I looked into the side angles bc I couldn’t draw them. The first step was “First draw a side angle.”
0:10 OMG I owned that one!!! Barely used it tho cuz I taught myself by drawing my favorite manga panels😂
I don't have the best body shape, so I'm so glad you fixed those first body shapes. They literally looked so similar to the standard. Thank you!❤
i feel like the second tut was kinda cute on its ownn
I still have these books on my shelf as a 32 year old. As a kid these books were all we had to improve but half of them looked like the artists didn't put much effort into them and the tips were not helpful. Luckily I still draw
holy shit, i HAD the Ariel book as a kid. waaaayyyyy way back when i was just first figuring out that I liked to draw, i somehow ended up with that book and even at that point, it was baffling. honestly I was kinda half-convinced that my brain was pulling some Mandela effect thing and implanting a false memory that this book existed at all, it's *wild* that it's not only real but apparently known?? absurd. thank you and well done with the redraws, I really respect your adaptability in style :)
God I’ve never had these books, but those looked SO WEIRD-
I like to do art but my focus is more on abstract art and alot of ppl say im "not a real artist" so I was wandering if you could do a video on more abstract art and tips.
anygays love your videos they help me alot when I'm practicing my art.
Tbh, as an artist myself who’s also chubby, I think partly why some people are afraid of drawing fuller bodies is due to back lash.?
Either way, there’s definitely a difference between people who say “my style can’t fit x type of feature” compared to people who are actively learning how to incorporate diversity into their artstyle.
Like anime in general will usually make fat or chubby characters so extremely over weight that it becomes a characture of what people who actually are that weight look like. Yes, people can vary a lot within being fuller bodied, chubby and fat, but the way many anime’s I’ve seen do it is exaggerating the fatness of a character until that character is made to be a joke. Then again; I don’t agree with having fat characters be the gag characters only because of their weight. If you have a character that’s meant to be comic relief, but the only “funny” aspect of their character is body size, then you didn’t write a good character imo.
Fat characters can be used as comic relief if the aspect of comic relief isn’t hinged on their weight.
Edit: when I draw figures, more often than not, I struggle drawing more skinny figures, as I think I tend to lean towards drawing more fat on characters in general. That being said, that just means I need to study more skinny and lanky body types. No issue there.
I read that those books were amalgamations of various artists tutorials and Ariel was drawn by a kid basically. So it just shouldnt have been in it.
DUDE MY GRANDPA GAVE ME THAT FIRST ONE WHEN HE LEARNED I LIKED TO DRAW AND I LOVE TO MAKE FUN OF THE BODY TYPE PAGE LMFAOOO!
the body type one made me
I feel like Ariel has had a stroke in the past, even though she's 16
I greatly prefer Haley's version, she looks so nice
Augh I had these exact books as a kid
Read how to draw anime book = ❌
See lavender correct how to draw books = ✅
its LITERALLY JUST the EYES
The astonishing lack of understanding of the art form behind the original Ariel design truly is the stuff of legends.
did not expect the ken penders jumpscare
the ariel one is like an anime bubble fish or a churpy with anime eyes
The music from the start reminds me of everybody's crying from the house in fata morgana
OH MY GOD THESE BOOKS ARE SUCH A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Man...I wish they would re-release the How to Draw Manga books by Hikaru Hayashi. They were absolutely amazing. Had a friend borrow some of the ones I owned and never got them back 😭 those were by a real manga artist and I learned a lot
that was the most beautiful intro to a video I've ever seen.
It seems like the artist on the Ariel page was making an attempt at the "Tareme" eye design.
I find it interesting to hear that 3/4 is hard for beginners because I think I come from the other side of that. I found it easier to draw 3/4 than front facing. I've since developed my skills past that, but I remember drawing a lot of 3/4 as a default when I was a kid. I think it was just something I latched onto in my learning and did over and over. Probably what angle I find more difficult that I work at now is drawing looking up at a character, particularly when they're looking upwards at something because drawing the jawline that way never looks right and I have to keep redrawing it sometimes. I think that would be something good to put in, like an intermediate, how to draw book and do it with different jaw shapes.
