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Drawing Academy · Manga & Anime

Manga Workshop: Characters, Animals and Comic Pages

Design original characters and creatures, then letter and lay out readable comic pages

Level
Intermediate
Lessons
72 lessons in 12 modules
Estimated study
About 107 hours
Format
Online, self-paced
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Before you start

Review the lesson outline and any lesson-specific preparation before you practise.

Full study requires active Academy access. This course can be audited independently of optional assessed programs.

About this course

For students who can already draw a constructed adult figure, a three-quarter head and a hand (the figure, head and hand modules of Drawing Studio, or equivalent). Twelve modules and 72 guided drawings. You design varied adult men and women, give them expressions and acting, and build animals, human and animal fusions, and plant and mechanical creatures. Then you learn panels and camera, balloons and captions, sound-effect lettering, motion marks and page timing. The course ends with a three-page original short comic, Last Light, taken from model sheet to revised final page. Every lesson ends with your own variation and a short correction note. All characters and stories are original. The demonstration pages read left to right, and one lesson plans a page for right-to-left reading. Advanced Manga Studio continues from here.

What you will be able to do

  • Design varied original adult men and women with consistent proportions, expressions and silhouettes.
  • Adapt animal anatomy and combine human, animal, plant and mechanical forms coherently.
  • Compose readable comic panels, dialogue balloons, captions and visual sound effects.
  • Show motion, impact, timing and continuity through poses, camera choices and marks.
  • Plan, ink, color, letter and revise an original short comic.

Course outline

Develop distinct adult male designs through shape language, model consistency, costume and acting.

  1. A tall courier in three-quarter view1 h 30 minFree preview
  2. A broad engineer with a work apron1 h 30 min
  3. A lean swordsman resting his wooden staff1 h 30 min
  4. An older scholar with a long coat1 h 30 min
  5. One man across three emotional expressions1 h 30 min
  6. A male character front-and-side model sheet1 h 25 min

Design varied adult women with purposeful proportions, consistent facial construction, costume and gesture.

  1. An athletic ranger in three-quarter view1 h 30 min
  2. A compact mechanic with rolled sleeves1 h 30 min
  3. A tall researcher with a layered coat1 h 30 min
  4. An older captain with a weathered face1 h 30 min
  5. One woman across three emotional expressions1 h 30 min
  6. A female character front-and-side model sheet1 h 25 min

Stage believable character acting, foreshortening, contact and interaction while maintaining original designs.

  1. A woman turning to call over her shoulder1 h 30 min
  2. A man leaning to pick up a dropped letter1 h 30 min
  3. Two characters handing over a lantern1 h 30 min
  4. A foreshortened open hand reaching toward us1 h 30 min
  5. A seated character laughing with folded clothing1 h 30 min
  6. Two friends reacting to a sudden gust1 h 30 min

Preserve joint placement, weight and species identity while designing expressive manga animals.

  1. A fox sitting with an alert silhouette1 h 25 min
  2. A cat crouching before a leap1 h 25 min
  3. A dog skidding to a playful stop1 h 25 min
  4. A bird banking with overlapping wing feathers1 h 25 min
  5. A small deer turning its head1 h 25 min
  6. An expressive animal front-and-side model sheet1 h 25 min

Combine human and animal forms with coherent attachment, movement, silhouette and design rules.

  1. A fox-eared messenger with an integrated tail1 h 25 min
  2. A bird-winged guardian with a shoulder attachment study1 h 35 min
  3. A deer-inspired forest guide with antler balance1 h 25 min
  4. A feline athlete with digitigrade lower legs1 h 25 min
  5. A fish-inspired swimmer with fin and gill motifs1 h 20 min
  6. A human-animal fusion front-and-side model sheet1 h 30 min

Build hybrid creatures through clear structural rules, material contrasts and believable repeated forms.

  1. A fox-dragon creature with a shared skeleton1 h 25 min
  2. A plant guardian with branching limb joints1 h 25 min
  3. A bird-and-robot scout with hinge wings1 h 25 min
  4. A stone-and-moss companion with readable plates1 h 25 min
  5. A lantern spirit with a translucent shell1 h 25 min
  6. A fusion creature across three transformation stages1 h 30 min

Construct panel borders, camera views and readable compositions while keeping screen direction consistent.

  1. An establishing panel of a market street1 h 20 min
  2. A close-up reaction panel with a quiet background1 h 15 min
  3. A low-angle arrival panel with clear overlap1 h 15 min
  4. A high-angle panel of a character and dropped parcel1 h 15 min
  5. A two-panel conversation with a maintained screen axis1 h 25 min
  6. A three-panel action with a deliberate camera change1 h 15 min

Plan original dialogue, balloon order, tails, captions, safe margins and legibility at final reading size.

  1. Two speech balloons with clear speaker tails1 h 20 min
  2. A thought balloon and a caption with separate roles1 h 20 min
  3. A whispered line with restrained balloon styling1 h 15 min
  4. A shout balloon with room around the lettering1 h 15 min
  5. Two speakers with a clear balloon reading order1 h 25 min
  6. A silent-to-spoken three-panel exchange1 h 25 min

Draw sound effects as designed shapes using baseline, weight, depth, texture and placement.

  1. A heavy THUD built from block-letter shapes1 h 20 min
  2. A sharp CRACK with jagged letter contours1 h 25 min
  3. A flowing WHOOSH along a curved motion path1 h 25 min
  4. A small TAP with quiet spacing and scale1 h 15 min
  5. A metallic CLANG with depth and reflected value1 h 25 min
  6. An integrated splash panel with SPLASH lettering1 h 25 min

Show movement with gesture, anticipation, speed lines, follow-through, impact shapes and controlled occlusion.

  1. A running character with directional speed lines1 h 20 min
  2. An animal leap with a visible motion arc1 h 20 min
  3. A staff swing with a clear anticipation and follow-through1 h 55 min
  4. A boot landing with a contact burst and debris1 h 20 min
  5. A hand catching a falling parcel with secondary motion1 h 20 min
  6. A two-panel near miss with clear action geography1 h 45 min

Plan whole pages: panel sizes, gutters, silent beats and recurring props that keep a reader on one route, in either reading direction.

  1. A three-panel page with an establishing beat1 h 50 min
  2. A four-panel delivery sequence with a repeated parcel1 h 50 min
  3. A conversation page with controlled balloon flow1 h 45 min
  4. A suspense page with a silent pause1 h 40 min
  5. An action page with a large payoff panel1 h 45 min
  6. A mirrored thumbnail study for opposite reading directions1 h 50 min

Combine consistent characters, animals, fusion designs, lettering and effects into a readable original comic.

  1. A model and prop sheet for a courier and fox companion1 h 40 min
  2. A page-one thumbnail-to-ink delivery story1 h 50 min
  3. A page-two reveal of a small lantern spirit1 h 40 min
  4. A final page with clear action and a readable sound effect1 h 45 min
  5. A limited-color comic cover with title lettering1 h 45 min
  6. A revised final page with documented readability corrections1 h 45 min

Related assessed programs

This course belongs to the following optional programs. Each has its own required course bundle, evidence review and separate fee. Each program page shows its approved fee and current registration status.

Illustration & Sequential Art: Non-accredited Cloud Forest Certificate

3 required courses · non-accredited assessed certificate