Learn to draw anime!

[Mr. Rogers]

does anyone know of any good books i could buy to learn how to draw anime? and any sites or tips would be good too. thanks.

[inkhana]

I don't know of any books, but the best site I know of to learn from is Julie Dillon's http://www.howtodrawmanga.com. Second best, probably, is http://www.polykarbon.com, but I prefer Dillion's style. Also, if you need help with certain details, there are plenty of artists around here who could help you out, too.

[Mr. Rogers]

thanks for all your help. i looked at those sites and they were pretty helpful. printed 'em out and put 'em in a binder. musta been like 200 pages, hehe. i'll look at lots of other pics and practice by tracing too.
i put some pics of stuff i tried to draw and some eyes i practiced and stuff. sry about the low quality, bad light and a bad camera... thanks again.

[purplemoose]

i don't know much but i've heard its best 2 start off with girls because there easier but hey what do iknow i can barely consider my anime a picture or comic even.

[Kuroi Inu]

I just agree with Bobtheduck totally. I've been thinking about those kind of issues too.

[VashTheStampede]

how I first learned to draw anime was just off of pictures of characters. I just looked at the basic shape and drew from looking at the pic. It just takes some practice, and it gets easier over time. I just think some of the proportions of facial features and stuff are hard to do. Just keep it up!

by the way, I'll see if I can scan in and post up one of my drawings....

[VashTheStampede]

ok, here an example of one of my drawings, sorry bout the poor quality, best I could do on short notice, but I hope this helps!

[Kirika]

I used that technique as well.
And also, by watching the same anime a couple of times cuz the first time you pay more attention to the story, then the other times you look more at the details and the expressions.
The anime from Studio Bones (Wolf's Rain, RahXephon, etc...) are probably the ones who influenced my style the most.
Here's an exemple of a pic that ended up looking like one of the characters in Wolf' Rain, I unconsiously made him like Hige.
So watch a lot of anime

[Bunny]

I cannot draw shoes!! It's so sad because I usually wind up just cutting that part of my people off. Any suggestions?

[EdHead]

I cannot draw shoes!! It's so sad because I usually wind up just cutting that part of my people off. Any suggestions?

I know it's a little obvious, but here's a suggestion: Look at a lot of shoes.
Just find some pictures where you can really see them in detail and maybe start by tracing or looking. That's pretty much the idea of learning how to draw something. You look at something, draw it, and practice that as much as you can. It's very simple, you just have to have patience on the practice part; I know I do. Drawing something a little off what you had in mind, erasing, drawing it again (but still not the way you wanted it), erasing, and so on and so on. This really takes the fun away from drawing, doesn't it? Sometimes I get so frustrated, I can't seem to focus on the drawing anymore...



So I stop, take a break, and try drawing it again (sometimes I continue the next day.) Dang, it feels like I'm giving myself some drawing tips...
I have to practice a lot more, I really need it. Sometimes I just experiment stuff at school, but not actually using reference material to draw. So ppl, practice using reference material a lot! (do as I say, not as I do.) :rolls_eye

[EdHead]

Here's a doodle I made while in my Algebra II class (hence the graph paper backround)
need to work on poses too...

[Haibane Shadsie]

As for me... I've stayed away from buying any "How to Draw Anime" or "How to Draw Manga" books. My reason is that I am afraid of loosing my own unique drawing-style. In drawing anime characters, I look at screencaptures of characters printed from places online, tape cases, artbooks, and the like. How I draw them is a combination of simple observation of the pictures and of what I know from art classes. I know from art classes some basic things about the human body, and also of the "ideal" figure. I know things such as how the human head is made up of ovals, one for the facial area and one that juts out a bit for the back of the head. Necks are roughly the same size as the head (as opposed to ultra-skinny Barbie necks), that human eyes are one eye-width apart from each other, ect. These are things I've learned from learning how to draw realism.

Also... if you want to learn to draw... just observe life. If you wish to draw animals, practice drawing them... look at your pets, go to a zoo, just sketch... try to look at the basic shapes of things and how they fit together. In drawing humans, look at people, and look carefully. Taking a Life Drawing course is good, too. The human form is the most difficult thing to draw.

When drawing human(oid) anime character fanart, or in drawing human(oid) figures in general, I find certain visual aids helpful. If I want a character's arm to be in a certain position - I pose like that in front of my mirror to see how everything fits together. When drawing hands (a huge difficulty for me), I look at my own hands - if the character is to be holding something, I try to hold something similar in size and shape and look at my hand - the way my fingers curl around the object.

Frequently, when drawing full-length characters, particularly male characters (since I am a female and the mirror might fail to help me on certain aspects - and NO, I don't mean... down there... I mean in basic shapes, shoulders, curves and such), I use my Life Drawing book as a refrence. It has numerous anatomy drawings, and reproductions of drawings by the Old Masters.

If you are serious about art, about pursuing it as a carreer or really becoming a "good artist"... I do suggest to anyone who has trouble to overcome the idea of the nude human body as being a source of sexual tempation. You have to learn to look at things technically. Personally, I see nudity as more of a symbol of vunerability than as sexual. One must learn the basics of how to draw the human body and how structure works underneath clothing before one can know how to drape clothing over a form well.

