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 discovered Jazza's fantastic YouTube channel about 5 months ago, and as a character design professor I find he's an excellent resource for my students to practice at home and improve their work. This book is really a culmination of years of online tutorials for the production art community, and you can tell that love and care has been poured into each page. The methods used here align with the professional methods of character design that I was taught in grad school, and he does a great job covering each stage of the character design process. In addition, I like how it's not confined to one drawing style, because once you understand the simplified shapes of the body you can apply those techniques to generate all sorts of characters and art styles, from flat cartoons to 3D characters. Huge thanks to Jazza, keep up the great work, I'll keep sending viewers and readers your way!

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. .

Jazza has a lot of really good information available, and it's in a good format that makes sitting down and reading this and taking in its information really easy. The issue is there's not as much here as I expect, and it feels like about as much knowledge as one or two of his videos, but given I just binge watched like, all of his stuff, this book almost feels subpar, even though it's still a fantastic book. Frustrating thing to note is that he does 'classic' cartoon/comic style with ladies bodies, which isn't a surprise if you watch the youtube channel, but is frustrating if you don't want impossible female forms twisting in painful and ridiculous ways. I did buy this book knowing that would be the case, so as much as it's a con, it's not unexpected and it is just something I am mentioning so you know it. I mostly bought this book as a method of having the design and development process in a physical form in front of me because I am making my own series and this method he has outlined in his channel and in this book, it really is working so far but I need more practice and more instruction in it. This book should be useful for that. Overall, complaints included, this is a good book. Is it a 20 dollar book when it's soft cover? No, not for me personally. But that's ok, because he gives so much free content that I feel satisfied in that, and I'm ok I bought this book.

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.

I think this book is amazing. When I first ordered it, I was a bit on the fence because I saw a lot of reviews saying it's not very good for beginners, doesn't have many references, and has too much text. It does have a lot of text and not as many references. But I believe that's the point. It's teaching you about how to come up with things by yourself while still showing some examples. But most examples have guidelines next to it to show how to put the picture together. I will say I wouldn't give or recommend this book to someone that is an absolute beginner. It's a great book but if you have very little to no experience with drawing it isn't the best book for teaching you those things. But if you have some experience, even if you're not that good at drawing, this book will be great for you. This paired with his youtube videos are very helpful. I am glad I got this!

Bought this as an impulse buy after watching quite a few of Jazza’s videos, and being bitten with the drawing bug. The book is very easy to follow and the activity book is a great aid to hone the skills discussed in the book. I went from stick figures to somewhat presentable cartoons in a few days and would recommend this for any beginner wanting to try their hand at drawing.

I came across this artists channel in 2019 when I had downtown from a conference. I have been watching ever since. I checked out the book from the library a couple times, then decided I'd rather have it available whenever I wanted to use it. I just really like his art and instructions.