how to draw manga - short guide

The basic tutorial of how to draw manga

Tada! well, almost. A little more pushing, shoving, erasing and cleaning brings us to stage 3. The big deal to this stage is defining the hair and a relevant light source so you know which lines to make heavy and wear to put shadows n' stuff. Hair is tricky business. Do what you want but just make sure you sweep some of it into the eyes. It should have "highlight squiggles" (for lack of an actual term) that makes it look like hair from a pantene pro V commercial. Anime hair comes in all sorts of colors so go nuts. Here is the first in a series of HAND tutorials. This first step is important to understanding how the hand is constructed and were the pivot points are. Once you are comfortable with the proportions of the hand it will be easier to draw it in different positions. For now let's concentrate on the basic "Spread Fingered" hand. Follow along and study your own hand as you go. Hands : Step 1- the oval Draw an oval. Much like the one you see to the left. Designate a point on the lower center line of the oval. This is the anchor point we'll use for our fingers. Hands : Step 2- radials Draw 5 lines radiating out from the anchor point. The longest line will be the middle finger make it just slightly shorter than 2 oval lenghts. Hands : Knuckle placement The remaining finger lengths fall on an arc from the height of the middle finger. The knuckle closest to the tip of the finger is slightly less than 1/3 the way down from the finger tip. The next knuckle splits the difference between the remaining length to the top of the palm oval. The thumb has 3 knuckles as well but the anchoring is hidden inside the palm. Hands : Fleshing in Flesh in the fingers as shown here. The fingers start narrow at the base widen at the first knuckle then taper down again toward the tip. Believability is added by drawing creases in the places the hand bends the most at the knuckles and along the palms. Look at your own hand for reference. Everybody's hand is slightly different. This hand is definately mine. (Notice I am Right handed and that's why my hand model is a Left hand) Hands : The opposable Thumb The thumb kinda has it's own thing going on. It rotates around on its own axis. The thumb swings inward on its Anchor Knuckle and bends down at its second knuckle to point at the base of the Ring finger. The thumbs arc peaks at the middle knuckle of the index finger. Hands : Finger lengths The Index finger and the Ring finger are nearly the same height about the halfway point of the middle finger "tip". The Ring finger is just slightly longer. The Pinky finger comes up to the last knuckle line of the Ring finger. Notice how the hand is not Square but Wedge shaped. Hands are a nightmare for most artist myself included. It's hard to contruct it in basic shapes so I don't really try. Instead I break it up into major forms and really pay attention to where it folds and bends. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST HAND TUTORIAL! This one doesn't deal with proportions like the other did. This is more the form of the hand. The hand is kinda like a shovel that's what we use it for somtimes. You're palm gives you the lines you need to see were it bends. Above the top blue line is the first row of knuckles. Don't make the hand a flat wedge. It curves and follows the contours of the lines on the palm. Notice how the thumb side of the palm pivots from the center. even when drawing the hand from the back pay attention to the fold lines in the palm. It will help you draw more natural positions for the thumb and fingers. Below is a series of hand studies I drew based on the above diagrams. I kept some of my stucture lines in tact so you could see what I was thinking when I drew them The Foot: Know your basic forms! Like everything else you draw, the foor also consist of basic forms. I break it down into 3 parts. 1) a cylinder for the shin 2) a half a peanut for the front 3) A roundish shape for the heel Side view Here you can kinda see those basic shapes beneath the foot. The shin comes into the ankejoint which then branches back for the heel and forward to the toes. Notice the foot does not sit FLAT on the ground plane there's an arch between the toe pads and the heel pad. If the shoe fits A shoe is basically just a wrap for the basic foot shapes. Looking at pictures of shoes will give you ideas for styles. Here I chose a modified US Army Jungleboot. Make sure you make the Sole of the shoe go below where the bottom of the foot would be. There's about a 1/4 of an inch to 4" of rubber between the bottom of the foot and the bottom of the sole. If your stuck Draw the foot first. That will give you a better idea on how to wrap the shoe around the foot form. the Wedge Notice how the foot is shaped