How to Draw Ninja Warriors

Child in ninja costume with mask.

Ninjas were a specific type of warrior spies in feudal Japan. Although information about ninjas remains elusive, their primary purpose was espionage and intelligence gathering, and less hand-to-hand combat. Ninjas were masters of disguise and camouflage. Although a ninja would wear whatever was suitable for the task at hand, ninjas are most easily recognized today by their black, close-fitting outfits that include masks to hide their faces (except for the eyes).

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Paper
• Eraser

Instructions

1. Draw a body. Start by drawing an oval (like an upside-down egg shape) for the head, and a vertical oval beneath it for the body. Connect the head and body by two lines for the neck. Draw two pairs of parallel lines starting from each shoulder, extending to be on level with the hips. These are the arms. At the end of each arm, draw an oval, to represent the hand. Do the same for the legs--draw two pairs of parallel lines starting at the bottom of the body and down to the ground, then draw an oval at the end of each leg (to represent the foot).

2. Draw a horizontal oval on the face, around the area where both eyes would be. Inside the oval, draw two dots for the eyes, and a curving line a directly over the top of each dot, to represent the top eyelids.

3. Draw a horizontal line across the bottom of the neck, curving downward in the middle to make a bowl-shape, from one side of the neck to the other, to represent the bottom of the mask. The mask itself will be head shaped, conforming to the curve of the head, so no outline for the mask is necessary.

4. Draw a horizontal line across each wrist, to represent the place where the arms of the shirt cut off. Ninjas are commonly portrayed as wearing practical clothes that conform to the shape of the body--don't spend a lot of time producing a separate outline for the shirt, pants or other.

5. Draw a horizontal line across the waist, and a second line below the first line, to represent the belt that holds the clothes to the body.

6. Draw another horizontal line across the mid-section of the calves, to represent the tops of the boots.

7. Shade the inside of the body with your pencil, to show the ninja is wearing black. Do not shade the inside of the body so dark that the outlines are not visible anymore.

8. Draw a long sword (approximately the length of one of the arms) in one of the ninja's hands. The sword should be formed by two long, parallel lines with a slender space in between, pointing out and away from the ninja's body. At the far end of the sword, the point farthest from the ninja's body, one line should be only slightly shorter than the other line, and they should be connected by a straight line in between. There should be a short hand-guard in between the hand of the ninja and the blade--this will be represented by a short perpendicular line that crosses over the blade just above the hand.

Tips & Warnings

• When you've finished drawing the sections of the body in Step 1, compare the body to the shape of a real body, and alter the lines you've drawn to have a more organic, natural appearance. For example, the arms will be slightly muscular in appearance--not just straight parallel lines.

References

• A History Of Violence: Ninjas
• Enter The Ninja: Traditional Ninja Clothing