8 answers
Yoli
Student
1
Question
Asked
1581 views
How do I create more details into my art?
Hi! I'm wondering if I could get any tips of how to add more detailed features into my drawings. When I'm older, I plan to make manga for people and for fun! So please if you have any tips, please tell me, thank you! :)
8 answers
✨ Danuta Chapin, MFA
Designer and Art Director
17
Answers
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Updated
✨ Danuta’s Answer
Hello Yoli,
Special character lines, strength, thickness, and pressure for the intensity, combined with textures, are what make art interesting and original in style. To add more detailed features to your drawings, focus on lines, shading, anatomy, and storytelling elements—the building blocks.
Very exciting goal! Creating manga is a blend of artistic skill and storytelling magic, and adding detail is what brings your characters and worlds to life. Various apps and using a tablet provide additional built-in tools. Here’s how you can start sharpening your skills: Use online resources and YouTube, and my favorite is online learning, which can be found in your public library or school. Online classes are convenient and wonderful.
✏️Tips
▫ Line art: Clean, confident lines make a huge difference. Use varying line thickness to show depth and emotion. Thin lines for delicate features, bold lines for emphasis.
▫ Shadows and depth: use hatching, cross-hatching, and screentones to create texture and mood. These techniques help your characters pop off the page/
▫ Flat areas and gradients: These are common in manga to create contrast and drama. Practice placing them strategically to guide the reader’s eye.
▫ Effect lines: Speed lines, impact bursts, and emotional flares add energy and emotion to your scenes.
▫ Focal points: Add more detail to faces, hands, and clothing folds—to grab first look.
▫ Use references: Study real-life photos, other manga, and anatomy guides to understand how details work in context.
▫ Balance: Not every panel needs intense detail. Use it to highlight key moments or emotions.
▫ Use digital tools like Clip Studio Paint: It’s popular among manga artists and has features like screentones, brushes, and panel templates. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva and InDesign, and so many new apps are available.
▫ Follow structured steps: Start with scripting, character design sketch, and layout before diving into detailed drawing. This helps you stay organized and intentional.
▫ Draw every day: Quick sketches build technique and confidence.
▫ Study: See how professionals use detail to enhance storytelling.
▫ Join communities: Share your work online for feedback and inspiration.
Sketch and plan: What stories do you want to tell? Good luck and have fun!
Special character lines, strength, thickness, and pressure for the intensity, combined with textures, are what make art interesting and original in style. To add more detailed features to your drawings, focus on lines, shading, anatomy, and storytelling elements—the building blocks.
Very exciting goal! Creating manga is a blend of artistic skill and storytelling magic, and adding detail is what brings your characters and worlds to life. Various apps and using a tablet provide additional built-in tools. Here’s how you can start sharpening your skills: Use online resources and YouTube, and my favorite is online learning, which can be found in your public library or school. Online classes are convenient and wonderful.
✏️Tips
▫ Line art: Clean, confident lines make a huge difference. Use varying line thickness to show depth and emotion. Thin lines for delicate features, bold lines for emphasis.
▫ Shadows and depth: use hatching, cross-hatching, and screentones to create texture and mood. These techniques help your characters pop off the page/
▫ Flat areas and gradients: These are common in manga to create contrast and drama. Practice placing them strategically to guide the reader’s eye.
▫ Effect lines: Speed lines, impact bursts, and emotional flares add energy and emotion to your scenes.
▫ Focal points: Add more detail to faces, hands, and clothing folds—to grab first look.
▫ Use references: Study real-life photos, other manga, and anatomy guides to understand how details work in context.
▫ Balance: Not every panel needs intense detail. Use it to highlight key moments or emotions.
▫ Use digital tools like Clip Studio Paint: It’s popular among manga artists and has features like screentones, brushes, and panel templates. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva and InDesign, and so many new apps are available.
▫ Follow structured steps: Start with scripting, character design sketch, and layout before diving into detailed drawing. This helps you stay organized and intentional.
▫ Draw every day: Quick sketches build technique and confidence.
