How to Draw Akatsuki Leader

The ninjas in the wold of Naruto are powerful warriors who can use their martial arts and magic in creative and strange ways. Characters can see with 360-degree vision, make temporary clones and even manipulate life-size puppets to fight on their behalf. There is one group of warriors in this universe, however, that is even more powerful and strange than the rest. These are the sinister Akatsuki. Their motivations are shrouded in mystery and their abilities are terrible in their might and dark power.

Instructions

1. 

   Draw the head of the Akatsuki leader with a large oval shape. Attach a "V" shape that is flat at the point to create the leader's jawline and chin. Draw a cross shape inside the figure's head to create a guideline for the nose, eyes and mouth. Add a neck guideline with a vertical line coming down from the chin. Create the chest with a large cylinder shape. Add the spine guideline with a line coming down from the bottom of the chest. Draw the skeletal frame of the shoulders and arms with a circle for the shoulder and a straight line for the arm.

2. 

   Draw the eyes, nose and mouth of the Akatsuki leader. Draw the eyes with two thin oval shapes that come to an angular point as they get closer to the bridge of the nose. Add pupils inside the eyes with a circle inside each eye. Draw the bridge of the nose with a curved line in between the eyes. Add the tip of the nose itself with a diagonal curved line below the bridge of the nose. Add the nostril to the right of the tip of the nose. Create the mouth with a small curved line under the nose.

3. Draw a parallel line around each side of the neck to thicken the neck. Attach a diagonal line to each of these lines that continues down to the top of the shoulder.

4. 

   Draw the Akatsuki leader's hair with large spike shapes around the head. Do this with triangular shapes that fan out from the top of the head. Add more spiked hair poking out from the bottom left and right side of the head. Draw the headband with rectangular band across the top of the head. Add a smaller rectangle with rounded edges in the center of the headband. Draw a curved line starting from the bottom left of the head, around the base of the neck and up and back toward the bottom right side of the head. Add a two parallel lines going down the middle of the figure.

5. 

   Add the cloak with with a diagonal line coming off of each shoulder. Draw the ninja clan symbol on the headband with four vertical lines intersected by a horizontal line. Add the cloud-like design to the base of the torso with an oval shape made of five curved lines. Add three cylinders to each side of the bridge of the nose. These are the strange piercings on the Akatsuki leader. Draw the ears with a curved line on each side of the face. Add two tiny cylinders to the top of each ear and one on the bottom for more piercings.

6. 

   Erase the spine, shoulder, arm and torso guidelines. Also erase the guideline for the top of the head as well as all guidelines inside the face, leaving behind only the pieces of the illustration you wish to keep. Ink the illustration of the Akatsuki leader with black ink. Let the ink dry and erase the pencil lines beneath the ink. Add shadows with a thick line under the chin. Darken in the pupils of the eyes.

Tips & Warnings

• You can color the Akatsuki leader with art markers. Make a photocopy of the image in Step 6 so that you can attempt multiple color schemes without ruining the original illustration.

• Be sure to let the illustration dry completely before erasing the pencil lines, or the image will smudge.

References

• AskANinja.com
• HowToDrawManga.com

Resources

• Click here to see a database of the characters in the Naruto universe.