3rd August 2K8, Sunny Sunday.

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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

This is Ms.Aya blogging today! \<^v^>/

Now, I promise to create a tutorial on how to draw manga – right? So without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Pencil (2B, 3B, Mechanical pencil.. Whichever you’re comfortable with)
• Eraser
• White A4 paper

Please… Use A4 paper okee? Don’t use sticky yellow pads or papers with lines. You can only draw stick-mans with those!

Lay out your paper and begin with drawing a big circle. Don’t use your tumbler or any round objects to help you. Just draw it freely. It doesn’t matter if it’s uneven.

And yes, I forbid rulers.

And make sure you take as much space as you can because I’m going to teach you how to draw just the head.

You see, our objective here is to fully master drawing the face and head. Body comes later because by the time you struggle to draw the face meticulously, you will be worn out and probably try to rush the whole art piece.

To master the face and head, take up the whole paper. I remember my Japanese sensei once taught me to use up all the space to write Hiragana. He said writing it too tiny will not help you expand. So this applies in drawing manga too. ↓

*CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A BIGGER AND CLOSER VIEW!*

In that circle, form a t-junction as shown.

The t-junction is to assist you in positioning the eyes, nose and mouth. Also, the direction of where the head is facing.

The circle and cross should be drawn lightly and obvious enough to see it as a mark.

So don’t add pressure when drawing this foundation.

Now…

Follow the step-by-step numbers and the direction of the arrows.

With the help of the circle, you are able to draw out the sides with an accurate width. When drawing 1 and 2, make sure the chin is align with the vertical line from the t-junction.

Also, don’t make the chin too pointy and sharp. Look in the mirror. You can see how your chin is like. It’s blunt and curved. Follow that.

But in this case, we’re drawing a female character. So try to make it look feminine.

Tips on the neck, do not make it too straight. Curve the lines as shown above.

Let’s start with the nose. Why? Because it’s the mark you’re going to rely on later to position the eyes and the mouth.

In your t-junction, stroke 2 tiny lines as shown above.

There are many types of nose to draw but the reason I chose this one is because it’s easy and personally, I think it more beautiful. (Laughs)

It makes the nose look small and sharp.

Next, we do the eyes.

As you can see, I’ve drawn the eyes and mouth. But we’ll get to the mouth later. Let’s do the eyes first.

Do you understand the function of the t-junction now? It helps you divide the space in the face. The line above the eye brown marks the forehead. So clearly, your eyes cannot exceed that line. As for the line below the eyes are the cheeks.

So yes, as much as you may like HUGE ENORMOUS eyes, keep it between the forehead line and cheeks, ok?

We don’t intend to draw a deform girl. (Laughs)

Follow the step-by-step numbers and directions of the pointers.

If you’re comfortable starting on the left side first, by all means do as you please.

The eyes are slanting because the head is tilt, remember?

So just follow the eyes. Don’t worry if it’s not very nice and neat. Our objective here is to determine where she’s looking.

When you’re done with that, move on to the mouth.

Is the bottom of the circle line still visible to you? I hope so because that line is essential to determine the direction and position of the lips.

Follow how I drew the lips above. There are many types of lips but I chose to teach you this one because it’s easier and charming. (In my opinion again)

Actually the main reason is — This type of lips is versatile. You can make it frown, smile, pout.. etc. In my later tutorials, I shall teach you how.

The arrow where I mark “**” has a little line beneath the lips, please add that line.

Ok, finish the lips and check if everything is align; the nose, eyes and lips.

Then go back to the eyes.

We’re going to beautify the eyes now. I suggest you click the image above for a closer view. I want you to see how I do the eye lashes.

Follow the directions of my arrows again. The eye lines should be darkened as well to make it stand out. As though she’s wearing eye liners and eye lashes!

Can you keep up with me? Come on, a little bit more. We’re almost finishing!

Besides, you can’t leave your first lady character bald.

She’s no cancer patient, honey~!

OR

You choose…

Obviously, I go for the hair — It’s my favorite part in drawing!

You can design the hair anyhow you like. But if you aren’t sure how to draw the hair yourself, follow mine.

You might not understand my arrows in this point so here’s a short video on how I did the hair.

After you watch the video…

As you can see, I just stroke my way down. (Laughs)

Just to be sure, here’s a closer look at the bottom hair. ↓

Once you’re done, do a little touch up here and there to make the picture turn out well. Erase the t-junction and unnecessary lines that were used as marks.

As a result, this is how your picture should turn out to be.

I drew a shoulder-off blouse for her but in your case, you can skip that. You’re learning to focus more on the beauty of the face right now so beneath the shoulder does not matter to you until you master the face.

Well.. My advice is — get use to drawing close view of your characters and then only move on to drawing their bodies.

Keep practicing~!

I know what I’ve taught you in this tutorial is a very boring and tacky pose but that’s not necessary. Once you familiarize yourself with my technique, you can slowly add your own design and profile pose.

Here are my sample work:

Keep practicing and slowly design your way up, okee?

I’m rooting for you!

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Edited: 7th August 2K8

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Here are additional sample works that you could be drawing soon once you master drawing the head to shoulders.

I’m showing you these samples to let you know that drawing the head for a start is fun and it can be as interesting as a full-body length picture. ↓

If you notice, my male characters does not have any eye lashes. It differs the female character from the male, doesn’t it? Well… Keep this tip in mind. <^x^>/

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PS: Want to learn how to COLOR your character using Adobe Photoshop? Mira will guide you on that! –> Click Here

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**Entry Updated!**

Click here to continue the second tutorial!

*How to draw a full-body for your manga character tutorial*