I taught myself. I started watching anime around... 5 years ago maybe, and I liked to draw pictures anyway. So I found some pictures off the internet, and started drawing. And I have improved a lot since I first started.

mh..
first I drew manga pages.. just copying them.. you learn a lot form the character expressions and such..
once you develope.. search a lot on the web. pay attention to other people's way of drawing..
I ended up drawing stuff like this:


click link for bigger version
http://i45.tinypic.com/2czorar.jpg


believe me.. practise and patience are the key words.
it sounds boring.. but there is no other way ;p.

Practice, practice, practice. I grew up drawing, but I never grew up using reference pictures or guidelines. I have tried guidelines so many times and even to this day they do not help me. I just know how the anatomy is supposed to look now like an instinct. The reason for this is because I learned through observation. I didn't sit there and think okay I need to get better at this I need to get better at that, I just drew whatever I wanted. My style was anime, but this is because at the time I was watching a lot of animes and I liked the styles. But really I just have seen and examined a lot of art, a lot of anime artists' styles, and kind of got the hang of it that way through experimentation of my own.

One of my other friends learned to draw anime by the book. She has always used guidelines and would try to improve on certain things. As a result, most of her pictures turn out looking fine, but she cannot escape her box. All of her drawings look roughly the same. And I don't mean they share a common style they just honest to God look the same. She has tried other styles now and she is just completely incapable. Through lack of experimentation and confining herself to what she was trying to master she can now only draw in one anime style (which is sort of Naruto-esk, with less bulky, more effeminate and sleek characters).

Two of my other friends learned to draw anime by reproducing other artists works. They would look at the picture and try to draw it as identically as possible. One of them had some trouble with this at first, and it would take him a long time to redraw. Because of this, his drawing skill (in terms of his own works) progressed at a very slow pace. The other friend on the other hand could reproduce what she saw very easily and rapidly became good at this. As a result, her own works started to look very skillful very quickly and even surpassed the work of the first friend who learned her anime by the book.

Easy. I used to copy stuff from manga. There's nothing wrong in re-creating a picture as long as you don't claim it as original work. And its practice, after all.

Just look at what you like. Once you get decent at drawing that, start to push the bounds and throw your own style in there.

I basically learned from watching other people draw and started out by mainly drawing dragons and horses. As I got older and got into manga/anime I would go to the bookstore and get different books on how to draw anime characters or I would be looking around on the internet, see a picture I liked and go from there.
I also was inspired by the Final Fantasy games and take examples from different screen shots or pictures on the internet.

Anime "Drawers" ? LOL.

Most artists practice and spend time learning the basic art principals and studies figure drawing before perfecting a particular style. One of the most important things in my opinion is proportion. Even between different anime the exaggeration of sizes can differ. Generally speaking, anime characters have longer legs, shorter torsos and larger heads. I still find myself using references for a base and making sure that everything's the right size. I don't think anyone can really just learn a style and master it either. You just sorta evolve and develop your own style.

tr;dr You can't really learn to draw anime without learning to draw in the first place.

I taught myself how to draw. Started with pen and pencil and went up from there. I've been drawing for about 10 years now. *feels old recalling that dreadful number of years* Now I work with a tablet and Photoshop. :3

I dunno how to post images in here, otherwise I would show off a little >w<;;;;

Otaku-works on deviantART <----My DA page. Plenty of arts there. *nodnod*

And BTW, we aren't "drawers" we're artists. :3

I learned by practising and drawing a lot. At first I watched how other people drew and I tried to drew as similar as I could but then I went on my own way. I tried different styles and finaly made and found my own style of drawing.

its kinda easy but it depends what you want to draw.
like if you wanted to draw a chibi you don't have to make it detailed just try and make something cute and imaginative (if you wanted it to be cute)
i made a chibi devil and i didn't make it detailed at all except for the accesories like pitchfork and stuff.
i don't really draw much chibis but i like them when they're done
and normal manga is kinda hard when you think something is perfect, you get better and see it might be bad but beginners always get good at manga soon.

I've been drawing anime style since the days of pokemon. I'm 18 now, I was about 7 or 8 then. I was never good, but I just kept going and now I'm accomplishing things like:

this!

Honestly, my drawing style is far from ordinary. I never took drawing classes oother than a colored pencil one, No one taught me about making shapes, I just draw. I don't make a circle and shape it until it's a face, I just draw a face right away. All the shading isn't in layers, the shading is just pressure from my pencil.

i started off by tracing my sailor moon manga. alas- now i draw "real" art. forgive me for that being an asshole thing to say.
shameless self promotion:
stellykazz on deviantART

D: I'm not a drawer ! Drawers slide in and out and carry things like clothes.
lolol
Illustrator or Artists I think works better.

