Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Markers Manga Set review

Since I had a fairly positive experience rediscovering some newer Prismacolor markers, I went ahead a got the full Manga set of double ended markers to complement my matching set of Manga illustration markers. The illustration markers are ideal for sketching and creating cartoon images, and the double ended markers are great for coloring them swiftly and boldly with their versatile broad nibs.
The Manga set of 12 double ended markers strikes the right balance of bright colors and lighter skin hues for coloring cartoon characters effectively with a limited palette. It is a good starter set that could easily be expanded with some grey markers and some favorite colors from the open stock racks that are fairly common in most Arts & Crafts stores or through any of the many reliable online retailers. One of the main advantages of using Prismacolor products is their widespread distribution, so it is fairly easy to find replacement markers and new single colors to customize your working palette.
Both Prismacolor Manga sets of Illustration markers and Double ended markers would make a nice present for a budding artists with an interest in Manga-style illustration. Middle school and High School students (and even supervised responsible younger children) would likely enjoy the variety of line widths of the set of 8 Illustration markers and the well-balanced starter palette of the Manga set of 12 double ended markers.

"Learn to Draw Manga - Project Book & Kit" and Staedtler Graphite 771 Automatic Pencil Review

Spotted this compact Walter Foster "Learn to Draw Manga" Drawing Kit by Jeannie Lee on the 75% off clearance rack of a local Borders.
Since I am still sporting my braces, I realized the audio on the video review might be hard to make out. Thus I'll also cover the main points in this blog entry.
The 32-page instructional booklet has a nice layout and packs enough fundamentals and techniques to serve as a fair introduction to Manga for elementary students (4-6 grade) that previously have not had much exposure to anime and manga. Even some middle school students might find it as suitable reference given the pleasing art style that is clearly influenced by popular conventions of Shonen and Shojo comics.
The tools featured in the kit: a pencil, an eraser, and 4 felt-tip colored markers are fairly disappointing and barely adequate for elementary students to get started. The lead core in the pencil was off-centered, so it would be impossible to sharpen it evenly. The eraser works, but not as cleanly as a foam eraser or the reliable Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser. The limited markers' palette of black and 3 primary colors allow only for some crude coloring. Students would probably had been better served with a range of gray markers and a skin colored marker. Thus unless you can find this compact Manga kit on clearance, I would not recommend it and would direct you instead to the full version kit if you like the drawing style of this author. The larger kit packs a few more tips and techniques and seems to have a wider marker selection. For middle school students it would be better to bundle the instructional book with a more substantial manga drawing kit like the Sakura Pigma Sensei kit or a set of Prismacolor Illustration markers.
For children that tend to break the leads on 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm mechanical pencils too often, it might be worth switching to the larger 1.3 mm lead used in the Staedtler Graphite 771 Automatic Pencil. For more photos and another review of this mechanical pencil you might want to visit Dave's Mechanical Pencils.
While I regard the erasers in most mechanical pencils just as simple plugs meant to keep the leads inside the barrels, the Graphite 771 twist-up 1.5" eraser is actually quite functional and efficient in removing pencil marks cleanly without damaging the paper surface just like the classic Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser.
The thick 1.3 mm graphite lead resists breakage better than thinner leads, and it can still be used without sharpening to produce a range of line widths by simply rotating the pencil. Yet if a finer point were desired, the lead can still be easily sharpened with a 2 mm lead pointer as shown above.
Some test sketches inspired by the Manga project book.
The Staedtler Graphite 771 Automatic Pencil is a fun comfortable 1.3 mm mechanical pencil that would serve children well for writing and drawing applications with its well-designed ergonomic triangular grip, break-resistant lead, and substantial and efficient 1.5" twist-up eraser. Its lanyard hole (at the base of the pocket clip) might be useful to prevent accidental loss by securing it to a larger sketching kit or backpack especially for kids prone to losing their smaller school supplies. Adults that prefer pencils with wider bodies are also likely to enjoy this value-priced Japanese pencil bonus pack with 2 spare erasers and tube with 6 spare HB graphite leads.

