Materials
Here's my list of art materials as requested. I'll do my best to explain what I use and why as
well as where to get them. Lots of Manga specific art materials available HERE.
Work Space: How to set it up
Pencils: What Kinds do you need?
Erasers: They aren't only pink and square
Pens: What kind of inker are you?
Templates: Need a fast circle?
Curves and Edges: How to keep it all clean
Paper: How to choose.
Accesories: Not required..but nice to have
Digital Art: Is your system ready?
What you see:
A) A nice, large,clean,
flat,sturdy, well lit table.
B) A storage system for
paper, reference materials,
tools and other art related
objects.
C) A tool rack within easy
reach.
D) a comfortable chair.
The #1 important thing to consider when setting up your workspace is "comfort". Remember , you will be
sitting here for hours at a time. Make sure your area is well lit and as clutter free as humanly possible. I like
to keep inspirational objects and reference material around my work area so I can stay juiced about what I'm
doing. (Notice the DangerGirl action figure set over the desk). I also like to keep all my tools with reaching
distance so I don't have to break my train of thought to grab a tool while working. I hang them on the wall to
keep my desk space clean and clear. I keep a large collection of Video Game mags and manga on hand to
use as layout or reference material.
If you drink or eat at your desk make sure your food/drink items are secured. I've accidentally spilled more
coffee on artwork than I care to mention so now I keep that stuff on a side stool away from my workspace.
Comfortable, Clean & Bright!
Pencils com in a wide array of options. You can pick up a box of
designer pencils like the ones you see to the left. Or you can just
individually pick out 2 or 3 that will work for you. I'll try to explain what
factors should influence your decision.
The chart to the right shows
what the different "Grades"
of pencil are. You've seen
the infamous yellow #2 or
2B pencil all your life at
school. Now looking at this
chart you can see what that
means. H = Hard lead.
Hard lead makes a lighter
line and is used mostly for
drafting. 9H is as hard as it
gets.
On the opposite side of the spectrum are the B grade pencils. B has a soft
lead so it makes a darker line. 9B is like mascara.
I choose the middle ground.
an HB or F pencil has a
nice versatile grade.
I use about 5 different pencils over the course of a drawing. I rough in with a
photoblue. Clean up line art with a lead-holder pencil and then detail with a
.03 mechanical.
I've used Millions of erasers over the course of
my art career but I've finally whittled my choices
down to 2 kinds.
A) Kneaded Eraser:
This eraser usually comes as a plain Grey or
Blue square. Once you open it from it's wrapping
you start working it like silly putty. Squeezing it
into a Ball...pulling it into a ribbon..folding it,
squishing it..Kneading it, really. What's the
purpose? Well, you can squeeze it down into a
fine point and erase lines in hard to reach places
without disturbing the pencil lines around it.
Another handy feature is that it doesn't completly
erase lines...If you just dab the eraser over the
lines you can lighten them up for inking.
B) White Nylon Eraser:
This style is the best eraser I have ever used for
completly removing pencil lines without destroying
your inks or gouging your paper. It also has a low
"debris" factor. Debris is that rubb off you get from
your eraser.
Pens are a difficult thing to reccomend since so much of what you chppse is based on how you ink. I'm
going to list the pens I personally choose to get the job done. They may or may not work for
you...experiment as needed.
Sakura Pigma Micron:
My personal favorite inking pen. They have all
the clean qualities of a techpen yet they also
have a semi-flexible tip. SO the harder you
press the wider your line will be. Variable line
weight is very important for inking. Otherwise
your drawings come out flat like a coloring
book.
They come in .005 (very fine) to .08 (very
thick)
These pens usually run about $12.00 for the
whole set at your local art store.
The Sanford Sharpie:
I use these pens to fill in large black areas.
These pens are great but only useful for a
short period of time. When they are new they
have an excellent point and a very uniform
Black. I only use these for coloring large areas
of black...never for line work or detailing. They
tend to "bleed" quite a bit on regular paper so
leave a space between your blackline and fill
area. You can fill in the gap between with a .08
Sakura micron
Sharpies are available almost everywhere.
The Tombo Brush Pen:
This pen takes a little getting used too. It acts
like a brush but without all the hassle of
cleaning a brush. It's not very good for inking
mechanical things like Robots, ships or cars.
But it's great for inking Hair, fur, trees..ect.
Organic natural objects.
This pens a little harder to find but should be at
most your major art stores.
Templates come in a variety of
shapes and sizes and are save
you a great deal of time in
precise drawing . Gun Muzzles,
Car wheels..just about anything.
It also saves you from using a
traditional compass and
punching holes in your paper.
One problem though..They are
flat so ink can run underneath
them and smear your drawing.
Tape pennies under the edges
of the template to raise it from
the surface and avoid the ink
smear.
A little searching can turn up
some very useful templates like
this one I picked up in Tokyo. I
suck at drawing word balloons
and before I purchased Adobe
Illustrator this was the only way I
could draw them with looking
like an amatuer.
You can't really do a good job without these tools unless your some kind of machine. Let's see what they do
for us.
French Curves:
These tools come in several different sizes and
shapes. I use at least 4 on any given drawing. You
rotate them around on your drawing till you find an
egde that closely matches the curve you're trying to
ink. You can also purchase a "Flexible Curve"
which looks like a peice of rubber railroad track. It's
no good for tight curves but works nice on long
curves.
Triangles:
A must have for Comic book paneling and
perspective work. The triangle rest on your TSquare. Use the T-square to draw Horizontal lines
and the Triangle to draw Vertical lines. The 45
degee angles com in andy for drawing perspective
lines back to the "Vanishing point". I'll cover
perspective in another tutorial.
Ruler with Inking Edge:
Really, all your tools should have an inking edge.
Notice the diagram on the left depicting the way an
inking edge works with a Pen. The Ruler edge is
raised from the drawing surface allowing the ink to
apply cleanly. If that edge was flat on the paper the
ink would bleed between the edge on the paper
making an ugly mess.
I assume most of you are interested in comic style art so I'm showcasing the comic type paper. If you're into
Watercolors or Charcoal you'll want a different type of paper than what's show below.
Bristol Board Smooth:
Bristol board is a heavy, bright white paper. It
comes in several sizes and surfaces. For
comic book art you want a fairly large size
(11x14) and a smooth surface. Bristol takes
ink very well but because of it's smoothness it
takes the ink a bit longer to dry. Be very
carefull when inking not to drag your hand
across the page or you'll end up with
smudges and smears. Also give the ink a
while to dry before attempting to erase your
pencil marks.
Acid Free board will stay whiter longer.( Age
can yellow the paper). Vellum coating is ultra
smooth and ideal for inking.
This paper can be expensive so don't use it
for sketching. It's for final peices....course, if
you buy it you can do whatever you want with
it...see if I care.
Drawing Aids and Stuff
the Dummy:
This can be an excellent tool for helping you
keep anatomy proportions correct. The only
thing that kinda sucks about the dummy is
that he's not really all that poseable. I've
found that I get more out of Highly detailed
action figures (like Todd McFarlanes). Still,
Everyone should have a dummy.
the Brush:
How many times have you gone to swipe off
the eraser debris with you hand an smear the
inks on your picture with your big sweaty mits.
The brush is the elegant answer to debris
removal. It protects your art and removes a lot
more crap than your hand does. Most drafting
supply stores carry the brush.
So you've drawn what you came to draw...how do you digitize it?
Top 10 System
Recommendations:
A great system (for PC) consist of
1) Faster the better (600mhz
minimum)
2) 256 MB of Ram (more is better)
3) 32mb Video Card
4) 13-25 Gig hard drive
5) A Wacom Tablet (shown at
Right)
6) A 5 button Mouse
7) a 19-22 inch monitor
8) Adobe Photoshop 5.5 - 6.0
9) A digital Camera
10) A Scanner
I'm not going to get into what
brands I think are the best
because I don't want to start any
arguments. Just find what works
for you.As time rolls on the above
figures will look very dated. Just
get as fast and as much of
Everything as you can.
