MANGA BASICS

School Girl

Shôjo manga often revolve around the daily lives of junior high or high school students. This school girl’s main concerns involve passing her classes, finding romance, and bonding with her girlfriends. She may have hidden super powers, but that’s for you, the mangaka, to decide!

Step 1
First, sketch out the basic shapes for this casual pose. Be sure to establish the action, shoulder, and hip lines, place the major joints, and measure out accurate body proportions.

Step 2
Draw the basic contours of the body, hair, and handbag. Next, add her facial features. Think about the character’s personality. This classic girl next door has straight hair and wide, innocent eyes.

Step 3
Now draw her clothing. A traditional Japanese school uniform includes a collared shirt, tie, sweater, and short pleated skirt. To complete the outfit, add accessories, such as hairpins, a watch, plush keychain, and shoes. Be sure to render your final details and textures at this stage.

Step 4
Ink the sketch and erase unnecessary marks. Use fine, thin lines for a light, cheerful mood. You may want to make copies of your inked drawing to practice coloring on and work out your color palette before applying color to your line art.

Step 5
Begin coloring by laying down the lightest colors first, and then build up the darkest areas. If you are working with markers, use light pressure. Try using a cool gray for the sweater and a warmer gray or brown for the bag. With soft strokes, capture the textures in the blue skirt and strands of brown hair. Color the tie red and add pink for the hair pins, watchband, and shoes. Finish up by adding a few key highlights with a white gel pen or white acrylic paint. Adding white dots to the eyes and jewelry make them look brighter and shinier.