How to Draw a Manga Girl

Who hasn't dreamed of drawing a charming manga lady? Between the cute poses (Kawaiiii!) and their looks from the cutest to the most outrageous, there is plenty to work with! Girls in manga are often based on a basic model, which is then modified. For this article, I’ll start with a very classic example, a young high school girl, and then it's up to you to customize her as you like! :D

Likewise, to avoid complicating things too much, I'll just have her stand up with her arms down ^^

 

DRAWING THE BODY

We will start with the head! Draw an oval with the usual cross to place the eyes (near the middle of the head, or even a bit below). To learn how to draw manga eyes, you can check out the article on our blog.

 

Next, we will be very careful with proportions since that's where there will be differences from a human. There are many styles in the world of manga, so it's hard to isolate just one. I've chosen a style that's relatively close to normal human proportions, modifying just a few small details. First, I'll change the length of the legs and therefore the torso, and of course, the proportion of the head. Since the face is particularly important in manga, it tends to be larger than in the real world. So, we will draw guidelines for our character, aiming for the body to fit within six and a half heads.

 

So we will draw the neck, which should be small, thin, and not very long:

 

Now comes the first major part: the torso. It will start at the base of the neck and end roughly at three heads down from the top. Please note, I call this area the torso, but to be precise, it includes the rib cage area, so it's approximately up to the navel. Draw a parallelepiped slightly wider than the head at the top, and narrower towards the bottom (this represents the waist).

 

This is just a sketch. You can refine, correct, and revise all this later. For now, we are outlining the major shapes and volumes to see things more clearly ^^ We will connect the top of the torso to the neck by drawing two small triangular shapes: the trapezius muscles. They do not need to be imposing.

 

Now it is time to position the pelvis. It will overlap the torso. It will sit on the line of the third head at about its center, and its shape will be relatively triangular. Manga characters, especially young girls, rarely have very voluptuous shapes. They are relatively slim and slender. Therefore, we will not overly accentuate the curve of the hips.

 

Now onto the thighs! They will go down to approximately the bottom line of the 5th head. Be careful! The legs are not vertical. They are not all straight but slightly inclined inward. Keep this in mind when drawing the thighs as well as the lower leg. To help you, feel free to draw an inclined line starting from the pelvis to the ground. Once again, be careful: they are inclined, but only slightly.

Legs in manga are generally quite slender. So, we will aim for a thickness of about half the width of the torso (even a bit more). And try to keep the inner side relatively straight, but the outer side more curved (to also emphasize the roundness of the waist).

 

Let's move down to the lower leg! We will continue with the slight tilt. Here, we will also avoid defining the volumes too much. The ankle is the thinnest area and we can notice two slight swellings: one for the outer calf and the other for the inner calf. The outer calf will be quite high on the leg, while the one on the inner side will be located a little above the middle of the leg. Anyway, they are not aligned. You can quickly place the feet, we will detail them shortly ^^

 

But I'll spare you for now, let's move on to the arms! For these, we will avoid giving them volume at the shoulder level, as it might make our lady's frame too broad. The elbow should reach the level of the navel / the slimmest part of the torso / the waist.

 

The forearm goes down to about the level of the pubis (if not counting the hands), or just slightly below. The upper arm and forearm are almost the same size, with the forearm being slightly shorter.

 

And you can quickly position the hands as well. When unclenched, they reach down to about the mid-thigh. I won't dwell too much on this part of the body, there are tutorials available if you want to learn how to draw them :D

 

On the other hand, we're going to detail the feet a bit so that our character has some stability. Again, it's relatively complex, so I'm going to remain fairly vague on the subject. Just add a relatively triangular shape in front of the quickly drawn foot to place it on the ground.

 

Last step of this sketch: the chest. We're going to keep it classic: not too big, not too small. It goes on the line of the second head.

 

DRAWING THE CHARACTER'S CLOTHES

If you feel the need, you can take the time here to neatly redo your sketch before we dress our character. For those who do not think this will be necessary, let's continue by adding a belt at the waist:

 

And the timeless pleated skirt: you can change the length as you wish :3

 

On the top, we're going to start with a sailor shirt. So first, we'll draw a shape similar to a t-shirt. It should be slightly loose.

 

You can already mark the folds if you wish, or wait until later for this step:

 

Let's add a little detail to the sleeves (the upper part will be slightly puffy later on).

 

Add a little collar on the shoulders using two very simple triangular shapes:

 

Add a small scarf held by a fabric knot.

 

 

And now let's add the lower part of the scarf that hangs over the chest, a bit like a tie:

 

Draw knee-high socks on the lower legs:

 

I chose to add some small sandals :)

 

 

DRAWING THE FACE AND HAIRSTYLE OF A MANGA GIRL

And finally, let's add a very simple hairstyle:

 

And the face, of course! Feel free to check out the article on our blog to learn how to draw a manga face!

 

And now we can tidy everything up. Don't hesitate to take the time to add detail and tidy up what you deem necessary or to do it in several steps if needed ^^

 

Here is the final result!

 

 

Summary:

• Use simple and geometric shapes for the body structure
• Remember to measure your proportions accurately
• Add clothing after tracing the body underneath to avoid mistakes.

Get your pencils ready!

 

Illustrator and writer: Camille Rakjah