What Scanner should I buy?:
I bought a cheap scanner at Costco (a MAG Innoscan DTS-3060) for about $100.00. It works fine for web
and lineart..if you're looking to do hirez print work for magazines you may want something a little more high
end. My Mag is working very well for me though proving you don't have to drop $3000.00 for something
decent. You'll get faster performance from a USB or SCSI interface scanner than from a parallel port scaner.
What Size should I scan my line art at?
Scan your blacklines as 150 to 300 dpi greyscale images. I know that Black and White is an option but
Greyscale gives you a smoother line. Adjust the contrast using "curves" in photoshop. Make sure to reduce
your resolution to 72dpi before saving it for Web use. Photoshop 5.5 will do this for you automatically.
How does a Wacom Tablet work with Photoshop?
Photoshop takes adavantage of the Pressure sensitive capabilities of your Wacom Tablet. You can now
contraol the opacity, strokewidth and color of the paint tools sinmple by pressing harder or softer on the
tablet. You can tweak which pressure options it uses by going to the tool options palette and
checking/unchecking boxes in the "Stylus" section on the lower half of the pallette. That way you can set
your airrush to be effected by stroke size but not opacity or opacity and not stroke size. You can also set the
index finger button on the stylus to perform Photoshop keyboard shortcuts. I keep mine set to "Alt"(Alt in
Photoshop will bring up the eyedropper tool if you have a paint tool currently selected) so when I'm painting I
can just press it and grab the color I need from the art I'm working on.
1. Those of you who are veterans to the wonderful world drawing faces will recognize this set up right away. It's pretty
much your standard layout for a face with some minor tweaking based on anime rules.
2. Here we start cleaning up and detailing. now that we know where everything is supposed to go we can make it look like
it's supposed to look.
3. Getting finalized and deciding which lines are going to be heavy and which lines are going to be light so you knw what
your doing when you finally get to the inking stage.
OK..Here we are at the beginning. The human
head is pretty much an "egg" shape. the set up
for this is to draw a circle representing the top
of the head and an inverted cone for the chin.
Anime chins are much sharper than standard
chins. Don't go making an arrowhead out of the
chin but think more along the lines of the
bottom half of a heart. (the cartoon kind of
heart..not the biologically correct heart)
The placement of the nose should be located on
a horzontal line between the eyeline and the
chin line
The Head itself should be 4 big eyes wide:
Half an eye on the left, eye, eye, eye, half on the
right.
On a normal human face, the width of the
mouth would be determined by the center
point of the pupils of the eye. Anime mouths
are somewhat smaller so I use the inside
corners of the eye as a guide. Experiment with
whatevers best for you.
The Ears should be located on horizontal lines
drawn out from the eyebrows and the nose.
s
Starting to shape up a bit, eh? Here's where it starts
getting into "Style". Lot's of clueless folks say "all that
japanese stuff looks alike" ..I beg to differ.
I believe the eyes set the styles apart from each other.
It's like a fingerprint. you can tell who did what just by
looking at the construction of the eyes. But I will admit
..All Japanese anime eyes share similar traits across the
board.
1. They must be big and have the ability to water up at
any moment
2. The shape is more "catlike" than just oval.
3. for females...the upperlash line is heavy, The lower
lashline is also heavy and defines the curve of the eye.
s
I draw mouths different than most Anime designers. I
always liked the presence of lips. If your shooting for a
more traditional anime style..I'd study some manga.
There's not much to mouths.
4. The upper edge of the cheeks gets dashed with lines
to define the edge of the eye socket.
Tada!...well, almost.
A little more pushing, shoving, erasing and cleaning brings us
to stage 3.
The big deal to this stage is defining the hair and a relevant
light source so you know which lines to make heavy and wear
to put shadows n' stuff.
Hair is tricky business. Do what you want but just make sure
you sweep some of it into the eyes. It should have "highlight
squiggles" (for lack of an actual term) that makes it look like
hair from a pantene pro V commercial. Anime hair comes in
all sorts of colors so go nuts.
Here is the first in a series of HAND tutorials. This first step is important to understanding how the
hand is constructed and were the pivot points are. Once you are comfortable with the proportions of
the hand it will be easier to draw it in different positions. For now let's concentrate on the basic
"Spread Fingered" hand. Follow along and study your own hand as you go.
Hands : Step 1- the oval
Draw an oval. Much like the one you see to
the left.
Designate a point on the lower center line of
the oval. This is the anchor point we'll use for
our fingers.
Hands : Step 2- radials
Draw 5 lines radiating out from the anchor
point.
The longest line will be the middle
finger...make it just slightly shorter than 2
oval lenghts.
Hands : Knuckle placement
The remaining finger lengths fall on an arc
from the height of the middle finger. The
knuckle closest to the tip of the finger is
slightly less than 1/3 the way down from the
finger tip. The next knuckle splits the
difference between the remaining length to
the top of the palm oval.
The thumb has 3 knuckles as well but the
anchoring is hidden inside the palm.
Hands : Fleshing in
Flesh in the fingers as shown here. The
fingers start narrow at the base..widen at the
first knuckle then taper down again toward the
tip. Believability is added by drawing creases
in the places the hand bends the most...at the
knuckles and along the palms. Look at your
own hand for reference. Everybody's hand is
slightly different. This hand is definately mine.
(Notice I am Right handed and that's why my
hand model is a Left hand)
Hands : The opposable Thumb
The thumb kinda has it's own thing going on.
It rotates around on its own axis. The thumb
swings inward on its Anchor Knuckle and
bends down at its second knuckle to point at
the base of the Ring finger. The thumbs arc
peaks at the middle knuckle of the index
finger.
Hands : Finger lengths
The Index finger and the Ring finger are
nearly the same height..about the halfway
point of the middle finger "tip". The Ring finger
is just slightly longer.
The Pinky finger comes up to the last knuckle
line of the Ring finger.
Notice how the hand is not Square but Wedge
shaped.
Hands are a nightmare for most artist...myself included. It's hard to contruct it in basic shapes
so I don't really try. Instead I break it up into major forms and really pay attention to where it
folds and bends. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST HAND TUTORIAL! This one
doesn't deal with proportions like the other did. This is more the form of the hand.
The hand is kinda like a shovel...that's what we
use it for somtimes. You're palm gives you the
lines you need to see were it bends. Above the
top blue line is the first row of knuckles.
Don't make the hand a flat wedge. It curves and
follows the contours of the lines on the palm.
Notice how the thumb side of the palm pivots from
the center.
even when drawing the hand from the back..pay
attention to the fold lines in the palm. It will help
you draw more natural positions for the thumb
and fingers.
Below is a series of hand studies I drew based on the above diagrams. I kept some of my
stucture lines in tact so you could see what I was thinking when I drew them
The Foot: Know your basic forms!
Like everything else you draw, the foor also consist of basic forms. I
break it down into 3 parts.
1) a cylinder for the shin
2) a half a peanut for the front
3) A roundish shape for the heel
Side view
Here you can kinda see those basic shapes beneath the foot.
The shin comes into the ankejoint which then branches back for the heel
and forward to the toes. Notice the foot does not sit FLAT on the ground
plane..there's an arch between the toe pads and the heel pad.
If the shoe fits...
A shoe is basically just a wrap for the basic foot shapes. Looking at
pictures of shoes will give you ideas for styles. Here I chose a modified
US Army Jungleboot. Make sure you make the Sole of the shoe go
below where the bottom of the foot would be. There's about a 1/4 of an
inch to 4" of rubber between the bottom of the foot and the bottom of the
sole.
If your stuck...
