How to Draw a Basic Shoujo Character

"Shoujo" is a transliteration of the Japanese word for girl. It describes a specific type of manga or anime for 10-to-14-year old girls. Because shoujo describes a target audience rather than a genre of art, there's no one style of shoujo. Typically, outside of Japan, any anime cartoon with female main characters and romantic elements, like the popular Sailor Moon cartoons, is considered shoujo.

Instructions

1. Draw a heart-shaped head with pointed chin. Leave the facial features to fill in later, as these are the most important details of shoujo (and many types of manga).

2. Draw a narrow trapezoidal shape for the body, making it slightly narrower at the waist but emphasizing the slender shape throughout (including shoulders, bust and waist). Add long, slender arms and hands with little definition.

3. Draw a second, but inverted, trapezoidal shape below the first one for the hips. You'll probably want to turn this trapezoid into a flouncy skirt or dress. Add long, slender legs and feet similar to the arms extending from below the skirt.

4. Smooth out the straight lines of the body to give it a more natural shape. Add other body details but refrain from the accentuated body features (such as large breasts) common in some types of manga or anime.

5. Add hair in style, but keep in mind that the young female target audience will probably relate more to wholesome hairstyles with natural or pastel colors, bangs and pigtails or ponytails. Exaggerate the hair if desired, making it longer or larger than would be natural.

6. Add facial features. Draw the eyes first, exaggerating their size and flattening out the bottom edge to imply cheekbones. Draw a small "L"-shaped nose. Vary the mouth to depict emotion, either making it really large (to express laughter or shouting) or nothing more than a small line.

Tips & Warnings

• When drawing shoujo, keep in mind that the target audience is young girls. Make the characters cute instead of sexy, give them trendy rather than revealing clothing and place them in scenes where they are having fun and in situations that young girls enjoy or can relate to, like going to school or flirting with awkward boys.