I drew lots from reference and I eyed a lot of official art as a kid.
Then I started school and participated in lots of life drawing sessions. After just drawing and painting lots, I got to where I am now.

Here's my most recent anime-anime picture:



One of my favorite pieces is the one in my signature.
Visit my DA @ VeissWynd.DeviantArt for more of what I do.

as for me..

my very first anime, as in the first anime i reaLLy liked, was CLAMP SchooL.

i began watching other anime titLes, and learned the basics. XD

i learned more stuff from pics, and had my friends critique my work, two of which were aLso bLooming anime artists. XD

that's pretty much it. XP

I Love to Draw.... even tho i'm not that good.. I Say The Animes the Got me into trying to draw Anime were Sailor Moon and Magic Knights Rayearth....any of my Sailor Moon PPl i have Drawn (Or OCs) end up with CLAMP eyes ^^;;

Oh, gosh.
Funny story. I was about two or three years old, and I was obsessed with sailor moon, so I'd sit infront of the tv, drawing her, but yelling at her to keep still. XD
Ahh. Then about 9 I picked up anime style again and kept drawing pokemon, digimon, and then my Mum got me some how to draw chibi books.
8D
I'm not a major anime artist anymore but I still do it in my spare time.

I learned to draw anime from tutorials on the internet, but found i knew jack shit about anatomy. with that i tried to dive into more advanced art exploration but found myself stuck at a plateau. Then I went to college to learn more about what art really is so I could branch out and grow as an artist. and it helped me some bit, i can draw some what better anime drawings, with proportion and knowledge of color theory.

To be honest? When I was young, before I was serious about drawing, I'd trace, and then try to alter the picture to how I wanted it. Soon enough, I no longer needed to trace, as tracing helped with my understanding of anatomy initially, and it just grew on from there. Though, I don't do MUCH anime art, I am influenced by the manga style.

The only thing that will really make you better in the long run is to attempt to fully understand anatomy and perspectives and just, everything NOT anime. Anime is what you draw when you fully understand everything else. C:

Well.. when I was younger i'd watch animes like Space Captain Harlock, Vampire Hunter D, etc etc... some old school stuff I guess you'd say and that kind of art style inspired me. I was already a prolific doodler with drawing dragons and the like but then I took to drawing people and anime really laid down a base for me to go and learn off of. The simplified style or bodies and faces made it easy for me to understand as I'm not the type to draw out circles and sticks to make a body at first but to just draw the whole body as I want it to be. (I really save on the erasers that way) after a while though.. I made the anime style into my own detailed anime/manga style... to this day when i'm in a drawing slump though i'll go and rewatch those first animes to inspire me again. x3

Going way back, the first things I started drawing were virtual dragon pets. They were spot on copies, actually, but the art for those old defunct sites was definitely something a kid my age could draw. XP

I soon got into Pokemon though, and thats when my drawing craze picked up. Betcha can't guess which little monster was pasted all over my room...

i ate majic chicken

i have these drawing books and a friend who is teaching me im not very good but i guess practice makes perfect

Personally, I learned how to draw from trying to copy what I saw on the TV. But other then that. I taught myself how to draw. Never read a book, or took a lesson (Other then art class in school, which was pretty pointless to me). One of my old teachers eventually helped me learn guidelines better a few years back. As well I went to International music camp, and took an art class there. I'm not in art collage, but to be honest, I'm not learning anything new. Just trying to perfect old techniques.

I learned by looking and copying anime on TV even though I didn't know at the time and I studied manga when I found some...it started with sailor moon and cardcaptor saukra...
it went from horrible in middle school to good which is now...
Before (beginning )


After (now)

Originally Posted by B1ack0ut

i have these drawing books and a friend who is teaching me im not very good but i guess practice makes perfect

am i the friend who is apparenly teching you? O_o or are you just watching me and learning like that while we're in class? haha

i had always been drawing. how to draw manga books didn't help me at all. i just kept at it, would look at a friend's drawing and compare them to mine and adapted to it. our styles were very different, but i made a lot of progress when i did that. haha ^^

I don't really draw manga/anime characters all to often, but I think this rings true in all forms of art: practice, practice, and practice. It's nice to learn a little bit here and there from tutorials and references, but most importantly you need to just keep practicing. Also, emphasis and "little bit" with the tutorials and references. It's cool if you can draw just like how some famous manga artist can, but not if you're just copying them. It's very important to find your own style and way of drawing, too. Use copying and tutorials only when learning, and not in serious pieces.