Draw the foot first. That will give you a better idea on how to wrap the
shoe around the foot form.
the Wedge
Notice how the foot is shaped like a rounded wedge the bend IN
towards the body's center. The toes are also arced like the fingers of the
hand...the middle toe is usually the longest.
The Instep
Okay, this foots a bit wide but you see the important structures.
Everyone's seen foorptints in the sand. The heel and Ball of the foot are
linked by the outside edge of the foot. The arch of the foot doesn't come
into contact with the ground.
Mastering forms in perspective
Once you understand how a foot is put together you can start getting
creative with action poses. Take a good look at those basic shapes I
drew in step one and see if you can find them in this drawing to the left.
Practice Practice Practice!
HAIR: First you may want to download and print out the template I made just for class so you can
follow along. It includes a bald female and male head. Use it to develop your own hairstyles.
Step 1: Define the Hairline
The hairline is located on a line that extends
from ear to ear at a 45 degree angle up from
the eyeline. Or..bisects the forehead
horizontally between the eyes and the crown
of the head. This characters har parts down
the middle so I add another guidline to
represent the partition from front to back.
Step 2: Define the strands
Hair grows up and out of the head like spikes
on a sea-urchin. (uni anyone? hah, sushi
joke). Except hair isn't rigid like a spike. It's
soft so it falls back downward because of
gravity. Draw the hair in smooth sweeps from
the hairline and part. Remember..hair is
individual strands.. It's not a helmet made of
playdoe. Obviously you aren't going to draw
a million strands but do draw enough the give
body and depth to the hair.
Step 2: Define the body
After you have your strands figured out.
Define the outline of the hair. Trim away stray
lines you aren't using and add shading where
the hair is farther away from the viewer or
deeper toward the scalp. Notice the darker
shade of purple I used and how it rounds out
the hair? (granted this is a very simplified
piece).
Step 4: Create the highlites
Highlites give hair that healthy Anime
Pantene glow. The anime highlite is usually
like a halo sitting on the upper 1/3 if the hair.
This all depends on the available light you're
using and whether or not this person would
have Shiny hair.
Look in fashion magazines and comics for
more style ideas!
Hair in Action:
Hair can be a very useful visual cue for describing motion and
adding a dynamic element to your art. The trick is to show how
the hair follows the direction of the head. If the character is
falling..the flow of the hair is the opposite direction. if the
character is blown backward, the hair shoots forward...see?
(p.s. forgive the high quality cocktail napkin art over here..I just
wanted to use this to make a point)
HAIR: First you may want to download and print out the template I made just for class so you can
follow along. It includes a bald female and male head. Use it to develop your own hairstyles.
Step 1: Define the Hairline
The hairline is located on a line that extends
from ear to ear at a 45 degree angle up from
the eyeline. Or..bisects the forehead
horizontally between the eyes and the crown
of the head. This characters hair doesn't
really part down the middle but I use the
center line to help me keep things even.
Step 2: Define the strands
Male hair is typically shorter....at least in MY
world. Longer hair would be drawn similar the
the female style on the other page. I still
make sure the hair strands grow OUT from
the scalp and flow along in a natural
direction. Here I chose a Ceasar cut style.
Magazines are your best reference material.
get a collection of style and study the
hairgrowth pattern.
Step 2: Define the body
See how it kinda works like connect the
dots? I work the body of the hair into the flow
lines I created in the last step. I make hair
closer to the viewer lighter to add that sense
of depth.
Step 4: Create the highlites
Guys hair isn't usually shiny like girls hair. A
ceasar cut is a bit rough and spikey so I don't
use the halo highlite. I will, instead, add a
highlight to the cowlick area to help define
space and depth.
Here is the long awaited expression tutorial.This tutorial is very
similar to the tutorial available in the "How to draw Manga"
book...since it's so hard to find I thought I'd convert the lesson
using my own art and post it up here for you. Click on the face to
the left to download a blank template you can use to follow along.
What follows below is a guide...My methods vary a little but I want
to put across a generic average for you to build your own styles
on.
Angry (okatta)
Really Mad: The eyebrows come
Miffed: Mouth goes up in an upside
down. the pupils shrink and you Kinda mad: Pupils back to normal
get a little x on your forehead.
size but the eye brows are still down. down lopsided "u". Eyebrows are
Fanged teeth help convey the
No popping veins or fanged teeth.
still down but not as far.
emotion.
Sad (kanashii)
Super sad: WaaAAAAAHHH!
Upset: Eyebrows up, mouth not as
distraught: Eyebrows up...eyes all
Eyes squeezed shut. Mouth wide wide open..eyes have more sparkles
a-sparkle with tears. Mouth in
open..tears of shame and grief in them to convey "wet". Tears still
upside down "U" mode.
streak the face. Eyebrows up.
visible in corners of the eye
Happy (ureshii)
Joyous: Eyes shut from smiling.
Rays of blushy joy on cheek.
Mouth in sideways "D" mode.
Eyebrows up.
Gleeful: Eyebrows up. A thin line
goes follows the upper curve of the
Content: Same as gleeful but the
eye to convey a relaxed state. The
eyes are a bit wider open. Mouth is
lower eyelid covers the bottom of the
a small bow curve.
pupil to mak it "squinty happy". Mouth
is a sideways "D" but a bit smaller.
Others (sono uchi)
Thoughtful: My personal
favorite.. one eyebrow down, one Suprised: Eyebrows UP..eyes wide
up. Mouth is an upside down "V". but pupils small. Mouth in a
Eye's usually looking up and to lopsided"O".
the side.
sick or disgusted: Features are
drawn in a minimalist way to convey
humor. Mouth is a squiggle low on
the face. eyelids and eyebrows are
a flat line. maybe add a sweat drop.
A tip on Foreshortening:
Foreshortening is never really easy and it's something you will have to get comfortable with over time
with practice...but here's a tip. If you're really stuck, try drawing your character from the side then use
a ruler to draw lines from key parts off the the side like I did below. Use these lines as a guide to
draw your character from the front
A big part of developing a character is knowing what kind of body language they use. A big mistake
beginners make when drawing pin-ups of their characters is ignoring the personality of the character they
are doodling. I often see pics posted by others that have a character standing with a weapon like they are
sitting in a Sears studio for family photos...NO! Try and avoid a using the normal stance. Think about your
character..think about what it is your character does..what effect would that have on the way they carried
themselves. Are they graceful? Are they clumsy? Do they laugh, skip, play or mope, drag and cry. Picture
this in your head before you put the pencil to paper. Check these examples to help you along your way.
Normal Stance
Not much to it. you have
no idea whether or not
this person is good, bad,
happy, sad. Completely
neutural stance.
Adventurous/ Courageous
Here a little personality shows
through. Stance is wide and
Posture is open giving the
impression of confidence.
Slinky/Sexy
Figure is "S" shaped...
S is for "Sexy". Hips
and shoulders are
suggestive of a
seductive nature.
As you can see. you can say a lot with just a stick figure. Get your stick figure exactly right before you flesh
in your character. A good foundation is important if you want your piece to have the right impact.
A good amount of people watching will help you discover new poses and postures. Grab you sketchbook
and head out to the park, airport, mall...wherever. Look around..sketch quick.
Secretive
Stance is closed. Arms
are crossed. Back is
almost turned from the
viewer.
Combative
This figure cries "Come and get some!". Fist
are raised in challenge. Stance is wide to
assert dominance
Lovestruck
Hands clasped
together as whistful
and goofy with love.
Hopefully, this wet your appetite and now you have some food for thought...but now you want to put some
details on it..."how can I use anime/manga features to convey the personality of my Character?" you ask...
Eyes and shape of the face goes a long way to portray the personality of your character...you may
recognize some of the cast of "Cowboy Bebop" below...I'll use my quick sketches of them to illustrate my
point.
