Art! Books and Supplies and Etc. I Recommend

Whoa! Long time no... post? (instead of 'see', get it?)

Anyways, my mom suggested I make a post about which drawing books and etc. I use and recommend. So, here you go...!

Remember, I'm a manga artist, so I'll put stuff relating to manga up.

Books:

How to Draw Manga, by Katy Coope

 Ok, so, this book is really for beginners. I mean, really. If you already are skilled at manga drawing, skip this book. But if you are starting out, I suggest this. This is the book I first used, and I really liked it. It goes step-by-step and makes things very simple. I suggest this book for those who want to start drawing in the manga style. After you master this style, well, I suggest just looking at anime and manga pictures of other manga artists and choose what you like about their drawing style and add it, gradually making your own style. The reason for this is because I reeallly haven't found any good manga drawing book. They're all kinda lame and don't help much. But of course, you are free to look around and prove me wrong! If you do find a good manga drawing book, do tell me!

Drawing People: How to portray the clothed figure, by Barbara Bradley

This is more for the advanced artist, I guess. It deals a lot with, well, real people and drawing them while they're standing in front of you. The reason I like it is because it has a nice section on folds of clothes. Also, it teaches a lot on shading and proportions and poses and... Well, anyways, I think this book could help with manga, which is why I like it.

Well, that's all the books I like. So, now onto supplies...!

Supplies: 

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, 24 Assorted Color Pencils 

These. Things. ROCK! These pencils are kinda expensive (normally around $40!!), but sooo worth it. Very soft, you don't need to press down much. The color goes onto the paper very smoothly. Compared to, say, Crayola colored pencils, the colors are vibrant. The thing with their softness, though, is that they dull down quickly, and I'm a chicken when it comes to sharpening pencils (pencil sharpeners just love to destroy pencils, didn't you know?). I suggest sharpening them, very slowly, with a hand-held pencil sharpener. I don't have much else to say about these... You have to get them to appreciate them!

My mom also has these (I think hers is a larger set?), but I don't use them much. They are harder pencils, but the colors are just as awesome.

Sakura Pigma Sensei Manga 6 Piece Drawing Kit

This set comes with a 0.7 mechanical pencil (my preferred size), four different sizes of pigma pens (one each of 0.3mm 0.4mm 0.6mm and 1.0mm), and a vinyl eraser. Pigma pens are pens much like markers. They are normally black, but you can get colored ones. They are very good for outlining your drawings. I like to use the 0.3mm first, erase my pencil marks, color my picture, then go over the drawing with pen again, varying the size depending on the area I'm outlining (for instance, I use the 0.3mm for the eyes, but the 0.6mm for the hair). This is a nice set, because this is basically all you need for drawing manga (other than colored pencils). Everything in it is very high quality. 

Well, I think that's all. That's basically all I need and use. You don't need a whole lot of fancy stuff to be an artist!

Hopefully I will post again soon...! But if I don't, well... Ooops!