There are numerous styles that you can follow when learning how to draw manga, but eventually you will discover your own—that’s the beauty of drawing manga. You learn all the possible styles but find yourself creating your own combination that will identify you as an artist and distinguish you from others. In this demonstration, I will teach you how to draw a teenage manga girl: pretty, funny and outgoing.
Draw a circle (not as big as the one you drew for a small child’s head) and then divide the circle in half with a vertical line. Then draw one horizontal line at the bottom of the circle for the “nose line.” Add another line below for the “chin line.”
Start outlining the head shape following the guidelines you have drawn in step 1. Make sure that the face’s bone structure is symmetrical and that one side is not chubbier than the other. Draw the neck of your character, trying to balance it with the head size.
Sketch two horizontal lines to be your guide when drawing the eyes. Use those guidelines to help draw the ears. Most of the ear will fall between the two lines. The ears may reach the nose line in some cases if they’re really long.
Draw both the upper and lower eyelashes within the guidelines you have drawn in the previous step.
Draw the nose (just a small vertical line is good) on the nose line, and sketch your character’s mouth as shown. The nose location is fixed, but the mouth can be anywhere underneath, depending on the expression you are trying to convey.
Draw circles (which will contain the iris and pupil) in the eyes of your character. Make sure that the circle highlight is in the direction of the light, an important concept to remember when shading.
Outline the iris with a thicker line along with the pupil; this gives more definition to the eyes. Then sketch and outline your character’s hair. The hair here is not as complex as it seems and will be explained in later chapters. For now, practice drawing smooth strands; once you master that skill, you can draw any desired hairstyle.
Once you are done with your sketch, erase the guidelines. Then ink and color your drawing.
