Don’t be Overwhelmed, Draw Manga with Confidence

By Rick Feathers

Do you get overwhelmed before drawing a manga character? For instants you see this cool picture of a manga character in their outfit holding a weapon while standing in a great pose in front of a wonderful background.

Immediately you get this idea in your head that you want to draw it. So you get your sketch pad, pencils and prepared your desk area. You sit down and start to draw only to be stopped by where to start and what to draw first.

Basically you get so excited about the picture that you did not think the whole thing through. Being overwhelmed by certain pictures is common and will quickly lead you to artist block unless you develop a system of drawing.

To overcome this you start small and work your way to the bigger picture. The trick is to approach each drawing the same way and set guide line for you to follow the next time you draw. This will seem a bit mechanical at first but it will help you start a drawing and eventually become part of your own style.

Start by selecting a center point on the picture you want to draw and that also becomes the center of your sketch pad. Then look at the boundaries you want to keep in your drawing and begin to lightly pencil in those limits. In other words sketch the character lightly to get all the right proportions. Use a ruler or anything else that will help you to locate key positions of the characters limbs and objects.

Now that you have a general layout of where everything is start filling in more details and focus on small areas like an arm or the face. Before you know it your picture will begin to develop and your motivation level will increase to finish.