Love drawing anime? From the most popular manga to the lesser known indie titles, anime is an ever-growing field that continues to entertain and inspire millions. Drawing perfect anime characters can be a daunting task, but by learning the basics of anatomy and gesture, you can create beautiful and captivating characters with ease. Ready to get drawing? Here’s your go-to guide for drawing anime anatomy!
Use References for Accurate Anatomy
Anatomy drawing is often thought of as a dry, technical practice where you break the body down into geometrical shapes and shadows. Luckily, to draw anime anatomy you don’t need to become a master of anatomy, you just need to reference other artwork and your favorite manga. Use references to make sure your characters have accurate body proportions, then you can stylize them with your own ideas and flavors.
This doesn’t just apply to the major body parts like the head, arms and legs. You should also compare references for the smaller details like hands, feet, facial expressions, and clothing. You’d be surprised how important these details are in making a character look unique and stand out from the rest. You can use reference points from other artworks, images, or photos – just be sure to give credit where credit is due.
Practice Gesture Drawing
Gesture drawing is an important skill for any artist. It involves sketching the figure’s movements and practicing speed and accuracy in a fast-paced setting. To practice effective gesture drawing, first, start out by drawing basic shapes, keeping the simple forms and gesture lines. These imply movement and direction, they don’t need to be precise or followed exactly. Learn to draw fast by blocking out the major shapes and movements of the scene.
Once you’ve gotten comfortable with drawing basic shapes, practice with other objects. Draw a pose from a reference photo and practice creating movement that looks dynamic, yet still proportionate. Gesture drawing gets complicated with the hands and feet, so try to focus on the big shapes and details at first. Over time, your gestures will become much more fluid and graceful. This practice is invaluable for drawing animation and movement in anime characters.
Striking Facial Expressions
The eyes play an incredibly important role in anime and manga. They communicate emotions, give characters a sense of life, and can even add moments of comedic relief. If your character isn’t looking dynamic and stylized, they won’t stand out from the crowd. Start by blocking out basic facial features and create further details around them. Follow through with the facial expression – it should be exaggerated and genuine. Strong emotions like shock, surprise, and anger look best in manga, so don’t be afraid to express emotion through the face.
Once you’ve created a basic face, you can go back and add more details. Contours, shadows, and highlights will give the character an extra sense of depth and realism. To add more narrative to your characters, you can also create unique expressions like dreamy eyes, comic-relief happy eyes, sad eyes, and more.
Mastering Clothing
From t-shirts and jackets to classical Japanese kimono, clothing plays an important role in creating your anime characters. There are many different types of clothes and techniques you can use to showcase your characters in the best way possible. Like gesture drawing, try to focus on the big shapes and simple forms first. Block out the clothing with simple shapes and then use detailed line work to bring the form to life. Once you’ve finished the basics of the clothing, you can add details such as buttons, pockets, buckles, and zippers.
You can also use colors and different textures to give your characters more depth, or to represent unique nationalities or cultures. Bright colors, neon colors, and white hues can all be used to express different emotions and themes in anime art. Have fun with these colors, create old-school anime with wild colors and patterns. Remember, you’re the artist here – let your imagination and creativity take control.
Go to the Finish Line
The details in anime art make all the difference. Just like facial expressions, clothing, and anatomy all require the same amount of attention. When drawing hair, draw it in strands and keep details to a minimum. When you add shading and highlights make sure they are correct and look natural. Rule of thumb: the more details you add, the more realistic your characters will look.
Finally, when all is said and done, you can make your characters shine by adding a sense of flow. Make sure all your categories flow from the head to the feet without bumps, make sure there are no inconsistencies. It’s a move that adds instant sophistication to your artwork.
