This guide is an introduction to the nuts of drawing with a focus on the anime and manga style. It provides tips on approaching the drawing process in the right way and suggests some beginner friendly exercises to help y'all get started.

For a list of other things you can learn that will help you depict anime and manga you tin can check:

Tips on How to Learn How to Draw Anime & Manga

This guide covers the showtime part of that list (The Basics of Drawing).

i. Make Light Line Drawings Offset

Sketch to clean drawing anime eye
Sketch to clean cartoon anime centre

Draw using light lines commencement and then trace over them with darker lines one time yous are certain that everything is in the right place. This be particularly helpful for large or more circuitous drawings.

Lite lines are easier to erase if you make a mistake and easier to make (yous don't have to printing as hard on the pencil and so your hand will be less tired).

Fifty-fifty if drawing digitally it's still a good thought to first make a sketch and go over information technology with cleaner lines afterwards.

Tracing your own lines will besides work as another exercise to aid steady your paw.

Effort and draw with equally few lines as possible. If yous make a mistake with your first line it's fine to add more lines until you land the correct one simply don't scribble or draw extra lines just for the sake of it. If yous brand too many mistakes erase that part of your cartoon start over.

2. Apply Guide/Construction Lines

Constructions lines when drawing anime
Constructions lines when drawing anime

Utilize guide lines to help yourself draw. For example if you desire to draw a symmetrical caput/face up from the front end view y'all can first draw a horizontal line though the centre of where you want to draw the face up. This line will help you brand certain that both halves of the confront are even in width. Yous can so draw a horizontal line (or several lines) to help you lot make sure that both eyes and both ears are on the same level.

For drawing unlike styles of anime heads see:

How to Describe Dissimilar Styles of Anime Heads & Faces

3. Plan Out Your Drawing & Draw Larger to Smaller

Anime large to small shape drawing order
Large to small shape drawing order

Approximate your proportions before  yous starting time cartoon. Yous tin run across that in the above example the daughter is half dozen 1/2 heads tall (as anime characters tend to have larger heads in relations to their bodies then real people). By comparing the size of different parts or objects in your cartoon to one another you lot will exist less probable to brand a mistake.

Regardless of what you are drawing starting time with the larger shapes starting time. You don't demand to always start with the absolute largest shape only definitely don't outset with the smaller details.

If yous surface area cartoon a person start with the head and piece of work your way down through the rest of the body. Don't describe the smaller details like the facial features until you have the shape of the entire body.

Drawing this way will make it a lot easier to fix mistakes. For instance if you fully depict out the head with all of the details of the facial features you may then find that the torso doesn't actually fit on your drawing expanse. You will so take to beginning over and redraw the entire face again.

Some of these mistakes tin be easier to ready if drawing digitally simply that doesn't mean that y'all should not learn to draw in the correct order.

For more on cartoon anime bodies you lot can run into:

  • How to Describe an Anime School Daughter in 6 Steps
  • How to Describe Anime Muscular Male Body Step past Step
  • How to Describe an Anime Guy Trunk Step By Step Tutorial
  • How to Draw an Anime Male child Full Body Step by Step

iv. Keep Unlike Parts of Your Drawing in the Aforementioned Stages of Completion

Drawing consistency example with anime eyes
Drawing consistency example with anime optics

Try and keep the diverse objects in your drawing in roughly the same land of completion. If for example you are drawing optics than draw the outer shape of each eye and then describe the shape of each iris. Past doing so you will be more likely to detect if the get-go one is out of place and you will only need to do a little back tracking if you make a mistake (like to the previous example).

For more on drawing anime eyes see:

  • How to Describe Anime Eyes and Centre Expressions
  • How to Describe Female Anime Eyes Tutorial
  • How to Depict Male Anime & Manga Eyes

5. Draw Things That Are Hidden

Sketching out hidden parts of anime drawing
Sketch out subconscious parts of a cartoon

Information technology's sometimes a practiced idea to draw things that are hidden by something else.