Here are some examples of my fanart. As I've said before, I don't like to allow myself to go into a "too anime" style, as I really want to keep and develop my own style of drawing. When I draw anime characters, I tend to make them "my style" rather than stock-anime.

My two-cents... though with the way I ramble, it's more like 50 cents.

[inkhana]

Also, I'd like to add that if you're a little too - ahem - modest like, um, oh, me...you can always draw people in like bodysuits and stuff so you can draw the figure without having to...um...well, you get the idea...^^ What can I say, if I had to take an anatomy drawing class, I'd spend most of the time with my eyes covered...

[EdHead]

Hey Haibane! Is that photoshop?
(I don't how so many people have gotten their hands on it... $_$)
Nice fanart!
It's nothing, but if you look at Vash's face closely in the first pic, it looks much like Harry Potter's!
So how long you been drawing?

[Haibane Shadsie]

EVERYONE says that about that drawing of Vash! I don't know how he got to looking like Harry Potter... I'm not even a Harry Potter fan! I saw the first movie a couple weeks ago, but... Potter's been something I've avoided because it's so popular!

Yep, I use Photoshop. You see... I seem to luck out with getting cool computer programs. I bought it from a licensed provider who was a college classmate of mine at a great discount price. It's Photoshop 5.5. I used that for the "angel and demon" picture. Ein was done on an oekaki board... Count D (that one creepy looking dude with the rabbits) was done on scratchboard, and the rest are pencil drawings.

I've been drawing... since I was a little kid. I'm 24 and currently.. a part time graphic designer looking for a better job.

[Fsiphskilm]

I don't get what's so nasty

[inkhana]

Nobody said it was nasty, some people just happen to be modest. And while I'm glad that you have that deep a self-control, not all people do...

[Haibane Shadsie]

I do have warnings for those who get the opportunity to take Life Drawing courses who haven't before.

People who pose for the small amount of money they are paid... aren't always that nice to look at. I only have taken one Life Drawing class in community college... I'd take more if I could afford it. Heck, I'd take a Photography course if I could afford it right now because that's something I've been wanting to learn, but that's beside the point.

The class I was in only had one model, a female in her late 40s/early 50s. She wasn't bad looking, attractive for her age, but... you know... things sag. Not a "hottie". A friend of mine, Jammer, who lives in Michigan, would talk about her Life Drawing classes, too... and complain about this one model they had... who was... a very frightening man. She just hated having drawing him. She doesn't like nudity much, to begin with, and... this one model just... scared her a lot. I guess he was creepy.

So, be warned... if you take a Life Drawing class, you will most likely not run into the "ideal" bodies in your live models. You're much more likely to run into scary bodies.

Leaning to draw human bodies isn't about the concealed parts so much, anyway. It's about basic structures. One can learn just fine by practicing on clothed models, or, even like Inkhana said, working with people in bodysuits. You can practice drawing people without drawing certain... parts. The diffrences in male and female bodies, mostly, is not in the obvious - it's in structure - women being soft and curvy, and slighter built than men, men being rather rigid, broad square shoulders, and the like.

You can also pratice copying Old Master drawings. Those are a great way to learn - though... most of those are nude, so if you have problems with looking at nude drawings, that might not be good for you, but I don't think most people have as many problems looking at drawings than at real nude people or photographs.

[Bobtheduck]

I thought I would add that the manga books don't just have nudity, but they comment on it... and have some fanservice comedy stuff... Particularly the first one... the fourth book doesn't have the storyline behind it, so it's straight facts with no fluff... (that's the one about clothing, in the "compiling" series, not the smaller books) There are other "compiling" books after book 4, but I don't know if I want those... they get more suggestive later on... The first 4 are all you need, the other compliling books, and the (something like) 30 smaller books are only on small specific topics in case you want to learn those... They have one about cars, one about mechs, one about architecture those aren't gonna get sexual or even nudity (well, the mech one might since many of the mechs are based on human forms...) The most important books in the series are the first 4 "compiling" books...

You need not remind me about my horrid grammer... That's what happens when your brain works faster than your hands and you're too impatient

[shooraijin]

At Barnes and Noble this weekend, I picked up a $13 "How to Draw Manga" or some such -- the exact title escapes me and the book is somewhere else in the apartment but it's on the bargain rack (also in a form with a bunch of cheapo drawing implements for a couple bucks more). This is NOT the white Graphic-sha series; this one is published by B&N themselves, and has a girl in a red coat on the cover with a midriff shirt, and the author is Ben Krefka (?).

Other than some fairly blatant fanservice, although no nudity (just not by much), which is thankfully infrequent, the book has probably the best face-drawing step by steps I've seen yet. Its figure drawing is a bit dodgy, but for facial features and modeling, it might be a good investment for someone having difficulty with it.

[EdHead]

They have one about cars, one about mechs, one about architecture those aren't gonna get sexual or even nudity (well, the mech one might since many of the mechs are based on human forms...)

