Lesson 02

BASIC

LESSON 2 Learning from the Masters Hello again and welcome to the second lesson in the Manga University Home Study Course. We look forward to teaching you some neat drawing techniques this time. "This

lesson will include: 1. Basic useful techniques Measurements and proportion 2.Measurements 2.

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Introduction:

The best way to begin developing your own original style is to study other artists’ drawings! In fact, that's how nearly all of us got our start as mangaka! Now, please don't misunderstand. I'm not suggesting that you copy another artist's work and then pass it off as your own. That's called plagiarism, and it's very, very bad. However, there is nothing wrong with studying other artists’ drawings for the purpose of practice and learning how to do it right yourself. For example, most major fine-art schools send their students to museums, where the students spend days looking at art masterpieces and trying to understand techniques, media, styles and details.

2. Proportions a. They might draw very long legs, broad shoulders or large hands, for instance. 3. Line Work and Shading a. Some artists join all lines and some leave lines detached. Some artists prefer cleaner work, so they use less shading or solid black shading with some simple lines, while others prefer using screen tones. 4. Details a. Some artists put most of their emphasis on certain aspects of the character, such as hair or eyes, leaving the rest of the composition less-defined, while others go all-out with extensive details. The more you think about what makes a particular artist’s work remarkable, the more you will be able to develop your own style. On the next page we will take a typical manga drawing and break it down so you can use the same technique on any drawing, in any style!

Students of manga art can do the same thing, and it's not even necessary to visit a museum. Things to look out for when studying your favorite manga artist: 1. Signature Styles a. The style in which they draw eyes, hair, hands, backgrounds, and so forth.

Copyright © 2005-2016 Japanime Japanime Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved Manga University University is a registered registered trademark trademark of Japanime Japanime Co. Ltd. Ltd. Lessons are for personal personal use only

BASIC

LESSON 2 Learning from the Masters As we mentioned on the previous page, the first step to learning how to create and draw your own characters is to practice drawing characters that you already know and enjoy — so let’s begin by looking at the character Miyuki from “The Manga Cookbook.”

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Analyze the Character

Before you begin the drawing, you should ask yourself, “What does this character’s appearance tell us about the character?” This will give you some idea of what the artist was thinking when he or she created it, which will help you design your own characters later. Analysis of “Miyuki” 1. She is a cook. • Carries an apron and a ladle • Wears her hair in pigtails. • Note: Chefs always puts their hair back so it doesn’t get in the way of their work, and for a cute girl like Miyuki, high-back pigtails are a natural choice! 2. She is a happy schoolgirl • Cheerful expression • White socks and Mary Janes - commonly worn by Japanese schoolgirls. Miyuki is a fairly simple character, but this is also the stage where you want to note any unusual or irregular details about the character you are drawing, such as if they’ve got green skin and pointy ears, and figure out why that is.

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Analyzing the Style

If you’re going to go all out and learn a specific artist’s style, you can also take note of what media the artist uses to create

Miyuki from “The Manga Cookbook”

his or her characters. For instance, are they hand-drawn or digital creations? Does the artist use paint or markers? If so, we should study the thickness of the lines, the color blends, and so forth. Once you are done analyzing the character, it’s time to grab a pencil and start drawing. At first, simply follow how the artist draw the character. Then, once you are familiar enough with the character, create your own poses and scenes for them — keeping in mind what you already know about the character.

Copyright © 2005-2016 Japanime Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved Manga University is a registered trademark of Japanime Co. Ltd. Lessons are for personal use only

BASIC

LESSON 2 Learning from the Masters: Understanding Proportions All right, let’s draw! Miyuki’s pose is a bit complex, so to start off we’ll draw for ourself this basic schoolgirl drawn by Atsuhisa Okura.

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Head Count:

Manga characters aren’t measured in inches and centimeters. What you need is a way to measure their bodies so they maintain their proportions no matter how big or small they are drawn. The trick is actually quite simple — measure your manga character in “heads!”

• The knee is near the top of the fifth circle. • The right heel should fall at the bottom of the last circle. You can use this technique to figure out the positioning and proportioning of any manga character. Print pictures of a few of your favorites and try it yourself!

Our schoolgirl on the right, for instance, is just over six heads tall (six times the height of her head), which is roughly the height of standard young-adult character. To begin, draw the character’s head. Don’t worry about how big or small you draw the head, as long as you have enough room to fit the entire character on the page. If you want some pointers on drawing facial expressions, follow this link to a tutorial on our website: http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/pages/ tutorial_facial_expressions.html

! Steps: 1. Draw the head. 2. Draw a circle around the head. 3. Draw five more circles underneath it like in the example pictures. 4. Using the circles you’ve drawn as your guide, try to figure out about where each part of the body goes. For example: • The waistline is just below the bottom of the second circle.


BASIC

LESSON 2 Learning from the Masters: Basic Female Character !

Measurement & Proportion:

Next, use the circles as reference points to draw a rough sketch and make sure you’ve got the proportions and pose right. This step involves a bit of backward thinking, but it is probably the most important of all. Your goal is to create an underdrawing or “modeling figure” like the one you see on the left side of the illustration below. You want to copy the character’s anatomy and pose, without paying attention to the details like clothing and hair.

"Important

A modeling figure will help you determine the positioning of the various parts of the body so you know exactly where to draw them. Sketching this doll will also allow you to refine your character’s body and pose before adding all of the details the viewer will see. Skipping this step might result in a disproportioned character, and you might have to start all over! A modeling figure represents the human body with simple and three-dimensional shapes. • Figure out how to draw a solid figure first. • Add the clothes to the figure.

You may have to do a bit of guesswork to learn to draw the parts of the body you can’t see when they are clothed, so the more you know about anatomy, the better. If you have trouble the first time, don’t worry — practice DOES make perfect. To give your hands a better feeling of how the character is drawn, go ahead and trace the modeling doll in the original illustration once or twice before you begin drawing it on your own.


BASIC

LESSON 2 Learning from the Masters: Basic Male Character Well, how did it go? Were you able to draw the schoolgirl as Okura-sensei did? If it was tough, don’t fret, just do it again. And again. You’ll find it gets easier and easier every time you practice! Eventually you’ll be able to draw the characters from memory, and you’ll be well on your way to creating and drawing your own characters. But before you get ahead of yourself, why not try a practicing with a different model. This time we’ve got a young male character, also drawn by Okura-sensei.

1.Measure the character based on the height of their head. 2.Draw circles to plot where to draw each body part. 3.Create a rough underdrawing to decide on their pose and proportions. 4.Add details like the face, clothing, and hair on top of your underdrawing. 5.Erase the reference lines you drew earlier and redraw clean lines on top where necessary.

By now you should know the drill: How would you go about drawing this character? Go ahead and give it a try!


BASIC

LESSON 2 Lesson Wrap-up !

Pop Quiz!

How would you “measure” this character? Is he:

A

B

C

D

5 foot

About 7

5 heads

12 apples

7 inches

heads

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See you during the next lesson!


Lesson 02

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