Mood - Active

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? <*^-^*>/

]]> http://paperdiaries.com/2008/11/rookies-guide-to-drawing-a-male-manga-character/feed/ 14 http://paperdiaries.com/2008/10/how-to-draw-a-full-body-for-manga-characters/ http://paperdiaries.com/2008/10/how-to-draw-a-full-body-for-manga-characters/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:08:45 +0000 Ms Aya http://paperdiaries.wordpress.com/?p=635

Mood - Blank

30th October 2K8, Thursday – Late evening.

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I, Ms.Aya the sheep is so sorry for the long overdue tutorial. <x_x>lll

Finally, I present to you… A basic guide on how to draw a full-body for your manga characters! \<^x^>/

Just before I begin this tutorial, allow me to clarify certain things:

1. I’m an amateur and inconsistent artist. My tutorials are meant for absolute beginner’s who are just starting out. Suppose you are an expert artist and you find this tutorial pure trash — That, I wonder how did you end up here.
2. My human anatomy outlook is retarded and deformed. However, I see it as an art to defy reality. And seriously, it doesn’t look too spastic to me.
3. This is a very quick guide that requires less than an hour. <^-^>v

Above all — I humbly admit.. I’m lousy in drawing a full-body. <;__;> But I’m confident that the technique I’m about to teach you is more than enough to pass your artwork with compliments. <^v^>/

Now that I’m clear… Moving on…

Note: Click on image to enlarge view.

I’ve already taught you how to draw the face and create facial expressions in my previous tutorials. Now, we’re going to draw a full body for your lovely manga characters!

First off… Please draw the following graphic shown below. ↓

Kickstart by drawing a mannequin/body line structure as shown above. This enables you to have a rough figure laid on your paper and most importantly, work out on your character’s anatomy.

• Some people may find it easier to draw a character straight away without defining the construction in the beginning. However, if you are truly new to drawing — Then it’s better that you build your structure. Because once you are done, all you need to do is just give it some skin and put some clothes on.

Back to the tutorial…

When drawing the body is concern, here are a few things that you need to focus on when constructing the figure of the body:

• The width length of the shoulder - Always start with the head. Because the head determines the balance and size of the body. You need the help of the head to move on to the shoulders. So just how big or small should the shoulders be? This varies on the posture that you intend to draw. But in this case, we’re starting with a normal upfront pose. Therefore, your shoulder should be in align with the ears. (There are no ears shown in the example given but I’m positive you know where they are!)

Above is how you measure the width of the shoulders. Line 1 is to measure the vertical height to meet the shoulders. After you rely on your due diligence to decide how long/short you want your neck to be, take the same length from Line 1 to create Line 2.

• The chest – Follow the steps shown below. ↓

Step 1a and 1b: The sides should be drawn inwards, giving it ample space for the character to move her arm freely. (Not that we want to show off her armpit though) We just want to give her a nice shape. <^x^>lll

Step 2: This is the collarbone line.

Step 3a and 3b: These are guidelines to ensure your body is facing the direction that you desire and to keep its balance.

* Important note: The length of the torso should be equivalent to the length of the legs. The legs can be slightly longer but please don’t overdo it. We’re not drawing Dragonball characters here! <T_T>

Next… <.___.>

Once you have completed imitating the whole body structure given above, proceed to the following progress. ↓

As you can see, our character here is taking shape slowly. What I did was I started giving her a face… and a proper pelvic area. (Laughs) <x_x>

There’s more. I gave her boobs and formed her limbs properly. <^.^>lll

Now, continue to form her body then erase the initial guidelines. ↓

Now we’re heading somewhere~! \<^ε^>/

Before we move on, here’s a short tip on how to draw the arms. ↓

Arm structure – The size of the upper arm (from the shoulder – Elbow) should be fatter than the lower part of the arm (Elbow – wrist) Same goes when you draw the legs. Thighs should be fatter than the lower part. This shapes up your character in the proper and logical manner.

Here’s a closer look on how to build the structure for the back-hand (or palm) and fingers.

