Drawing Manga-style Battle Padmé Amidala

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Drawing Manga-style Battle Padmé Amidala

Ever wanted to draw Star Wars characters and vehicles just like the professional comic book artists? In this step-by-step series, Star Wars artists and illustrators show you how to draw some of the most beloved characters in the saga.

Graphic storytelling is a respected and centuries-old art form in Japan, and since the end of World War II, comic books — known in Japan as “Manga” — have remained the country’s dominant medium of entertainment. And over a period of at least the last twenty years, Manga have become increasingly popular with international and especially North American audiences. While every Manga artist has their own artistic flare, you can definitely see similarities in the style as a whole.

The biggest difference you’ll notice in the way Manga is drawn from comics in the Western world is the enormous eyes that the characters all have. With larger than life highlights, and refined detail, the contrast in shape and value really make the eyes “pop.” While this can often make the characters appear childlike, it also opens the door to making expressions and moods visually interesting.

Here our own Star Wars illustrator Matt Busch explains with these easy-to-follow steps on how to draw a Manga-style portrait of Padmé Amidala ready for battle on Geonosis.

Step One: Like the front view, draw the Manga head profile by starting with a circle. The triangular jaw hangs below, and toward whichever side the head will be facing. You should be sketching lightly at this point. Also, lightly draw a line half way through the circle horizontally. This will represent the top of where the eye and ear goes.

Step Two: This is the most important step, because you’re literally drawing the profile. You can see that the brow part of the forehead comes out a little. Give Padmé a little button nose and pouty lips before bringing the profile back to the chin. In addition to sketching in the neck, draw another light line horizontally from the nose to the other side. This will represent where the bottom of the eye and ear goes.

Step Three: Lightly draw in the eye. From this angle, it appears to have a triangular shape. The ear is about the same size, if not smaller. Also start to map out Padmé’s hair, pulled back into a crazy Star Wars bun.

Step Four: Now that you constructed the drawing with light lines, it’s time to go back over them with darker, more confident lines. This is where your drawing starts to look professional. When drawing your characters lightly, you can sketch away until you get the proportions right. The light sketching can be rough, but when you draw your darker lines, you really want to slow down and make them nice and neat. Make them more refined and less “scribbly.”

Step Five: Lastly, shading, details, and of course, our Battle Padmé wouldn’t be complete without a huge battle droid blaster. And you’re an artist now, so don’t forget to sign your work!