Anime Self-Portrait

Objective and PASS: Students will learn about facial features and proportions, and
learn to draw their own portraits in the Japanese manga/anime style. Students will
use a mirror as a tool to create more accurate versions of themselves. Students will
use a ruler to correctly measure facial distances and symmetry. Students will use
soft pastels in the correct way. Students will use materials safely and correctly.
4=S1:2,3 S2:1,2,3, S3:1,2,3, S4:2,3
Materials: pencils, drawing paper, Anime and Face PP, rulers, soft pastels, Kleenex,
example handouts
Procedure: The teacher will review self-portraits with the class and explain the
concept of manga/anime/caricature art with a slide show. The teacher will then
explain the project and start a demo. TSW work step-by-step with the teacher to
draw a face shape and the grid lines for facial proportions. TSW receive a mirror to
duplicate their features. Remind students that the anime style is simplified and
exaggerated, so the eyes and hair will be bigger, the nose and mouth smaller, and
any characteristics that stands out on their faces or that they would like to
emphasize will also be bigger. The teacher will draw with the students in the
following order: eyes, eye brows, nose, mouth, ears, hair, neck, and any added
features such as freckles, glasses, dimples. TSW also use rulers to measure
distances and sizes if they wish. The eyes are especially important. Have students
draw the top half and lid of their eye above the eye line and the bottom half below
it. The corners may not even meet. Add lashes reflection spots, and an eye brow
that is solid yet mimics their own shape. When drawing the eyes, have the students
pay special attention to the shape of their top eye lid. The nose will be small and
simple, but the difference in a straight, curved, or turned up nose will be drawn.
The lips are also smaller, yet the pointy top lip, difference in sizes, and center line
must be drawn. The ears will fit starting at the eye and ending at the nose tip in a
simple c-curve. The hair will mimic their own, but cover a larger area, look solid,
and have stray jagged edges. TSW also add the top of their shoulders and a simple
shirt outline if needed. The students will then outline their portraits in marker to
imitate the cartooning simplicity; adding their signature at the bottom. The teacher
will then give a demo on using soft pastels/chalk to color in the image and add a
hazy background, with kleenex on hand for smudges.
Assessment: participation in half-face drawings and finished anime self portrait
Modifications: Seating proximity, reiteration and emphasis of direction, individual
help

Many people might say "Manga are Japanese comics, and Anime is the Japanese
version of animation. Anime is usually, but not always, the animated version of
popular manga." That's partially true, but it can be misleading. (Note that "anime"
in Japan technically means any animated film, and "manga" is any printed cartoon,
but people in the rest of the world take them to mean animated films or comics
from Japan.)
First of all, though an outsider might think Japan "stole" comics from the West, this
is not true. Japan has been making cartoonish art for a very long time (there are
humorous ink drawings of animals and caricatured people from hundreds of years
ago, bearing striking resemblances to modern manga). True, some aspects of
manga are taken from the West (Osamu Tezuka, the "father" of modern manga, was
influenced by Disney and Max Fleisher), but its main features, such as simple lines
and stylized features, are distinctly Japanese. It may be that Chinese art had more
influence than Western.
(Also, speaking of China, I should note that Anime is now a general Asian
phenomenon, not just Japanese. I understand there are many fine works of manga
and anime being produced in many places around the world. However, as far as I
understand, the roots are in Japan, and Japan is still considered, at least here in the
US, the center of the anime world. This may well change in the future.)
Secondly, Japanese manga and anime come in all types, for all sorts of people.
Unlike the U.S., which generally seems to believe that "comics are for kids" (though
this has been changing recently), Japanese manga-ka (manga writers) write for
everyone
Caricature: a representation of a person that is exaggerated for comic effect