The wrist is the thinnest part of the arm. At the end of the wrist, the hand should be as fat as the lower part of the arm. (What am I saying?) <@_@>

The 5 tiny balls represents the knuckles, which will help you move on to the fingers. The balls between the finger tips and the knuckles marks the finger’s phalanges. With that, you can decide how you want your character’s fingers to pose — whether she’s holding a weapon, clutching her first and the victorious ‘V’ pose. <^-^>v

Ok, so just how big and long should a hand/palm be? ↓

Answer: It should be around the length of the head, or slightly smaller. Suppose you are drawing a male character, it’s alright to create larger and wider palms for him. But when it comes to a girl character, small would be beautiful and just right~♥

After you have finished outlining her body and every part of her is agreeable to you, then you may proceed to clothing her.

Here’s how I did mine. ↓

About the feet, I’m sorry I can’t help you there for I totally can’t draw them myself properly. But for starters, you can try drawing boots or overly huge shoes because they are easier to draw. (In my opinion)

Baa.. <u_u>

We’ve come to an end in this tutorial.

It’s not the best tutorial out there however, it’ll get you somewhere. <n_n>

As usual, I’ll end my tutorials by giving out my personal practices and exercises so that you can be independent in drawing and exploring the art of manga~

Ms.Aya’s Practice Methods

In order to improve further, I suggest that you gather some hard copy pictures and trace the initial body structure.

Take a piece of paper and lay it on top of your chosen completed image. Instead of tracing the whole image — just draw the body line structure as shown earlier.

Example:

Completed image

Over traced structure

Pick a really nice picture and trace over the original foundation and body structure. And then, try to redraw the picture OR draw your own character over it. That way, your character will share the same pose.

Plus, you’ll be more familiar in designing body structures and poses. This will make an excellent practice!

Besides, it’s like playing the ‘Join the Dotted Line’ game. Only thing is that it won’t be a picture of a clown holding an umbrella but — a sexy manga character. (Laughs)

More examples:

Completed Image

Over traced body structure

Completed Image

Over traced structure

Completed image

Over traced structure

Completed image

Over traced structure

Ok, sheep is done here. I hope I didn’t confuse anyone and that this tutorial will be of help.

Another thing I want to recommend:

If you want elite tutorials on how to draw manga girls, go to:

Xia’s a really great and talented artist. His tutorials will definitely take your drawing skills to another level.

My next tutorial will be on how to draw male characters. Perhaps it will be out by end of next month. <u_u>

Having that said, this is Ms.Aya who thanks you for being patient~♥

Mood - Gleeful

18th September 2K8, Thursday – Night time.

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Mokarimakka, minna-hun? <•ω•>/~♫!

Today, I received an email asking me questions about the text emoticons that I use.

Those of you who contact me via email, MSN, sms or through this blog by now may have noticed that I’m very fond of using text emoticons rather than graphical ones.

And if you have been wondering what on earth <OAO>!!!, <TAT> and <.____.>{?] means, here’s your chance to finally uncover what those expressions are!

Also, you’ll learn how to creatively express yourself using text emoticons~☆! \<^v^>/

Yes, I’m shedding some light into this mystery. (Laughs)

Ok.

Kaneko - An example of a Japanese text emoticon

I normally use the Eastern style, to be precise, the Japanese style.

The Eastern style format is like this: (*_*).

The brackets indicates the outline of the face while the asterisk indicates the eyes. The underscore is the mouth.

\ and / are the arms.

In my case, I use < and > because personally, I think it makes my emoticons look more sheepish. (Laughs) <^x^>/

Before I begin the guide, those of you who are into drawing manga…

This guide is not just about text emoticons. You can also learn how to apply these anime-like expressions on your hand-drawn chibi or animal characters~! \<^υ^>/

Japanese Text Emoticon/Facial Expression HandBook

Actually, it is not necessarily described as a cat-like smile. The Japanese originally have small eyes so when they smile, their cheeks raises causing their eyes to look like (^_^).

Don’t believe me? Go pester your friend with the smallest eye to smile insanely wide. You’ll see a similarity there!

Instead of using ^ ^, you can sometimes use ‘n’ too –> <n_n>/

Compared to the first one, this one has its mouth open wide!

This one expresses its lips sinking in.

A normal and pleasant smile.

The ‘w’ mouth is usually used on animals as it shows its muzzle. Such as bears, dogs, cats etc. However,it does look cute on human cartoon characters too.

Example:

Konata, the main character of LuckyStar is often seen with the ‘ω’ mouth.

By the way, it is not impossible to mimic a ω mouth in real-life. (Laughs)

Another ω smiley but this time, with the eyes open.

