Drawing 101

Luna's Art

In this tutorial, you will learn to draw Sailor Moon's head, face, hair, and parts of her outfit. All you have to do is follow my steps one by one. You might have to try each one a few times before you get it, but it's all about practicing! The more you try, the better you will get. So good luck! And when you are all done, visit the contact page and email me your picture so I can put it up in a gallery!

Step 1. To start out, draw the basic head shape. This might take a few tries but don't give up! Everyone has a different style and you'll develop your own the more you draw. The shape is a wide v that bends inward a little at the cheeks and up to the temples before it bulges out a little and curves around the skull. Draw in your guidelines, one across the cheeks, and another at the temple (should be the middle of the face). The center line down the middle splits it in half.
Step 2. Next, use the bottom guideline to add the mouth in. The top of the eyes touch the top guideline at the highest part of the curve and notice how they curve in a little at the outer ends. The nose is a little above the mouth, remember to make it that lower pointed shape like the characters in Sailor Moon have.
Step 3. Shown here are the four even sectors: each section marked by the double arrows is approximately the same height. Add the eyebrows halfway between the top of the eyes and the hairline (the highest line, just added here.) Also, add a line that runs with the top eye line but just above it, that is the eyelid. The bottom line of the eye is even with the point in the nose.
Step 4. The line marked "This line!" is the hair line. To draw the beginning for the hair, make a heart shaped but don't close the bottom. Then add the two outer lines to make the section of bangs have width. This is how Usagi's hair is started, other senshi have different hair styles and you should refer to pictures of them to see the difference.
Step 5. Add the rest of the hair in a similar fashion. Since Usagi's hair is parted and pulled back, the bangs stick out on the sides and the top of her head comes down in a slight point at the part.
Step 6. Draw an oval (slightly tapered at the top) for her eyes. Then draw another oval inside that one for her pupil. You can add the ears by making the top even with the "point" of the outside of the eye, and the bottoms even with the bottom of the nose.
Step 7. Draw in the 'odangos' or buns that Usagi is recognized for! Even if your drawing isn't perfect, as long as she's got the hair, people will recognize her. ^_^ They are circles, partially hidden behind her head, that curve from her bangs to the top of her head.
Step 8. Add in the long pigtails coming right from the odangos and from her earline. You can also add some hair lines to the buns. Draw in a neck, slightly wider than the width of her eyes and elegant feminine shoulders. Starting to look good huh?
Step 9. Final details, her eyelashes, Sakura opened her mouth slightly, and added more hairlines. This is a completed picture of Usagi. If you like, you can ink it like this and leave it that way. If you want to make her into Sailor Moon, you can look at the next step and add in the earrings, choker, collar, hair decorations on her buns and bangs, and the crescent moon. (It's just a circle that doesn't close at the top with a smaller circle inside toward the top.)
Step 10. Add a little color! Grab your Canary Yellow and put in the base color for her hair. Make sure to leave the highlights white!!
Step 11. Using your Goldenrod, add the shadows to her hair along the undersides of each bang section and randomly along the pigtails. Also color in the ring around her bun decoration, her crescent moon, earrings, and choker decoration (if you made her Sailor Moon).
Step 12. Using your Light Peach, add the base color of her skin. Be careful not to smudge the pencil. You might want to erase the pencil a little to remove graphite residue. Sometimes, Sakura will ink the line art first; this is a personal preference you should explore.
Step 13. Using your Peach, add the shadows of her skin along the side of her face and neck, and under her hair. Think about how the light would hit her if she was a real 3-D person.
Step 14. Get your Poppy Red and color in Usagi's bun decorations (leave a bit white for light effect!), and her chocker.
Step 15. Using True Blue and Ultramarine, color in the outer ring of her eyes leaving the inner oval white. Take the Ultramarine and color in her collar.
Step 16. Outline in black ink and sign it! You're all done! How does it look? Please, if you can, send Sakura a copy of your drawing (check out the Contact page for more info)! A tutorial for the body of Sailor Moon will be coming soon! HAPPY DRAWING!


Check out the artwork people have made so far! This image is by Hammie, she's 12 years old and you can email her at BijouDbz@aol.com.


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