How to create an "anime-like" persona -- Lina

 Did you ever think about drawing your own self persona? I'm sure you have noticed once in a while, noticing how other artists can draw people in their own art style. It looks cool right? Yet you might've tried or even doubted yourself to even try it. Well, I'm here to give you some tips on creating your own persona(somewhat)! 

Now before we start, let's get a few things straight. If you just started out drawing and you don't see your drawings as perfect as others, don't worry about it! You'll get frustrated every now and then but that's okay! You are your own critique (I'm quite harsh on myself when drawing too...). 

I'll keep it as simple as possible, however the more you learn to draw, you'll realize the more complicated it actually can become depending on how far you would like to get. For this certain practice we will be attempting my art style… or your own! 

To get started, let's start by learning the body. When drawing you need to make sure how tall the character will be. Every character has 7-8 heads. For now, we will be using 7, it's the most commonly used head length. Here's an example!

Quite easy to understand right! Somewhat...? Well… Now that you've learned (hopefully) about the 7 heads, let's talk about materials so we can get into it. We will be doing traditional drawing. What's that? Well traditional drawing is simply drawing on a piece of paper

Here is an example of the materials that I use most of the time. A sketchbook that is 11 x 14, a Pental brand pencil that is .7mm, Pentel Hi-Polymer eraser, and a moldable eraser. You may use any pencil and eraser you would like (it’s suggested that you get a hi-polymer eraser, they erase very well when you draw too dark). However the choice is yours!

 P.S. I will be drawing digitally for better quality to provide for you.

Now that we’ve got our materials to draw, let’s get started! First, we will be drawing our seven heads to identify how long our body will be. Make a circle (they do not have to be perfect), and from there try and create the same circle another 6 times down in a row! DRAW LIGHTLY!

Now we will start with the first circle. Create two lines on both sides of the circle and create a triangle for your chin. Now to identify the face, create two lines that will cross each other. One from the head down to the chin and another across the face where the eyes would be placed. 

P.S. Creating the face helps identify the rest of what body type this character will have. It is optional and can be done last after completing the body proportions

Now we will be working on the next two heads to create your chest area. Create a circle for your shoulders. Afterwards connect your neck to the head, line the shoulders up, and create another sloped line for your chest area. You will then create two lines from the circles for your stomach. Afterwards just think of a rectangle and create your waist!

Now let’s work on head 4. Here we are working on the waist and private area. Just create a similar shape to mine (purple).

5,6, and 7 will be more difficult than the previous sketches we’ve done. When drawing the leg let’s identify where the knee and feet will be. Once identified drawing a small circle/oval. Now create a line from the end of the waist to your circle (your lines will be curved slightly). From the knee create another one to the ankle.

Great! We’re almost done with the body. Yes… just the body. Now let’s go back to your chest area. We need arms (unless your character is armless then… Cool!) The arms will be treated the same as the legs, slightly curved lines and a circle/oval for the elbow and wrists. Your hands will end on the thigh, for now we will make the hands simple (it’s pure pain to draw them now). Your hands will be shaped as a small rectangular box. Just like this!

We finally finished everything. Now it’s time to connect everything and make it look like the reference anatomy from the beginning. It does not need to be perfect! It’s a sketch after all!

Ta-da! We did it! You don’t like it? Well you’re going to hate it even more! Let’s start giving this persona a visual personality! Here you are free to do whatever you please, I will provide you color coordinated clothing to help you out. You got this! I think…

And… DONE! We did it! We finally got a sketch! That was a pain, right? I appreciate you even trying this with me. I hope you did. You most likely didn’t just by looking at the first image. That’s not a problem, I appreciate it anyways! I myself have been drawing for a couple of years now, ever since I was a kid so I’ve gotten used to it. Since middle school I’ve had a huge dream to become an animator and entertain people through the anime community. I hope you enjoyed trying or learning about the process of drawing a character.