how to draw manga - short guide

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)
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 part of developing a character is knowing what kind of body language they use. A big mistake
beginners make when drawing pin-ups of their characters is ignoring the personality of the character they
are doodling. I often see pics posted by others that have a character standing with a weapon like they are

sitting in a Sears studio for family photos NO! Try and avoid a using the normal stance. Think about your
character think about what it is your character does what effect would that have on the way they carried
themselves. Are they graceful? Are they clumsy? Do they laugh, skip, play or mope, drag and cry. Picture
this in your head before you put the pencil to paper. Check these examples to help you along your way.
Normal Stance Adventurous/ Courageous Slinky/Sexy
Not much to it. you have
no idea whether or not this
person is good, bad,
happy, sad. Completely
neutural stance.
Here a little personality shows
through. Stance is wide and
Posture is open giving the
impression of confidence.
Figure is "S" shaped
S is for "Sexy". Hips
and shoulders are
suggestive of a
seductive nature.
As you can see. you can say a lot with just a stick figure. Get your stick figure exactly right before you flesh
in your character. A good foundation is important if you want your piece to have the right impact.
A good amount of people watching will help you discover new poses and postures. Grab you sketchbook and
head out to the park, airport, mall wherever. Look around sketch quick.
Secretive Combative Lovestruck
Stance is closed. Arms
are crossed. Back is
almost turned from the
viewer.
This figure cries "Come and get some!". Fist
are raised in challenge. Stance is wide to

assert dominance
Hands clasped
together as whistful
and goofy with love.
Hopefully, this wet your appetite and now you have some food for thought but now you want to put some
details on it "how can I use anime/manga features to convey the personality of my Character?" you ask
Eyes and shape of the face goes a long way to portray the personality of your character you may recognize
some of the cast of "Cowboy Bebop" below I'll use my quick sketches of them to illustrate my point.
Evil Heroic Innocent
Eyes are thin and dark. the
pupil is smaller the more evil
the character is till there's no
pupil at all. Face has sharp,
angular features.
Strong jawline, Eyes are
bigger and rounder.
Features are less sharp.
Eyes are huge. Eyebrows
hardly ever down. Face is
softer and rounder
Kinda get the idea? These rules aren't set in stone I just want to give you the idea of what to shoot for when
you are making characters. You have to really close your eyes and imagine your character in action. How
there face needs to look when saying the lines you will give them.
"I'll cut you face off" rolls much easier off of the left characters tongue than the character on the right
whereas, "Gee, what's that?" works better for the character on the right than on the left. "I've had enough of
both of you I'm going home" works just fine for the center character.
Fighting: A Show of Force
Punching
BAD PUNCH:
It's not horrible, it just lacks a certain force. Even though the form is

good on both characters there's something that needs to be done
to show this punch packed a wallop.
GOOD PUNCH:
This is MUCH better. The force of the punch is shown
in the shape of an arrow. The horizontal line coming
from the attacker and the lines of the targets body
bending at the point of impact. Making the fist a "blur"
of lines helps give a sense of speed and power to the
punch.
Kicking
BAD KICK:
Same deal here. with the target being stick as a board it tells us
this kick was nothing special. the attacker appears to be merely
raising her foot at the target
GOOD KICK:
Now THAT had to hurt! Again the horizontal line of
force crumples the targets body around the point of
impact. He probably won't be getting up for a while.
Also the attacker's body is much more a part of this
kick. all the balance is thrown into it giving the
impression of a mighty delivery.
Adding Details:
When you get to the stage of cleaning up your
work and adding in details be sure and
incorporate lines that translate the action taking
place. The edges of her fist and arms are quick
strokes following the direction her arm is
travelling. his head is knocked back from the
point of impact. His hair and spit show the
continuance of the force of the punch. I put

curved lines on his check to show an
indentation where her fist connected.
Fighting: Choosing an Angle
Bad Angle
It's not that her position isn't dynamic.
It just doesn't do justice to the action
being shown. Too flat and lifeless. the
bare minimum for translating this
throw.
Better
This is much better in the sense that
you can really tell the target has been
thrown. The composition is more
pleasing and leaves room for
backgrounds, sound effects or speech
balloons but still it could be better. I'd
use this angle if the target was going to
hit something important or was going
to get out of the damage by landing on
his feet.
To show this move took him out of
commision, we need some closure.
Best
Booooom! Choosing an angle that shows the moment of impact really pulls this action
together in one frame you can see that the target was thrown travelled a long distance and
landed hard. Arms and legs akimbo! Again curved motion lines along the trajectory of the
throw parlay the action.
Front View : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
veiwpoint. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic

ovoid shape will do nicely.
Front View : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin. Manga faces, espescially femal ones, are heart-
shaped. Imagine cutting off the top round parts of a valentine heart
shape and attaching the lower part to a sphere That's how we got
what you see to the left.
Front View : Step 3-Facial Divisions
Split the face shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the Nose line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal).
Divide the lower portion in half again horizontally. This line is the
bottom of the ear and nose line.
I draw an additional oval shape inside to help me keep the facial
features centered on the front plane of the head. The inner oval
goes from hairline to chin.
Front View : Step 4- Feature Placement
Divide the lowest portion into 3rds. 1/3 down from the horizontal
noseline is the mouthline.
The ears should be placed on the same line that the bottom of the
nose is on. Ears span from the lower noseline to just above the
eyeline.
The Mouth should be as wide as the space between the inside
corners of the eyes.
Front View : Step 5- the eyes
Eye proportions depend on the "Cute" level of the character you're
drawing. I do more serious stuff so my eyes aren't as large as
some other styles of Manga. I've noticed cute or comical story
characters have larger eyes.
I place the corners of the eyes on the horizontal eyeline. The eyes
should be apporxmately 1 "eye" length apart from each other and
half an eye length in from the edge of the face.