▫ Study: See how professionals use detail to enhance storytelling.
▫ Join communities: Share your work online for feedback and inspiration.
Sketch and plan: What stories do you want to tell? Good luck and have fun!
Thank youuu! :)
Yoli
You're welcome, sending you all the best for your bright and beautiful future!
✨ Danuta Chapin, MFA
Christina Davis
14
Answers
Updated
Christina’s Answer
If you got a portfolio or sketches, an Art mentor can look at those and give more thoughtful response too!
That is such a fantastic dream, and it’s wonderful that you’re already thinking about how to add real detail!
You're absolutely right that style develops—it grows out of the purpose of what you're making. Since you’re planning on manga, one of the biggest tips I have is to think beyond just the drawing. I always tell my students we need to balance our art with a lot of writing exercises in the sketchbook. Describing the world—what the lighting is like, what small, specific objects are around—helps guide your pencil and makes sure your art is actually fulfilling the story you want to tell.
The biggest mistake I see is cramming too much intricate detail into every single panel. You have to learn the difference between your pages: your cover and intro pages are the showpieces where you do that cool character redesign and focus on textures and high contrast, but your action pages need to be clear and easy to read. Too much detail there ruins the flow of the story.
Another thing to try is the redesign exercise: focus on just one character and imagine them in different situations—different outfits, different seasons. This naturally forces you to think about new features to draw. You should also consider rendering a few pages in ink and watercolors. Even if the rest is black and white, seeing that color helps you decide where to put the deepest shadows and brightest highlights on your final pages. It’s a great hook!
Just keep making art. The details will definitely come to you, but you can’t get your story off the ground without putting pages down first!
That is such a fantastic dream, and it’s wonderful that you’re already thinking about how to add real detail!
You're absolutely right that style develops—it grows out of the purpose of what you're making. Since you’re planning on manga, one of the biggest tips I have is to think beyond just the drawing. I always tell my students we need to balance our art with a lot of writing exercises in the sketchbook. Describing the world—what the lighting is like, what small, specific objects are around—helps guide your pencil and makes sure your art is actually fulfilling the story you want to tell.
The biggest mistake I see is cramming too much intricate detail into every single panel. You have to learn the difference between your pages: your cover and intro pages are the showpieces where you do that cool character redesign and focus on textures and high contrast, but your action pages need to be clear and easy to read. Too much detail there ruins the flow of the story.
Another thing to try is the redesign exercise: focus on just one character and imagine them in different situations—different outfits, different seasons. This naturally forces you to think about new features to draw. You should also consider rendering a few pages in ink and watercolors. Even if the rest is black and white, seeing that color helps you decide where to put the deepest shadows and brightest highlights on your final pages. It’s a great hook!
Just keep making art. The details will definitely come to you, but you can’t get your story off the ground without putting pages down first!
Thank you Christina, I appreciate the advice! :)
Yoli
You are very welcome! Make more art.
Christina Davis
Kim Matthews
Graphic Production Designer and Sculptor
109
Answers
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Updated
Kim’s Answer
Hi Yoli,
Danuta's given you some excellent tips but I wanted to add a couple of points. First of all, just because something is more complicated or detailed doesn't make it more effective, which is what I think you're looking for. If you're not doing so already, I suggest taking an illustration course, whether through a community art center, school, or on your own. There are so many things available on line, as well as books--the old-school Walter Foster books are dated but provide solid advice and step-by-step instructions. While traditional drawing skills are valuable, studying illustration will teach you how to do more with less because it's intended specifically for commercial work. You'll learn how to start a swipe file of references to use when creating your drawings, short cuts to get to your drawing goals faster, and how to use light, form, and composition to create dramatic effects and action in your drawings, for instance.
Also, I 100% agree with Danuta's advice to study others' work. I'd recommend studying comic book and illustration history in addition to manga. I have a friend who teaches comic book history at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and I can ask her for a book list if you'd like. Maybe keep a little notebook or start collecting photos of work you like and start analyzing why you think some drawings are more compelling than others. If you keep this practice up, over time you'll learn how to assess work effectively and integrate some of those approaches into your own work.