Evil
Heroic
Eyes are thin and dark. the
pupil is smaller the more evil
the character is till there's no
pupil at all. Face has sharp,
angular features.
Innocent
Strong jawline, Eyes are
bigger and rounder.
Features are less sharp.
Eyes are huge. Eyebrows
hardly ever down. Face is
softer and rounder
Kinda get the idea? These rules aren't set in stone..I just want to give you the idea of what to shoot for when
you are making characters. You have to really close your eyes and imagine your character in action. How
there face needs to look when saying the lines you will give them.
"I'll cut you face off" rolls much easier off of the left characters tongue than the character on the right
whereas, "Gee, what's that?" works better for the character on the right than on the left. "I've had enough of
both of you..I'm going home" works just fine for the center character.
Fighting: A Show of Force
Punching
GOOD PUNCH:
BAD PUNCH:
It's not horrible, it just lacks a certain force. Even though the form
is good on both characters there's something that needs to be
done to show this punch packed a wallop.
This is MUCH better. The force of the punch is
shown in the shape of an arrow. The horizontal line
coming from the attacker and the lines of the targets
body bending at the point of impact. Making the fist
a "blur" of lines helps give a sense of speed and
power to the punch.
Kicking
GOOD KICK:
BAD KICK:
Same deal here. with the target being stick as a board it tells us
this kick was nothing special. the attacker appears to be merely
raising her foot at the target
Now THAT had to hurt! Again..the horizontal line of
force crumples the targets body around the point of
impact. He probably won't be getting up for a while.
Also the attacker's body is much more a part of this
kick. all the balance is thrown into it giving the
impression of a mighty delivery.
Adding Details:
When you get to the stage of cleaning up your
work and adding in details be sure and
incorporate lines that translate the action
taking place. The edges of her fist and arms
are quick strokes following the direction her
arm is travelling. his head is knocked back
from the point of impact. His hair and spit show
the continuance of the force of the punch. I put
curved lines on his check to show an
indentation where her fist connected.
Fighting: Choosing an Angle
Bad Angle
It's not that her position isn't
dynamic. It just doesn't do justice to
the action being shown. Too flat and
lifeless. the bare minimum for
translating this throw.
Better
This is much better in the sense that
you can really tell the target has been
thrown. The composition is more
pleasing and leaves room for
backgrounds, sound effects or speech
balloons....but still it could be better.
I'd use this angle if the target was
going to hit something important or
was going to get out of the damage by
landing on his feet.
To show this move took him out of
commision, we need some closure.
Best
Booooom! Choosing an angle that shows the moment of impact really pulls this action
together..in one frame you can see that the target was thrown...travelled a long
distance..and landed hard. Arms and legs akimbo! Again..curved motion lines along the
trajectory of the throw parlay the action.
Front View : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
veiwpoint. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic
ovoid shape will do nicely.
Front View : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin. Manga faces, espescially femal ones, are heartshaped. Imagine cutting off the top round parts of a valentine
heart shape and attaching the lower part to a sphere...That's how
we got what you see to the left.
Front View : Step 3-Facial Divisions
Split the face shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the Nose line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal).
Divide the lower portion in half again horizontally. This line is the
bottom of the ear and nose line.
I draw an additional oval shape inside to help me keep the facial
features centered on the front plane of the head. The inner oval
goes from hairline to chin.
Front View : Step 4- Feature Placement
Divide the lowest portion into 3rds. 1/3 down from the horizontal
noseline is the mouthline.
The ears should be placed on the same line that the bottom of the
nose is on. Ears span from the lower noseline to just above the
eyeline.
The Mouth should be as wide as the space between the inside
corners of the eyes.
Front View : Step 5- the eyes
Eye proportions depend on the "Cute" level of the character
you're drawing. I do more serious stuff so my eyes aren't as large
as some other styles of Manga. I've noticed cute or comical story
characters have larger eyes.
I place the corners of the eyes on the horizontal eyeline. The
eyes should be apporxmately 1 "eye" length apart from each
other and half an eye length in from the edge of the face.
Profiles are a bit easier than frontview and way easier than 3/4 view. Set up still starts with a ball and a
cone.
well...we put on what I call the "gas mask". I start
the slope outward from just below the eyeline and
run it back down to the chin. This Gasmask shape
will get tweaked into the nose and mouth on the
next page.
The other thing to note is that the head gets
bisected vertically. this is for EAR placement. The
ear is still located on the horizontal axises provided
by the eye and the mouth.
Once you have this you're ready for some detailing.
Ok..You got yer ball for the head. you got your cone for
the chin. You know the eyes get located on the middle
horizontal bisecting line....so what's new?
In detailing this image..thing to note are:
The upper lip is smaller and darker than
the lower lip.
The eye is located on a gentle upward
curve from the edge of the mouth.
The forehead is smooth and rounded.
The nose is slightly upturned.
Whoa! That's a bad gif. I'll have to rescan it. Sorry for
the mess....but you still get to see the basic underlying
structure used to get here.
Profile : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
veiwpoint. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic
ovoid shape will do nicely.
Profile : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin. The chin will come down from the center point of
the outside edge of the circle to about half that length below the
bottom edge of the circle. The Jawline should come back towards
the center of the bottom edge of the circle as shown here.
Profile : Step 3-Facial Divisions
Split the face shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the ear line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal).
Profile: Step 4- More Divisions
Divide the space between the eyeline and the chin in half. This is
the "Bottom of the Ear and Nose" line. Divide the space below the
noseline into 3rds. the upper 3rd is the Mouth line.
Notice the ear sits in the verticle axis toward the back of the head
and rest between the nose line and the brow line.
Profile : Step 2- the eye
Divide the space between the front of the head and the vertical
earline axis. This is where we place the eye on the eyeline. The
outside corner of the eye should hit this new division line and the
inside corner should be just inside of the outer edge of the mouth.
Profile: Step 3-Hair Line
The Hairline is located by drawing a 45 degree angle from the
intersection of the horizontal eye line and the vertical ear line.
Female head: 3/4 view
Stage1
Okay...here we have the basic set up for the head.
As with most other setup's, this one also starts with
a egg/sphere set up. The difference is where you
bi-sect it. Here I chose a basic 3/4 bisect. The
middle horizontal line for the eyes and the verticle
line tell us which ways she's a lookin'.
If I chose to put the eye-line higher than center I
could make her "look up"..the opposite is true for
"looking down.
Female head: 3/4 view
Stage1- Detail
Start with the blue circle. It's a good idea to decide wich
way she'll be looking at this point since you can't put the
chin on till ya know.
Bisect the sphere vertically in half along the directional
axis. I use 1 vertical line to decide the eye/nose mouth
plane and 1 to decide the ear plane (not
airplane..EARplane...wa ha ha)
The mouth line is halfway between the chin and eyeline.
Normal proportions say that line is for the nose..but this
is anime and the face is smaller. The nose line is a little
less than halfway between the mouth and eyeline..closer
to the mouth.
Here you will have to figure on
what is halfway between the
ear plane and nose plane to
decide eye placement. Draw a
line from the mouthline to the
newly appointed eye placement
point on the horizontal eyeline.
make a triangle to figure where
the other eye should go.
This triangle also serves as a
nice guide to keep the features
all snug and secure in the
head.
Ready to move on to stage 2?
Female head: 3/4 view
Stage2
Startiing to get the idea? All that framework we did
before is so this part would be easy. There's many
different styles and variations in Anime. I'm trying
to be a generic as possible here.
Eyes go on the points of the triangle we
established in the detail section. The "Speculars"
or glinty things in the eye should be used to give
some sense or direction for wich way the eyes are
looking. If you don't get them exactly even (Like
what I did here for illustrative purposes) you get
the impression that she's cross-eyed. Keep those
speculars even!!
She still doesn't quite look like a hotty yet so we
need to imbelish on the established lines a bit.
