In this free art lesson, you’ll learn how to draw a Manga Girl winking step-by-step. All of the tutorials on How2DrawManga.com are good drawing tutorials for beginners and experienced artists alike. The online tutorials are easy to follow; they teach you the how to draw basics while showing you how to draw manga step by step.
To draw this Manga Girl winking, follow the step-by-step drawings below. The new lines in each step are shown in red, so you’ll know exactly what to draw next. Take your time and draw at your own pace.
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Intro: Start off with a pencil sketch. In the beginning stages, don’t press down too hard. For every step, sketch lightly at first so that it’s easy to erase if you make a mistake.
Step 1: Draw a big circle as a guide for the top part of the manga girl’s head. To draw the circle, first make four marks to determine the height and width. Then connect the marks using curved lines. Space out the marks evenly at the beginning. The farther apart the marks are, the bigger the circle will be. Sketch lightly at first so that it’s easy to erase if you make a mistake. If you’re struggling to draw the circle, just trace the outer rim of a circular object like a bowl or a lid.
Step 2: Below the circle, draw an angled line as a guide for the manga girl’s jaw and chin. Pay attention to the length of this guide. If you draw it too low the head will be too long. The left side of this line should angle and the right side should curve. The pointy tip at the bottom will be the chin.
Step 3: Half way between the top and bottom of the whole head, draw a long horizontal line as a construction guide that will help you place the manga girl’s facial features later. Curve the line a bit so that it contours to the shape of the circle.
Draw a long vertical line across the entire head for another construction guide. The vertical line should be closer to the left side because of the way the head is turned in a three-quarter view. Curve the vertical line too.
Step 4: Below the head shape, draw two short, vertical lines as guides for the girl’s neck.
Step 5: Inside the head, on the left side, draw the shape for the first eye. The shape consists of a thick, curved line at the top and a tiny line at the bottom. On the left side of the thick, curved line, draw a few spike-like shapes for the girl’s eyelashes. Draw smaller eyelashes on the tiny bottom line too. Use the initial lines as guides to place this eye. It should fit in the space between the construction lines and the edge of the main circle.
On the right side, below the horizontal construction line, draw a thick, curved line for the winking eye. This line shouldn’t curve as much as the line for the eye on the left. Place the line a little lower on the head. On the right side, draw a few small, spike-like shapes for the eyelashes. Use the vertical line as a guide to help you space out the eyes.
Step 6: Inside the open eye, draw a small oval for the manga girl’s iris. The top part of the oval should be partly behind the eyelashes. Inside the iris, in the middle, draw an even smaller oval and shade it in for the pupil.
Step 7: On the edge of the iris, draw two tiny circles for highlights. Draw the circles directly over the edges of the irises. Above the eye on the left draw a curved line for the eyelid. Above the eye on the right, draw two lines for the closed eyelid. Draw one curved line near the eyelashes and one higher up.
Step 8: Higher above the eyes, draw two long, horizontal lines for the manga girl’s eyebrows. The inner tips of the eyebrows should be thick and they should slope down a bit. The outer tip of the eyebrows should be thinner. Use the vertical construction line as a guide to help you space out the eyebrows.
Step 9: Below the eyes, draw a big curved shape for the girl’s open mouth. The shape should be similar to the letter D on its side. Place the mouth below the lower edge of the main circle. Don’t draw it too close to the bottom of the chin.
Step 10: Inside the mouth, near the top, draw a horizontal line for the top row of teeth. On the sides, draw curved lines for the girl’s tongue.
Between the mouth and the eye on the left, draw a tiny curved line for the nose. To the left of the line, draw an even tinier line for the side of the nose. Place the nose to the left of the vertical construction line and above the lower edge of the circle.
Step 11: Draw a big shape made up of a few curved lines on the forehead for the first part of the manga girl’s hair. The big line in the middle should be similar to the letter V. Draw more lines that are similar to the letter V on the sides for more of the bangs or fringe. When you draw hair, it’s important that you don’t draw every single hair strand. Instead, draw clumps of hair as bigger shapes like these shapes. The tips of the hair should overlap the eyebrows.
Step 12: On either side of the first part of the girl’s hair, draw more curved, long, V-shaped lines for more of the bangs or fringe. Make the sizes of these shapes different. The left side is thick, while the right side is made up of more lines that are thinner. Make the tip at the bottom pointy. It’s okay to overlap the eyebrows.
Step 13: On the right side, draw the main part of the girl’s short hair using long, curved vertical lines. The left-most line should be very close to the eye and it should be long enough to reach the bottom of the neck. The right-most line shouldn’t be too far away from the head. The bottom of this shape should be made up of shorter, curved lines that come to a point at the bottom for the tips of the hair. Don’t draw too many of these lines. Keep the clumps of hair big and thick.
Step 14: Draw the left side of the manga girl’s hair the same way. Draw a long, vertical line on the left side but keep the line close to the shape of the head. Along the bottom, draw short, curved lines for the tips of the short hair. Keep the length of the hair near the neck.
Step 15: At the top, connect the side of the hair using a long, curved horizontal line. The top of the girl’s hair should be dome-like. Keep this line fairly close to the top of the initial circle and follow the basic curvature of the initial circle. Within the hair, draw a series of long, curved lines to add extra detail and texture to the clumps of hair. Don’t over do it with the lines; just add a few for detail.
Step 16: Darken the initial angled line under the main circle to create the side of the girl’s head and chin. As you darken the line, make the shape curvier for the round cheek and chin. Darken the line under the chin for the visible edge of the neck.
Step 17: Using a pen or marker, go over the lines to make your drawing permanent. Ink slowly and carefully to avoid accidents. Don’t ink the parts of the ear, jaw or neck that are behind the clumps of hair. If you’d like, you can draw the eyebrows over the hair like in the image or omit everything that is behind the hair. It all depends on personal style. Some manga artists draw the eyebrows over the hair because hair can be a bit see-through and others don’t. It’s up to you. Also, don’t ink the inside of the tiny highlight circles that are inside the eye. The tiny highlight circle should be blank inside. After the ink dries, get rid of every pencil mark with an eraser.
Final Step: Color your drawing! This drawing was colored digitally but you can achieve the same result using color pencils, markers or crayons! Using light pink, color a few streaks across the middle area of the entire hair for highlights. Use regular pink for the rest of the hair but don’t overlap the highlights. Use dark pink along the top and bottom of the hair. Color lightly at first and slowly blend the colors together. For an easier drawing, just color the entire hair a single pink color with no highlights. You can also use any other color you want. Manga characters are always colorful so use, green, blue, purple or any other color you want for the hair. You can also color the hair the more standard colors of brown or black.
Use peach for the skin. Add a bit of pink to the cheeks for blush. Use a bit of light brown under the head for a shadow. Color the irises dark brown at the top and gradually add light brown at the bottom. Using two colors gives the iris a more rounded feel. For a simpler drawing, you can also just use a single color for the iris. You can also use any other color you’d like for the eyes. Don’t overlap the tiny highlight circles inside the eyes as you color the irises.
That’s it! Keep practicing until you get the winking expression right. Draw it again and again using different colors and eventually you’ll get better!