Staff Picks (August14): Drawing Beautiful Women — The Frank Cho Method

Publisher: Flesk Publications

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. In the case of Drawing Beautiful Women: The Frank Cho Method, what you see it was you get -- Frank Cho drawing beautiful women.

Frank is a true jack of all trades in the comic book industry, writing as well as drawing many of his own projects. While you might not be looking for a "how to write comics" from Frank (even though he does a damn good job of it, Liberty Meadows was a perfect mix of humor and storytelling), a "how to draw beautiful women" by Frank is a no-brainer.

In Drawing Beautiful Women: The Frank Cho Method, Frank combines his wit and sense of humor with lessons in how to illustrate the female form. Frank covers how to draw the overall figure, then focusing on the head, hair, neck, torso, back, arms, hands, pelvis, and legs through clear, step-by-step procedures. He also provides samples from multiple angles, including views from the back, side, and three-quarter figure.

The Studio Edition contains an additional 16 pages not found in the mainstream book market edition and is done in a format that truly enhances the artist's original art and vision, and its price reflects the extras associated with this version. The regular editions, even without those extra 16 pages, still display Frank's pen-and-ink and brush styles, along with his work with ballpoint pen.

From my first SPX and being introduced to Frank's work in University2, I became a fan of his work, funny gags, unique characters and situations, and always a beautiful woman somewhere in the book. I was fortunate to work with Frank in the Insight Studio days of Liberty Meadows and consider those one of the highlights of my time to date with Diamond.

I look forward to this new book and adding it to all his others on my bookshelves, placing it alongside Frank Cho Illustrator, Art of Insight Studio, all the Liberty Meadows collections and art books from Image, and his annual sketchbooks. 

I know Monkey Boy won’t disappoint!

~ Steve Leaf