Assembling a Manga Sketching Kit

Just put together a custom sketching kit for Daniela, one of my nieces in Peru, that I just recently learned is really into Manga and Anime. I included a selection of several of my favorite sketching pencils and brush pens along with a reliable 2mm lead pointer and foam eraser. For drawing support I bundled it with a gift set of Naruto Hardbound Sketchbook and Journal by Rock Paper Pencils. The full rundown of tools included in the pencil case:

1. Sakura 127 0.7 mm mechanical pencil with spare Pentel Hi-Polymer leads
   
2. Staedtler Mars Technico 2 mm leadholder with Mitsubishi Uni F refills.
3. Tombow Mono 4B graphite pencil.
4. Sakura XRFW-100 Foam Eraser.
5. Maped Tattoo canister pencil sharpener (not shown).
6. Staedtler 2 mm rotary lead pointer tub.
7. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen black brush pen.
8. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen Shades of Grey
   6 pen set.

This assortment should meet the needs of most fledgling artists in Middle School through High School after they have had some initial practice sketching and drawing with regular No. 2 pencils. They would then be best able to appreciate the different feel and advantages of mechanical pencils: mainly eliminating the need for frequent sharpenings and having a uniform length, balance, and grip all the time since they do not get shorter after each sharpening. The Pitt brush pens offer some of the performance of a brush with their ability to smoothly lay down an organic line of varying width with the convenience and clean-handling of a modern pen with their self-contained reservoirs of waterproof India inks. Their brush nibs might not be as resilient and durable as I would prefer, but at least they are reversible prolonging their useful life. The hardbound sketchbook and journal provide an adequate permanent personal record of the artistic development and progress of each students though I suspect that many older students might prefer a plain black sketchbook instead of the Shonen character branded books shown above.

Lesson 5 of Manga Cartooning Workshop Photo Journal

A few illustrations of cartoon versions of some students were used to demonstrate the effects of the different drawing pens from the classroom sketching kits.
The first illustration was drawn using a single 0.4 mm pigment pen with no line variation. Thus in order to convey different textures, a fish-net pattern was used to darken some parts of the character's costume.
This second drawing was made with a selection of pigment pens of different line widths plus a warm and cool gray brush pens to give a stronger sense of volume to this energetic character type.
Another drawing made with the same larger selection of sketching pens.

Quick pen drawing of age-progressed Naruto's Team 7 characters used to illustrate the concept of Dōjinshi.
New student's baseline drawings.

Some student drawings that used previous class reference material for inspiration.
Working on the projection board right next to the reference image.
Student's skillful Manga interpretation of the Mochica Crab Centipede monster concept.
The student here first drew a set of Manga eyes, and then drew this character around them.
Drawing a Manga character based on a photo reference of fellow student projected on the classroom board.
Work in progress showing a fellow student as a fairy type character.
Drawing a Manga heroine type.
Student using some reference material to draw his very own Kaiju (Japanese Giant Monster).

Ongoing Manga Cartooning Workshop Photo Journal

All the manga cartooning supplies laid out for the students' after-school program.
From the instructor's desk station, one can easily switch from displaying live drawing demonstrations, Power Point slide show presentations, and playing relevant support Anime videos on DVD and VHS.
Students can work with dry-erase markers directly on the photo references projected on the board. This feature facilitates making the connection between realistic photo reference and the process of manga cartooning abstraction.
Working on their drawings with some Anime projected on the board for inspiration.
Penciling a sci-fi female character.
Magical girl character sketch.
Pencil drawing inspired by some reference video game conceptual art.
Creating their own characters. After drawing for an hour and a half after school, we still have a pretty happy group by the end of class.