I had the book with the blue cover in middle school and at the time I actually thought the art was good
I have to admit. When it comes to body types many are tend to be afraid with a chubby or fat body type because they think it is ' ugly ' and the character won't be pleasing. It is very common I can understand why. I am still a young artist and I am trying to experiment with body types early so that it won't be a hassle when I am older TvT
Btw , love ur videos and art!
Which is such a shame bc for example the chubby charecter that lavender towne drew in this video is soo cute!
@@queerqueen098 FACTS!!!!!!!
There would be really anything in these 'how to draw anime' books XD My guess is because anime was 'new' at the time in America, especially art books for beginner artists? For sure a lot of the artists improved over time, I personally still like some Christopher Hart books that I still have from childhood, but yep these were so bad XD Especially the body types thing. Maybe that's one of the reasons why a lot of artists still don't draw actually different body types, a lot of us grew up on these books.
Ah, one of my favorite books back in the day. LOL! It's hilarious to look at now though. Katy Coope was really young when she made it, 16 I think? She's a much better artist now~!
i really hated how to draw books a long time ago, because when I tried to get my friend into anime, the "ariel" image from the how to draw book was the first image they saw, and it made them think I was a weirdo who liked that kind of art. to this day, seeing that face makes me mad. especially now that i own good anime how to draw books.
one of the best "how to draw" is Terry Moore's How To Draw, and ryoko kui daydream hour (witch is more of an artbook).
I had a Shoujo-Manga tutorial book as a kid (well technically my sister did but I stole it lol) and felt compelled to look at it again after seeing your videos on this. I'm pleased to say it holds up pretty well! It was quite helpful on my art journey, I learned a lot about feature placement (very similar to what you describe with the guidelines), facial expressions, hair, clothing folds, even perspective and posing.
Some things didn't age well, like the author basically insinuates that you can have chubby characters, but only as side characters, the main character was gonna have to be thin (in general there was close to no body type variety in there).
But overall I definitely feel like I lucked out compared to what I see on your screen 😂
I’m a simple woman, I see Ken Penders and his horrid art in the title and I click. Off topic, but what he did to Sonic is wild hahaha
best way to show off different bodytypes is actually to put them all in oversized sweatshirts that swallow their entire being
Omg these older terrible draw manga books are funny to look back on. The over exaggerated shoujo look gone wrong 😂
Fun Fact: some illustrations in the book where Ariel is in were made by Ken penders.
On the cover with the blue haired boy in the intro, I actually came across the artist a year or 2 ago when a redraw trend for it was popular. She redrew it and explained that she was 16 when the book was published. The boy was never meant to be the cover art of the book. The publishers' went against her wishes and put the boy on the cover, flipping the drawing in the process. That's why it looks so bad (edit: the artist's name is Katy Coope, if you want to look her up)
I couldn't tell the difference between the body types in the first example. Thank you for making the differences more obvious.
I REALLY THOUGHT YOU EDITED THE THUMBNAIL I COULDN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE WOULD ACTUALLY PUBLISH THAT AND CALL IT MANGA 🤣🤣🤣
The DRAMA, the INTRIGUE!
Haha DEFINITELY had tonnes of books like these growing up and learning! I loved most of these tho you are right that your more muscular bodies definitely could benefit from a bit more observational practice maybe?
The first one took me by surprise because a family member literally borrowed that book yesterday and the coincidence just feels a little unsettling...😰
Ariel author had to be trolling there is no way he was serious drawing that thing😂
Sadly I did own A how to draw book. Never used it, just wanted to own one then donated it a few years later. Some of these examples are hilarious but we all started out like that once upon a time. I haven't improved much in my style (or lack of) but at least i'm getting the correct anatomy down.
I have that art book! I found it at Half Price Books!
I loved that opening 😂
I feel like the Who drew Ariel should have drawn a book on how to draw realistic horses instead because manhwas have so many horror horses.
3:35 man I have a hard time drawing curvy women and soft women, but I can ROCK muscular women. And men are still hard for me to draw despite practicing a lot. I will say its my own criticism for men but I wish I could more easily draw a variety of men and women.