If you're making a manga comic, there's nothing like a little puppy love to spice it up! Follow these instructions to create a perfectly cute manga dog that can be a wonderful sidekick to any manga character. This version of the dog is standing up, but you can manipulate the structure to have your dog in any pose, from sitting to running. A manga dog is adorable and a wonderful addition to any comic.
Step 1
Draw a basic outline of where each limb is in the position you want the dog to be in. This will be the skeleton of your dog; by manipulating this, you change the dog. Don't worry too much about precision; this is just how you want the dog to stand/sit/run.
Step 2
Add the shapes of the legs and chest. Don't erase the skeleton yet, however. Let the skeleton guide you as you fill in the body shapes. Remember, some of the shapes in the back will be covered by the shapes in the front. Draw them anyway; we can always erase later. Start with the chest: it will form a circle. Then draw in a neck. Notice that the neck stays almost as wide as the chest!
Step 3
Draw in the legs. We'll start with the shapes/outlines for the front legs. The legs are pretty simple: they are long cylinders getting slightly smaller at the bottom. The back legs are a bit harder. You can break the back leg into two parts: the upper part, and the lower part. The upper part is still a part of the dog's back; it will go out a bit to show the extra muscle, almost like a triangle. The lower part is almost identical to the front leg. You might only be able to see a small part of the second back leg.
Step 4
Concentrate fully on the front legs and chest. If you want you front legs at any sort of angles, now is the time to move them. A slightly cocked paw looks adorable but also adds the feminine look to your dog. Sketch in where you want your paws to be.
Step 5
Draw the paws. The paws will look rectangular, so sketch rectangles over the circles. Go over the legs again, and make sure that the outer line of the leg connects into the circle of the chest. This will help the overall smoothness.
Step 6
Add fur around the chest. First, add it to the outer circle, then add some in the center. Remember, don't erase any line you have already made until you are ready to completely clean up the dog.
Step 7
Next, we move onto the back leg. First, however, you must show how the space between the front and the back legs is occupied by the body. You can do this by adding another line of fur. Draw a circle between the front and back legs, and on the lower back side of the circle, add fur lines.
Step 8
Now, the triangle is a part of the rear end of the dog. Go over it, smoothing its lines, so it becomes a part of the circle you drew above.
Step 9
Clean up the lower back leg, erasing the extra lines, and draw in a paw using the same method as for the front legs. You might want to sketch in a second back leg, but don't spend too much time on it. The second back leg will only show the bottom part because the top part is hidden.
Step 10
Finish the tail. Tails are easy-very simple to draw. When drawing a tail, keep it short. In all, the tail should look like an extremely elongated triangle with rugged edges added for the suggestion of fur.
Step 11
Erase all of the extra lines you made. In the end we'll come back and shade the body in, but until then it's done. Erase all lines that you don't want in the final copy. Mainly, you'll want to get rid of the remaining skeleton, the circles for the paws, the circle of the chest, and the circle you made for the main body. Darken your outline of the things that remain. Add fur to what remains in strategic spots to create the feeling of overall fur. Trace a line from the back (where the tail meets the body) to the neck; don't forget to include the neck in your outline.
Step 12
Move on to the head. All you have for the head so far is a lightly sketched circle. The head is a vital part of your manga dog, and there are many expressions your dog can have. This article will show a happy/mildly excited expression. First, however, take a look at the neck. Your dog can wear nothing, a collar, a bandana, or anything else that you want. In this picture, the dog is wearing a bandana. Whatever you want your dog to wear, lightly sketch on the two neck lines.
The head itself, ignoring the muzzle, is like a mix of circle and a triangle. The muzzle is like a rectangle if the dog is facing you head on (in this picture). However, when looked at from different angles, it does widen as it gets closer to the face. Lightly sketch the outline of the face and muzzle, ignoring the ears for the time being.
Step 13
Add your ears. Unlike the rest of the body, you don't want them rugged. The ears should be perked and sharp, just like the dog's hearing itself. The ears should be fairly high up on the triangle, and a rational distance apart. Flatten the top of the head/triangle that rests between the ears. Unless the head is turned to one side, the ears should be level in height.
Step 14
To position the eyes find the center of the face, then draw lines from the muzzle up. The eyes will be circles located where the muzzle meets the center line.
Step 15
For completed eyes, add an upper lid and take a bit of the bottom off. You also might want to angle your eyes a bit more towards the center.
Step 16
Next, clean up the edges of the face. Add the rugged lines of fur, a tuff of fur at the top (optional), and use fur to blend the muzzle into the face. Add a nose to the muzzle, not at the bottom, but a bit up. A small vertical line underneath the nose can emphasize it even more. Finally, add a few horizontal lines between the lines to ease the boundary of the face an muzzle. Add shadow to the ears to show the shady interior.
Step 17
Determine where in the picture that you want your light source to come from. Shade everything turned away from the light source to give your dog dimension.
To make the shade blend better, use an eraser to touch it up.
Step 18
Give your dog a name (dibs on Lilly for this one). Your dog's name will reflect its gender and personality, so choose well! Also, naming the dog brings it to life...the dog becomes less of a picture and more of a story. Congratulations on your finished dog!
