Christopher Hart - Shoujo Style

Compilation copyright 2013 by Christopher Hart, Cartoon Craft LLC, Star Fire LLC, and Art Studio LLC

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Watson-Guptill Publications, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com
www.watsonguptill.com

WATSON-GUPTILL is a registered trademark and the WG and Horse designs are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This work is based on the following titles by Christopher Hart published by Watson-Guptill Publications, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.: Manga Mania Shoujo, copyright 2004 by Star Fire LLC; Manga Mania Bishoujo, copyright 2005 by Star Fire LLC; Manga for the Beginner Shoujo, copyright 2010 by Cartoon Craft LLC; and Manga for the Beginner Kawaii, copyright 2012 by Cartoon Craft LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-34586-6
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-385-34585-9

Cover and book design by Ken Crossland

v3.1

Shoujo is perhaps the best-loved, most recognizable manga style in the world. If youre picking up this book, you probably have a basic understanding of how to draw the sweet, charming, and bright-eyed characters of this genre. However, in addition to these defining features, shoujo characters wear outfits and hairstyles that are full of beauty and grace. The style in which a shoujo character dresses can reflect their personality, or character type. Therefore, its very important to know how to draw the right accessories, outfits, hairstyles, and embellishments to take your shoujo characters to the next level. Manga fashion is fun, and the possibilities are endless. As youll see, its all about the important details.

This book may look small, but its jam-packed with artwork and instruction to help you dress, accessorize, and characterize the hugely popular characters of shoujo!

Well start off by diving right inpast the basicsto the famous character types that make shoujo so well loved. Theres everyone from rock stars to girls in traditional Japanese outfits, and loads of accessories to jazz them up. You might want to practice drawing some of the things in this section before moving on to the next one.

Then, itll be time to pick up your pencil and start actually drawing complete shoujo characters! You can follow my step-by-step illustrations on a separate piece of paper, drawing the characters in this section using everything youve learned so far.

Finally, Ill put you to the test! The last section features images that are missing some key features. Itll be your job to finish these drawings, giving the characters the missing elements they need.

This book is all about learning, practicing, and, most important, having fun. Dont be afraid to make mistakes, because lets face it: every artist does at some point. Also, the examples are meant to be guides; feel free to elaborate and embellish as you wish. Before you know it, youll be a manga artist in your own right!

Lets begin!

Hairstyles are very important to all manga characters, but especially to ones in the shoujo genre. Because they are teenagers, we can communicate their personalities by the way they wear their hair, whether its wild, conservative, or carefree. And this is true for the boys in this book, too!

Curled Ponytails

Floppy

Messy Buns

Twist Top

Combed Back

Spiked in Front

Shoulder Length with Center Part

Spiked in Back

Coiffed with Ponytail

Short hair can be very sharp looking. Its a great match for characters with a hip, cosmopolitan look and style. You can also split the difference between short and long to create hairstyles of medium length; this is the most common style for the girl-next-door type, but you can use it on many other characters, too. Note that the longer the hair, the more swirls you must add to keep it graceful and visually interesting.

Pulled Back

Long Hair

Short Hair

Medium Hair

Beautiful hair is an intrinsic part of every character, and helps define a characters overall look. Length doesnt matter as much as the style and cut. The strands of hair are drawn with very thin lines, providing an elegant look. But not every strand needs to be drawn. Drawing a group of them will imply the rest. Dont be supercompulsive and attempt to draw ten thousand individual strands of hair on each characters head, or youll drive yourself crazy. A characters hairstyle should always reflect and complement their outfit and general appearance. Youll see a bit more of this later, too.