Rookie’s Guide to Drawing a Male Manga Character

25th November 2K8, Tuesday – 12++am.

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This tutorial is probably the quickest and most plain tutorial ever done by Ms.Aya. (Laughs)

Not that I’m lazy. It’s just that many of the basics has been taught in my previous tutorials. <^-^>/

In this tutorial, we will learn how to draw 2 types of guys with different facial features and characteristics.

We have all sorts of people in this world; The happy-go-lucky, gangsters, old geezers and the list go on. But sadly, we’re only going to learn how to draw the typical guy with wide eyes and the serious nonchalant dude. (Laughs)

Ok, for those who are absolute rookies who don’t know anything about the T-junction foundation, click here to learn. Otherwise, proceed shall we? ↓

Start by dividing your paper into 2 sections and draw as shown above.

Note: Please use your due diligence. You don’t necessarily have to follow my distorted foundation because I usually use them as marks and later morph them. If you are too reliable on your foundation, I suggest you draw it properly and not like mine which is retardedly crooked.

Draw the outline of the head.

You can draw one at a time or draw both at the same time, up to you.

The left side – The side of the head should be a bit broad.

The right side – Slightly thinner than the other one.

When you draw the head, I want you to focus on the chin. As you can see, the chin is slightly broader. This makes it easier to distinguish between a male and female character.

If you’re drawing a girl, she would look cuter and more feminine with smaller and perhaps sharper chin. Men on the other hand would look more manly with broad chin. Although most male anime characters share the same type of chin as the female, this is just an option for you to give strong masculine features to your male characters.

Because to what I know, people tend to draw guys that look like girls. It’s a common conflict. (Laughs)

Ok.. Now, we’ll start drawing the perky-sporty yuppie.. (Perky-chan) ↓

Draw the nose and mouth as shown above.

1 – Make sure the chin is broad.

2 – Darken the strokes of the nose. Make it outstanding for we are trying to draw a bold character.

As for the mouth, give him a confident smile or a grin to suit his characteristic.

After that, move up to draw the eyes. When you intend to draw a male character, besides his chin showing of his manly features — his eyes are also what differentiates him from a girl.

1 - Darken his eyebrow but be careful not make it look so thick. Just thicker than a woman’s eyebrow, ok? Arch the eyebrows while you’re at it.

2 – This part is optional. Even though it’s not drawn too thick, he won’t be accuse of being a sissy. (Laughs)

3 - Draw a thick line for the upper eyelids. Whatever you do, don’t give him eyelashes. Here’s why — ↓

It’s not pretty, it’s not cool and certainly not cute! It’s down right ugly!

So go easy on the eyebrows and drop the eyelashes. Those are for women! <`A´>/

Once you’re done with the eyes, the outcome should look like this. (I drew a bit of the ear)

Leave him to be hairless and move on to the second character who has a cold and nonchalant attitude. ↓

Draw the nose and mouth first~

1 - Unlike Perky-chan’s nose, his should be less bold. If you don’t favor this type of nose, sure, you can draw like the first one. Only thing is keep the line thin.

2 – Chin is smaller than the first one.

A nonchalant character (or what most people would deem it; emo) don’t usually smile right? So a pout or a frown should do the job.

Now for his eyes… We’re going to do the opposite of the Perky-chan.

1 - Eyebrow is to be kept thin and in a neat line. Do not arch it. Either slant down or just keep it straight.

2 - Keep this line close to the upper eye lid.

3 - Darken the strokes and keep it straight. Don’t arch it.

From what you can tell from his eyes, they are smaller than Perky-chan. And more serious looking, desu ne?

You can draw this kind of eyes for bishounen characters. Of course, mine is no match for Mayu Shinjo’s perverted charming bishounens however — Perhaps yours will one day beat mine and hers. (Laughs)

When you’re done, this is the outcome or Kakkoi-sama. (Cool) ↓

Well, as they are right now — They are considered to be hideous because — They have no hair. (Laughs)

For Perky-chan, what kind of hair style do you think suits him?

He has a wide and confident smile plus a pair of big eyes that spells out “Ore wa yaru!” (I’ll do it)?

[ . . . ]

*Thinks* <u__u>

[ . . . ]

Baa… Straight.. Long.. No no.. Spikey hair would suit his nature, ne? ↓

This is my conclusion. Since I intended to apply the sporty look on Perky-chan, a messy hair and a singlet shall booze his style and characteristic.

As for our moody Kakkoi-sama… ↓

This is my portrait of him. His hair is neat and in place thus gives away the impression that he is cool and serious.

Yossha~☆! \<´v`>/

Ms.Aya‘s tutorial is coming to an end~

Normally, I’d give some sample works and practices however — For this tutorial, there’s no need too. If you have been following my drawing tutorials, just follow back those practices but this round, you draw guys characters…

While practicing, I advise you to focus on the chin, nose and eyes which are the essential features that differs the gender and characteristic.

I wish everyone well in drawing manga and I certainly hope that my tutorial will at least be a bit useful to you. <_   _>lll

My next tutorial will on how to hand-draw unique backgrounds.

In addition, I’ll teach you how to sketch using pen.

Here’s a sneak preview: ↓

This is Ms.Aya from Paperdiaries.com — Logging out!

PS: It’s obvious that I applied Kakkoi-sama’s features on Dion Castlock. So you probably can fathom what kind of guy Dion is, na? <*^-^*>/