Manga Color Sketching Step-by-Step Demo

The 0.7 mm mechanical pencil was used to sketch a few random Manga characters. The 0.7 mm HB graphite lead is reasonably strong and does not break as easily as the 0.5 mm leads.
Laying down some basic shadows with the Cool Grey III and Warm Grey III Pitt Artist brush pens.
Using the Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens (Shonen Manga palette) to lay down the base colors of the hair and outfit, and reserving the Light Flesh #132 to color the basic skin tone.
The smallest nib size S Faber Castell Pitt Artist pigment liner pen was chosen to outline the delicate facial features.
Using the intermediate nib size F Faber Castell Pitt pigment liner pen for the sweater and hair strands.
Rendering the figure's bold exterior outline with the Faber Castell Pitt Artist black pen.
Tidying up and filling in some missed spots from the earlier rough coloring stage.
Finished sample sketch. In this sketching approach the original pencil marks still show through some of the lighter translucent color areas like the forehead. For a cleaner finished look, modify the sequence of steps: 1. draw the pencil outline > 2. ink with pigment liners from smallest to largest nib > 3. render bold exterior outline with brush pen > 4. clean ink outline by erasing all remaining visible pencil marks with a plastic eraser > 5. Color the black and white sketch after allowing the black outlines to dry (or color over a photocopy to try different color combinations) > 6. Add some shadows with the Cool and Warm Grey III Pitt pens.

A few suggested Manga Drawing introductory supplies

Basic Sketching Kit
- HB wooden pencil or 0.7 mm mechanical pencil.
- Spare 0.7 HB-2B mm leads.
- Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser or Pilot Foam eraser.
- Basic set of black pigment liners (4): small, fine, medium, and brush nibs.
- Faber Castell Pitt Artist #232 & #272 Light grey III for shadows.
- Some letter size printer paper or a Sketchbook for daily practice and some white card stock or heavier paper for special projects.
Expanded coloring options
- Faber Castell Pitt Artist #132 Light Flesh pen for basic skin tone.
- Faber Castell Shonen Manga Set of 6 coloring brush pens: Pink Carmine, Orange Glaze, Dark Naples Ochre, Permanent Green Olive, Phthalo Blue, and Purple Violet.
- Faber Castell Shojo Manga Set of 6 coloring brush pens: Scarlet Red, Dark Chrome Yellow, Light Green, Cobalt Green, Sky Blue, and Crimson.
Optional but nice to have close by when drawing
- Wooden art manikin of articulated action figure for drawing reference.
- Mirror to use yourself as a model for different facial expressions.
There are many options out there for drawing and coloring materials, so we are going to try to come up with a basic art supplies kit optimized for Manga sketching. For the most basic and compact kit: get a pencil, eraser, and perhaps a nice gel pen for inking your initial doodles. For wooden pencils, the Tombow Mono 2B is a fairly good choice that is not too hard to find online. For a more practical portable choice that does not require constant sharpening, try a 0.7 mm mechanical pencil. The Staedtler Mars plastic eraser is gentle on most papers and widely available, so it would be a reliable choice to complete the basic sketching kit. While a gel pen might be fine for some preliminary doodling, they are limited by the uniform line width that they produce. Thus, lets look for other inking alternatives:
The Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens basic black set (with 4 pen nib sizes: S, F, M, B) is quite useful for inking and outlining just about everything: like accurately depicting a sense of depth (closer objects are drawn with bolder thicker lines while objects that recede away from the viewer are drawn with thinner lines), and distinguishing organic materials from synthetic or metallic ones (for example using the brush nib to render the varying widths of organic shapes, and using the uniform width pens to render mechanical constructs) .
To increase the range of expression of the basic Manga sketching kit, the Warm Grey III and #132 Light Flesh Pitt brush pens are useful for shading skin and organic subjects while the Cool Grey III brush pen is useful for shading metallic surfaces of machinery. Both of these light Greys IIIs mix nicely with the color Pitt brush pens to create different tones.
For even greater coloring depth and visual punch, try adding a "Shonen-Manga for boys" or "Shojo-Manga for girls" Faber Castell Pitt Artist 6-pens set to your basic sketching kit. Or even better get both sets for a more versatile 12 colors-palette during the coloring stage.Another coloring alternative would be to use a set of Pentel Color Pens for basic coloring and even drawing in color, complemented with a couple of Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens in #132 Light Flesh and a light Grey for faster coverage of large areas.
The Canson Fanboy Manga 150 lb Drawing paper is a good support that works well with all the pigment pens and coloring options we have discussed. The #132 Light Flesh Pitt Artist brush pen smoothly lays down even color swatches on this paper surface with minimal streaking.