Improve Your Anime/Manga Drawing Skills

If you want to draw in an anime style, see Draw Manga, Draw Manga with a Tracing Method and Draw. If you already started to draw and you'd like to improve on the details, keep reading.

Steps

  1. Master the shapes. Anime and manga are drawn in a stylized manner. Heads are round with large, round eyes, usually low on the face. Chins are triangular. Lines for things like eyebrows and mouths are usually simple.
  2. Pay attention to the shading. Anime is typically shaded boldly but simply. Look at where highlights and shadows fall and how it gives a feeling of depth to the characters. Eyes are an especially important detail, but hair, faces, and costumes usually have at least some shading, too.
  3. Use colors. Anime characters often have bold colors, whether on their costumes or their hair. The color can also set the mood.
  4. Work on characters and moods. Is your character perky, evil, shy, determined? Try lots of different facial expressions, shapes, and postures to portray.
    • Notice what part of the body goes in front. Does the character walk head-first? She might be very determined. Is the chest out front? He might be (overly) proud or confident.
    • Draw other body language cues. Are the toes, arms, or hands pointed inward or outward? Is the head up or down? Why?
  5. Tell a story. Even if you are drawing only one still frame, what is going on in it? Is the character just mugging for the camera, or is it cowering, menacing, doing something? What do you want the viewer to think or feel about this character?
    • Name the character and its role or title.
  6. Accessorize. Is this a schoolgirl with a book bag or a ninja with a giant sword? Or, is it a ninja who is suddenly holding a schoolgirl's book bag? Be creative - a character's belongings can say a lot.
    • Imagine a schoolgirl holding a gun; what impression do you have of her now?
  7. Add a background. Give your character some context by putting him or her in a library, the jaws of a giant robot, or anything in between. Backgrounds are hard and difficult to master,sketch some scenario from real life for inference.
  8. Look up a few pictures on Google Image. You never know when you might find a style you like.

Tips

  • Draw some characters from your favorite anime. This can help because if you watch the anime a lot you already have most of the detailing down. Also try chibi characters because they are more simple.
  • Keep all of your pictures organized in a folder and take a look at them occasionally, over time, to see how your skills have improved.
  • Search for different manga websites to see all the different techniques. Pay attention to the detail, no matter how small.
  • Give yourself space and draw a fairly large image. It will make the details easier. Make all your tools be in reach, listen to some music for inspirations. Make sure you do rough sketches in which the pencil lines are light so it is easily erased.
  • Practice a lot, copy pages from different manga may be a help to developing your own style of drawing. Google Image is usually helpful.
  • Inking a manga is difficult if you have never been in touch with a nib pen. A G pen is usually used for manga.
  • Try chibi, or super-deformed drawing. Sort of like a caricature of a caricature, these can range from detailed anime; to flat chested, childish-looking pencil drawings. These are called "moe" characters.
  • An easy way to start off is to open a random anime picture and try to copy it, don't give up on it until you're done, this can improve your skills.
  • Try to find your favourite type of anime art such as; Candy, Demon, Manga or Normal. This may help with how you draw and make drawing more simple.
  • If you just practice one part of the body at a time (EG. Mondays you practice hands, Tuesdays you practice eyes,) you can slowly get better each time you draw that part.

Warnings

  • Don't give up. You may not feel like you are improving at first, but if you keep going you will get better. Practice makes perfect.

Things You'll Need

  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Tracing paper (optional)
  • Examples
  • Nib pens
  • Inks

Related Articles

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Improve_Your_Anime/Manga_Drawing_Skills&oldid=317771"