Profiles are a bit easier than frontview and way easier than 3/4 view. Set up still starts with a ball and a
cone.
Ok You got yer ball for the head. you got your cone for
the chin. You know the eyes get located on the middle
well we put on what I call the "gas mask". I start the
slope outward from just below the eyeline and run it
back down to the chin. This Gasmask shape will get
tweaked into the nose and mouth on the next page.
The other thing to note is that the head gets bisected
vertically. this is for EAR placement. The ear is still
located on the horizontal axises provided by the eye
and the mouth.
Once you have this you're ready for some detailing.

horizontal bisecting line so what's new?
Whoa! That's a bad gif. I'll have to rescan it. Sorry for
the mess but you still get to see the basic underlying
structure used to get here.
In detailing this image thing to note are:
The upper lip is smaller and darker than
the lower lip.
The eye is located on a gentle upward
curve from the edge of the mouth.
The forehead is smooth and rounded.
The nose is slightly upturned.
Profile : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
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 the face shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the ear line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal).
Profile: Step 4- More Divisions
Divide the space between the eyeline and the chin in half. This is
the "Bottom of the Ear and Nose" line. Divide the space below the
noseline into 3rds. the upper 3rd is the Mouth line.
Notice the ear sits in the verticle axis toward the back of the head
and rest between the nose line and the brow line.
Profile : Step 2- the eye
Divide the space between the front of the head and the vertical
earline axis. This is where we place the eye on the eyeline. The
outside corner of the eye should hit this new division line and the
inside corner should be just inside of the outer edge of the mouth.
Profile: Step 3-Hair Line
The Hairline is located by drawing a 45 degree angle from the
intersection of the horizontal eye line and the vertical ear line.
Female head: 3/4 view
Stage1
Okay here we have the basic set up for the head.
As with most other setup's, this one also starts with
a egg/sphere set up. The difference is where you bi-
sect it. Here I chose a basic 3/4 bisect. The middle
horizontal line for the eyes and the verticle line tell
us which ways she's a lookin'.
If I chose to put the eye-line higher than center I

could make her "look up" the opposite is true for
"looking down.

Female head: 3/4 view
Stage1- Detail
Start with the blue circle. It's a good idea to decide wich
way she'll be looking at this point since you can't put the
chin on till ya know.
Bisect the sphere vertically in half along the directional
axis. I use 1 vertical line to decide the eye/nose mouth
plane and 1 to decide the ear plane (not
airplane EARplane wa ha ha)
The mouth line is halfway between the chin and eyeline.
Normal proportions say that line is for the nose but this
is anime and the face is smaller. The nose line is a little
less than halfway between the mouth and eyeline closer
to the mouth.

Here you will have to figure on
what is halfway between the ear
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
before is so this part would be easy. There's many
different styles and variations in Anime. I'm trying to
be a generic as possible here.
Eyes go on the points of the triangle we established
in the detail section. The "Speculars" or glinty things
in the eye should be used to give some sense or
direction for wich way the eyes are looking. If you
don't get them exactly even (Like what I did here for
illustrative purposes) you get the impression that
she's cross-eyed. Keep those speculars even!!
She still doesn't quite look like a hotty yet so we
need to imbelish on the established lines a bit.
Make the upper eyelash line thicker. Add more
detail to the eyes and ears. Drop on some wild
Anime hair do!!

Female head: 3/4 view
Stage3
Whoa!! What a difference a few lines make,
eh? At this point you kinda know what she's
gonna look like but to keep your drawing from
looking as flat and unappealing as a pokemon
coloring book we need to add "weight" to
some lines and fade up on others.
The Eyes and Cheek/chin give the character

mass and depth so they should be heavier
and detailed. To keep her dainty we need to
keep the lines of the nose and mouth thinner.
Hair is also kinda "whispy" so be careful with
the line weight there. Shadows go well under
the nose, lowe lip and under the chin.



3/4 View : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
veiwpoint. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic
ovoid shape will do nicely.
3/4 View : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin. Manga faces, espescially femal ones, are heart-
shaped. 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 shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the Nose line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal). The
Noseline should extend in a curved 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 should extend just above the Eyeline. The top of
the ear indicates the "Brow" line.
A 45 degree angle between the eyeline and the vertical earline is
where we place the hairline.
3/4 View : Step 5- the eyes
Eyes are to be placed on the eyeline (imagine that). I set the
corners of the eye on that line. Notice that the eye father away
from the viewer is shorter in length. This is to simulate the
curvature of the head. It takes a little bit of practice to make this
look right but if you laid out all your proportion lines correctly it will
make the task of feature placement much easier. After lots of
practice you won't need to draw as many setup lines.
The Female Body
Here we are at stage 1:
Nothing fancy. Just a fast loose stick
figure that will serve as our foundation
piece. Note that the form is 7 heads
high.
Shoulders are a Head and a half from
the top. Shoulders and hips are 2 heads
wide.
Hips are 3 heads down.
Knees are 5 heads down.
Keep it loose at this stage but be wary
of your proportions.
NEXT