Manga Drawing Course

Lesson 1 • History and Genres of Manga

Traces manga's evolution from Edo-period art to modern publishing. Establishes genre literacy so students can position their own work within the industry.

Lesson 2 • Core Manga Visual Language

Introduces panel borders, speech bubbles, sound effects, and motion lines as the grammar of manga. Students gain fluency in reading and replicating these conventions.

Lesson 3 • Basic Line Quality and Mark-Making

Develops confident, controlled linework using varied pressure and stroke direction. Strong line quality underpins every subsequent drawing skill in the course.

Lesson 1 • Drawing Static Standing Poses

Applies proportion and anatomy knowledge to complete standing figures. Students practise front, side, and three-quarter views to build spatial confidence.

Lesson 2 • Skeletal and Gesture Framework

Teaches the stick-figure skeleton and gesture line as the first step in any figure. This framework ensures natural weight and flow before detail is added.

Lesson 3 • Manga Proportion Systems

Compares realistic, stylised, and chibi head-to-body ratios. Students select and apply the proportion system appropriate to their target genre.

Lesson 4 • Simplified Anatomy for Manga

Covers key muscle groups and bone landmarks simplified for manga stylisation. Students learn which anatomical details to emphasise and which to omit.

Lesson 1 • Drawing Manga Eyes

Breaks down the manga eye into iris, pupil, highlight, and lash components. Eye style is the primary identifier of a mangaka's personal aesthetic.

Lesson 2 • Core Emotional Expressions

Maps the six primary emotions to specific brow, eye, and mouth configurations. Students build an expression reference sheet for their own character designs.

Lesson 3 • Nose, Mouth, and Ear Simplification

Teaches manga-specific simplification strategies for secondary facial features. Students balance stylisation with enough detail to read emotion clearly.

Lesson 4 • Facial Proportion and Structure

Establishes the cross-guideline method for placing facial features accurately. Correct proportions are the foundation for consistent character recognition.

Lesson 1 • Silhouette and Visual Identity

Teaches silhouette readability as the primary test of strong character design. A clear silhouette ensures characters are instantly distinguishable in any scene.

Lesson 2 • Clothing Construction and Folds

Explains how fabric drapes over the body and where folds naturally form. Accurate clothing construction grounds characters in physical reality.

Lesson 3 • Hair Design and Rendering

Covers hair mass, flow direction, and strand grouping for manga-style hair. Hair is a major personality signal and must remain consistent across angles.

Lesson 4 • Creating a Character Reference Sheet

Assembles front, side, and back views plus expression samples into a professional model sheet. This deliverable is the industry standard for character consistency.

Lesson 1 • Designing Interior Environments

Covers room layout, furniture placement, and prop detail for school, home, and workplace settings. Interiors must reflect character personality and story context.

Lesson 2 • Two-Point and Three-Point Perspective

Extends perspective skills to exterior buildings and dramatic camera angles. Two- and three-point perspective creates the dynamic compositions manga is known for.

Lesson 3 • Designing Exterior Environments

Builds urban streets, natural landscapes, and fantasy architecture as exterior settings. Exterior variety expands the visual world of a manga series.

Lesson 4 • One-Point Perspective Fundamentals

Introduces the horizon line, vanishing point, and orthogonal lines for interior scenes. One-point perspective is the most common background construction method in manga.

Lesson 1 • Light Source and Value Fundamentals

Establishes how a single light source creates highlight, midtone, and shadow on forms. Consistent lighting is essential before any toning technique is applied.

Lesson 2 • Digital Toning Techniques

Replicates screentone effects using digital tools, layers, and halftone filters. Digital toning offers speed and flexibility for modern manga production.

Lesson 3 • Inking Shadows and Hatching

Covers solid black fills, hatching, and cross-hatching as ink-based shading tools. These techniques work independently of screentones and build foundational tonal skill.

Lesson 4 • Traditional Screentone Application

Teaches cutting, burnishing, and layering physical screentone sheets for print production. Traditional screentone skills remain relevant for authentic manga aesthetics.

Lesson 1 • Manga Page Anatomy

Defines bleed, trim, gutter, and safe zone as the technical boundaries of a manga page. Understanding page anatomy prevents production errors in print and digital formats.

Lesson 2 • Camera Angles and Shot Types

Applies cinematic shot vocabulary—close-up, medium, wide, and over-the-shoulder—to manga panels. Shot variety prevents visual monotony and directs reader focus.

Lesson 3 • Reading Flow and Panel Transitions

Covers Z-path and N-path reading flow and Scott McCloud's panel transition types. Smooth transitions maintain narrative clarity and reader immersion.

Lesson 4 • Panel Size and Pacing

Explains how panel size controls reading speed and emotional weight. Large panels slow the reader; small panels accelerate action sequences.

Lesson 1 • Story Concept and Genre Development

Guides students from premise to logline using genre conventions and audience targeting. A clear concept prevents scope creep during production.

Lesson 2 • Lettering and Final Assembly

Adds dialogue, sound effects, and chapter title lettering to completed inked pages. Proper lettering integrates text and image into a unified reading experience.

Lesson 3 • Penciling and Rough Drafts

Translates the approved name into detailed pencil roughs at full page size. Penciling resolves all compositional and anatomical problems before inking.

Lesson 4 • Script and Storyboard (Name)

Covers the manga name—a rough storyboard combining script and thumbnail layout. The name is the production blueprint reviewed before any final art begins.