How To Draw Anime Characters

Legs

Legs are the foundation of all humans – you stand on it every day. ;) Manga legs range from detailed and buff to generic, simplified lines. Simplified legs being the norm. Below is a row of legs in the front view. The first leg is typical, showing the simplified version I mentioned. Notice how the middle is practically straight and has no curves while the outer edge is just the opposite. The second example, on the other hand, has curves at both sides of the leg. Taking a closer look, the legs are shaped like cylinders with one end slightly wider than the other end from hip to knee, from knee to ankle.

At side and back view, the same idea applies. The back view of the leg tends to have dashes | /  \ | indicating the back of the knee. You can also do the same at the front using one or two dashes except reversed | \  / |.

One important aspect about legs that you must keep in mind is when it is against another object whether if it’s a chair or it’s own self, the leg tends to widen out. The muscle gets pushed to the side or upwards depending on the situation. Above and the one below are three of such examples.

Top: Leg pushing up on itself.
Middle: Leg resting on chair.
Bottom: Leg against itself and on the floor.

Feet

Drawing feet is not a feat at all. We’ll start by going through the different view points of the foot.

Side views of a feet are practically triangular shaped with a rectangle on top. The straight lines drawn indicates the ankles and toes where bending occurs.

A quarter view of a foot may look tricky but just follow these steps:
1. Begin with a trapezoid with rectangle on top.
2. Cut the pointy end of the trapezoid so it runs practically parallel with the top of the foot.
3. Bend the end of the foot where the toes should be. Add toes guideline if it helps you.
4. Finish drawing by curving out the lines a bit, adding ankle, and toes.
Not bad huh?
The drawing just below the side view illustrates two feet. Note that one is slimmer than the other indicating a female foot and a male foot. Feet drawing can differ just by a slight change in width or thickness and even length.

Finally, the front view, is also made up of rectangles and a trapezoid. All you basically need to do is draw in ankles and the toes.

Speaking of toes, lets take a look at how to draw them. On the right is a three step process to draw toes. Starting with just a guide, draw laying L’s for toes. Make sure the inner toe is the biggest with the last being the smallest. From there, draw in the toenails and you’re done!

Moving on to toenails, here are several instances of toes at varying angles. The last toe is of the big toe. It’s shape tends to be wide at the middle and tapers off on either end.

Going back to the whole foot, we have here an example of the two sides of the foot. One side, if turned, has an arch. The other side, if turned, does not.
The side of the foot with an arch faces the inside while the archless side faces outwards. A trivial info but something you have to keep in mind when drawing the foot.

Lets look at another detail you have to remember: the ankle. On the right, we have a quarter and a front view of ankles. At quarter view, the ankle is reminiscent of a boomerang while the front views are slight bumps. Nothing to it!

Another aspect of feet is how they bend. Below is a drawing of a foot at rest and a vertical foot resting on the toes. At the ballerina-like stance, note how the top of the foot is pretty much straight and the back of the ankle is now scrunched up. The same scrunch would occur if the toe was bent inwards.

One last detail about the foot you must make note: the foot curves at the toes. Check out the example above with the slippers. The longest point is the big toe and grows less as it reaches the pinky toe. This is why shoes are generally shaped with a rounded end.