Archives: Walter Foster Books

Learn to illustrate and create unique manga art and characters in this fun and engaging step-by-step book written and illustrated by award-winning manga artist Sonia Leong.

Beginning Manga treats aspiring illustrators to a fun, interactive learning experience with a variety of creative prompts, tips, exercises, and engaging step-by-step projects.

Starting with an introduction to tools and materials, you can learn new drawing and inking techniques, as well as how to work with color, thanks to a variety of simple step-by-step projects and prompts designed to spark creativity and inspire you to create unique manga worlds of your own. The easy-to-follow projects focus on character design, facial expressions, popular poses, characters from different genres like science fiction and fantasy, and much more.

Also included are templates and practice pages to assist with developing your craft in addition to brainstorming, sketching, and gathering project inspiration. Create your own manga story using page layout tips and Sonia Leong’s well-crafted script and design instructions.

For even more manga drawing instruction, see Sonia Leong’s second book with Walter Foster, Illustration Studio: Drawing Manga Heroines & Heroes.

Leave your artistic insecurities behind as you easily re-create the simple but beautiful drawings in Art Made Easy: Easy Drawing.

Easy Drawing offers beginning artists a definite way to succeed. Without getting bogged down in a lot of technical detail, aspiring artists just need to gather a few inexpensive supplies and put pencil to paper! Even if you have never drawn before, the engaging yet easy subjects are simple to re-create by following the step-by-step progressive images.

Projects include:

  • Flowers, leaves, and trees
  • Landscapes
  • Animal portraits
  • Gestures of animals and people
  • Still lifes of everyday objects
  • And much more

Along with the beautiful, on-trend art projects, tips and common pitfalls are explained throughout to ensure your art is the best it can be. No matter your skill level going in, you will be proud to frame your creations and just might feel encouraged to progress to more in-depth art in the future.

And the best part is, as you’re drawing, you’ll be familiarizing yourself with art concepts without feeling like you’re taking a serious class. If you want to move on to more difficult subjects, you’ll have a basic understanding of color, value, form, texture, perspective, composition, and more.

With the simple, fun, and low-pressure approach found in Walter Foster’s Art Made Easy series, absolutely anyone can create a work of art! Continue your streak of creative successes with another book in this series, Easy Watercolor.

With a wealth of illustrated graphite portrait references and step-by-step pencil lessons, The Art of Drawing Poses for Beginners will help you master drawing realistic human figures in a range of different positions.

This helpful 128-page guide reveals the process of drawing the human figure as it pertains to anatomy, proportions, volume, mass, gesture, movement, and expression. From there, discover how these characteristics come together using light, shape, line, and form to accurately depict the human figure in a variety of everyday poses. Step-by-step drawing instructions and techniques demonstrate how to capture realistic poses as they differ from one person to the next across a range of human characteristics.

In section 1 of this book, learn the tools, materials, and techniques used in drawing before diving into the basics of portraiture and human anatomy. In section 2, practice a variety of basic stationary poses before moving on to the dynamic poses in section 3. Section 4 covers expressive portraits and conveying mood and facial expressions. Finally, with lots of examples, section 5 covers many of the artistic compositions you can use when drawing people.

Packed with helpful illustrated references, hundreds of tips, and loads of expert instruction, The Art of Drawing Poses for Beginners is the perfect resource for artists of all skill levels—and one that will be referred to over and over again.

Walter Foster Publishing’s Collector’s Series offers a broad range of projects across a variety of mediums and genres, such as drawing, oil, acrylic, watercolor, cartooning, calligraphy, and others. Suitable for beginning to intermediate artists, each book features in-depth instruction about how to work with the tools of the trade, master techniques, and use newfound skills in practical application via step-by-step projects.

Leave your artistic insecurities behind as you easily re-create the simple but beautiful paintings in Art Made Easy: Easy Watercolor.

Easy Watercolor offers you a definite way to succeed as a beginning artist. Without getting bogged down in a lot of technical detail, just gather a few inexpensive supplies and put paintbrush to paper! Even if you have never painted with watercolors before, the engaging and easy subjects are simple to re-create by following the step-by-step progressive images.