like a rounded wedge the bend IN towards the body's center. The toes are also arced like the fingers of the hand the middle toe is usually the longest. The Instep Okay, this foots a bit wide but you see the important structures. Everyone's seen foorptints in the sand. The heel and Ball of the foot are linked by the outside edge of the foot. The arch of the foot doesn't come into contact with the ground. Mastering forms in perspective Once you understand how a foot is put together you can start getting creative with action poses. Take a good look at those basic shapes I drew in step one and see if you can find them in this drawing to the left. Practice Practice Practice! HAIR: First you may want to download and print out the template I made just for class so you can follow along. It includes a bald female and male head. Use it to develop your own hairstyles. Step 1: Define the Hairline The hairline is located on a line that extends from ear to ear at a 45 degree angle up from the eyeline. Or bisects the forehead horizontally between the eyes and the crown of the head. This characters har parts down the middle so I add another guidline to represent the partition from front to back. Step 2: Define the strands Hair grows up and out of the head like spikes on a sea-urchin. (uni anyone? hah, sushi joke). Except hair isn't rigid like a spike. It's soft so it falls back downward because of gravity. Draw the hair in smooth sweeps from the hairline and part. Remember hair is individual strands It's not a helmet made of playdoe. Obviously you aren't going to draw a million strands but do draw enough the give body and depth to the hair. Step 2: Define the body After you have your strands figured out. Define the outline of the hair. Trim away stray lines you aren't using and add shading where the hair is farther away from the viewer or deeper toward the scalp. Notice the darker shade of purple I used and how it rounds out the hair? (granted this is a very simplified piece). Step 4: Create the highlites Highlites give hair that healthy Anime Pantene glow. The anime highlite is usually like a halo sitting on the upper 1/3 if the hair. This all depends on the available light you're using and whether or not this person would have Shiny hair. Look in fashion magazines and comics for more style ideas! Hair in Action: Hair can be a very useful visual cue for describing motion and adding a dynamic element to your art. The trick is to show how the hair follows the direction of the head. If the character is falling the flow of the hair is the opposite direction. if the character is blown backward, the hair shoots forward see? (p.s. forgive the high quality cocktail napkin art over here I just wanted to use this to make a point) HAIR: First you may want to download and print out the template I made just for class so you can follow along. It includes a bald female and male head. Use it to develop your own hairstyles. Step 1: Define the Hairline The hairline is located on a line that extends from ear to ear at a 45 degree angle up from the eyeline. Or bisects the forehead horizontally between the eyes and the crown of the head. This characters hair doesn't really part down the middle but I use the center line to help me keep things even. Step 2: Define the strands Male hair is typically shorter at least in MY world. Longer hair would be drawn similar the the female style on the other page. I still make sure the hair strands grow OUT from the scalp and flow along in a natural direction. Here I chose a Ceasar cut style. Magazines are your best reference material. get a collection of style and study the hairgrowth pattern. Step 2: Define the body See how it kinda works like connect the dots? I work the body of the hair into the flow lines I created in the last step. I make hair closer to the viewer lighter to add that sense of depth. Step 4: Create the highlites Guys hair isn't usually shiny like girls hair. A ceasar cut is a bit rough and spikey so I don't use the halo highlite. I will, instead, add a highlight to the cowlick area to help define space and depth. Here is the long awaited expression tutorial.This tutorial is very similar to the tutorial available in the "How to draw Manga" book since it's so hard to find I thought I'd convert the lesson using my own art and post it up here for you. Click on the face to the left to download a blank template you can use to follow along. What follows below is a guide My methods vary a little but I want to put across a generic average for you to build your own styles on. Angry (okatta) Really Mad: The eyebrows come down. the pupils shrink and you get a little x on your forehead. Fanged teeth help convey the emotion. Kinda mad: Pupils back to normal size but the eye brows are still down. No popping veins or fanged teeth. Miffed: Mouth goes up in an upside down lopsided "u". Eyebrows are still down but not as far. Sad (kanashii) Super sad: WaaAAAAAHHH! Eyes squeezed shut. Mouth wide open tears of shame and grief streak the face. Eyebrows up. Upset: Eyebrows up, mouth not as wide open eyes have more sparkles in them to convey "wet". Tears still visible in corners of the eye distraught: Eyebrows up eyes all a-sparkle with tears. Mouth in upside down "U" mode. Happy (ureshii) [...]