How to draw Mario from Super Mario Brothers

Hey all you mangakas out there, today on How to Draw Manga we're going to be drawing the most famous and most recognized console game character in history: Mario from Super Mario Brothers. I must be getting old because I remember when Mario first came out and took the world by storm with his brother Luigi, almost 30 years ago!! Since then, Mario has been on many, many adventures to rescue the Toadstool Princess, all of which are still fun and fantastic to play. If you're interested in learning how to draw other versions of Mario and other Nintendo characters click on the Nintendo tag in the tag cloud on the right for all of our Nintendo drawing tutorials. Let's get our pencils and kneadable eraser ready as we start drawing Mario!

Step 1: A quick note for the mangakas. We're going to draw Mario's whole body so we need to leave added space for his body, feet and hands. Also, as any returning mangakas will already know, all of the blue lines you see in the steps are merely construction lines and will be erased later so don't press too hard on the construction lines! Ok, pencils ready? Let's begin. We'll start by drawing two similarly sized and shaped circles one above the other with a small space between them. These will be our head and body circles.

Step 2: Our finished Mario will be standing looking straight out at us, so we don't need any special face or body lines to suggest a 3d turn in this tutorial. In this step, we just need to add the eye and center lines to the head. The eye line is slightly above the center of the head shape and the center line extends down to touch the top of the body circle.

Step 3: Mario, even in the original 2d game, was a little on the plump side. Despite all of his running and then flying, Mario doesn't seem to be able to keep off the weight. Must be all that delicious Italian food he's eating all the time. So, in this step we need to add his chin line. We should add a curving line at the bottom of the head circle that starts just below the half-way point on the head. The chin should have three small hills, two for Mario's cheeks and one for his chin. The chin "bump" should touch the top of the body circle, hiding most of his neck.

Step 4: We've got a fairly straightforward step here. We'll add two coffee cup handle shapes on either side of the head for his ears. They should start just above the eye line on the head circle and finish on the cheek line we drew in the previous step.

Step 5: Moving on and moving in, we'll add some circles to the face to start giving Mario some features. We should draw a larger circle shape for Mario's nose the top of which should just touch the bottom of the eye line and is divided by the center line and then 2 ellipses for his eyes on the eye line.

Step 6: Continuing with our construction lines, let's add two straight lines at the bottom of the body circle for Mario's legs. After that, we need to add a large half-circle like line that runs through the head circle at about where Mario's mouth will be for his arms. The line should be much larger than the body circle and start just above the half-way point on the body shape.

Step 7: Pretty simple step. Just add three more lines for Mario's legs. Two on the outside and one in the middle. Notice that the leg lines on the outside curve out on either side towards the bottom and the one on the right is slightly shorter.

Step 8: Time for Mario's shoes, though he doesn't wear a brand I would recognize :) It might be easier here to begin with the foot on the left. After drawing the tops of the shoes linking the lines we drew in the previous step, notice the line on the right is slightly higher than the one on the left, we'll add some curving spade like shapes for his feet.

Step 9: How could Mario grab all those shrooms and turtle-ducks without his hands? So let's work on Mario's grabbers. We can begin by drawing two ellipses that connect the body circle to the larger half-circle line we drew before. Then, we'll add two larger egg like shapes for the hands. Please be aware that the hand shapes overlap the wrist ellipses we just drew.

Step 10: Good work so far! With some characters it's the hair that's their defining feature, with the Mario Brothers it's always the hat. So, in this step we'll add a construction line at the top of the head that starts and finishes at a point on the ear just above where the ear touches the head.

Step 11: Along with the hat, Mario sports his signature moustache. In this step let's start by adding the stache. It begins about half-way on either side of the nose and curves up before curving down in cloud like shapes towards the mouth. Once you have it on both sides, we'll add a very small crescent for his mouth just below his moustache and on the arm line.

Step 12: Great job, mangakas. Now, we've got to add three lines to the hat for its band. Start with the lower curved line that touches the ears on either side. Then add the top line that goes higher than the head circle and stops before the ears. Then add the middle line a little lower than halfway between the top and bottom lines we just drew. Also, feel free to lighten any construction lines along the way.

Step 13: Back to Mario's face for some more details. Let's begin with two circles in each eye for the pupil and iris. The smaller inner circle will touch the nose while the larger outer circle will overlap the nose. Also note that the eyes are both in the central corner of the eye. After you've got his eyes done we should add two crescent shapes above the eyes for his eyebrows.

Step 14: We're doing fine. In this step we've got to add a finger and thumb to the hands and three lines on the shoes to suggest the sole of Mario's shoes. Go ahead and add the lines to the shoes. After that, I'd suggest a curlicue or single spiral shape for the index finger and then starting on the inside of the hand we can draw the thumb connecting to the spiral. Not too bad.

Step 15: Mario might be a little out of touch with current fashion trends but who can hate the suspenders? Gotta keep them pants up when on a mission to rescue your princess. So here, we need to add two strips for his suspenders. The inner lines start just at the chin and the outer lines start about halfway up the cheek but at the arm line. The outer lines stop at the body circle and make two triangle shapes at the end. Once you've got his suspenders in place, we've just got to add a circle on his hat for his Mario medallion.

Step 16: Now, in this step we're going to be doing a lot of little details to really bring out Mario. From bottom to top, we'll start with two downward curving lines on the wrist, for his cuffs. Moving up, we'll add a small downward curving line just under his mouth for his chin. Next, two more small circles for reflections inside the eye circles we drew in previous steps. Two small lines in each ear to give it some detail. We also need to add a little hair on either corner under the hat and next to the ears. Finally, when it's all done we've got to give Mario a large block "M" inside the circle on his hat.

Step 17: Everybody is doing awesome. We're nearly there. Just one more step and our construction lines will be finished. We've just got to add three straight lines on the top of either hand for his gloves. Next two broken lines across his chest to suggest the wrinkle in his overalls. And lastly, we'll add a last line at the bottom of the body circle to give Mario a little paunch. All finished? Great work, let's move on to our final steps.

Step 18: Alright, mangakas, get out your kneadable eraser and lighten all of the construction lines we've made so far. We're ready to go over Mario in black pen for our final lines. Trace over your construction lines to make them permanent but be careful to leave the pant line in the center untraced as well as the lines under his chin and under his suspenders and hands. Once you have your first final lines in place we'll move on to do some thickening and blackening of his features.

Step 19: In this step we should thicken the outer lines of Mario using out black pen. You can either use a pen with a slightly thicker point or just go over your first black lines with the same pen and press a little harder to thicken them up. Notice that the outer line of the leg on the right is not thickened as it is pushed slightly back and so shouldn't be as clear as the other lines.

Step 20: Now, just a little blackening and we're all done! We need to color in Mario's eyebrows, his moustache, and the pupils in his eyes leaving the smallest inner circles uncolored (as these are reflection spots). Have you got it? Great job, mangakas!!

Step 21: Completely erase any remaining blue construction lines and here he is, Mario! I can almost hear the coins dropping and the bricks shattering now. If your goal is to become a great mangaka make sure to draw Mario again from memory. Then compare the final drawing with the original and correct any mistakes you might have made. Try once again from the memory. This is the best way to build a huge library of shapes that you can use in the future for your own manga characters.

Draw with passion! -_^ Hiroshi