Hope this helps!
Danuta's given you some excellent tips but I wanted to add a couple of points. First of all, just because something is more complicated or detailed doesn't make it more effective, which is what I think you're looking for. If you're not doing so already, I suggest taking an illustration course, whether through a community art center, school, or on your own. There are so many things available on line, as well as books--the old-school Walter Foster books are dated but provide solid advice and step-by-step instructions. While traditional drawing skills are valuable, studying illustration will teach you how to do more with less because it's intended specifically for commercial work. You'll learn how to start a swipe file of references to use when creating your drawings, short cuts to get to your drawing goals faster, and how to use light, form, and composition to create dramatic effects and action in your drawings, for instance.
Also, I 100% agree with Danuta's advice to study others' work. I'd recommend studying comic book and illustration history in addition to manga. I have a friend who teaches comic book history at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and I can ask her for a book list if you'd like. Maybe keep a little notebook or start collecting photos of work you like and start analyzing why you think some drawings are more compelling than others. If you keep this practice up, over time you'll learn how to assess work effectively and integrate some of those approaches into your own work.
Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot! I appreciate the advice! :D
Yoli
Joseph Spirtos
Enter art contests
22
Answers
Poland, Ohio
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
Hey there!
Adding detail can be one of the most fun parts of art! Sometimes the best details come from what you like or what you imagine in your paintings or drawings or whatever you might be creating. For example, you might want to use certain colors that might not seem to match for the people viewing the picture, but if it makes you happy do it anyway. Having an imagination can be a big help even if you have to explain what certain things are or mean in your paintings. Make sure to have fun in whatever art you do and you will find you will be adding details you might not ordinarily have.
I recommend watching the great "Bob Ross" (youtube) his details and painting will inspire you!!!
Hope this helps and good luck :)
Adding detail can be one of the most fun parts of art! Sometimes the best details come from what you like or what you imagine in your paintings or drawings or whatever you might be creating. For example, you might want to use certain colors that might not seem to match for the people viewing the picture, but if it makes you happy do it anyway. Having an imagination can be a big help even if you have to explain what certain things are or mean in your paintings. Make sure to have fun in whatever art you do and you will find you will be adding details you might not ordinarily have.
I recommend watching the great "Bob Ross" (youtube) his details and painting will inspire you!!!
Hope this helps and good luck :)
Don Holland
Member Service Representative/Food Runner
244
Answers
Austin, Texas
Updated
Don’s Answer
Hello Yoli,
There are many different ways that you can create more detail or ways to change your art. I will create a list for you to look over and think about. Hope this advice helps!
Art in general:
-Have confidence, believe that you can improve and make good art
-Look at building up your texture
-Look at the way you are using contrast and depth
-Use light and shadow instead of drawing lines
Manga art:
-Work on the way use lines in your work
-Focus on mastering your shading and texture
-Focus on specific skills when it comes to drawing things like backgrounds and hair
*If you want more specific examples there are many different videos, information about how to create things like contrast and texture for you to look at. Best of luck in your art journey!*
There are many different ways that you can create more detail or ways to change your art. I will create a list for you to look over and think about. Hope this advice helps!
Art in general:
-Have confidence, believe that you can improve and make good art
-Look at building up your texture
-Look at the way you are using contrast and depth
-Use light and shadow instead of drawing lines
Manga art:
-Work on the way use lines in your work
-Focus on mastering your shading and texture
-Focus on specific skills when it comes to drawing things like backgrounds and hair
*If you want more specific examples there are many different videos, information about how to create things like contrast and texture for you to look at. Best of luck in your art journey!*
Tess Marsh
Customer Care Benefits
4
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
Tess’s Answer
✍️ **1. Build a Strong Foundation**
Great artwork starts with a solid understanding of basic structure. Focus on:
* **Human anatomy**: Get comfortable with proportions and different poses.
* **Facial features**: Practice drawing eyes, noses, mouths, and capturing a range of emotions.