... point and I take the final inked sketch to the scanner and get her all colored up (I just so happen to have a tutorial explaining how to do that ;P) This tutorial is to serve as a reference guide to give you an idea of how to construct a body It shouldn't be used as an A to B to C tutorial because that just shows you how to copy stuff Try to use the rules here to make different poses and characters... have another tutorial on the female in action and even a "How to draw males" class As always let me know if I can explain anything further to you and I'll do my best to assist Back to Tutorials! The eyes are the big deal If you ask anyone about the style of anime /manga they always comment on the eyes I put this tutorial together as a primer There are literally thousands of styles of "Manga Eyes" so... line from the top of the head to the point of the chin Notice how the jawline meets up with the vertical earline 3/4 View : Step 4- Feature Placement Divide the lower portion of the face in half horizontaly to provide the bottom of the nose line Follow the curve of the face toward the back to see that the bottom of the ear sits on this same line 1/3 down from that is the mouth line The top of the ear... to flesh her out a bit You have to be good at drawing cylinders and ovals to do this right Study muscle groups to get an idea of how the shoulders, arms and legs are formed The Breast are located at the halfway point of the upper torso Try to use only curved lines Nothing on a human being is ruler-edge straight but that goes double for a female Curvy, Curvy, Curvy! A good study model is Shirow's M-66...A tip on Foreshortening: Foreshortening is never really easy and it's something you will have to get comfortable with over time with practice but here's a tip If you're really stuck, try drawing your character from the side then use a ruler to draw lines from key parts off the the side like I did below Use these lines as a guide to draw your character from the front A big... teeth visible and maybe a small shadow to define the lower lip we would be done but we are going to expand on this Step 2: bow in the top lip a bit Start to work in that Seagull shape to the top lip Begin to visualize this as a 3D object I have made a few centerlines here to help me define the correct angle of the lips for the next step Detailing Work in the lips as shown here and in the first 2 pics Add... do nicely 3/4 View : Step 2- the chin Add the chin Manga faces, espescially femal ones, are heartshaped A little gues work is involved here as far as were to bow the cheek curve in at the eyeline and how sharp an angle to do the Jawline Little adjustments will have to be made over the course of the drawing For now just make something like you see here 3/4 View : Step 3-Facial Divisions Split the face... veiwpoint It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this A basic ovoid shape will do nicely Profile : Step 2- the chin Add the chin The chin will come down from the center point of the outside edge of the circle to about half that length below the bottom edge of the circle The Jawline should come back towards the center of the bottom edge of the circle as shown here Profile : Step 3-Facial Divisions Split... used to draw when you were a kid The lower lip is more like a Bow from a bow and arrow set Open and shut case These shape principles remain the whether the moust is open or shut However, The wider open the mouth the more streched the lip therefore you should draw it thinner if it is WIDE open Step 1: The setup Now that you now the difference between the top and bottom lip we can begin to apply that to. .. plane and nose plane to decide eye placement Draw a line from the mouthline to the newly appointed eye placement point on the horizontal eyeline make a triangle to figure where the other eye should go This triangle also serves as a nice guide to keep the features all snug and secure in the head Ready to move on to stage 2? Female head: 3/4 view Stage2 Startiing to get the idea? All that framework we did . highlight to the cowlick area to help define space and depth. Here is the long awaited expression tutorial.This tutorial is very similar to the tutorial. try drawing your character from the side then use a ruler to draw lines from key parts off the the side like I did below. Use these lines as a guide to draw