Hart - Shoujo basics: christopher harts draw manga now!

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 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 for the Beginner, copyright 2008 by Christopher Hart; 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

Hart, Christopher, 1957
Shoujo basics : Christopher Harts draw manga now! / Christopher Hart. First edition.
pages cm
1. Comic books, strips, etc.JapanTechnique. 2. CartooningTechnique.
3. Comic strip characters. I. Title.
NC1764.5.J3H3745 2013
741.51dc23
2012045282

eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-34532-3
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-385-34545-3

Cover and book design by Ken Crossland

v3.1

Heres a special book for those interested in drawing the shoujo (pronounced show-joe) style of manga. Shoujo is the style of manga thats aimed at teenage girls but that also has garnered a strong male following. Also spelled shojo, its the most popular style of manga in the known universe. This book is also particularly helpful to beginning artists, as it explains the lessons in a breezy way. It also contains lots of illustrated tips to show you how to achieve the finished drawings. I cant think of any other way to learn thats this much fun.

This book may look small, but its jam-packed with information, artwork, and instruction to help you learn how to draw manga like a master!

Well start off by going over some of the basic elements of shoujo. Pay close attention; the material we cover here is very important; everything builds on these basics. You might want to practice drawing some of the things in this section, like eyes, faces, and hands, on your own. I know youll want to learn how to draw the feature that makes shoujo famous: those big, glistening eyes.

Next, itll be time to pick up your pencil and get drawing! Using a fresh piece of paper, practice on your own, following my step-by-step drawings. When you draw the characters in this section, youll be using everything you learned so far.

Finally, Ill put you to the test! The last section of this book features drawings that have appeared elsewhere in my book, except theyll be missing some key features. Its your job to finish these drawings, giving characters the eyes, hair, body, clothes, and facial features they need.

This book is all about learning, practicing, and, most importantly, having fun. Dont be afraid to make mistakes. If you dont make any mistakes, that means youre not attempting to tackle new techniques. In fact, the more mistakes you make, the more youre learning. Also, the examples and step-by-steps in this book are meant to be guides. Feel free to elaborate and embellish them as you wish. Before you know it, youll be a manga artist in your own right!

Lets begin!

The shoujo look requires some very particular proportions: big, glistening eyes; a small mouth; and a tiny nose. Often, I see beginners taking great care to draw elaborate eyes. They intuitively understand what a big role this feature plays in a characters look. But what they dont always realize is that for a character to have big eyes, it also has to have a huge forehead. To counterbalance this, the character has a small mouth area. These proportions define the cute, bright-eyed look of shoujo.

Well start with the front view, because everything is perfectly symmetrical at this angle, and everything lines up evenly: the eyes are on the same level as each other. The same goes for the eyebrows and ears.

Notice that the eyes are left blank in the early steps. Thats because you first want to focus on getting all the features in the right place before you add the details.

When drawing the shoujo girls head, remember: big forehead, small mouth area. This means the head is drawn like a square-ish egg shape, which tapers at the bottom. Make sure that the forehead is big enough to fit in those enormous eyes. A big forehead is the typical look of shoujo characters. As a character ages, the eyes move higher up on the head, which makes the forehead look smaller.

Start out with a flat front of the face. Then sculpt it to indicate the nose and mouth. The back of the head remains rounded and takes up considerable mass behind the ear.

The side view gets tricky in two places. Sometimes beginners make the eyes too small at this angle. Keep them big! Secondly, beginners can forget to make the characters lips protrude. In the side view, the lips should stick out just a toucheven on boys.