Nothing is so eye-catching as a glamorous character. But what exactly is glamour? While certain adjectives come to mind—flash, style, radiance, luster—glamour is not necessarily synonymous with sex appeal. For example, you can draw teenage girls who have a flair for glamour without highlighting a sexuality that would be inappropriate for their age. In a nutshell, I would say glamour is the difference between something that is shiny and something that is not. How do you apply this concept to your drawings? How, exactly, do you transform a sweet, pretty bishoujo character into a glamorous one? Let’s take a closer look.
Glamour is in the details. You can easily turn a pleasant, plain character into a glamorous one by embellishing the eyes, lips, hair, posture, and costume. You don’t have to start with an extravagant beauty. See? I’ve just made your life easier.
PLAIN
Nice, simple—but no head-turner.
BEAUTIFUL
The eyes are the focus of every manga face; but on a beautiful character, they must be especially radiant. Thicken the eyeliner (especially on the upper eyelid), as well as the eyelashes. Use light markings beneath the eyes, which make them stand out even more. The lips should have slightly heavier treatment, most notably becoming fuller (not wider) and showing a shadow under the lower lip. A slightly opened mouth is sexier than a tightly closed one. The nose remains the same—diminutive. And you need to give the hair more body, building up its size and letting it go wild.
Compare this figure to the one on this page. This is an average, nice-looking character that doesn’t have enough charisma to captivate readers. You need to make changes in three main areas: posture, costume, and curves.
The figure on this page is not that drastically different, but the way she holds herself creates a dramatically new presence. Don’t underestimate how important it is for a beautiful character to carry herself with confidence. In addition, note that attractive manga women are not built like American fashion models, who are skinny and usually on starvation diets. Manga women have curves. And while, yes, her curves are emphasized more here, the costume is also doing a lot of the work for her. And by the way, in case you haven’t noticed, all beautiful manga women have great hair.
The larger you draw your character—in a close-up, for example—the more detail is required to maintain the reader’s interest. When you draw something smaller, you try to simplify it so as not to clutter the image. Therefore, how do you add detail to a fairly simple girl’s face in a close-up? By adding glamour.
In the full-length view, this girl is pretty. But in the close-up, a lot more detail has been added, and as a result, she’s brilliant! What’s the difference? The eyes have much more detail; specifically, the irises have been indicated with light, repeating lines. In addition, shines have been added to the pupils, causing them to glisten and appear moist. Because of the larger face size, the addition of extra eyelashes is now possible, and the eyelids have been darkened. Full lips have replaced the single line for the mouth, and blush lines have been added to the upper cheek areas. Lastly, the eyebrows have been given thickness, rather than being just lines.
The figure on the left starts out with an attractive pose, a shapely figure, and beautiful eyes. And although she is certainly stylish, she exudes no real glamour. But with only a few adjustments, her look can be retooled into one of glamour and sex appeal without changing one pencil stroke of her posture. First, the figure on the left is covered from head to toe, while the sexier figure on the right is not so hidden by her outfit. The wide cut of the lapels reveals a low-cut camisole top that mimics a bra. The sleeveless shirt and short skirt also reveal more of her shape. The shoes are minimal, revealing more of the foot. A sexier look is usually a more relaxed look; therefore, the figure on the right, with hair down and flowing, has more appeal. The full, darkened lips also add to the effect.
There’s a large shine that falls into the upper part of the pupil area, and two smaller shines punctuate the lower part. The iris contains small, repeated lines. The upper part of the eye is a pool of black, which serves to mimic the shadow that naturally occurs under the eyelid, creating a sexy look.
Swimsuits are common glamour attire. A full-body wet suit might keep her warmer, but it won’t warm the readers as much as a bikini. In keeping with what we’ve covered so far in this section, when a female character has an attractive shape, it’s more glamorous and appealing to reveal it, rather than to cover it up.
Relaxed hair is sexier than hair that’s perfectly set in place.
The space suit on the left is basically a simple unitard. It’s fine for its purpose, but it doesn’t do much for the attractiveness of the character. It’s so undefined and long that it turns the body into a large, bland area.
You need to add accessories in order to define various parts of the body, which will give the eye certain landmarks in order to help better digest such a long figure. Shoulder pads are always a good choice for space suits, as are forearm guards of any size. The waist-grip is a cool look for fighter pilots. And instead of drawing one long bodysuit, divide it into two pieces, resulting in high-cut leg openings.
Note the change in hairstyle, from up in a ponytail to loose and flowing.
On glamorous characters, thick lower eyelids punctuated by heavy lashes look good. On sweet and innocent characters, such heavy lash treatment is distracting.
An average manga artist might draw an elfin creature like the one below. And there’s nothing wrong with it. But the costume covers up her body with excess clothing. Giving the clothing more shape and some dramatic flair would create more glamour and better serve the character.
The glamorized elf wears a heavily ornamented cape. There’s nothing more romantic and sweeping than a long cape, and so it’s included here. Her top is formfitting but still has seamwork that gives it a faerielike, medieval look. The sleek, long gloves and long boots (with thin, high heels) are much more glamorous than the shorter versions. Her hair is wavy and longer. And the hair accessory and earring are more details that add up to a glamorous look.
Because she’s elfin, her eyes are more horizontally shaped than other bishoujo characters.
