How to Draw Manga Animals
Animals drawn manga style look similar to humans. You can draw realistic representations of animals or chibi, a more cartoon-like rendition. Chibi is a Japanese word that means small, but when talking about manga, the English translation is "super-deformed." Chibi animals are often odd looking, with very short limbs. Read on to learn more.
Instructions
-
Draw Realistic Manga Animals
-
1
Study pictures of the animals you want to draw. Important details to notice are the eye shape, muscle structure and texture of the fur or skin.
-
2
Use basic shapes to outline your animal as a preliminary tool. For example, the side view of a dog can be plotted out by using a circle for its head and a rectangle for its nose.
-
-
3
Flesh out your animal drawing once the basic shape has been established. Use firm strokes to define the lean, muscular body of a lion or panther and softer, rounded lines for the body of a sleeping house cat.
-
4
Draw fur with curved lines. A very furry animal, such as a bear, may have a lot of such strokes throughout the body. Showing the coarser fur on a shorthaired dog can be achieved through just a few short lines coming from the outline of the body, almost like drawing eyelashes.
-
5
Ink your drawings in colors that are realistic to how the species appears in nature.
Draw Chibi Animals
-
6
Start your chibi picture by drawing one circle on top of another, as if you were going to draw a snowman. Chibi characters have a one-to-two ratio of head to body. The circles serve as your guide to the overall height of the character.
-
7
Use the top circle you have drawn to create the head and face of the animal. Large, round eyes are common to chibi characters. Add ears to the head, using triangles for pointy cat-type ears and ovals or rectangles for floppy dog ears.
-
8
Fashion your manga animal's body out of the lower circle. You can make the body any shape you want and erase the remnants of the circle after you have established the length of the torso.
-
9
Add paws and a tail to your animal. The paws should be drawn realistically on a small scale, as the entire character is very small.
-
10
Complete your animal with details like fur and whiskers if appropriate.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Practice drawing characters performing an action to help you create an accurate picture of your animal. Most pictures of animals show them walking, climbing or performing some other type of action rather than being still. The easiest way to learn to draw action is using stick figures.
