Part 2
Eyes
Now that you have a rough idea and a bunch of head shapes it is time to start placing the facial features onto the head, we will begin with the eyes.
Study the steps taken to draw this Manga eye.
In the example above the Manga eye is stretched to look more like an oval, it is also possible to achieve a Manga eye from using a circle.
Step 1.
Draw a circle.
Step 2.
You can either draw the iris in early or start drawing in the eyelids.
(When drawing in the eyelids remember to use curved lines. Imagine that the line follows around the eyeball)
Here we have added in a vertical line and a horizontal line to help centre the iris, this comes in handy when we draw from different angles.
Step 3.
Do the same with the bottom eye lid but leave a gap on either side to represent the corners of the eyes.
Step 4.
Now add a smaller line above the top eyelid to represent a fold, this gives the eye greater depth. (fig1)
Notice how there is more lines drawn under the bottom eyelid, by applying these lines the eyes have more character. (fig2)
After you have this shape down you can add in iris, pupil, reflections, lashes and brows. (When drawing lashes try using two lines that connect at one point, do this by flicking your wrist when drawing them in. It will look more natural) (Nicer Lashers Image)
This is just a basic and classical Manga eye, there are plenty of different styles and the same steps can be applied to each. It really comes down to personal taste of which one you like.
Here are a few examples of eyes from different angles but all using the same rules.
Mouth and Nose
[Mouth]
Manga noses and mouths are usually quite simple to draw. The following steps are a quick and fast way to draw both, and they both follow the same basic rule of using a horizontal and vertical line crossing in the centre like so.
To create a mouth draw two points where the corners will be.
Add a small arc in the middle of the vertical line and above the horizontal line, remembering to think about how thick you want your upper lip to be.
Connect the corner of the arc to the corner points and then draw in the bottom of the upper lip.
From here it’s easy to just draw a large curved line to represent the bottom lip. It is a similar shape you would use to draw a bow from a bow and arrow.
You should be able to use this simple rule when drawing lips from multiple angles.
If you are finding it hard to draw it from hard angles you can imagine these lines drawn onto a squashed ball shape like so.
This will help when drawing lips from lower and upper angles.
Once you have finished with this basic lip shape you can draw in some lines that represent the curves of the lip and some highlights like the following.
[Nose]
When beginning the nose it’s very useful to visualise what the basic shape is. So when drawing up a nose you should think of a shape that looks similar to this.
So from a bird’s eye view it should look something like this.
With the understanding of this basic shape you should be able to draw noses from different angles
It’s all just about shifting the peak of the nose when drawing from different angles. Get this basic shape down and you should be able to draw the nose from different angles, it’s just adding the details in after that and you should be done.
When creating the lines for the nose try using curved lines like the following
After you have put these lines in add some shade to the base of the nose
I tend to use a variation when drawing noses and just use the base of the nose.
Or you can just draw in two nostrils and a little arc above them to represent the tip of the nose.
Placement of features on the head.
To position the eyes on a face draw a vertical line through the middle and a horizontal line across the centre of your Manga head that you drew up last week or a new one. Draw a circle in the middle of the lines the size of the eyes you want your character to have, draw a circle on both sides and this should be the starting position of the characters eyes. Divide the bottom half of the head into two and this will establish the nose, and then the bottom section between the nose and chin into two and this will establish the mouth position.
Now apply the eyes, nose and mouth with the rules that you learnt and you should be on your way to having a pretty cool looking Manga face.
While going through these basic steps there were a few minor adjustments that where needed, notice how the eyes have been shifted slightly, this is because the rules learnt are your basic guides and building blocks. You should always be making adjustments till you’re happy with what you have drawn before you get to clean up stage.
This image varies a little from the video because after another close look the eyes looked a little high on the face and the top of the head looked a bit small. So the adjustments made was increase the size of the top of the head and the eyes brought down a little closer to the nose.
That just about covers blog two. Hope to see you in the upcoming week where we will be putting some hair on this baldy.
Now watch the Video
