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Tips and Tricks for Drawing Your Own Manga Characters

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Manga is the Japanese art of cartoons and comics. It is a form of storytelling with a long history — in fact, the style was developed back in the 1800s. Manga was popularised in the 1960s through serial cartoons published in newspapers and magazines. This iconic style of drawing is good for showing the expressive emotions of your characters. Through their hand gestures and faces, you can easily portray their true feelings. Getting started with your own Manga cartoons is easy — you can do this on paper, or draw digitally on your iPad or tablet. Create a character with a good backstory and see where this takes you. 

Key facial features

One of the key features when you are drawing your own Manga characters is of course the eyes. There is a well-known saying that the eyes are the window to the soul and this is extremely true when it comes to drawing people. Manga eyes are extremely exaggerated – the white reflections take up a large part of the eye. You can also add additional white bubbles to show sadness and even mad love. Female eyes are often drawn with exaggerated eyelashes, especially on the left and right edges of the eyes, rather than the upper and lower lids. You don’t have to use realistic colours for your character’s eyes, for instance red eyes are often used for characters with complex emotional issues. 

 

Showing gestures

A staggering 55% of what we say is not through words at all — it is through body language. This is extremely important when you are showing your characters actions and gestures. You should concentrate first on what your Manga character is doing with their hands. A simple gesture, such as having your fingers crossed, can tell us so much. Study the shapes of your own hands by opening and closing your fist, or flattening it on a table. Try drawing a flat palm, waving, pleading and in a “halt” action. Note how the tension is different through the fingers. In your Manga cartoon, use motion lines to show which direction a hand gesture is moving.  

 

Have fun with colour

When Manga characters are dark, then this is exaggerated. For inspiration look at Henrietta “Gunslinger Girl,” or Kandata from the classic “Aoi Bungaku.” Try dark reds and purples to accentuate your character's features. When Manga characters are bright and happy, they are often coloured in a wide range of vivid shades. If your character is loud and outgoing, then there is no reason why you can’t give them purple and blue hair with silver stripes. It is worth investing in a set of graphic design felt tips in manga colours so that you can really give your drawings a distinct look.

Make sure that your characters are well-dressed, too — the younger generation are very high fashion. They are not afraid to mix and match prints, patterns and styles. Have fun choosing the outfits for your characters, and don’t forget to accessorise. Manga cartoons and comics have a strong storytelling tradition. You can draw some expressive and interesting characters and create some original artwork. 

Text by Jane Morton [writer]
Photography pinterest [CHARACTERS artwork]

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