Make the upper eyelash line thicker. Add more
detail to the eyes and ears. Drop on some wild
Anime hair do!!
Female head: 3/4 view
Stage3
Whoa!! What a difference a few lines make,
eh? At this point you kinda know what she's
gonna look like but to keep your drawing
from looking as flat and unappealing as a
pokemon coloring book we need to add
"weight" to some lines and fade up on
others.
The Eyes and Cheek/chin give the character
mass and depth so they should be heavier
and detailed. To keep her dainty we need to
keep the lines of the nose and mouth thinner.
Hair is also kinda "whispy" so be careful with
the line weight there. Shadows go well under
the nose, lowe lip and under the chin.
3/4 View : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any
veiwpoint. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic
ovoid shape will do nicely.
3/4 View : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin. Manga faces, espescially femal ones, are heartshaped. A little gues work is involved here as far as were to bow
the cheek curve in at the eyeline and how sharp an angle to do
the Jawline. Little adjustments will have to be made over the
course of the drawing.
For now just make something like you see here.
3/4 View : Step 3-Facial Divisions
Split the face shape in half vertically and horizontally. These axis
lines are the Nose line (vertical) and the eyeline (horizontal). The
Noseline should extend in a curved line from the top of the head
to the point of the chin.
Notice how the jawline meets up with the vertical earline
3/4 View : Step 4- Feature Placement
Divide the lower portion of the face in half horizontaly to provide
the bottom of the nose line. Follow the curve of the face toward
the back to see that the bottom of the ear sits on this same line.
1/3 down from that is the mouth line.
The top of the ear should extend just above the Eyeline. The top
of the ear indicates the "Brow" line.
A 45 degree angle between the eyeline and the vertical earline is
where we place the hairline.
3/4 View : Step 5- the eyes
Eyes are to be placed on the eyeline (imagine that). I set the
corners of the eye on that line. Notice that the eye father away
from the viewer is shorter in length. This is to simulate the
curvature of the head. It takes a little bit of practice to make this
look right but if you laid out all your proportion lines correctly it will
make the task of feature placement much easier. After lots of
practice you won't need to draw as many setup lines.
The Female Body
Here we are at stage 1:
Nothing fancy. Just a fast loose stick
figure that will serve as our foundation
piece. Note that the form is 7 heads
high.
Shoulders are a Head and a half from
the top. Shoulders and hips are 2 heads
wide.
Hips are 3 heads down.
Knees are 5 heads down.
Keep it loose at this stage but be wary
of your proportions.
NEXT
The Female Body
stick figure stage 2:
Notice that you can draw a line straight
up and down from the top of the head
to the bottom of the feet. Body mass is
distibuted equally on both sides of this
axis for balance.
ARMS
2 and a half heads down is where we
locate the belly button. This is also
where the elbow goes if the arm is
hanging naturally at her sides. The arm
starts at the shoulder and ends with the
hands around mid-thigh.
LEGS
In ANIME, the legs are slightly longer
than the upper half of the body. The
Knees are located halfway between the
top of the hip and the bottom of the
foot.
TORSO
The female torso can be defined in
casual, sexy stance by slatning the
shoulders and hips in different
directions.
NEXT
The Female Body
Sketch figure stage 1:
Now we start to flesh her out a bit. You
have to be good at drawing cylinders
and ovals to do this right.
Study muscle groups to get an idea of
how the shoulders, arms and legs are
formed. The Breast are located at the
halfway point of the upper torso.
Try to use only curved lines. Nothing on
a human being is ruler-edge straight but
that goes double for a female. Curvy,
Curvy, Curvy!
A good study model is Shirow's M-66
unit from Black Magic. It has the female
form all broken down into it's basic
shapes and was a powerful influence for
me as far as getting my sketches to this
stage.
Now's where you start tightening up
your art. Grab a kneaded eraser and
start blotting away the fine sketchy lines
and keep only the lines you wish to use
for your final piece. The cleaner you get
at the end of this stage makes the next
stage that much easier.
NEXT
The Female Body
Sketch figure stage 2:
I gradually start to build her by outlining
my fleshed out sketch from the last
stage and smoothing over all the "Ball
and Cone" joints I used to build her with.
The Kneaded eraser is my best friend at
this point as I blot over her, removing
my stray lines and getting a nice, clean,
usable piece of art. I go over and start
correcting mistakes I made in the
building process and get the art really
tight for inking.
There's nothing worse than inking
sloppy pencils so BE CLEAN!!
NEXT
The Female Body
Final Figure:
...and here she is. Not my best ink job
but it gets the point across. All traces of
pencil are removed at this point and I
take the final inked sketch to the
scanner and get her all colored up. (I
just so happen to have a tutorial
explaining how to do that ;P)
This tutorial is to serve as a reference
guide to give you an idea of how to
construct a body. It shouldn't be used as
an A to B to C tutorial because that just
shows you how to copy stuff. Try to use
the rules here to make different poses
and characters.
Hope this helps somewhat. I will have
another tutorial on the female in action
and even a "How to draw males" class.
As always...let me know if I can explain
anything further to you and I'll do my
best to assist.
Back to Tutorials!
The eyes are the big deal. If you ask anyone about the style of anime/manga they always comment
on the eyes. I put this tutorial together as a primer. There are literally thousands of styles of "Manga
Eyes" so there is no set rules for drawing them..just a few consistant traits. Below is an approach to
a broadly used generic style. Adapt it to suit your own needs.
(eye side view tutorial to follow)
Step 1: Ball
As with most things..the eye also starts as a circle. This
represents the orb of the eye and helps with the general
placement of the eye in the skull.
Step 2: Lids
Here's where most budding artist go wrong. The Lids wrap around
the contour of the orb. Imagine streching a sheet of rubber over a
cue ball. The Eyelid hugs the curvature of the eye.
Step 3: the Pupil
The eye in a relaxed state hides some of the pupil and iris behind
the lids. Notice how the iris takes up most of the surface area of
the orb. This occurs only in Anime/Manga and a few black velvet
posters from the 60's.
Step 4: Long, Lush Lashes
Up until now the eye was kinda "Blah". Flesh out the eyelids with
some heavy duty, fluttering lashes. This adds weight to the eye so
it's not ust floating around on the face. It also draws the viewers
attention. The thickness of the lashes will depend on a character.
Obviously Male characters won't have this trait and younger
females should also have a thinner line. This eye is more for the
sexy adult female
Stroke Order:
I didn't really have this part down until I started studying "Kanji".
Japanese Kanji is produced by a series of strokes in a specific
order and pattern. I find this order also works well for eyes.
1) start light and press harder as you move to the outside.
2) Start harder and lighten pressure as you move down
3) Start medium and lighten pressure as you move down
4) Start light and increase pressure as you move to the outside.
Step 5: Spectacuar Speculars
A "Specular" is the reflection of light on a reflective surface. In this
case, the eye. The placement of the specular on the eye should
be indicative of the light source..If the light is coming from the
upper left..the specular should be on the upper left of the iris. in
this case, The light enters the eye from the upper left and exits
through the lower right.
In Manga, Speculars are also used to add emotion to the
character. It adds sparkling life to happy eyes and quivering tears
to sad eyes..
Understand the Shape
The mouth has a "Bow" shape to it. The upper lip is like those
seagulls you used to draw when you were a kid. The lower lip is
more like a Bow from a bow and arrow set.
Open and shut case
These shape principles remain the whether the moust is open or
shut. However, The wider open the mouth..the more streched the
lip therefore you should draw it thinner if it is WIDE open.
Step 1: The setup
Now that you now the difference between the top and bottom lip
we can begin to apply that to our traditiona anime mouth.
Here's a low detail anime mouth. If there was an upper row of
teeth visible and maybe a small shadow to define the lower lip we
would be done...but we are going to expand on this.
