How to Draw Manga With a Tracing Method

Manga, Japanese print cartoons and comics, are well known worldwide for their unique artistic style and Japanese cultural references. Whether you have chosen to draw manga for fun or to start a profession, tracing provides an easy introduction to this style and a practical foundation on which to create your own unique manga.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Manga character pictures
• Tape
• Tracing and drawing paper
• Pencil
• White eraser
• Light box

1. Collect Japanese manga character pictures using links in the Resources section, and print the images. Choose both basic and more complex drawings.
2. Pick a basic image, and tape it to your light box or a flat surface at the same angle that you would use to hand write a letter.
3. Affix a single piece of tape to the top of your tracing paper. Place the tracing paper over the basic image, and tape it to your light box or surface. Taping the paper in this way can make it easier for you to check your progress.
4. Trace the entire character slowly with your pencil. Observe and mentally catalogue any areas of the image that seem difficult or require a certain movement of the hand or wrist.
5. Remove the tracing paper and compare the two images. Completely erase mistakes with the white eraser, and repeat previous steps until both images match.
6. Repeat Step 3. Choose one character feature, such as the hair or eyes, to practice. Repeat Steps 4 and 5.
7. Practice freehand drawing or sketching the manga character feature on drawing paper. Once you have mastered the feature, move on to another and repeat the previous steps until you have mastered that feature as well. Repeat until you have drawn all of the features. You have mastered a feature or image when you can draw it without looking at the original and when you can alter it to match your tastes.

Tips & Warnings

• Tracing manga character features such as eyes, hair or clothing instead of entire pictures can make the creation of your own character easier as you learn the basics of manga design.
• Never allow young children to read manga books or visit manga websites without adult supervision. Many manga titles, especially Doujinshi, include mature content or graphic images.
• All manga character designs and images are protected by copyrights. Never sell, distribute, claim or duplicate manga characters and images that were not created or developed exclusively by you.
• Never use colored pencils with the tracing method. The tracing method shows how to draw the basic black outline of a manga character. A manga character is colored, shaded or "inked" after the basic outline is finished.

Who Can Help:

• Find Decorators & Designers Here. Compare Up to 4 Quotes, Free Service & No Obligation.