* **Perspective**: Practice background and environment drawing to bring your scenes to life.
📚 *Tip: Check out tutorials or reference books like “Figure Drawing for All Its Worth” (Andrew Loomis) or “How to Draw Manga” for helpful guidance.*
---
🔍 **2. Observe the World Around You and Manga**
Spend time studying:
* **Real life** — people, clothing folds, cityscapes, animals.
* **Your favorite manga artists** — notice how they depict motion, emotion, and textures.
🎯 *Try recreating a panel from a manga you enjoy and see how line work, shading, and details are used to create impact.*
---
🖊️ **3. Add Details Step by Step**
Break down your drawing process into layers:
* **First**: Sketch the basic structure.
* **Second**: Add key features like eyes, hair, and clothing folds.
* **Third**: Incorporate fine textures, wrinkles, patterns, background elements.
✨ *Remember, building details gradually makes your artwork more polished. Take your time!*
---
💡 **4. Use Reference Images**
References are great tools many artists use:
* Pose in front of a mirror.
* Take your own photos or browse sites like **Posemaniacs**, **Line of Action**, or **Pinterest**.
📸 *Using references helps you accurately portray folds, hair movement, hand positions, and more.*
---
✨ **5. Experiment with Shading and Line Variations**
Adding depth makes your artwork dynamic:
* Use thicker lines for foreground elements and thinner lines for background details.
* Explore cross-hatching or screentones for shading and textures.
* Practice inking with pens or digital pressure-sensitive brushes.
---
💬 **6. Enhance Your Storytelling with Details**
Details can add emotion and context:
* Torn clothing can suggest struggle or conflict.
* Cluttered desks tell us about a character’s personality.
* Background choices set the scene’s mood — like a dark alley or a peaceful park.
---
🧠 **7. Be Patient and Gentle with Yourself**
Improving your ability to draw details takes time and regular practice. Remember, every artist starts somewhere!
🗓️ *Try setting simple goals like “Complete one detailed panel each week” or “Focus on drawing a new feature, like ears or shoes, this month.”*
Great artwork starts with a solid understanding of basic structure. Focus on:
* **Human anatomy**: Get comfortable with proportions and different poses.
* **Facial features**: Practice drawing eyes, noses, mouths, and capturing a range of emotions.
* **Perspective**: Practice background and environment drawing to bring your scenes to life.
📚 *Tip: Check out tutorials or reference books like “Figure Drawing for All Its Worth” (Andrew Loomis) or “How to Draw Manga” for helpful guidance.*
---
🔍 **2. Observe the World Around You and Manga**
Spend time studying:
* **Real life** — people, clothing folds, cityscapes, animals.
* **Your favorite manga artists** — notice how they depict motion, emotion, and textures.
🎯 *Try recreating a panel from a manga you enjoy and see how line work, shading, and details are used to create impact.*
---
🖊️ **3. Add Details Step by Step**
Break down your drawing process into layers:
* **First**: Sketch the basic structure.
* **Second**: Add key features like eyes, hair, and clothing folds.
* **Third**: Incorporate fine textures, wrinkles, patterns, background elements.
✨ *Remember, building details gradually makes your artwork more polished. Take your time!*
---
💡 **4. Use Reference Images**
References are great tools many artists use:
* Pose in front of a mirror.
* Take your own photos or browse sites like **Posemaniacs**, **Line of Action**, or **Pinterest**.
📸 *Using references helps you accurately portray folds, hair movement, hand positions, and more.*
---
✨ **5. Experiment with Shading and Line Variations**
Adding depth makes your artwork dynamic:
* Use thicker lines for foreground elements and thinner lines for background details.
* Explore cross-hatching or screentones for shading and textures.
* Practice inking with pens or digital pressure-sensitive brushes.
---
💬 **6. Enhance Your Storytelling with Details**
Details can add emotion and context:
* Torn clothing can suggest struggle or conflict.
* Cluttered desks tell us about a character’s personality.
* Background choices set the scene’s mood — like a dark alley or a peaceful park.
