Scott Harris - Draw Manga Style: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide for Drawing Anime and Manga - 62 Lessons: Basics, Characters, Special Effects

62 Lessons Basics Characters Special Effects

A BEGINNERS STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR DRAWING ANIME AND MANGA

SCOTT HARRIS

Drawing in 3D, dynamic shapes, dynamic forms, opposing curves in figures

Basic drawing steps explained

Dynamic lines, overlaps, tangents, line weights, line values, with examples

Manga proportions, male and female

Drawing basic forms for characters

Dynamic posing with mannequins

Proportions and examples

Proportions and examples

Eye styles on various character types

Examples at multiple angles

Examples at multiple angles

Step-by-step with different styles and expressions

Basic structures with sample poses

Basic structures with sample poses

Basic foot structures with sample poses

Overview of the fundamentals, plus male and female shapes and styles

Workflow and elements of drawing manga hair

Effective use of line weights and placement

Speed lines, expressive iconography, and more

Basic lighting workflow that can be done digitally or traditionally

Ive drawn since I was young, but I was never any good at itlikely because Im not particularly talented. I did, however, have a strong desire to get better, and as I continued to learn and practice, I began to see my work improve. My past work was consistently worse than my current work, which meant my future work would be better! I pressed on. This book has been created with this spirit, that anyone can draw well, and is meant to encourage you to press on and continue to learn and practice. You can certainly reach the level you desire!

The manga style originates from Japan and is influenced by Japanese culture and traditions. I encourage you to do your own research into the culture, language, and traditions of Japan. Drawing manga well means having a solid understanding of key art principles, too. In this book, youll learn knowledge to help you form solid drawing fundamentals. Manga has a unique and distinct look to it that is often hard to re-create authentically due to many stylistic nuances. Youll be guided step-by-step as we dive deep into essential stylistic traits that will help you draw convincing and authentic manga characters.

Drawing well takes time and courage. Therefore, let me encourage you to, firstly, be patient with yourself as you learn and improve. Be consistentits better to draw a little every day rather than a lot once or twice per week. Secondly, be courageous; that is, overcome your fears. All artists struggle with approaching a blank page, failing, or drawing something that lacks appeal. You must learn to persevere past your fears and courageously move forward and keep drawing. Success in art is a by-product of many failures, so fail forwardskeep drawing and persevering to improve!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This book is designed both as an instructional guide as well as a learning resource. The first 20 topics are dedicated to learning to draw manga characters from the ground up, and the remaining topics walk you through the drawing process of 42 characters in different poses and of different genres and themes.

The instructional sections should be used as reference points for your own work. Learning and memorizing the lessons taught in the first 20 examples of this book is critical for you to succeed in creating the characters you dream of making.

As for tools you will need to draw manga characters, some copier paper, 2B and HB pencils, fine tip markers for inking, and a normal and kneaded eraser will work just fine. If you prefer to work digitally, youll need a drawing tablet with a compatible stylus and software, such as the iPad with an Apple Pencil, and Procreate, or a Wacom Tablet and Clip Studio Paint if you are working on a computer.

Anyone can draw welldont forget that! I wish you the best as you start or continue your art journey into the character-filled world of manga drawing!

By learning some core drawing fundamentals, youll be drawing manga characters in no time! The most important thing when starting is to never give upwe all start somewhere, and those that persevere, succeed! Please make sure to commit the lessons in this section to memory, as they are essential in helping you draw effectively.

DRAWING IN 3D BY DRAWING THROUGH

Drawing in 3D is an essential part of character drawing, and this is done by drawing through our 3D shapes, called forms, imagining the other side of the object. We need to be able to understand the three-dimensional volume of character elementseven if just in a basic wayin order to properly place characters and elements in space.

Another way to think about drawing through is to imagine that youre creating 3D objects from wire. Typically when drawing characters, you will have multiple rough drawing stages, or planning stages, where you can use drawing through to help you plan. Following the planning stage is a cleaning up stage to refine the drawing and make it neat. In the example, you can see the 3D forms on the left are first roughly drawn by drawing through and then cleaned up and neatened for the final illustration on the right.

DYNAMIC SHAPES AND FORMS

When drawing, we want our manga characters to feel alive and in motion, even though theyre really flat illustrations. One of the key ways to bring a sense of life and energy to our characters is by making sure were planning our forms and flat shapes to be perceived as dynamic instead of static. A dynamic shape or form is one that seems to have a sense of directionalitythat is, it appears to be moving or pointing in a direction. A static shape or form, on the other hand, is one that has no clearly perceived directionality.

BUILDING WITH FORMS AND COUNTERPOSE

Left: When creating our characters, we start by building them out roughly, using basic building blocks. These building blocks are called character forms and are used in conjunction with counterpose, opposing curves, and lines of action to create dynamic and energetic characters. See for more information about character forms.