How to Make Manga in Illustrator

You can make Manga images by applying Illustrator's Pen and Direct selection tools to progressively refine rectangle objects to the parts of an underlying reference image. This approach teaches you how to draw Manga, a skill that will make you proficient in Illustrator and in non-digital drawing. The main idea behind the approach is drawing complex images with simpler ones, and then reshaping those simple images until they convey the same thing as the complex image. This process often involves leaving many details out of the original image, and sometimes exaggerating other details, such as the heart-shaped face of Manga characters.

Instructions

1. Click the File menu's "Open" command, then navigate to and double-click an existing Manga picture you would like to learn to draw. Illustrator will load the picture for you to use a reference for guiding your own illustration.

2. Click the tool palette icon shaped like a rectangle to run the tool for drawing rectangles, and then drag over the largest shape in the reference image to place a rectangle over it. For example, if you've loaded a Manga picture of a human character, you might draw a rectangle over the character's rib cage. You will reshape the rectangle to fit the underlying part.

3. Draw rectangles over the remaining parts of the reference image. For the character example, draw rectangles covering the pelvis, upper and lower legs, upper and lower arms, head and neck.

4. Click the tool palette icon shaped like a nib pen to run the Pen tool, which lets you add control points to vector shapes like rectangles. Click a point on the outline of the largest rectangle you drew to add a control point.

5. Click the white arrow icon from the tool palette to run the Direct selection tool, which lets you move a vector shape's control points, such as the one you just added. Double-click a control point on the rectangle to select it for moving, and then drag the point so it matches the outline of the underlying part of the reference image. For the character example, drag a control point of a rectangle covering the rib cage so the point falls on the rib cage's outline.

6. Use the Pen and Direct selection tools as described in the previous two steps to reshape the largest rectangle to its underlying reference shape. Repeat this step until you can fit the rectangle to the underlying shape with as few control points and movements as possible.

7. Fit the rectangles covering the other shapes just as you did the largest rectangle, to complete the Manga drawing.

References

• Illustrator CS5 Bible; Ted Alspach
• How to Draw What You See; Rudy De Reyna
• Design Basics; David Lauer