CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I like to think I'm a pretty good anime artist, but no, I'm not.
I can draw any kind of head in front, side, left, right, and 3/4 view.
But when it comes to drawing the body, or the head when looking up at it...Or from the back...(Anything I didn't just list ) I don't have the foggiest idea on how it should look or how I should even start!

Lol, don't even get me started on the body! I need help, and I've already been to polykarbon and a lot of other sites.

Thanks a million (In advance) guy!

o.o Have you tried any "How To Draw Manga" books? There's a series that goes by that very name. Great stuff. :3

Another thing to do would be to start drawing them looking at the tutorials, or even better, another person, or yourself in the mirror and then use a site like the gallery here or deviant art to get critiques on what you drew, then try again and repeat until you like what you see.

Personally I don't really like the How to Draw manga books all that much... they have all these complicated ways of using geometric shapes and whatnot, and to me drawing a bunch of cylinders and spheres stuck together seems like an awful lot of extra work. (What can I say, I'm a very lazy artist ^^) However, this works very well for some people; you just have to determine what kind of person you are.

As for me, I'm more of a look-and-learn artist, where I'd rather have a figure to look at than try to measure out limb lengths and proportions and stuff. I'm more adept at drawing from sight, so I prefer to go at it from a different direction. If you're into the leggy, shoujo-like figure (for women), use a Barbie doll as a model. (My little sister has tons of them). I would also suggest those wooden "dummies" that a lot of artists use, because you can pose them yourself.

And when all else fails, you can always use yourself as a model. I take advantage of my full-length mirror when I'm having trouble with complex body positions or clothing folds. (Of course, it doesn't work if I want to draw someone of the opposite gender XD) But I can use my hands and feet as models for everyone I draw. ^^

I hope that helped a little... I'm not saying stick figures are bad, in fact I DO reccomend at least drawing a basic stick figure so that you won't end up running off the page, or realizing after you've finished that the proportions are wrong.

These might help.......

Now, you don't want to just look at these figures and go with them alone, you want to think about the outlines for your fav. animators' and actors' illustrations and drawings too.

I have more info.. PM me if you want it. Good Luck

Ooh, those are nice, handy stick figures, Kristal*Klear! I might use them here and there for the harder poses... (My problem is, if I don't have a simple example, even my preliminary sketches get unreadably complex when I work out an odd angle or highly dynamic pose.)

http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial/tutorial.html
That could help if you draw a female..

well when i use to take a class for drawing, they said to make the head first and then draw six more circles that are the same length. that should do. that way you have how long the body will be.

Well, I think Kristal*Klear's stick figures are pretty useful. I don't use them very often, though. But it's a great way to start, if you need to do the more difficult poses, or looking from a different point of view. ^^ Oh, and Sunako's right, you should try those book, though some of them are not quite...appropriate. -_-;;