Create anime and draw manga by combining Photographs and drawings

By Rick Feathers

Are you looking for something totally new? Do you want something different to spark your interest in creating anime and drawing manga? Well here is an idea that will certainly peak your creative interest, you may even think it’s silly but trust me it does open your mind to new possibilities.

I learn this simple drawing technique during my years working as a computer aided draftsman. There were times when laying out equipment or positioning furniture required a scaled cut out of the items and manually moving them around on a duplicate scaled drawing of the room. Basically just moving the paper cut outs till a desired location of the item was settled upon.

In fact you might have done this technique yourself in elementary school by cutting out your crayon drawings and posting them on the refrigerator when you got home. Now as a young girl or boy this is something you were proud of and something to show your parents and never knowing the creative benefit behind the concept.

You might be asking at this point, what is the creative benefit behind paper cut outs and paper dolls and how is that going to improve my manga drawings?

The benefit of this technique is motivating, insightful and very creative to drawing your anime because it lets you visually see something or an idea instead of thinking about it. Follow these steps and you will see what I am talking about.

Take one of your manga characters and make a few copies of it on a copy machine preferably on a thick stock of paper like a business card. Also make a few reduction copies to get a variety of sizes.

Now that you have your copies take a little time to color them for a more realistic presentation and better dramatic effect. You will then want to cut them out with scissors or for a more clean and crisp cut use a hobby or x-acto knife.

The next step is the easiest, start finding some pictures of scenery you like, animals, other anime drawings or large paintings. In other words start looking for things like plants or even your pets and other locations that you can place your manga cut outs next to.

For example: your pet cat can be the transportation for your manga character to ride or it can be the dragon they just battled. Place the cut out in front of a large seascape painting showing them walking on the beach. The possibilities are endless.

Here is an added bonus. Carry your manga cut outs with you and when you come across a large painting or beautiful plant at a mall, library or museum. Pull out your manga character and hold it next to it and begin to be creative. Take notes or sketch your new ideas because you will be surprised by all the neat things that will inspire you.