This is another version of the bear face. Here’s an example of an anime character with this ‘kuma’ lips. ↓

The octopus a.k.a duck lips. Usually expresses ‘kissing’. (Laughs)

Another way to create this emoticon is to substitute the v with an up-side-down A. In which I can’t do that. I don’t know how. Sorry! (Cries) <;__;>

Now this emoticons expresses depression, lack of confidence and any other negative emotions. The lll indicates negativity. Without lll, (-__-) expresses the ‘boring’ look or the ‘Sou ka….’ (I see…) face.

Normally, we add the sweat drop for this emoticon. → <-_-”>

This emoticon can be tricky. It depends on how YOU look at it. To some people, it looks like the eyes are being narrowed and focused. But to others, the top hyphen appears to look like a pair of eye brows and beneath are the closed eyes.

Another tricky emoticon that relies on your own perception. (T_T) If you look at the vertical line, it may look like tears, as though the emoticon indicates crying.

For other people, it may look like this: ↓

Anyway, if you really want a crying face, go for this one then.

Or (;___;), which is slightly tearful, not flooding with tears.

My personal favourite: This emoticon expresses shock, WHAT THE FUCK and you may as well call it the “Constipated face” while you’re at it.

Another text for this emoticon is → !!!<°Δ°>

Note: When you see the eyes are like this: o_o

It means the eyes are wide open as though — SHOCK!!!

<0[]0>{!!!]

One more constipating face for you~♥ More like a ‘jaw-dropper’ face. (Laughs)

Here’s another one for you~! lll<°Д°>/

<u_u>

Inserting ‘u’ as the eyes shows that your eyes are close. You can use it to express calm and comfort.

You can also turn it into a sympathetic face like this → <u__u,>

Adding the , will make it look tearful and pitiful.

ξ<`A´>/

If I ever type this emoticon to you — Pack your bags, go for plastic surgery and take a ride to space! This emoticon is angry, outrageous and totally piss off!

Just look at the eye line closing in the nose bridge!

On the other hand…

If you reverse it, it becomes a happy face! I like to call it, “Rejoiceful” face!

A confusing face. The standard confuse face is (@_@).

Another one that I often use is … ↓

<.___.>{?]

It’s as though the character is looking down and thinking at the same time!

Expresses negativity by facing downwards.

Do I need to explain this one? (Laughs)

The “Oo~oohh~~” face.

The frustrated face. You know.. When you vehemently protest against something, you squint your eyes like this → (>_<){Ya-da-ya-da~!]

(Laughs)

Alright. I’ve come to an end. <—ω—>/

I hope this guide will help you in fathoming out text emoticons and also assist you in creating more cute expressions for your manga characters!

Before I go.. I’ll let you figure out these emoticons~!

(By now, you should be able to understand the facial expressions!)

(x_x)lll |  (=_+)  | (-   -”)

(o_o) |  ($v$) |  (*v*)

(~_~) |  (.   .) | (^-^)

By the way — If you don’t know how to get certain characters like Д, ω, or Δ…

Go to START button → ACCESSORIES→ SYSTEM TOOLS → CHARACTER MAP.

Click CHARACTER MAP and a browser of jibberish will appear. ↓

From there, you should be able to experiment all the provided symbols and create some really cool and cute text emoticons of your own!

This was guided by Ms.Aya the sheep, over and out! <^-^>/~☆!

PS: So you wanna learn how to draw facial expressions for manga characters — for real? Check out my tutorial then → Click here.

Mood - Ganbate!

16th August 2k8, Saturday – Evening.

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Bunã, everyone~ \<^x^>/

Ms.Aya is here to teach you how to give your manga characters the basic facial expressions!

Take out an A4 paper, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler to begin.

Click On Images for LARGER View!

Firstly, divide the space of your paper into 4 as shown beneath. ↓

Divide into 4 divisions.

We are going to learn how to draw 4 basic and easy facial expressions for manga characters. So worry not. This practice is not difficult. It’s easy and fun!

<^w^>/~Baa

In each divisions, draw the basic foundation of the face. (Remember the circle and the t-junction I taught in my first tutorial? No? Click here to revise all the basic techniques!)

When you’re done, start with the first section on your top left. We’re going to draw a HAPPY face there.

Operation 1: Project “HAPPY” face

Before you draw, go to a mirror and do all sorts of faces.