Strangely enough, "How To Draw Manga: Giant Robots" does have nudity! (Mostly female.) Like most of the HTDM books, it's got some fanservice in one section... This really bugged me when I borrowed it from my friend; I said like: what, am I gonna draw naked robots or something? :cough, cough: "ANIMATRIX"... I mean, robots ARE naked in the sense that they don't use clothes, just a metal body cast. Aren't body shapes enough to draw robots???

But besides that, the book is great for anybody who wants to draw very detailed mechs.

[JosephShaydez]

This is for the person who wants how to books on anime. I learned how to draw from this book: "Anime & Game Characters" You can get that book which is volume 1 and others just like it by searching for it at http://www.amazon.com There is also another book that helped me out which was "Manga Mania". NOTE: Both books DO NOT have any nudity whatsoever. The way they describe how to draw females is with the utmost taste possible. I would chose those books over those other ones. They are very informative and it is easy to learn the different ways of how to draw anime. They go in great detail and make it as easy and painless as possible. I hope this was useful to you.

[shooraijin]

Followup to that previous post: the book I was talking about is "The Art of Drawing Manga" and the author is Ben Krefta (note spelling).

[EdHead]

There is also another book that helped me out which was "Manga Mania".

Hey, my friend has that too! That's a really good book because unlike the HTDMs, it covers a multitude of subjects about anime. It starts you off with the basic man and woman sketches, then it gives you examples on how to draw elves, dragons, futuristic vehicles, and a lot of other stuff. So instead of wasting $80 bucks ('round that amount) on the first 4 HTDMs, and maybe $20 more for "Giant Robots", you can just buy Manga Mania and you got the whole package! But... I still like the HTDMs because they give you a lot of details on one subject, instead of just the basics for many other subjects. In any case, if you're running on a low budget, Manga Mania is a good investment!

[Danyasaur]

i don't know much but i've heard its best 2 start off with girls because there easier.

That is soooo not true!!! I can never draw an even decent looking girl!
......... sry got a little caried away there I've been drawing boys ever since I started drawing anime and I can't seem to draw a good looking girl if you don't want to end up like me do not! do what I did!

by the way if know how to draw a decent girl pppllllzzzz me!!!, archy

[EdHead]

That is soooo not true!!! I can never draw an even decent looking girl!
......... sry got a little caried away there I've been drawing boys ever since I started drawing anime and I can't seem to draw a good looking girl if you don't want to end up like me do not! do what I did!

by the way if know how to draw a decent girl pppllllzzzz me!!!, archy

Although Inkahana has already mentioned this, Julie Dillon's manga tutorials in [url]howtodrawmanga.com[/url] are very helpful, especially if you're trying to draw females (they got more female tutorials than males.) But besides that, you should also practice "training your eye," where you can learn how to draw by taking note of proportions, body shapes, etc., of reference material. The beginner's book of HTDM actually tells you to use a ruler to compare between the drawings that you've made and the reference art prior to the drawing. That felt really wierd the first time I read that! (I thought to myself: the ruler is your best friend. ) But my drawings improved through time as I practiced that. The best way to get better at this (I know it's a little obvious ) is to practice, practice, practice! Don't let a week pass by where you haven't drawn anything! (nah, just joking the week stuff...)

Anyway, I also started drawing girls, but that made it much harder for me to get used to boys! Soooo.... Dude, we're opposties! ...

[Danyasaur]

Anyway, I also started drawing girls, but that made it much harder for me to get used to boys! Soooo.... Dude, we're opposties! ...

OPPOSITES!!!! !!!!

Ehem... sry, archy

[Archan]

First off Hi to the people whom I don't know yet.

And I heard people having trouble drawing either/or girls and guys. Hence I thought I'd give some simple yet helpful anatomy pointers.

Women are usually curved where men are angular, and vice versa.

A womans hips are wider and chest (in refrence to rib cage) is smaller then that of a man.

Usually in manga a womans fealures tend to be more rounded and composed of mainly big eyes, lips, and a button nose. Men's features seem to be more distinct and defined, with more of an edge to their face.

Also, just something some of you might want to try out. Try drawing westernized characters, then diving back into anime. I say this because Western art in comics is usually more detailed and defined for either sex. So, once you have your eye trained, you can then simplify and re-adapt the anime style. (anime is a simplififcation of the human body...something well noted in the Manga Mania book mentioned).

Anyways I hope this helps out some.

But seriously, the best way to discern the diffreences between male and female is to pick up a good anatomy book (There are special ones for artist), and study. Yes, there is nudity in them , unfortunately God made people without clothes and I figure everyone here is mature enough to handle that simple fact of life. And unfortunately it's the price one has to pay to become a great if not just a good artist in anything having to do with the human body . If you refrence the anatomy book as a professional, you should be fine. Besides, once you've trained your eye well enough, you'll never have to look at that ugly old anatomy book again kay?

God Bless,
Archan

[inkhana]

>Try drawing westernized characters, then diving back into anime.

This is excellent advice. It really gives you a strong foundation in human form and easily adapts to anime.

[mechana2015]

the thing that really helped me was having my mom (degree in art, and person who knows her stuff on proportions placement etc.) look over drawings and see if they were off kilter, and stuff and eventually I learned the proportions as well...oh, and just draw a lot. Itll help.