Projects include:

  • Brushstrokes and shapes
  • Letters
  • Botanicals
  • Still lifes of everyday objects
  • Animal portraits
  • Landscapes and architecture
  • And much more


Along with the beautiful, on-trend art projects, tips and common pitfalls are explained throughout to ensure your art is the best it can be. No matter your skill level going in, you will be proud to frame your creations and just might feel encouraged to progress to more in-depth art in the future.

And the best part is, as you’re painting, you’ll be familiarizing yourself with art concepts without feeling like you’re taking a serious class. If you want to move on to more difficult subjects, you’ll have a basic understanding of color, value, form, texture, perspective, composition, and more.

With the simple, fun, and low-pressure approach found in Walter Foster’s Art Made Easy series, absolutely anyone can create a work of art! Continue your streak of creative successes with another book in this series, Easy Drawing.

Escape into a fanciful creative world of adorable, kawaii-style cat mash-ups with more than 100 cat-themed drawing projects, doodle prompts, and whimsical exercises.

If you are crazy about cats, looking for new ways to get inspired to draw, or simply want to unwind after a busy day, you have found the right book! Bursting with humor and imagination, 101 Super Cute Cat Things to Draw follows in the successful pawsteps of author Lulu Mayo’s 18 existing books, featuring:
 

  • Quirky cats, including dragon cats, unicorn cats, ghost cats, star sign cats, maneki-neko (beckoning cat), cat-themed clothes and accessories, cat foods (tangerine tabby, purrfect peach, sushi cats, gelato gatos, ice cream catwiches), cactus cats, cat home decor, and so much more!
  • Step-by-step instructions for drawing and coloring an array of fun feline pictures
  • Cat doodling prompts and mindfulness exercises that will inspire and de-stress you
  • Hours of silly cat entertainmentfrom cover to cover


So stimulate your curiosity and explore fun and inspiring ways to draw felines with this book! Just grab your pencils, some paper, and a copy of 101 Super Cute Cat Things to Draw to create plenty of giggle-worthy drawings. Lulu Mayo’s signature whimsical and humorous style of writing and drawing will offer you the inspiration to doodle all types of cats in fun mash-ups and scenarios.

The books in the 101 Things to Draw series will put a smile on your face with original mash-ups, step-by-step drawing instructions, doodling exercises, and mindfulness activities.

Learn everything you need to know to create beautiful floral works of art in oil and acrylic!

This comprehensive book opens with a guide to essential information on the necessary tools and materials for both sketching and painting, including pencils, paints and brushes, palettes, supports, and mediums. In addition to learning about basic drawing and painting techniques and color theory, readers will learn how to create compelling compositions, achieve depth, and render realistic textures. In The Art of Painting Flowersin Oil & Acrylic, several talented and experienced artists guide readers through easy-to-follow lessons covering a variety of floral and plant life, including tulips, dahlias, hibiscus, roses, daisies, freesia, water lilies, bird of paradise, and more. With sections devoted to both mediums, readers will learn everything they need to know to create beautiful floral works of art in oil and acrylic. Along the way, aspiring artists will discover helpful tips and tricks for mixing vibrant colors, working from photographs, working outdoors, and creating volume and dimension.

With more than 40 illustrations to color and enjoy, Manga & Chibis Coloring Book offers a stress-free escape into the world of coloring manga, anime, and cute chibi characters.

This beautiful coloring book features:

  • Quality paper that allows you to color with your choice of colored pencils, crayons, markers, and more
  • More than 40 coloring pages, including manga, anime, and chibi characters and scenes
  • One-sided printing for display purposes and to avoid bleed-through

Have fun coloring:

  • Fantastical creatures, including fairies and mermaids
  • Fun foods such as ice cream, cakes, donuts, hamburgers, and fries
  • Sweet animals, including cats, dogs, squirrels, a parrot, a bear, and a shark

A perfect choice for:

  • Coloring book hobbyists
  • Manga and anime enthusiasts
  • Aspiring manga, chibi, and kawaii artists
  • Manga, comic book, and graphic novel lovers

Manga & Chibis Coloring Book will inspire anime and manga enthusiasts and artists of all ages to color and learn to draw a variety of manga heroes, heroines, and characters.

