If you are looking to create your own manga or perhaps even your own blitheness you will probably accept to draw and design at to the lowest degree one protagonist.

Even if you feel quite comfy with your drawing ability properly designing a character that you will draw over and over tin be challenging. The post-obit tutorial offers some tips on the most of import steps of making your own manga or anime character.

Manga/anime style ninja girl design
Anime ninja girl grapheme pattern

Character Pattern vs Normal Drawing

Designing a character for an anime or a manga is quite different than doing a one fourth dimension sketch. In a one time drawing you only accept to worry well-nigh what your subject will look like from that ane view for that one drawing. In a manga or an animation a character will likely take to exist fatigued many times from multiple views/angles.

Two very important aspects to designing anime and manga characters:

  1. A character for a manga or an animation should have a reasonably uncomplicated design (information technology can become too time consuming to describe a circuitous grapheme multiple times).
  2. You lot need to consider how a manga or anime character will look from all views/angles (you will likely take to depict them from multiple views multiple times).

How to Pattern a Manga or Anime Character Pace by Pace

Footstep 1 – Character Contour

Anime notes drawing
Character profile write-up

Decide on what your character will be and pick the blank minimum details you lot will need to convey that to the viewer of your manga or animation. For example what wearable or accessories practise they need to all-time prove who they are?

If you want to design a human or at least humanoid you should write down some basic information about your character such as their age, occupation, personality, etc… Their design tin and so be based on these factors.

Step 2 – Rough Character Sketches

Manga or anime character sketching
Manga or anime character sketching

Draw some rough sketches of your ideas. These tin exist from any view and in whatsoever pose that yous like. Draw any yous experience best shows off your character. Do at least a one full body sketches and some close up face sketches.

If your character needs to be particularly big or particularly small-scale you can sketch them next to what would be an average sized person to become a better idea of their size.

Use the blank minimum details you need when cartoon. Don't make the designs complicated. You can e'er add more details later if yous feel your character is besides plain.

Once you are done sketching pick the drawings you like all-time and combine them into one character pattern.

For drawing dissimilar poses see:

How to Depict Anime Poses Pace past Step

For tutorials on showing a characters personality see:

  • How to Draw Anime Characters Tutorial
  • How to Depict Male Anime Characters Stride past Step
  • How to Draw Anime and Manga Eyes to Show Personality

For drawing various expressions you can check:

  • 12 Anime Facial Expressions Nautical chart & Drawing Tutorial
  • 12 Anime Male Facial Expressions Nautical chart & Drawing Tutorial
  • 16 Examples of How to Draw Chibi Anime Facial Expressions
  • How to Draw Anime Facial Expressions – Side View

For cartoon a sword see:

How to Draw a Katana Stride by Stride

Step 3 – Developing the Character Design

Manga or anime character design
Manga or anime character design

To farther develop your design draw your character from the front, both sides (unless they are exactly the same), and back views. You tin can likewise describe additional views if you demand to.

The reason to practice these drawings is and then that you will have an all around pattern of your graphic symbol. You can then employ these pictures as reference material when drawing the same character in your manga or blitheness.

To help yous keep even proportions in different views y'all can draw guidelines from one torso function in one view to the aforementioned body part in another view. It's of import to note here that due to perspective (run into: Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners and How it Relates to Anime) certain parts of a character may not e'er be perfectly aligned to others in different views. Y'all can see that in the above example if you wait at the feet. Because nosotros are looking down on the feet in the front view and because they are reaching more towards the viewer they extend slightly by the guideline.

For tutorials on drawing people in the anime manner you can meet:

  • How to Draw an Anime Schoolhouse Girl in 6 Steps
  • How to Depict Anime Girl Body Footstep by Pace Tutorial
  • How to Draw Anime Guy Body Step by Step Tutorial

Step four – Coloring an Anime Grapheme

Manga or anime character design colour
Manga or anime character design colour

Manga are often blackness and white but color is however used in some places (cover for case).

For a tutorial on coloring an anime character you can see:

How to Colour an Anime Character Step by Step

While you may have certain colors in mind for your character there is a very of import aspect of coloring to be aware of.

Certain colors get ameliorate together than others. These are ordinarily gratuitous colors or colors across from 1 another on the color wheel (black and white go with nearly everything). You can ofttimes see the use of complimentary colors if you wait at the color schemes of popular anime characters. The colors don't need to exactly match those on the color bike they can exist a variation of a given colour.

Anime or manga ninja girl and colour wheel
Manga or anime character coloring

Y'all should as well pick colors that are appropriate for the type of character you are trying to create. Colors tin give off certain moods. For instance blue is considered a cool color while cherry-red is considered warm. Then if lets say you desire to design a fantasy character that uses ice magic yous probably don't want to use a lot of reds in their design.

For a more than detailed explanation of diverse color combinations see:

Beginner Guide to Picking Colors When Drawing Anime & Manga

Bonus Tips

Design characters to matches the story. A lot of manga accept fairly generic looking characters and are notwithstanding very good. Accept a residue between originality and what is appropriate for your story.

For example if you are doing a "Slice of Life" manga you should probably have character designs that are downwardly to earth. If y'all are doing a fantasy or sci-fi manga then you can create designs that are a little more unusual.

Practise not rip off characters from other artists. By this I mean copy the majority of the design while making insignificant changes. It'south fine to describe inspiration from the work of others merely be sure to bring in enough of your own ideas.

How exercise you tell when you've copied too much? I good sign is when people expect at your drawings and says something forth the lines of "Oh isn't that and then and so from this show?". Especially when more than than one person tells you that for the aforementioned character.

Conclusion

Properly designing a manga or anime grapheme can be a lot of work only it can also be a lot fun. If yous remember y'all have a good idea for a manga or an anime definitely give it a try.

If y'all demand help cartoon in the anime or manga manner and then check out some other Tutorials on this site. You can find quite a bit of reference material.

For creating your own manga meet:

  • 9 Steps to Make Your Ain Manga or Comic Volume