Ikari Studio - Monster Book of Manga: Boys

The kodomo manga, or manga for kids, is the introduction to manga reading for the Japanese public. In these manga the main characters are usually boys and girls about the same age as the readers. They tell the story of the everyday life of any child. But the routine is, on many occasions, transformed by a fantastic character. The rapid and diverse growth of children allows us to use different types of proportions when the time comes to draw these characters. In this exercise, we opt for a child about seven years old and for a pre-adolescent of about 12 so that we may see the differences in their builds.

1. Shape

2. Volume

3. Anatomy

To better block out the build of the characters, we soften the lines of the drawing and turn volumes into muscles, except in the zones where the bone structure is obvious, for which we opt for sharper and more angular lines.

4. Clothes

We opt for an urban and sporty look, drawing roller skates and a skateboard, very popular among tweens. To provide the clothes with movement and looseness, we use ample lines and curves.

5. Ink and Lighting

The volumes must suggest the textures of the elements in the illustration. The skin is drawn with softer lines than those for the folds on the synthetic fabrics. We use softer forms for the natural objects and sharper for the synthetics.

6. Color

As a visual reference, we can refer to fashion magazines and catalogs. For the bases, it is recommended not to use excessively saturated colors, although we want to achieve brighter tones.

7. Shading

To model the shadows by means of color, we follow the steps of the lighting section since it originates the color of the shadow. In this case, it is a tone slightly darker and more saturated than that on the base.

8. Finishing Touches

We add patterns of the clothes and we adapt them to the shapes. The tones complement the volumes of the shadows with darker colors and hues a little more saturated.

The adolescent students are the prime protagonists in the bishonen genre. In this type of manga male characters are the center of attention in order to attract the interest of the female public, generally high-school girls. These manga stories show the power of adolescents, their vitality, and their love affairs. These are stories that feed on reality. And these youngsters reality is what takes place at school and in their classrooms. The characters usually wear the typical Japanese school uniform and are the image of a regular student so to reach a maximum number of readers.

1. Shape

2. Volume

3. Anatomy

The character slightly leans over, so the torso seems shorter. His body stars showing visible signs of adulthood, but we only subtly insinuate them, drawing a lean physique with long arms and legs.