How to Draw Manga Head Shots!

So! I'm hear to teach you how to draw manga head shots!

BASIC SHAPE:


In all things I start with the guide lines! which, for me look something like this:

doesn't look like much but I start ALL of my drawings like this, with a basic guide line, some may think you don't need them, I didn't think I needed them, not until I actually started using them did I realize how big of a help they were.

soo.. I SUGGEST USING THEM! (trust me you want to)








the next step is head shape and body shape (adding in shoulders just for fun c:)

NOW as you can see, I didn't 'stick ' to the guide lines completely, I like to think of it as modeling from a basic figure that helps you get your figure down.

I first draw two lines down the side of the circle for the sides of the head.

second I connect them at the chin (oh just in case you didn't know you should probably know we are drawing a girl ^^')

third I draw two curving lines down from the jaw so that the chin is in the middle.

fourth step is to draw curving lines for the shoulders, they vary quite a bit, think of  them as hills.

the fifth step is to draw the top of the head, which isn't completely necessary but it helps you when you are drawing the hair.

and now you have the basic shape down! c:


FACE:

with the face, it is always best to start with the eyes! This is where you need to experiment abit, because EVERYONE has their OWN STYLE OF EYES. here are examples from various animes/mangas:

I found some that really stuck out from the average manga/anime eye style (such as Yugi-OH! and Dragon Ball) but as you can see, every artist has their own way of doing things, like me:

Though for me, my style of eye changes depending on my mood and the character I'm drawing, but my average female eye would look something like this.








before we get to actually placing the eyes on the picture, you want to draw the nose and the mouth, it helps you place your eyes better.

once again the mouths and noses depend on STYLE, some are small, some are BIG applying to both so you can really decide on your own how you want to do them.

now we are going to apply eyes to the drawing! You want to place your eyes on the horizontal line on the guide lines, that should be about the place the eyes could be, or a bit lower depending.Once you add eyes and other details (eye brows, which can just be curved lines about the eyes, blush marks, not all styles have them though, and ears, you don't have to draw them, you can cover them with hair but if you do just semi circles can work or you can go detailed as I have) you can erase your guide lines and your drawing should look something like this:

BABY I'M BALD THIS WAY!
















HAIR:

once again , the hair depends on style, but the great thing about manga is that it can be HUGE and have ridiculous and messy styles and still look good.. EXAMPLES!

Yugi is a perfect example because he has the square blocky hair that many mangas have... some more extreme than others.

Second is Ricalna and Syal from Mother Keeper, their hair is more detailed and flowy, natural (though he does have a piece of hair that always curls up from the bangs, that actually really common in manga I do it with my persona and a few of my characters) the hair is more 'realisitic' in a sense, I honestly prefer this, it look much nicer.












I my self go towards the natural hair, depending on my mood (its always with my mood) I will draw the hair very detailed, sometimes I'll leave it a little blocky like so:

now all that is left is the clothes!

now the same principle with hair goes with clothing, there is blocky clothing and flowy clothing, I suggest going with the same type as the type of hair you do c: and don't forget to sign it! wala! you have a drawing!


NOW! I must tell you this now, DO NOT EXPECT YOUR DRAWING TO BE PERFECT NOR GET DISCOURAGED BECAUSE ITS NOT!!!

that is all I have to say c: I'd love to see your drawings if you followed along!

~Yume