Learn to draw your favorite cats and kittens, step by step, with Ten Step Drawing: Cats.

The blank page can be daunting, but the fun and approachable books in the Ten-Step Drawing series offer a quick and easy starting point for any doodler, illustrator, or aspiring artist to be creative. Featuring illustrated tutorials for drawing a variety of different animals, flowers, plants, and people, each book in this appealing series breaks down each subject into 10 simple steps. And all you need is a pen or pencil and a piece of paper!

Handy prompts help you learn to draw by encouraging you to express creative individuality, while helpful general drawing tips enable you to try out your drawing skills on other subjects not featured in the book. The projects feature instructions for graphite pencil, ink, and colored pencil, for a well-rounded introduction to drawing.

Learn to draw more than 50 cat breeds, including:

  • Ragdolls
  • American Shorthairs
  • Persians
  • Siamese
  • Sphynx
  • Maine Coons
  • And many more!

The perfect reference for your first steps as an aspiring artist, Ten Step Drawing: Cats is sure to give you the courage to break out a pencil and paper and draw to your heart’s content! 

Also from the Ten-Step Drawing series, learn to draw even more subjects in 10 simple steps with:Animals, Flowers, Nature, People, Everyday Things (September 2021), Manga (September 2021), and Dogs (October 2021).

Learn to draw your favorite dog breeds, step by step, with Ten Step Drawing: Dogs.

The blank page can be daunting, but the fun and approachable books in the Ten-Step Drawing series offer a quick and easy starting point for any doodler, illustrator, or aspiring artist to be creative. Featuring illustrated tutorials for drawing a variety of different animals, flowers, plants, and people, each book in this appealing series breaks down each subject into 10 simple steps. And all you need is a pen or pencil and a piece of paper!

Handy prompts help you learn to draw by encouraging you to express creative individuality, while helpful general drawing tips enable you to try out your drawing skills on other subjects not featured in the book. The projects feature instructions for graphite pencil, ink, and colored pencil, for a well-rounded introduction to drawing.

Learn to draw more than 50 dog breeds, including:

  • Labrador Retrievers
  • Golden Retrievers
  • French Bulldogs
  • Pugs
  • Poodles
  • Chihuahuas
  • Great Danes
  • And many more!

The perfect reference for your first steps as an aspiring artist, Ten Step Drawing: Dogs is sure to give you the courage to break out a pencil and paper and draw to your heart’s content! 

Also from the Ten-Step Drawing series, learn to draw even more subjects in 10 simple steps with:Animals, Flowers, Nature, People, Everyday Things (September 2021), Manga (September 2021), and Cats (October 2021).

Learn to make adorable items from polymer clay! Easy-to-follow techniques and step-by-step projects lead the way.

The Art Makers series is designed for beginning artists and arts-and-crafts enthusiasts who are interested in experiencing fun, hands-on mediums, including polymer clay, embroidery, and papier-mache. Art Makers: Make Cute Stuff with Polymer Clay is the ideal follow-up book to Art Makers: Polymer Clay for Beginners.

In this inviting, visually appealing book, you can learn to make adorable, whimsical crafts with polymer clay. Author Shelley Kommers, an experienced art instructor and a professional artist, takes you through the complete steps of learning to work with polymer clay, from the tools and materials you will need to techniques, such as molding, mixing colors, and baking. The projects are simple to follow and include adorable, whimsical subject matter, such as:

  • plant pots
  • a cloud mobile
  • finger puppets
  • a trinket box
  • a hanging sloth
  • and much more!

This book is perfect for artists of all skill levels, from beginners to more advanced artists looking to improve their clay-making skills or learn a new technique. With colorful, full-page art, quirky subject matter, and expert instructions, anyone can learn to work with polymer clay in no time. Best of all, the tools and materials are affordable and accessible, so you won’t need to buy a bunch of stuff to get started.

If you're looking for a craft to make creative use of the extra time you have at home, polymer clay is the perfect choice. Get started right away making adorable, on-trend art with Art Makers: Make Cute Stuff with Polymer Clay.