How to Draw Manga Bad Art
Anime and Manga week
1. Introduction
In 2009 I took Japanese lessons and next to me was a girl drawing manga characters. I watched her draw and it looked like magic to me, seeing how she made a character appear out of nowhere. This was the key moment in which I decided that I wanted to learn that craft too and create my own characters!
Many manga artists have had similar key moments, for most it was watching their favourite anime or reading an awesome manga or even playing a Japanese videogame. However I have seen many aspiring mangakas give up at the beginner stage, believing they simply sucked at drawing.
I personally think that this is an incredible waste of talent, so I wanted to share some advice to anyone who is currently going through the beginner stage and/or anyone who wants to improve and learn more! 
2. Realism vs. Manga style
I have to admit that at the very beginning I thought that Manga was much easier than realism and that I'd never have to learn all that "boring" realistic stuff in order to draw manga properly. While the manga style can indeed be reduced to colours and advanced anatomy (especially facial features), this is a very wrong perspective that many beginners, myself included, have or had.
This is also one of the many reasons why your art teachers might dislike you drawing in manga style only - simply because you risk to develop a bad mindset that could hinder you in your artistic improvement. I've stagnated in my art for over three years just because I had that mindset.
I've only recently learned that in order to become a good manga artist, you have to do the same art studies as all the people who are drawing in a realistic or at least semi-realistic style. In 2015/2016 I quit drawing in manga style and learned how to draw realistically. It was very challenging to learn how to draw a proper nose! Many manga styles have very simplistic noses, making it look easy to draw them. But no, especially these super stylized noses require knowledge of what a real nose looks like in order to convincingly stylize them!
"Learn the rules before you can break them!"
This is a very common saying in the art community and it absolutely applies everywhere, especially to the manga style!
Now I hear you (and my old self) lamenting: "But realistic art studies are so BORING!"
Well they don't have to be. I personally love drawing photo studies of my favourite cosplayers posing as my favourite characters. Put your art studies into a setting you are looking forward to and it will be less boring and dry, I promise you!
My sketches, based on cosplayers
Once I approached the rules of realistic art I also saw my manga getting better and better, even though I wasn't drawing manga at that time. The anatomy just looked much more convincing, the eyes, the face... simply everything had improved!
3. Common beginner mistakes (using my own old art as an example)
3.1 Shortcuts to realism in the Manga style
Since I am able to critique my own art the most honestly, let's look at this drawing I did in 2014:
First of all I did a red-lined version of this piece, so I could get a better grasp of what exactly I did wrong here:
I made many mistakes that beginners naturally make, for example the slightly asymmetric eyes, the stiff "flowing" hair that looks very unnatural and the asymmetric ears.
However many more mistakes are a result of a lack of anatomical understanding, like the too big forehead - or at least the cap doesn't really look as if it would fit his head. (Yes that character is male).
Most significantly though are the nose and the ears. Let's start with a small ear tutorial:
3.1.1 How to draw and interpret (pointy) ears
Look at how I drew the ears in the original drawing and then look at the reference:
I highlighted the two main features of a correct ear. If you google "Ear" you will find out that these two features can vary greatly but they are always there in a normal functioning ear. Now you might think "But an elven ear like that character has is obviously a fantasy thing! What does this have to do with realism?" It's as simple as that: Only fantasy that has its roots in realism sounds and looks believable. Unless you make up a complete new species with malfunctioning ears. But even then it's better to learn how to draw a correct ear first in order to break the rules in a convincing way.
Now let's go on to the next topic that I have mentioned before - the nose!
3.1.2 How to draw a nose in the Manga style
As you know I used to struggle a lot with noses because I've spent years and years using that sorry excuse of a nose. Sometimes I did a lucky hit, for example the "nose" in the piece I am criticizing looks convincing by coincidence, but trust me - if you learn how to draw a nose you will also know how to use that very simplistic nose style that is depicted often in manga art.
What is most important to know here that when depicted from the front view is that this traingle is supposed to represent the shadows of the nose! So depending on your light source you have to alter that triangle! And how on earth are you supposed to do that if you have no clue of how the real nose looks like???
From the side or 3/4 side view the line is mostly made to show where the nose is instead of representing the shadows but then this depends a lot on the light situation and personal preference of the artist.
Seriously don't repeat my mistake of not learning how to draw a nose for so many years. If I had tackled the nose earlier I would be better at drawing it today. But at least I can warn you on this now.
Let's move on:
3.2 Making a manga comic page:
I did another redlining:
Making a manga page or even a full manga requires a whole lot of new skillsets. Think of your manga like a movie and you are the director and producer! Looking into the theory of movie making won't hurt you even though you may not need everything.
3.2.1 Panel management
First of all the manga page I made is extremely crowded. There is such a lot going on on one single page! This was the start of a webmanga (that I never finished) so I had no page limit or any requirements to meet at all! Why did I put such a lot of things onto one page? Nowadays I would probably put the last panel onto a seperate page to stand alone or together with one/two smaller panels maximum.
