I'm going to write this tutorial with the assumption that you have not read the other figure tutorials. It is a stand alone tutorial and will probably repeat a number of the suggestions and tips mentioned in the other tutorials. However this one is newer, and I know more now then I used to, so it will also have some new things, as well as specific tips on drawing the adolescent body in anime style.

This one is laid out differently then the other tutorials to save you download hassle. Instead of downloading all of the images with the page, each step has a link that you click. Then the image will appear in the frame to the right.

It is currently 4:32am 4-16-01. Damn I'm tired... why am I doing this.

Drawing the Adolescent or "Pre-Teen" human figure.
Male

Step one: (click me!)

Begin with the circle.
(I'm sure you can manage this part - if you stress over it, just get a circle guide or a compas from an art or crafts store)

Step two: (click me!)

Add detail to the shape of the head.

• Since it's a younger person, it's usually best to have a curved cheek, and make sure it's pretty low so there's room for the eyes.
  I also find that a small chin looks best for younger characters.
  Also - make the ears larger then you usually do.

Step three: (click me!)

Erase extra circle lines.

Add the neck.


• I tend to like the really thin necks, but not all anime artists use this style (most, but not all) Generally, the more realistic you want it to be, the thicker the neck. The cuter, the thinner. (Really thick necks should be used on people you want to look buff.)

  Draw the shoulder line.

• This helps you to determine how wide to make the shoulders and how wide your rib cage can get.

  Draw a line to show the center of the torso.

• I have found that this is incredablly helpful in making the person look more fluid and animated. Once I started doing this, I found it much easier to make interesting poses and stances with little effort. Curve this line in different ways to get different stances. This particual line has the upper chest being pulled back, while the hip area is jutted out slightly.

  Draw the hip guide line.

• If you draw this line going in the opposite direction of the shoulder line, you will get a more shapy looking upper torso. This line should be shorter then the shoulder line.

Step four: (click me!)

Add the rib cage guide.

• This is how wide the chest will be. It's widest part is here, from this area down, it just get's thinner until it gets to the hips where it curves outward again. This guide essentially lets you know where the front of the cest will start, and where the visible part of the back will curve out to.

  Add the arms.

• Lines for the upper arms and curves for the forearms. Not the only way to do it, just happened to be what I did this time. Sometimes I only put in vague lines for the whole arm, sometimes I get more detailed. Varies - just do what helps you picture what you want it to look like when you're done.

  Add the hip circles.

• this is entirly optional, but I find it helps me to visualize where the legs connects to the pelvic bone.

Step five: (click me!)

Add the legs!
• Okay - since this is a kid, I only made him about "5 heads-tall" where as a normal adult is usually 7. I usually put most of the height into the legs, so in order to make him shorter, I drew the legs shorter then I usually would.

• The upper thigh I find that large ovals help best for this area. Sometimes I'll draw a straight line to establish a length, but I do the upper thigh with a large oval everytime. The base of the oval is where the knee is.
• From there I draw the calves and down to the feet. The calves are widest just below the knee, then they get gradually thinner until you get to the ankle. On a profile leg, the front of the calf is almost flat, while the back has a large curve to it. (not visible in this pic because his leg is behind the other)

Step five b: (click me!)

The feet -
• Generally - unless I plan on having the person barefoot in the final image, I never bother with the "feet" and go striat to the "shoes".

I find that I have no idea how to tell a person how to draw shoes. I just know how to do it. It's a mental visualization thing - like with clothing folds. You have to train your brain to be able to picture it in your mind. It's a simple shape, but unless you can really picture why it's shaped that way, you'll have a lot of trouble with it.
I just hope this little guide might help you mentalize it.

Step six: (click me!)

Clean up and fill in!
• Kids are less shapy then adults are - whether male or female, generally all the curves you'll find on an anime adolescent are very gradual and small. I find that the less detail you add the better. Don't add any detail on the knees or the chest. I felt that in this case, the details of the collar bone were appropriate, but this may not be true for every situation or every adolescent character.

  If you're drawing a female adolescent (this one is male), don't add to much size or detail to the chest area. Small semi-gradual outward curves are appropriate, but don't add much of a bust or she'll loose the "kid-look".

Step seven: (click me!)

Add in the facial details.
• Always do the eyes before you do the hair. If you do the hair/bangs first, your eyes will almost always end up in the wrong area of the head. It's much easier to judge the correct position of the eyes when there isn't anything already there to distract you.

  Since it's a younger character the eyes should be especially over-sized. Even larger then usual. Younger characters and the "cute anime girls" always have the largest eyes. But if you're going for an evil kid, smaller eyes would be okay.

Step eight: (click me!)

Adding the hair.
• Since I decided that his guy's bangs wouldn't cover up his entire forehead, I drew in the hairline first. In his case, it's v-shaped. There are two types of hair-lines. V-shaped where the hair comes to a low point at the center of the face. (extream example - think Vegita from DBZ) And U-shaped where it's just a gradual curve. (Think Vash from Trigun) Drawing in the hair line is best if you're going to have some of it showing. But if your character has thick or bushy bangs, then it's not nessecary at all.

  The first hair poof I drew was the big curved one at the top. I started from a center point on the head and just curved it up. Where it ended I drew some outward curved ones and a single flip of hair coming out over the face (although because of the angle, it's more to the side).

Step eight-b: (click me!)

Adding more hair.
• I added another frontal hair flip parallel to the first one, and darkened the hair line. I popped in a few small hair curves coming from the top of his neck up and then added a curved mass along the side of his head. For a little morehelp with hair, there is a breif section on it in the Misc. Section (although it's terribly old).

Step nine: (click me!)

Adding some cloths.
• Another one of those things that you've just got to think up. Thinking up clothing can sometimes be one of the most time consuming processes. Drawing them isn't the time eater - it's thinking them up that takes some imagination.

  I was a little stuck for a shirt idea so I went to the simple part first - the shoes. Once I had them done, I decided on shorts and began to add some detail for the top and base of the legs.

Step nine-b: (click me!)

Finishing the cloths.
• I finished off the shorts and just decided to go with a simple skin-stight, sleevless shirt.
  After staring at the picture for a few minutes I decided that I needed to show the left hand so I added that in.

  And that concludes the pre-teen anime drawing figure tutorial!