---
🧠 **7. Be Patient and Gentle with Yourself**
Improving your ability to draw details takes time and regular practice. Remember, every artist starts somewhere!
🗓️ *Try setting simple goals like “Complete one detailed panel each week” or “Focus on drawing a new feature, like ears or shoes, this month.”*
Thank you!
Yoli
Malvena Nwakanma, MBA, BA
Payroll Specialist
8
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
Malvena’s Answer
Hi Yoli,
Practice with different tools like fine-tipped pens or indenting tools, and use references to understand forms and anatomy better.
Techniques for adding detail
Focus on the focal point: Add the most detail to the most important area of your artwork and reduce the level of detail in other areas to create depth and guide the viewer's eye.
Layering: Build up your artwork with multiple layers of paint or color to create a sense of depth and dimension.
Use texture: Create texture through techniques like dabbing colors without over-blending, using texture brushes in digital art, or even indenting the paper before coloring to create grooves for details.
Subtle color and value changes: Add small variations in color and value. For example, mix several variations of a color, add warm tones to lit areas, and cool tones to shadows.
Use references: Study reference images of Manga to accurately portray details in anatomy, form, and textures.
Tools to use
Fine-tipped tools: Use finer pens, pencils, or an X-Acto knife for intricate details.
Blending tools: Use blending stumps for blending graphite and charcoal or palette knives for unique effects in painting.
Indenting tools: Create fine white details like hair or wrinkles by indenting the paper before coloring. This prevents the pencil lead from filling the grooves, preserving the white lines.
Hope this helps.
Practice with different tools like fine-tipped pens or indenting tools, and use references to understand forms and anatomy better.
Techniques for adding detail
Focus on the focal point: Add the most detail to the most important area of your artwork and reduce the level of detail in other areas to create depth and guide the viewer's eye.
Layering: Build up your artwork with multiple layers of paint or color to create a sense of depth and dimension.
Use texture: Create texture through techniques like dabbing colors without over-blending, using texture brushes in digital art, or even indenting the paper before coloring to create grooves for details.
Subtle color and value changes: Add small variations in color and value. For example, mix several variations of a color, add warm tones to lit areas, and cool tones to shadows.
Use references: Study reference images of Manga to accurately portray details in anatomy, form, and textures.
Tools to use
Fine-tipped tools: Use finer pens, pencils, or an X-Acto knife for intricate details.
Blending tools: Use blending stumps for blending graphite and charcoal or palette knives for unique effects in painting.
Indenting tools: Create fine white details like hair or wrinkles by indenting the paper before coloring. This prevents the pencil lead from filling the grooves, preserving the white lines.
Hope this helps.
Thanks a bunch!
Yoli
Phill Pezo
Industrial Design
103
Answers
Nutley, New Jersey
Updated
Phill’s Answer
Hey Yoli,
It is great to hear that you are looking to refine your artistic skills within detailing features into your drawings. The simple answer is practice makes progress. The more you create and practice your work the more you will find yourself with your own creative style. Something you can work on is replicating a pre-existing image using a grid scale. Print out the picture and create a line grid, vertical and horizontal on the image and on your piece of drawing material. Then take time to focus on each individual box. This will help you get a better sense of what kind of detailing is already used and can be something you build off of.
You can also keep note of things like consistency in line weights. You should also treat it as a color study with paint, a way to mix and match colors and fully understand how to use different tones. The more you practice these skills the better!
Best of luck on your journey!
It is great to hear that you are looking to refine your artistic skills within detailing features into your drawings. The simple answer is practice makes progress. The more you create and practice your work the more you will find yourself with your own creative style. Something you can work on is replicating a pre-existing image using a grid scale. Print out the picture and create a line grid, vertical and horizontal on the image and on your piece of drawing material. Then take time to focus on each individual box. This will help you get a better sense of what kind of detailing is already used and can be something you build off of.
You can also keep note of things like consistency in line weights. You should also treat it as a color study with paint, a way to mix and match colors and fully understand how to use different tones. The more you practice these skills the better!
Best of luck on your journey!
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