Eg: How do you look like when you’re happy? Angry? Just do some face exercises.

Now get back to your paper. And visualize this smiling face in your head. ↓

Keep this smiling/grinning face in your imaginations

The trick to display emotions in your drawing is too always have an imaginative idea of what you want to draw. When you’re feeling happy, you can feel your lips curling and your eyebrow raising up. Don’t believe me? Do that in front of the mirror now! (Laughs)

Alright, come back here!

Basically, you are giving your emotions to your lifeless characters. That’s why before you begin drawing, I want you to play with your face and emotions to get you all riled up. (Laughs)

Right — Back to the paper.

First, draw the nose. Second, we do the eyes. Third, we get to the mouth.

Begin by drawing the eyebrows first. ↓

Draw the eyebrows

You already have a captured image in your head. (The picture that I told you to imagine) And you want to draw it on your paper. Start with the eyebrows.

Can you see how I arched the eyebrows? Follow it.

Once you make it arch nicely, proceed to the eyes.

Let’s look closely on how to draw a set of happy eyes ↓

Forming the happy eyes!

Arch the eyebrow. At the bottom of the eye brow, leave a little bit of gap before you draw the second line.

As for the eye lids, arch the top line of the eye lids and then arch the bottom of the eye lids. You can draw the eyes bigger if you like. Up to you. Happy characters have big eyes anyway. <_ _>lll

After you’re finish with the eyes, recall back how the mouth look like and imagine it on your paper with the eyes you drew. Does it look matching? If no, that means you need to make your eyes more HAPPY looking.

Because eyes alone can show an emotion. You don’t want to be too dependent on other aspects of the features to help you create emotions.

With that said, Do what you believe you need to do to correct your HAPPY eyes!

Otherwise, let’s move on! We have 3 facial expressions in queue!

Here’s how you draw a wide grinning smile. ↓

"Yee" type of smile

Follow the direction of the arrows for 1 and 2.

In number 3, draw a line on each side and leave a gap in between (See the gap in number 3?). Do not connect the lines. This kind of smile is called, “Grinning.”

Typical wide smile

* If you don’t like the grinning style, then instead of drawing 2 lines on each side of the mouth (teeth), just draw a small hill as pointed out in the arrow.. That hill is a tongue.

I give you 5 minutes to finish the happy face.

(Waits)

…

Well.. Did it turn out like this?↓

Happy Face

If so, here’s one more feature you can add to the face to make it look more HAPPY. ↓

A slight blush at the cheeks

Overall, this is how the picture will look like. ↓

End of Happy Face -- Period!

Once your character is smiling at you, move on to the second section. Don’t bother to draw the hair yet. We’ll get to that later.

Key point: Arch eyebrows + Arch eye lids = Happy!

Operation 2: Project “Angry” Face

Draw the nose first.

Then Draw the eyebrows like this. ↓

Furious eyebrow!

Just by seeing this eyebrows, does it give you the impression that she’s not happy?

Unlike the happy eyebrow that was drawn upwards and arched, angry eyebrows closes in between the nose bridge. I can’t explain well in words so how about you check your mirror again? You’ll get my point.

Resume drawing…

Drawing a pair of angry eyes

Ok. Firstly, make sure line 1 and 2 is there. Without it, your character will never look as mad as you want her to be (Yes, we are drawing a ‘she’ here).

* – Notice that the bottom line is not arched but straight upwards instead? Because when you narrow your eyes, it makes your eyes look smaller. Anyway, do as shown! \<^v^>/

** – When your character is facing left, the nose line should be shown as above… You know… 3D angle? (Laughs nervously)

On with the mouth… ↓

The cocky "Ho?" mouth

There are other type of angry mouths such as screaming, showing off fangs etc… If you have others in mind, then by all means, do as you please. But if you want to stick with me, we’ll do this one, ok?

When you’re done, this is the example of the outcome. ↓

End of Angry Face - Period

I would say — This type of angry face is more of the comical type. (Laughs)

Remember, the key point to drawing an angry or furious expression is the eyebrows. And the 2 line between the top of nose bridge.

Operation 3: Project “SAD” Face

“Where to begin?”, you ask.

Pff. The NOSE!

Always start with the nose. So that while you’re working on her, she can breath! (Laughs)

What am I crapping here?

Resume to tutorial. ↓

The sad, "I-don't-know-what-to-do-anymore" eyebrows.