Step 2: bow in the top lip a bit
Start to work in that Seagull shape to the top lip. Begin to visualize
this as a 3D object. I have made a few centerlines here to help me
define the correct angle of the lips for the next step.
Detailing
Work in the lips as shown here and in the first 2 pics. Add some
teeth and darken the interior of the mouth (if visible) to give it
some depth.
If you are coloring the piece..it's best define the lips through color
shading. Upper lip should be darker than the lower lip.
Keeping it "Anime"
Traditionally, if a person is looking straight ahead you could draw
a dotted line from the middle of their eye down their face and find
the corners of the mouth. That's how you would normally
determine width. BUT, since this is anime, Mouths are only as
wide as the inside corner of the eyes (for women).
I intentionally drew this pic in "Ultra-Shirow" mode since Shirow is
one of the few manga artist that actually draw lips.
Check out Adam Warren's stuff too. He tends to draw lips on his
characters as well ..a little too big sometimes but it still looks
good.
Chibi Art (a.k.a Super Deformed): "Chibi" is a Japanese term for "small". Chibi art is used a lot to
convey humour or cuteness (kawaii mono). It's a deceptively simple process I'll take you through
now.
Step1: Two heads are better than 1
Chibi characters are only 2 heads high. Start your drawing by
stacking 2 same sized ovals on top of each other.
Step 2: Big head, Little body
Now that you know how little space you have to make the body
sketch in some cute little pose. Use similar techniques to
construct this body as you do a regular sized body. Build a
mannequin out of basic shapes. The arms and legs taper to a
rounded point.
Step 3a: Hands - do's and dont's
DO: make a small, well formed hand like a baby's hand.
Chubby forearms tapering into dainty little fingers.
DON'T: Make a Mickey Mouse styled cartoon hand
Step 3b: Feet - do's and dont's
DO: Taper the leg down to a tiny nub. You don't really need to
define the knees. Make a small line to separate the foot from
the leg. Like a tiny balerina foot. awwwwww.. dats so cute.
DON'T: Make a Disney-esque little Lu Lu foot. The leg should
come straight down into the foot. Don't actually define the
typical wedgey foot.
Step 4: Define the key features.
From here it's pretty easy. Slap on some clothes and start
adding details. The mouth is like the letter "D" turned on it's
side. The nose is not defined as a strong line. It's best to leave
it out all together or define iy with shading if you decide to color
it in.
Step 5: Cleaning up:
Use a kneaded eraser (see Materials) and blot away your
lighter support lines while darkening in the lines you wish to
keep. Voila
And there we have it. A nice little
Chibi friend to call your own..ain't
she sweet?!
Maybe I'll make a keychain out of
her.
The Male Body
Here we are at stage 1:
Nothing fancy. Just a fast loose stick
figure that will serve as our foundation
piece. Note that the form is 7 heads
high.
Shoulders are a Head and a half from
the top. Shoulders are 2 or more heads
wide.
(more for heroic types..less for
dweebies)
Hips are about a head and a half wide.
Hips should be narrower than the
shoulders.
Hips are 3 heads down.
Knees are 5 heads down.
Keep it loose at this stage but be wary
of your proportions.
The Male Body
stick figure stage 2:
Notice that you can draw a line straight
up and down from the top of the head to
the bottom of the feet. Body mass is
distibuted equally on both sides of this
axis for balance.
ARMS
2 and a half heads down is where we
locate the belly button.(mouse over the
image to see the guides)This is also
where the elbow goes if the arm is
hanging naturally at his sides. The arm
starts at the shoulder and ends with the
hands around mid-thigh.
LEGS
In ANIME, the legs are slightly longer
than the upper half of the body. The
Knees are located halfway between the
top of the hip and the bottom of the foot.
The Male Body
Sketch figure stage 1:
Study muscle groups to get an idea of
how the shoulders, arms and legs are
formed. Here's a little help for the chest.
The Male figure carries itself different
than the female. Emphasis is placed on
the shoulders rather than the hips.
Now's where you start tightening up
your art. Grab a kneaded eraser and
start blotting away the fine sketchy lines
and keep only the lines you wish to use
for your final piece. The cleaner you get
at the end of this stage makes the next
stage that much easier.
The Male Body
Sketch figure stage 2:
I gradually start to build him by outlining
my fleshed out sketch from the last
stage and smoothing over all the "Ball
and Cone" joints I used to build him
with.
The Kneaded eraser is my best friend at
this point as I blot over her, removing
my stray lines and getting a nice, clean,
usable piece of art. I go over and start
correcting mistakes I made in the
building process and get the art really
tight for inking.
There's nothing worse than inking
sloppy pencils so BE CLEAN!!
The Male Body
Final Figure:
This tutorial is to serve as a reference guide to
give you an idea of how to construct a body. It
shouldn't be used as an A to B to C tutorial
because that just shows you how to copy stuff.
Try to use the rules here to make different poses
and characters.
As always...let me know if I can explain anything
further to you and I'll do my best to assist.
I was looking at some books and going through some basic animation reviews when I saw an old trick
on doing cartoon character bodies using the "Flour Sack" method. I modified it a bit to fit in with a more
realistic look. I call it the "Bean" method...there may already be a bean method but I'm unaware of it.
Here's my take:
Draw a bean
You sit down to draw and you think "hmm..male
torso...complicated"..but if you think.."hmm..kidney
bean"..That's Easy!
Draw a bean shape and divide it vertically down the center.
Pay attention to it's contours. Divide it horizontally abot
2/3rds of the way down. We'll call that the waist line.
Balloon animals
OK..so it's not really a bean..just vaguely bean shaped.
Imagine now that it's inflated and you can twist it like a
balloon animal. Note that the centerline twist with it. This
will help you make actions poses in later steps. That center
line is ESSENTIAL to keeping your bodies from looking
lopsided.
A new view
Imagine now that it's your old school G.I.Joe doll with the
head,legs and arms popped off. See how we'll attach the
limbs?
(note: you should make the bean over an existing stick
figure. Dont start your drawing with the bean.)
A finished work
The fact that I used a bean shape to make this torso would
be all but unoticable if I hadn't greyed it in. It was quick,
easy and I didn't spend an hour working on the upper torso
and waist as seperate entities. The work has a more fluid
feel to it. Try this method out if your finished art is looking
too blocky.
(Does it look like Ryo Hazuki to anyone else?)
A bean at any angle:
Practice drawing the bean shape from different angles and
imagining how the limbs would attach to it in that position.
Be creative. Double check your proportions. The Torso in
it's entirety is about 3 heads high (from collar to groin) The
upper torse being 2 heads and the waist being 1 head tall.
3/4 View : Step 1- the oval
Draw a circle. The circle is the foundation of the head for any veiwpoint. It
doesn't need to be a perfect circle like this. A basic ovoid shape will do nicely.
Measure out the face by figuring the top of the head..the bottom of the chin
and the eyeline about halfway between.
3/4 View : Step 2- the chin
Add the chin and Jawline. Male faces aren't as round and heart-shaped as
female faces. It seems there are more variations available for the male face
than the female face. I'll stick with a standard type here. Make the angles
sharper and the chin square..don't come to a point.
For now just make something like you see here.
3/4 View : Step 3-Facial Divisions
Here I decide the facial planes. It helps me keep the features together and
tight.
Notice how the jawline meets up with the vertical earline
3/4 View : Step 4- Rough it in
Here I lightly figure where the feeatures go using the same rules you learned
in my other head tutorials. Eyes approximately 1 eye-width apart. the bottom
of the nose sits on a line halfway between the eyeline and the chin. The
mouth about 1/3 the way down from that. The ear is placed vertically between
the browline and the noseline.
