Manga Muscles: An Artist's Guide to Drawing Powerful Male Bodies [With Over 500 color and B&W illustrations]

A must-have guide to drawing muscular physiques—from professional manga illustrators!

Manga Muscles teaches you how to draw powerful male bodies in dynamic styles—from athletic to bodybuilder to fantasy superhero—in hundreds of different situations and from all possible angles. Plus, you'll learn to adjust the physical attributes of each character so they don't all look the same, and how to drape clothes on their bodies in a realistic way.

Every muscular male body type you'll want to draw is described in great detail:

• Super-Fit Lean: "Spiderman" physiques for strong and agile characters
• Athletic Muscular: Beefy "Special Forces" physiques with harnessed strength and balance
• Bodybuilder Ripped: Competitive heavyweight "Mr. Universe" physiques with high-definition musculature
• Fantasy Superhero: over-the-top "The Hulk" physiques that push the limits of anatomy

The authors—professional illustrators with deep anatomical knowledge—break down the skeletal and muscular systems to show how structure and posture work together to create bold, expressive figures. With over 500 detailed illustrations and tips on how to emphasize key muscle groups, vary character designs, and suggest different moods through physical form, this book offers both technical guidance and artistic inspiration.

This is an essential reference for artists drawing strong, dynamic characters in manga and beyond!

Syu Itadori is an illustrator who draws intense, muscle-focused characters. He's created game packaging illustrations for Sega, Square Enix and other video game companies, as well as illustrations for arcade game cabinet graphics.

Ueno Atsushi is an illustrator and manga artist. His manga Penguin Gentleman (KADOKAWA) was published in 2020. He also works on character design and illustration projects.

KiKi has been working as a freelance illustrator since 2017, mainly creating illustrations for multiplayer games and merchandise.

GomTang is an illustrator and character designer who has recently worked on characters for smartphone game apps.