Any manga or anime fan will surely have seen scenes and expressions like the one below before! On the left, we have spiky yellow shapes to emphasise the character’s surprise, and on the right, we have a grey face with horizontal lines running down it, to emphasise the character’s shock and fear. Expressive symbols like
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Have you ever struggled with getting the proportions right for your characters? Maybe the head looks too large for the body, or the legs are too long like a scarecrow’s?? Or maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but something just isn’t right about the body? Good news! Today’s article will help you
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I think hands are an area that most artists find difficult to begin with, but in anime hands tell us almost as much about a character as their face, so it’s important that we understand as much about them as we can! In anime and manga, we see a lot of variation in men’s hands
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Today we’re going to be going through some simple yet effective techniques to combat some of the most common mistakes made by students as they’re learning to draw anime style eyes. First of all, it is important to understand what parts of the realistic human eye we use when drawing anime eyes. After all, even
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Have you ever found yourself lost when trying to draw Japanese school uniforms? You’ve seen them a lot in anime, but when it comes to actually designing and drawing them yourself… you’re not sure where to start? If you’ve ever felt like that, this lesson is for you! In this lesson, we’re going to be
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In Japan, manga and anime based in schools is hugely popular, and the “Japanese school girl” is an iconic image seen everywhere from anime and cosplay, to blockbuster Hollywood movies. When anime fans start drawing in manga style, they will often start with this classic school girl outfit. But did you know there’s much more
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One of the main challenges we have as writers, illustrators and animators, is to create a great, likeable main character that the audience will want to follow through to the end of a series. What if I told you there are just two key areas that will allow for you to create an awesome character
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Hair is an area where many artists have issues, and anime hair might be one of the most nuanced and difficult areas of anime art. It’s easy to feel lost, or not know where to start. Follow the tips below, and you’ll be on the right track to drawing great anime hair! The basics of
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When creating art, light and shadow is an intrinsic part of the process. Have you ever felt that your work lacks a certain sense of reality or weight? There’s a chance this is because you’ve not applied the shading correctly. The position of shadows is determined by the light source. This might be the sun,
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Any students of our course on Anime Art Academy will know the importance of using good references for your illustration work. This is particularly true for difficult character poses! Even the slightest mistake can make a pose look unnatural, and ruin the illusion for your audience, so it’s really important to study lots of reference
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