3/4 View : Step 4- That Male Face
The Cheekbones and Jawline is what really helps differentiate your character
from other male characters you will create. It also helps define your character
as distictly male if your having problems with you males looking to "feminine"
(Or maybe you draw bishoujo style..in which case, nevermind).
3/4 View : Step 4- Clearing it up
Now you can start to erase your support lines and concentrate on detailing
the features. Male eyes aren't as large and sparkly as female eyes. They are
more rectangular than almond shaped and the lash lines arent as heavy.
Make the eyebrows strong and dark. The nose should not be tipped up like
on female faces. Make them more "Wedge" shaped.
3/4 View : Now you got it
Here's what I came up with for a final version (granted a messy one). I made
the halftone in photoshop to give it that "manga" feel
Action: ok, so you've mastered the typical standing figure and now you want them to actualy fight
and move. The key here is the stick figure and the line of motion. Lot's of artist (myself included
once) got all caught up in the clothes and muscles and details waaaaay to early in the drawing. The
key to a good action pose is a strong foundation and the stick figure will help us with that.
Pre-Step: Stick Figure Hero!
This is as complicated as you should get when making a stick
figure...stay fast and loose. Make little circles to show where the
joints and head are. Don't worry about fingers and toes. Just make a
solid stick man.
Step 1: Stick figure set-up
Here I got a JohnWoo set-up. The character is crouched down
behind a bar ready to jump out and fight Gunz-a-blazin'. I just
concentrate on making the gesture believable and dynamic.
Step 2: How do I make it Dynamic?
The first thing I draw (and I shoulda shown this first) is the Line of
motion. This line is a smooth curve that goes from the top of the
characters head, through the body via the spine and out . I build the
stick figure on this line.
Step 3: Fleshing it out
In my 2 prior tutorials I show you how to draw body parts using balls,
cones and cylinders. I just posted another tutorial on
Foreshortening..check those out for help on this step.
Keep the integrity of the stickfigure and lightly work in the body
shapes.Keep fast and loose..don't press to hard with the pencil here.
Step 4: Finishing up:
Use a kneaded eraser (see Materials) and blot away your lighter
support lines while darkening in the lines you wish to keep. Voila
Step 1: Stick figure set-up
Here I got a superhere type set-up. The character is ready to throw
a punch and defend justice. I just concentrate on making the
gesture believable and dynamic.
Step 2: How do I make it Dynamic?
The first thing I draw (and I shoulda shown this first) is the Line of
motion. This line is a smooth curve that goes from the top of the
characters head, through the body via the spine and out . I build
the stick figure on this line.
Step 3: Fleshing it out
In my 2 prior tutorials I show you how to draw body parts using
balls, cones and cylinders. I just posted another tutorial on
Foreshortening..check those out for help on this step.
Keep the integrity of the stickfigure and lightly work in the body
shapes.Keep fast and loose..don't press to hard with the pencil
here.
Step 4: Finishing up:
Use a kneaded eraser (see Materials) and blot away your lighter
support lines while darkening in the lines you wish to keep. Voila
Step 1: Stick figure set-up
Here I got a spy type set-up. The character is sneaking into the
headquarters of GloboChem to steal the plans for the experimental
biotoxin. I just concentrate on making the gesture believable and
dynamic.
Step 2: How do I make it Dynamic?
The first thing I draw (and I shoulda shown this first) is the Line of
motion. This line is a smooth curve that goes from the top of the
characters head, through the body via the spine and out . I build the
stick figure on this line.
Step 3: Fleshing it out
In my 2 prior tutorials I show you how to draw body parts using balls,
cones and cylinders. I just posted another tutorial on
Foreshortening..check those out for help on this step.
Keep the integrity of the stickfigure and lightly work in the body
shapes.Keep fast and loose..don't press to hard with the pencil here.
Step 4: Finishing up:
Use a kneaded eraser (see Materials) and blot away your lighter
support lines while darkening in the lines you wish to keep. Voila
Final Note: Nothing helps with out action drawing like good reference material. Get your friends to pose for
you or clip pictures from action movie magazines. Anytime you see a pose you like GRAB IT! You never
know when you might need it. After a while you'll be able to draw right out of your own head.
Ok..so here's my first tutorial I'm doing under protest. I'm not really a great mecha artist so I feel a
bit uncomfortable showing others how to draw one. I'll try to explain some of my philosophy on
designing one which may spark an idea or two for you. Hopefully this will be worth the effort.
Mecha : Step 1-the structure
Like everything. I start with a stick figure.
With Mechs you can be more creative with
the proportions. You don't even have to
make them humanoid. I'm sticking to the
basics here so I'm going to draw a
humanoid mech.
I make sure I leave the shoulders wide
and the legs set apart for balance.
Mecha : Step 2- roughing in
Now here's where I do mechs different
than humans. I dont really do the Ball &
Cone setup. If I do I always end up with a
Transformer type mech and those are too
blocky and old school.
Instead I think bulky and powerful. Large
bulges that house machinery, Armored
joints, sensor arrays...ect.
I try and make sure the joints, though
armored, can move freely. What good is a
mech if it can't make it's hands meet in
front of it.
Think about the function of the mech...is it
for urban use? Space? Does it doe heavy
lifting? Does it need to be fast? Does it
need to withstand harsh environments?
Mech : Step 3-detailing
After I get to a shape I'm happy with I start
erasing unecessary lines and and
darkening the ones I want to keep. I add
seam lines and tiny access panels all over
the meI made the chest cavity large cuz
because that's where the engine would
have to be.
This mechs about 9 ft tall and unmanned
Mech : Step 4- inking
I've added a few more details and got the
the inking stage. I use a realatively thin
line for the details. Machines look better
with a heavy outline and fine lines on
interior details.
I was asked to put together a tutorial on clothing. I figured my goal shouldn't be to show you how
to draw clothes. There's too many styles. So I thought it would be more useful to show you how
clothes behave on the body. That way you can at least get the physics right and design whatever
you want.
Step 1: Draw a basic
figure
When you first draw your
character don't worry
about putting clothes on
yet. Instead, make sure
you have them fleshed
out correctly (see the
body tutorial if you need
help with proportions).
Here Ive included lines to
help me place the
waistline, boots and
sleeves but no details
yet.
Print this picture out and
grab a pencil to follow
along
Step 2: track the
motion.
Clothes flow over the
body like water. The folds
on clothes are
determined by kinetic
force and gravity.
Poly is twisting at the
waistline and the part of
her shirt thats tucked in is
pinned in place but her
chest and shoulders have
rotated to the left (our
left) and pulled the fabric
along with them. What
results are sweeping
lines from the shoulders
to the tuck point.
Her right leg is forward
which pulls the fabric
tight over her upper leg
and creates a fabric flow
in the direction of motion.
Let's see how this works.
Step 3: Go with the flow
I now start to fill in the
clothing based on the
lines I discoverd on the
last page.
Notice the clothing is
smooth and taught over
areas that are bent or
push against the fabric
(her left knee, her left
elbow, her chest, her
right thigh). Fold lines
radiate out and away
from the bends. Other
areas of clothes in a
more relaxed state,
succumb to gravity and
fall in downwards.
Imagine small hoola
hoops around your arms,
waist, neck and legs. If
you raise your arm, how
does the hoola hoop
hang? Which part of your
arm is touching the hoola
hoop? The part that
touches would be were
the clothing would outline
your arm and the folds
would radiate out and
away from there. (cont..).
Step 4: Clean up
If you lept to the right
wearing the hoola hoop.
You would notice the
hoop would touch our
waist on the right side
and hang towards the
area you lept from to the
left. When you landed the
hoop would carry the
force back to the right
trying to continue in the
direction you leapt
towards. Clothes can be
drawn in the same
manner. They bunch up
and hang in the opposite
direction of the motion.
It'll take some practice to
get it to look right. Burne
Hogarth has an
exceptional book on this
subject called "Dynamic
Wrinkles and Drapery"
Need help with Buckles
and laces?