In the above case some parts of the head and face up will be hidden by the hair in the final cartoon but you may notwithstanding want to draw their basic shapes and erase them after. The reason for this is to insure the correct placement of the parts that are visible. For example by doing a low-cal drawing of the second centre you lot will exist able to bank check the spacing between the eyes which will help you insure that the visible center is correctly placed. You can besides describe the outer shape of the ears to gauge the volume the hair needs in order cover them.

For cartoon anime mode faces come across:

  • How to Draw an Anime Girl's Caput and Confront
  • How to Draw Anime Characters Tutorial
  • How to Draw a Cute Anime Daughter Step by Step
  • 8 Pace Anime Male child's Head & Face Drawing Tutorial
  • 8 Step Anime Woman'due south Caput & Face Drawing Tutorial

6. Do Drawing Exercises

As a beginner creative person you can actually do good from some adequately uncomplicated exercises of drawing lines and basic geometric shapes. These exercises will help steady your hand and train you to see (and avoid) common mistakes.

Y'all tin can do these for about 10-15 minutes at a time.

Straight Lines Drawing Exercises

Straight line drawing exercises
Straight line cartoon exercises

The most basic exercises is drawing direct lines in different directions. Draw horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines without rotating your drawing area (newspaper, tablet, etc…).

Curved Lines Drawing Exercises

Curved line drawing exercises
Curved line drawing exercises

In add-on to straight lines do cartoon curved lines in different directions and try to accept nice and smooth curve without jitters or abrupt turns. Just similar for the direct lines exercise don't rotate your cartoon area.

Basic Shapes Cartoon Exercises

Basic shape drawing exercises
Basic shape drawing exercises

Practice drawing bones shapes such every bit squares, circles, triangles, ovals, rectangles, etc…

Try and describe each shape with only 1 stroke per side. Depict the circle and ovals with one solid line from outset to finish.

Don't worry if your shapes don't come out right, simply try and improve on the next shape.

Mixed Cartoon Exercises

Shape and line drawing exercises
Shape and line drawing exercises

Yous tin besides combine the drawing exercises. For example yous tin draw a square than inside it draw lines going from one corner to another followed past ii more lines going through the intersection betoken of those lines followed by drawing a circle within the initial square. But dissimilar the previous exercise draw this circle a quarter at a time.

In addition to all of the previous benefits this exercise is too really adept for learning to depict symmetrical shapes.

Anime head from basic shapes structure
Anime head from basic shapes structure

In the higher up example you tin can run across how an anime style caput can be cleaved down into three simple shapes. The same can often be done with other parts of the body and various other objects. You don't need to actually depict all of these out every time you desire to draw something but its a good instance for why learning to depict basic shapes can be so useful.

7. Study the Anime Manner

Anime girl under magnifying glass
Agreement the anime style

To make art that looks similar anime and manga you have to understand their defining characteristics. Fortunately there are enough of tutorials here on AnimeOutline to assistance you report these styles. Simply see the Anime & Manga Drawing Tutorials department and pick whatever information technology is y'all are interested in cartoon.

8. Check for Mistakes

Anime girl drawing flipped
Flipping drawing to see mistakes

If you are having problem spotting your mistakes turn your drawing upside down or agree it up to a mirror. This will give you a fresh "perspective" making it easier to see them.

For mistakes beginners usually make when cartoon anime (and fixes for them) see:

Common Mistakes When Drawing Anime & Manga

Determination

Doing the exercises and applying the tips suggested higher up will help you with the nuts of drawing anime. Once you y'all have a fairly steady hand with expert control of your pen or pencil you can motility on to more advanced aspects of cartoon. These include things such equally perspective, color and shading. For some nuts on all of these come across the following tutorials:

  • Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners and How it Relates to Anime
  • Beginner Guide to Picking Colors When Drawing Anime & Manga
  • How to Shade an Anime Face in Unlike Lighting

For a suggestions on things that can help yous acquire to describe anime meet:

Tips on How to Larn How to Describe Anime & Manga