How to Draw Natsu from Fairy Tail

Anyone here into manga? Whoa, not all at once! Today we're going to draw an iconic character from an equally iconic series: Natsu, from the manga Fairy Tail!

For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll stick to the style of the manga, but we're going to create the pose. We're dealing with a human *inner joy*. I've never done a tutorial on human characters before, but I can assure you it's my favorite thing to draw. Here, Natsu is a character of normal proportions (a bit less than 7 heads tall, hair not included), but quite muscular. Otherwise, nothing about him is overly unique, aside from the graphic style, the hairstyle and the facial style of course! :D

I have chosen this outfit for our drawing of the day:

 

DRAWING NATSU FROM FAIRY TAIL STEP BY STEP

I want Natsu to have a dynamic pose. As always, I do some research sketches before finding a pose that I like.

 

In our case, I'm going to go with this one.

 

Now that we have a base (even if it is completely disproportionate compared to the model), we can get to work. First, we will draw the head, which is a simple oval with our usual cross for the eyes. The eyes are located in the middle of the face.

 

I will add the skull.

 

 

Standing, Natsu is just under 7 heads tall. Here, his legs are bent, but the foot is extended, so we will roughly stick to our basic measurement. I have taken this opportunity to indicate some useful proportions. The torso, which ends at the hips, is 3 and a half heads long.

 

As you can see in my sketch, I use specific shapes for certain parts of the body. For example, I use a trapezoid for the torso. It's easier for me to visualize it this way. The torso is about one head height wide (shoulders not included). So, we will draw the torso as in the sketch, but with the correct proportions. Feel free to draw the middle line of the torso as it helps to show its orientation and volume. Personally, I find this super useful.

 

We will now add the neck.

 

Before drawing the legs, we need to know the position of the hips. They are positioned at a ¾ angle to the torso.

 

We will now draw the legs. Pay attention to their angle. The right leg (which is on the left for us) is almost completely relaxed. Let me remind you that the thigh is almost as long as the shin and the extended foot should be about half a head long.

The left leg is foreshortened. It CANNOT have a thigh as long (let alone longer) than its neighbor since it is folded towards us. The same goes for the shin and foot, which are bent backwards. Be logical when drawing by imagining the leg unfolding; it should be the same length as its neighbor. This also means that the knee is placed higher. My best advice in these cases is to always refer to the already drawn leg and compare the size of the two, imagining them unfolded next to each other to correct the proportions.

This leg stops at the right ankle.

Now onto the arms! The right arm is still fairly simple. The elbow is about at the level of the navel, which is about in the middle of the chest in height. Be careful, the shoulder line is not straight, so the elbow will drop a bit below this point. Also, be careful as the forearm is not added to the arm. Once you have found the elbow, it is included IN the arm in such a way that it can pivot.

 

The left arm is raised and the proportions are the same. So, look at the first arm you drew and aim to have the same proportions for both.

 

Now that we have our base, we're going to add the clothes before refining everything. Let's start with the jacket collar. It comes up to the middle of the cheek as, given the angle of view, it will be a bit lower.

 

Then draw the jacket itself. Place the belt at the hip level. Don't forget that the torso is a cylinder, so the belt is not quite straight.

 

Also add the bands on the left arm and right wrist, using the same principle as for the belt.

 

We are also going to draw the sleeve, which is circular and widens as it nears the wrist. Our character has a swift movement, so the sleeve will be affected by gravity and reveal a bit more of the arm.

The panels of the jacket are also affected by the movement. Normally, they reach about knee level. We must not forget to shorten the one on the right.

 

Place the scarf over it.

 

Then draw the pants. The folds follow the movement and the points of tension and friction. Here is Grégoire's video on the topic for more info:

So there will be folds mainly at the joints. The pants are wide, so there's no need to bother fitting them tightly to the leg.

 

The feet are simply clad in sandals.

 

ADDING DETAILS TO THE DRAWING OF NATSU

We're starting from the head. First, let's redefine the shape of the face. Natsu has a quite round face with a pointed chin.

 

He has large eyes that adhere to classic rules: there's room to place an additional eye between the two eyes. They are slightly tilted so as to rise towards the outside. There is also a free course available in our manga series on this subject, feel free to take a look!

 

Add a small pointed nose close to the eyes (you could even place a second line above that reaches the line of the bottom of the eyes).

 

 

Let's give him a cheerful smile.

 

Draw the ears, which are approximately as large as the eyes and positioned lower than usual (normally, the ears are located on the line of the eyes and nose), because his face is tilted backwards (albeit slightly, I grant you).

 

Now for the hair! Styled or not, hair always starts from the skull and always follows a certain logic. First, draw the hairline.

 

Here is how the hair should fall.

 

And now let's clean all that up. I'll show you some detailed parts like the arm, the hands, and the feet.

 

I'll show you a few more steps.

 
 

COLORING NATSU FROM FAIRY TAIL

So now we've ended up with this:

 

Recap:

• When copying a character for practice like this, it is essential to analyze it thoroughly, whether you want to copy it in its original style or adapt it to your own. It must remain recognizable.
• As always, stay logical. If you change the character's pose, think about what moves, why, how, and whether we will see areas that we haven't seen before? Will it instead hide some areas?
• Whether it's for manga, cartoons, or any other graphic style, the rules of anatomy, perspective, and proportions always apply. Only some proportions may vary (such as the size of the eyes, which are still positioned correctly on the face and relative to other elements.)

 

Illustrator and writer: Camille Rakjah