This tutorial lists some common mistakes people brand when cartoon anime or manga and when drawing in general. It also provides tips on avoiding and fixing these mistakes.

There are plenty of tutorials here on AnimeOutline that teach how to depict various things. This tutorial is slightly different as it volition also show some examples of how NOT to describe.

Poor Line Quality

Line quality when drawing
Line quality when drawing

Probably the most common mistake for beginner artists is line quality.

The beginning mistake is cartoon a line past making a serial of small strokes. Not merely does this make drawing much slower only you too tend to get uneven looking lines or lines that looks like scratches.

The second fault is cartoon extra overlapping lines when they are not needed. This tin sometimes appear to make a sketches look "improve" but that's not really the instance. What is actually happening is that in one case you make enough lines one of them is likely to exist in at least roughly the right place. Your optics and so see that line giving the perceptions that the drawing is "improved".

3rd are wobbly lines (where they should exist steady). Though this fault may non always exist deliberate. Sometimes yous might just need to exercise more to get a steady hand. Definitely DO NOT draw this fashion on purpose where information technology'due south not needed.

For some cartoon exercises that tin assistance you build a more steady paw as well as more beginner drawing advice see:

Beginner Guide to Drawing Anime & Manga

If you look at about anime and good quality manga they tend to take very clear well defined line drawings. If you want to go better at drawing anime you should practice what the professionals do. Try and draw with long steady lines and avert unnecessary scribble.

For making really long lines it'south a good idea to draw from the shoulder instead of drawing from the wrist. In other words instead of moving your wrist when you draw these lines move the shoulder/elbow office of the arm.

Drawing from the wrist is better for drawing smaller details.

Overly Thick Lines

Hand drawing line weight comparison
Line weight when drawing

Line weight is another common mistake beginners tend to make. Fifty-fifty if you lot have good line quality (long steady lines) you should still be aware of line weight. Making lines that are as well thick tin brand your cartoon look bad.

In anime the lines are generally fairly thin in relation to the characters with no line weight variation. Manga on the other hand are more probable to have drawings with varying line thickness.

If you desire to brand a drawing that looks like a screen capture of most anime use thin lines through the whole drawing. For more manga style looking fine art yous tin can use thicker lines to define the chief shape of an object and thinner lines for the smaller details.

Equally in the paw drawing above you can see that in the second instance the chief shape of the hand has a thicker outline while thinner lines are used for the small details such equally the fingernails.

For more on drawing anime easily see:

  • How to Draw Anime and Manga Easily Step by Step
  • 6 Ways to Draw Anime Hands Property Something

Poor Color Choices

Anime hair coloring good vs bad color selection
Good vs bad color option

This mistake is especially common to digital drawing as it allows easy access to night or bright colors that are difficult or incommunicable to reproduce on paper with things similar pencil crayons.

Ane common coloring error is picking colors that blend with 1 some other or blend with the black outlines of a character or an object.

If you want to apply darker colors make sure the outlines of the cartoon are not lost when y'all apply it. Draw white or light colour outlines for that role of the drawing.

For a detailed explanation of colors see:

Beginner Guide to Picking Colors When Drawing Anime & Manga

No Perspective

Japanese table drawing with and without perspective
Perspective vs no perspective cartoon

Perspective is objects getting smaller every bit they go off into the distance. Drawing in perspective is being able to bear witness this in a believable manner in fine art.

Drawings with no perspective simply await odd. Mostly even people who are not artists can tell somethings is off nearly them though they may not always be sure what information technology is.

When it comes to anime and manga perspective is peculiarly important for groundwork objects or for getting more dramatic looking scenes.

For more on perspective drawing run across:

Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners and How information technology Relates to Anime

Distorted or Uneven Drawings

Anime head drawing without guide lines mistake
How guide lines help drawing

When drawing something that'southward supposed to exist symmetrical it's very easy to make a mistake where the cartoon is really uneven. To help avoid mistakes draw some guide lines to assistance y'all.

For example if you lot are drawing the caput as in the case above information technology's a proficient idea to draw a line down the middle of where y'all desire to place the caput. This will help y'all insure that both halves are more than even.

For drawing different styles of anime heads come across:

How to Describe Different Styles of Anime Heads & Faces

Misaligned or Misplaced Parts

Anime sword on waist see through drawing
How see through cartoon helps

Another very common mistake is when different parts of the same object are actually drawn misaligned when office of that object is hidden.

In the in a higher place drawing if you extend the lines of the sword/sheath in the first case you can see that they actually practise not align.

In club to avoid such mistakes you tin do a lite "encounter through" sketch of the whole object to brand sure that both ends are placed correctly. Only erase the hidden parts later on.

Confusing Other Styles With Anime

Anime face vs cartoon face drawing comparison
Anime vs cartoon style

Some styles may look like to anime but they are non quite "anime". Even professional or semi-professional person artists often make this mistake and draw characters that await more than like dolls or cartoons.

There is a very specific set of anime defining features. Some of these include:

  • Large eyes with thick pointy eyelashes
  • Highly simplified nose (ofttimes but a dot in front view)
  • Modest mouth (usually with no or barely defined lips)
  • Pocket-sized almost pointy chins

There are anime and manga characters that are exceptions to some of these "rules" merely mostly if you want an anime look you accept to exist careful to stick to the fashion.

For drawing a semi-realistic female anime face run into:

How to Draw a Realistic Anime Face up Step by Footstep

For drawing a female confront similar to the ane in the example see:

How to Depict an Anime Girl's Head and Face

Subject to Modest for Drawing Expanse

Sizing drawing to drawing area
Sizing cartoon to drawing area

Making a cartoon that is too pocket-sized (or too large) for the drawing area is yet another common fault many beginners brand.

It'south fine to draw minor characters if y'all besides want to prove the scenery behind them. For example if you desire to prove a graphic symbol that'southward lone you can describe them very pocket-size with a big empty room around them. Information technology's as well fine to make many small-scale practice sketches on one sheet of paper. If however you desire to make a portrait mode drawing of a graphic symbol similar the example above try and make your drawing fill up up a good amount of the page. At the same time leave a good amount of "white space" on the sides or your drawing will look crammed.

Inconsistency Between Dissimilar Views

Sizing anime facial features in different views
Properly vs improperly sized facial features

Misaligned or differently sized facial features between different views of the same graphic symbol is a very common mistake made past beginners. In the example above the commencement side view of the face much narrower eye than the front view. Pocket-sized mistakes like this may result in characters that don't wait similar themselves in different views.

When drawing the aforementioned character in different views check carefully to make sure that the different facial features keep the same size and alignment in relation to one another.

Conclusion

Information technology'south very easy to make mistakes when drawing just virtually anything even equally a professional artist. The of import function is existence able to catch and set up them. Hopefully this tutorial helped you get more than insight in to what you should look out for.

Don't forget to check out the many other tutorials hither on AnimeOutline for more on drawing in the anime and manga styles.