What is the best way to learn how to draw Manga?

Hey guys, you are here to learn how to draw manga, right?   Great, this is the right place!

I've been researching the best way to learn to draw Manga for several years now and I have finally found a secret path to master it that I am going to share with you in a second .  I collected about 50 "how to draw" books and countless DVDs. My goal was to be able to draw great manga characters from memory and to design my own that would look as great as the manga characters I love. Can you relate? 

After many years of struggling I finally got “enlightened” after reading a bio of one of my favorite manga artists. In his words:

... I would say that I learned about 80% of how to draw from Manga comics and only about 20% from books. I started by copying the comics and only later the anatomy books filled in the details for me. There is no better way than learning directly from another manga artist as you can always hit the books later."

 After reading this I realized I had heard a similar story repeatedly*. All my idols started to draw their favorite manga characters as kids and as they did they learned the basic shapes and concepts that they used to create their own characters in return. Another important element was that they draw a lot. I am sure you've heard this advice before. Just put the hours in. But to be able to do this, you need to be passionate about the process. And what better way to stay passionate than drawing your favorite manga characters, designing your own and sharing the passion with friends?

This is where the idea for this website came from. I wanted to create a place where I can draw and improve my Manga drawing skills and meet people with the same interest. Let’s set  up your own gallery and start drawing right now! 

Hiroshi

* My favorite Capcom artist Bengus grew up copying Leiji Matsumoto and Akira Toriyama's illustrations. He joined Capcom in 1992.

* In Bakuman manga, story about 2 classmates striving to become profesisonal Mangakas, Mashiro decide to copy 1000 pages of battle scenes from the most popular mangas. Bakuman is great story especially because it shows many aspects of the life of real mangakas and I am pretty sure this is what many of them actually do.