A manga page is a lot about composition. Remember one rule:
The more important something is (in that panel) the bigger it is depicted
For example that green dude most Zelda fans might know as Link in the last panel is just wasting space that the blue haired witch Irene could have taken instead. Link is just standing there, doing nothing, his back facing at the viewer... Meanwhile Irene is talking, crossing her arms in a kinda weird pose and saying something important that is meant to guide the viewer into the story. Its her who deserves the place Link is taking in!
At least I kinda followed the rule by making that panel extra big.
Now let's go to all the other mistakes I've made. Linked to the first problem I didn't have enough space to overload that page with speech bubbles. This problem could have easily been solved by better panel management and shorter text in the speech bubbles. It really looks a bit as if I've overloaded the page with all those speech bubbles. (However I know manga panels of mine that are a LOT worse so actually this was one of my better ones regarding this problem). Also sometimes it's unclear on in what order the speech bubbles have to be read.
3.2.2 Scripting and planning your Manga
Remember: You are the director of your manga. That means that before you actually draw the comic you have to plan everything beforehand. Write a script, note down what everybody says in what panel and how the "camera setting" looks like. If I had planned my manga a bit better I could have avoided a lot of things. Honestly the only preparation I've had before drawing this was a fanfiction I've written. Better than nothing but still not good enough since there are different rules for literature, especially when it comes to the speech length of the characters. 
Look at the example of a script by LCibos :
As you can see I redlined many more mistakes in my manga but these mistakes can be summarized in "lack of drawing knowledge" again. Weird poses? Lack of gesture knowledge! Odd-looking faces? Lack of anatomy and facial expression knowledge! Also I didn't push the body language of the characters enough which can be seen best at the panel where Link says "Irene? Is it true?" He doesn't really look surprised enough there.
4. Words of encouragement
I have spoken about so many things to learn about right now, you might be slightly overloaded. And honestly you are not alone on that. Art IS hard work, Manga art is too but the beautiful thing is that if you keep learning you keep improving! The only problem we encounter is that improvement either takes a lot of hardcore work or a long time and both isn't really comfortable to us. Many people get disencouraged when being faced with that problem of not being able to get better NOW and without putting in any effort.
However there is a saying:
"Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something"
...so don't feel bad if your art doesn't meet your own expectations. As long as it does not you are improving!
I tell myself that "I am good but I could be better" - this is my way to balance between admiring and over-criticizing what I draw.
What always makes me cheer up whenever I get sad about my art is looking at other peoples (and my own) Improvement Meme. It reminds me of how I will reach my current goals for sure if I just keep going, keep drawing, keep learning. Art can educate you a lot on how to reach your goals, any goals in fact. Be persistent, ask for critique, don't tear yourself down but keep looking at your goal and climb the ladder! People call it "art journey" for a reason.
And once you have reached the goal you had a few years ago you find that your expectations of yourself and your goals have gotten higher, meaning you can go on and learn forever! 
Also I know I have talked a lot about how important realism is but don't think you need to learn realism first before you are "allowed" to draw in the style you want to draw in. Art is supposed to be fun firsthand so go ahead and draw as you like! However if you want to get better you should learn realism at the same time as you learn how to draw in your manga style.
5. Ending words
Many new now successful artists have learned all they knew online. There are so many awesome resources out there, if you really want to get better at art you should take your time and dig through all of them, step by step, day by day. And then of course draw every day. I myself don't have the time or muse to draw something big right now but I doodle on every sheet of paper that I can find. I doodle eyes, little characters... hey that's better than nothing at all! Boredom doodles are better than not drawing anything! But at some point you should get into doing something more than doodles if you want to have a visible progress.
For the start I give you a list of things that you should google and learn about:
Anatomy (you choose what body part you want to learn about)
Gesture drawing
Facial expressions
Values
Hues
Composition
Panel Composition
Backgrounds
Light and shadows (especially about the colour of shadows)
Body language
Photostudies/ Master studies
Speedpaint
Lineart practices
Character design
Additionally I found some YouTube channels that I really recommend watching:
Specialized on manga art:
DokiDokiDrawing
Specialized on realistic art:
Istebrak (she also has a video about manga art)
Bobby Chiu
Eric Anthonyj
If you have got a favourite artist who does speedpaintings on YouTube also slow down their videos and try to understand why they did this and that. Then you can do a master study off their work but make sure to keep it to yourself and don't post it online since it can be seen as stealing ones art if you do that, especially if you don't credit the original artist.
~
I hope my little journal about common beginner mistakes in manga art has helped you and made you learn about new things! Never forget that you can reach everything if you just put in the time and effort!
And don't forget to have fun! Find a healthy balance between studying/ learning about theory and inventing the worlds and characters you have in your head!
Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions, either in the comments or through a note.
Yours,
LavleyArt
(Disclaimer: All art here is mine unless stated otherwise. Concerning the signatures, I used to go by the names ofMidnightCoCy and Luminaara )
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/yuukon/journal/What-I-learned-from-my-mistakes-drawing-manga-785895752
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