You would think the buckle is simple but most people
represent it as a square box on a thick line. A little
attention to detail will make your pics looks sharper.
Draw the buckle as shown here with the strap
overlapping the back end of the buckle and ticking into
the loop.
Here's a Quick Release buckle..used for military type
characters. The strap is made of webbing instead of
leather. The buckle is undone by pressing the tabs
toward each other and pulling the ends apart.
Zippers are usually represented as a zig-zag if you are
distanced from your character. but for close ups, try and
make it like you see here. Each "tooth" is a small square
with a circle on top of it..they interlock as shown here. It
takes a little extra time but people notice the effort.
Snaps are pretty straight forward and you don't really
get to see the 2 halves together unless the jacket is
open. Again, good for detail in a close up. Show the one
docking end smaller and rounded on the lip.
Sorry for the messy ovals..I can't find my template.
Laces are often represented as criss cross lines. It looks
better if you draw the laces as 3D objects rather than a
quick line. Show them overlapping each other and
passing through the eyelets. Also, since the laces are
pullig toward each other there will be buckling in the
material around the stress points. Notice how I curved
the material around the eyelets to show that. The tongue
of the shoe/boot should push through the criss cross a
little bit to give the impression that the laces are cinched
down on the shoe.
DISCLAIMER: Guns and Youths are a controversial topic today and I realize many of my readers are young
adults. My intent is only to show you how to draw guns for comic book purposes. If you are under 18, please
check with your parents before visiting the handgun websites or continuing with this tutorial. Please, Help
keep Rosie O'Donnell off my back.
The Basic Pistol
The best way to draw a gun is to look at
pictures of guns. These aer available on
most major gun brand websites:
http://www.glock.com/
http://www.sigarms.com/
http://www.ruger-firearms.com/
http://www.hecklerkoch-usa.com/
Beats getting the suspicious looks when
buying a gun magazine. Here we have a
Glock 26 or "Baby Glock" 9x19
Basic Shapes
Break the gun down into basic shapes.
The more you know about the
mechanics of guns the better if your a
detail freak. I like to just get by. The
major parts of a pistol is the Slide, the
Frame and the Grip (handle).
The Guts
My father's a gun aficionado so he'll
laugh his head off when he sees my
lame cross-section and explanation...but
it's more detail than a comic book artist
usually needs :)
The handle should be wide and long
enough to accomodate the clip. Pulling
back on the slide pulls the first bullet out
of the clip and into the chamber. When
the trigger is squeezed, the firing pin
(not shown) smacks the back of the
bullet and sends the lead part flying
down the barrel..the brass casing ejects
out the top of the gun. The force of the
bullet leaving slams the slide back and
loads the next bullet into the chamber.
The esthetics
Now that we now the basic shap and
what components are needed to make a
gun it's time to pretty it up a little with
some sleek lines. The Grey area is the
basic shape we already had..the red
sillouette is more or less the actual
shape of a Glock26. Only reference
material will help you here...after you get
more comfortable with styles of pistols
you can start getting creative with the
lines...just look at Shirow's Seburo
sidearms!
A little Detail
Notice I've added a bevel to the slide
and put the verticle grips on the rear of
the slide. I've contoured the grip and
made the trigger well a bit more
comfortable. Again, reference material
helps a lot. Build up a scrapbook of guns
to whip out whenever your stuck.
Wanna see more?
The Basic Shapes
The Revolvers has a few different parts than
the Pistol. The most important difference is a
Cylinder( shown in red) instead of a clip.
The trigger ratchets the cylinder around to bring
the next full chamber up to the barrel. Pulling
back on the trigger also releases the (green)
hammer.. depending on single or double
action...don't worry about it...and smacks the
butt of the bullet and sends the lead flying down
the barrel.Make sure the top of the barrel lines
up with the top of the cylinder so the bullet can
exit the gun safely...fo you.
Reloading
There's a few styles of revolver. Some have the
cylinder flip out to the side. Some, like this one,
pivot foward for quick loading (ala TRIGUN).
You could take off the whole empty cylinder
and slap another loaded one in there.
Detailing:
Have fun with it. I gave this one a laser sight
under the barrel and a nice ergonomic grip so it
doesn't look like an old cowboy gun.
There's some really sweet "New Style"
revolvers. Check out the gun manufacturer links
on the previous page.
PolyKarbon
StoryBoards
Page1
Storyboards are essential for laying
out action and deciding camera
angles. I start by just having a grid
of 6 squares. Working from the
script I draw each important action
in its own square. Only 1 action per
square!
For example: Script says
"Character pulls a coin from pocket
and examines it"
There are 2 important actions
there.
1) Character pulls coin from pocket
2) Character examines it
(The journey of the coin from the
pocket to being in front of the face
is not important)
So I would have 1 panel being the
character rummaging for the coin
and the next panel being the coin
held up in front of the
character...See?
After I'm happy with the roughs I
can start concentrating on how they
would "panel out" on a page..which
panels should be big...which panels
should be small..ect...make sure
my perspective is correct..yadda
yadda
I lay the new roughs on a light table
and repencil them in a SUPER
clean fashion.
.
PolyKarbon
StoryBoards
Page2
Storyboards are essential for laying
out action and deciding camera
angles. I start by just having a grid
of 6 squares. Working from the
script I draw each important action
in its own square. Only 1 action per
square!
For example: Script says
"Character pulls a coin from pocket
and examines it"
There are 2 important actions
there.
1) Character pulls coin from pocket
2) Character examines it
(The journey of the coin from the
pocket to being in front of the face
is not important)
So I would have 1 panel being the
character rummaging for the coin
and the next panel being the coin
held up in front of the
character...See?
After I'm happy with the roughs I
can start concentrating on how they
would "panel out" on a page..which
panels should be big...which panels
should be small..ect...make sure
my perspective is correct..yadda
yadda
I lay the new roughs on a light table
and repencil them in a SUPER
clean fashion.
.
PolyKarbon
Date:07-00
I've had several requests to post some
more of my "technical" work stuff. This
here is a Turnaround or Model Sheet. I
use t to make sure I'm drawing her the
same way everytime. I also use it to help
me figure out her proportions to other
characters and objects.
After I draw the initial views..Front, Back
and Side..I lay the original on a light
table and trace the form out so I can
save time when drawing another set to
describe another outfit.s
.
PolyKarbon: Karmon Stroud Character sheet
10-2000
Stroud is, for all intents and purposes, Poly's personal assistant. He hacks systems for her, supplies weapons and ammo, reminds
her of critical jobs..ect. Only he kinda sucks at his job. She'd get rid of him but he's a relative of her employers and has no choice but
to put up with his ineptitude. He's cocky, sleezy and basically untrustworthy. He does have skills...he just too lazy to bother with
details sometimes.
PolyKarbon: Hohner Character sheet
10-2000
Hohner was born with Down's Syndrome. A wetware prosthetic compensates for his condition..however, Hohner
sometimes has trouble dealing with the stark contrast in the way he used to view the world versus the way he sees
it now through the "SmartJack". He works as Poly's extra muscle, confidant and moral center. He spends most of
his time trying to keep Poly honest and restraining himself from killing Stroud.
PolyKarbon: The Manga
09-2000
Here's the first page in extremely rough form. I usually just toss it out onto the paper so I can
get it out of my head and start tweaking it to look better. From these roughs I'll relay everything
out nice and clean and maybe shift things around so I can fit dialog in better. You can kinda see
where I drew text boxes in.
PolyKarbon: The Manga
09-2000
Here's the second page in extremely rough form. Notice, even though it's rough Itry to get a feel for
the camera angles and balances between light and shadow.
BackGround
Date:010-00
I made this for the purpose of adding action over the top of it like in animation. Mostly it was an
exercise in perspective and colors.