{ Alex Itsios: Game Dev & Writer }

Feet are something not many artists think about or even draw especially in manga since everyone loves drawing characters from the bust up. Well sometimes you need to draw a character full body, including the feet. Start with a basic sock shape and draw the toes in afterwards.

Hands the mitten technique  Hands can be pretty challenging, especially when you try to move the fingers around. There are many techniques to draw hands, but my favorite is the mitten technique. Start with a basic shape and the thumb, and then draw the fingers in.  Here are some common mistakes you should look out for when drawing manga hands

Body Proportion Check When drawing the body, circles are your friends! It helps make your character look round and more realistic. There are many proportions to manga, from drawing long legs to large heads; however, everything needs to be within reason. Here are some quick tips to check your proportions, no matter what your style is. Make Your Characters Move! Too often we tend to draw characters in the same pose over and over again It's boring! Stop it! No seriously right now STOP! In action posing there is this principle called the line of action. It conveys the movement of the spine. It should never be S shaped. It's just one curved line. If your line of action is straight then your character's pose is BORING. Draw stick figures before you draw to make sure the line of action is at least curved. Avoid Stiff Poses Even if you were to draw a character just standing around, you can still make them look interesting. Even when character stands it should say something about th...

The way you understand how to draw manga hair can easily make or break your drawing. Hair can be tricky because it is very erratic and random, but here are some hints. Drawing Strands of hair The more details you put into the hair the more complex your drawing will look. Depending on the style you want try to balance out the details. DO NOT draw these strands slowly, they are supposed to be quick fluid lines you do in one motion. When you do one line don't stop, do the next line immediately and the next so that you build up muscle memory to draw them closely together without having them cross into each other. Know Where the Hairline is Drawing bangs is a 'cop out' because artists don't like figuring out where the hairline is and manga has conditioned us to see characters without bangs as unattractive. you can be like everyone else or you can be aware of this and practice drawing characters without bangs. Hair Variety There are so many types of hair you can draw. Don...

There are many ways you can draw anime eyes. Be aware of the shape and placement of the eyeshine to determine what kind of eyes you like the best. Here are some of my favorites. Characteristics of the manga eye So how can you make your eyes look more like manga eyes compared to many other cartoon eye styles? Here are some characteristics to keep in mind when drawing. Making the eyes move around If you like drawing your characters always looking at the same direction, such as looking at the viewer, STOP. The eyes move around and it looks interesting when the character is looking at something in their own environment. So try positioning the eyes differently when you can.

The Ball of Motion When drawing a head, sometimes it’s easy to just always draw a front view. But that’s boring and everyone does that starting out. Imagine the head like a ball and imagine a line going across where the eyes should be. Now rotate that ball around and use the line to give your characters dynamic head angles. You don’t even need to follow a rigid formula and confine yourself to the guidelines. What’s important is conveying motion and the lines are there to guide you.  Manga Profile View Profile views are pretty tough to get right. Here are some common mistakes that new artists make and how to look out for them. How to age your character’s manga face Too often we just draw characters around the same age all the time, the young teenage type. But then all your characters will look exactly the same and you’ll be drawing a 10 year old or a 20 year old guy like they are 15. That’s bad! Manga Head Proportions The way we get better at drawing and p...