 
The literal definition of manga, as suggested by Izawa (1995), refers to 'any printed cartoon', however
nowadays it's more popular amongst fans to consider manga as 'Japanese comic drawing'. Today, manga has been so popular
that not only Japan but other countries, most notably Asian countries such as Korea and China, have been progressively
producing high-quality manga comics.
Manga characters are characterised by their large eyes and big hair. Some manga characters have extreme proportions:
long and skinny legs or extremely short characters (chibi lit. means dwarf). It's also very common for manga
characters to have shorter proportion on upper-body part and longer one on lower-body part.
Story development in manga is one of many factors that make it universally popular. The story gradually unfolds with
new chapters and the characters also grow in personality. Many aspects of life commonly found in real-world are also
reflected in manga stories: desperation, conflicts, death, happiness, competition, anger, etc. These conflicts are
sometimes enhanced with the mood represented by mainly the character facial expression and the background elements
in the drawing.
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Although manga looks just like western cartoon drawing, it is however very different in certain aspects. Few notable elements
include the hair style, costumes, environment, technology, living habit, and story realism. Hair style in manga is drawn
with careful attention as they depict the unique trait of each of the characters, although hair for the main characters are drawn
with more details than the supporting characters.
Costumes play an important part in manga. Japanese authors, particularly, include up-to-date fashion and pay high attention
to detail when drawing clothes, shoes, belts, jackets, wrinkles, etc. The environment is drawn in correct perspectives and
are usually representation of the real interior and architectural elements. There is even a How-to-Draw-Manga book
specifically written for this.
You will see great appreciation of technology, both future and present, in manga. Manga stories often show the main characters
as normal people living day-in-day-out just like in the real-world. The living habit is almost exactly as those we see everyday in our
lives. Shounen (boys) and shoujou (girls) stories show them struggling through their school life, maintaining
value of friendship, pursuing something in life from as simple as finding a girl/boyfriend, entering a university, participating
in a contest, to saving the world. Manga stories maintain various aspects in life from desperation to happiness, both
the protagonists and the antagonists have goals in life and grow as the story develops.
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This site will provide you with some quick insights into how to draw your own manga characters. You don't have to be an artist
to be able to draw manga. I believe the quickest way to learn something is by doing it. The more you draw, the
better you become, and sooner than you thought you will establish your own manga drawing style.
Depending on this site alone will not help you that much. The Manga Links page will
help you find a starting point to begin your manga drawing journey. In Quick
Tutorial page you will learn how to progressively colour a manga character. The animated GIF on the right shows the sample
process of colouring a manga character.
Having said all that, I hope this site can help you to find what you needed to get started drawing and colouring your
own manga. I would try my best to update this site regularly. I wish you a very amusing journey on your manga drawing.
Note: this website is compatible with Internet Explorer 6.0 or above. You have to enable JavaScript in order to fully utilise
this website. Recommended optimal resolution settings: 800 x 600 with 32 bit colour depth. All images and content used in this site are
my original artworks and please do email me at
if you wish to use the artworks or anything from this website. Thank you!
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