You can use this eyebrows to display sadness in your character OR you can apply this eyebrows for cowardly characters. (What? I’m speaking the truth!)

On with the eyes… <-__->lll ↓

"But-but---I'm sorry," looks away.. type of eyes

In number 1, draw the 2 lines in a non aggressive stroke. We want sympathy here, not another piss off face. If you notice, the eyebrow and the alignment in step 1 is a straight line.

There’s no arch and narrow inwards.

But at the end of the eyebrows, they slant down — making the eyes look as though lack of confidence, as if she’s worried.

As for number 3, draw the top eyelid close to the line (between the eyebrow and eyelid).

Number 4, the lower eyelids are no archy like the happy face neither as upward straight as the angry face. To get this line, just draw a smooth line across without any intention to arch or straighten upwards.

If you don’t understand what I’m saying, just copy how I how drew the eyes. <x_x>

And get on with the lips. ↓

"But.... I can't" type of mouth

Pucker her lips and the whole picture shall turn out to be like this. ↓

End of SAD face -- Period

What do you think? (Laughs) Is your character looking at you with guilt?

Tell her to wait awhile more and she’ll get her hair done. (Laughs)

Operation 4: Project “CAT-Smile” Face

This is very easy and quick to finish. Begin with the nose.

Then draw the eyes like this. ↓

(^_^)

Arch the eyebrows and the eyelids.

For the eyelids, draw it darker and thicker.

Add the blush on the cheeks.

(^ω^)

The “ω” mouth — Draw it like you’re drawing a cheap mustache.

And voila~ The outcome..

End of Meow face -- Period

Very simple right? This kind of faces is suitable for cat-smile or chibi characters.

Note: If you want to add eyelashes to your character, here’s how you do it. Click here.

The 4 different facial expressions you have drawn:

A

Now for the grand finale — HAIR!

Last Mission: Apply Hair Tonic!

Short Hair for happy face!

You don’t have to follow my choice of hair style but please do draw the same style for all the faces.

Our objective is too draw different facial expressions on the same character, ok?

Angry face

** For a more comical and chibi impression… Add the angry vein mark and some puff smoke like. ↓

Grr~!

Sad Face

Add a little bit of tears at the corner of her eyes to imply grave sadness.. Ok.. Not that grave.. Sympathy!

Cat-like face

FINALE:

You've just learned how to draw a happy, angry, sad and cat-like face!

.

Congratulations!

I hope you enjoy and learn something from this tutorial.

But now you would have figured out the key point to facial expressions, which is the eyebrows and eyes.

I like to show you a few more samples (like how I ended my first tutorial) unfortunately, I don’t have any samples with facial expressions.

You see, all my characters like to stare cock. <-___->lll

Yea… A bunch of sour plums.

Anyway to make up to that, here’s another trick I want to say.

With the techniques I taught in this tutorial, here’s what you can do. ↓

<•ω•>

As you can see, I changed section 1′s mouth with the ‘ω’ in section4.

And it certainly creates a whole new expression, doesn’t it?

Check out 2 more mix and match! ↓

Mischievous

Super Genki Smile

Therefore, I can say — You’ve learned more than 4 facial expressions in this tutorial.

Good luck in excelling in your drawing skills~

My next tutorial will be teaching you how to draw a full-body~! ↓

Sample of my full-body art

More tutorials from PaperDiaries

• Photoshop Tutorials for Beginners (Part 1, 2 and 3)
• Sunset Photoshop Tutorial
• Coloring With Pen Tool
• A Hand-Drawn Tutorial - First Step to Drawing Your Very Own Manga!

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

Mood - Worn out

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. ↓

Draw a circle and then form a t-junction

*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…

Drawing the cheeks, neck and marking the forehead line

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.

Start with the nose

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.

Give the character eye-sight!

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)

Closer shot on how to draw the eyes

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.

Lips, lovely lovely little lips~

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.

Enhancing 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~!

Cancer patient?

OR

Babe with beautiful hair?

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.

The top of the hair

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. ↓

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.

Complete Picture

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:

Sample 1

Sample 2 - A male character

Sample 3 - Cha-in, one of my fixed characters

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. ↓

Sample 4 - The Twins

Sample 5 - (Male character) Innocent Demon, I call him. (Laughs)"

Sample 6 - (Male character) No Identity

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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*