This video tutorial demonstrates the steps to draw a bowl filled with rice, in Manga or anime style. The tutorial covers 12 steps and detailed illustrations for each one of them.
Rice bowls are a common sight in all kinds of manga and anime. They might appear to be straightforward, but there are a few points to consider in order to make an appropriately structured sketch of one. This tutorial will explain what these are and also demonstrates a technique that you can employ regardless of the manga or anime style.
Begin the tutorial with a pencil, drawing thin lines, as you’ll require erasing and shifting between some in the sequence. You can make them darker after step 10.
Step 1 – Draw the Top and Base of the Bowl
Be aware that this section of the tutorial might seem to be a little complicated, however, it’s essential to know for you to create an effective drawing.
Before you begin, make sure to place items in a manner that you have enough space on the top of your drawing space to accommodate chopsticks and rice (if you wish to include chopsticks).
Start the drawing by creating an upward line. This will help you check if both sides are equal in size.
Then draw two horizontal lines one for the upper part of the bowl, and another for its bottom.
On every horizontal line (as shown in the example) sketch an outline for the top and bottom of the bowl. In the final drawing, the outer edge of the base (top portion of the oval at the bottom) is not visible, however, for this step, draw it in such a way that it appears as if the bowl was transparent.
Draw the top side of each oval slightly wider than their bottom sides. This is for a sense of the perspective (things appear to be smaller when they move in the distance).
The bottom one should be larger in relation to its width than the larger oval. You can observe in the illustration above if both ovals were identical in width, the lower one would be taller.
The reason you draw this method is due to the eye level. To show how it works, simply place the actual bowl before you and gaze at its upper rim. If you raise it up to your eyes, the top appears to be almost an even line. The further you bring it, the more rounded it appears.
Because the bowl’s bottom in this example is higher than the top, it must be drawn around.
For more information about the perspective and eye level, read:
Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners and How it Relates to Anime
The guidelines can be erased by guidelines horizontally after you have completed this step.
Step 2 – Draw the shape of the Bowl
As you descend to the side of the oval, sketch the shape that the bowl will take. In this case, it must look similar to an oval or half circle.
It is important to ensure that at the bottom of the bowl, the form of your bowl is the same as the oval on the bottom with a distance between them.
Once you’re done, ensure that the bowl’s two halves are equal. It is possible to erase vertical lines when you’re finished.
Step 3 – Finish Drawing the Base of the Bowl
To do this, simply draw two lines that run starting from half circles/ovals until the bottom oval, forms your bowl’s base.
Step 4 – Clean up the Drawing
Clean the drawing by erasing those “see-through” parts of the base to be able to draw something like the image above. It should be a simple sketch that shows the bowl of rice.
Step 5 – Add the Rim
To prove that the bowl has depth, first draw the rim that is at the top by drawing an oval within the larger one which determines its top.
Due to the perspective, this bowl’s rim will be thicker toward the top of the bowl (bottom part of the oval) and smaller toward the rear (upper part of the oval).
Step 6 – Finish the Bowl Drawing
Most bows don’t have sharp edges, as shown in the earlier example. To create a comfortable locking rim, you can take out the bottom of the oval that is outside, as well as the upper portion of the inner oval, so that you’ve got an image similar to the one in the previous example. This gives an appearance of smooth round edges.
After that, you should almost have a completed sketch of the dish of rice.
Step 7 – Outline the Shape of the Rice
Begin drawing the rice, first sketching its general shape. In this instance, it’ll be a round heap.
It is not required to be perfectly symmetrical however for a pleasing drawing, make sure the rice isn’t too bent towards one side.
Make sure you draw the outline on top of the bowl to make it appear as though the rice were transparent. attempt to create it as light as you can, so that it’s barely visible.
Step 8 – Draw the Rice Grains
In the form of an outline, you can create what is basically an outline of the rice grains.
The grains can be made darker than the line you created in the previous step so that it basically disappears into the background.
Step 9 – Add the Chopsticks
In the majority of manga and anime, the rice is served with chopsticks laid on top of it. However, in this instance to make the design appear more intriguing, they’ll be sticking out from the rice.
Begin by drawing an outline of the chopsticks. After that, you can add some rice around the base of the chopsticks to create the illusion that they’re actually stuck to the rice.
Instead of being stuck directly towards the sides, the chopsticks are directed slightly towards the eye. It is possible to show this with the help of oval forms on their tops.
For more information about drawing chopsticks, see:
How to Draw Hands Holding Chopsticks Step by Step
Step 10 – Add More Rice Details
For the final sketch of the bowl, you might want to add some hint of tiny rice grain clusters, and even individual grains of rice along the.
If you are satisfied that your drawing is correct, you are able to draw darker lines by tracing over them.
Step 11 – Color the Bowl
If you want to color the drawing, leave the drawing with a thin white line (which may be difficult to discern in the illustration) that is then randomly broken in a few spots around the rim of the bowl.
This will produce an accent (light reflecting off its surface) which makes it appear as if the bowl is a smooth reflective surface.
In this instance, the bowl is green, but you are able to choose any color you want.
The chopsticks that are colored make their upper edges (the areas where they’re cut off) slightly lighter than the rest. The light is direct from the top of the bowl, so these parts are lighter since they’re facing toward the bowl.
Step 12 – Finish the Rice Bowl Drawing
In a realistic drawing, there would seamless transitions from dark and shadow areas, but this illustration uses the cel shade (no gradients) that is fairly typical in manga and anime.
However, it must be noted that occasionally in manga and anime close-ups of food images are colored in a more realistic manner to make the appearance tastier. But this is typically only a single frame or page of the manga. The process of drawing/shading multiple panels in this way is typically too time-consuming. This is why you frequently find food items drawn/shaded in a similar fashion to the previous example in particular when the characters are holding the food in their mouths.
As stated, the light will come directly above the bowl. This implies that it will cast shadows directly below it. The shape of the shadow is likely to reflect the form that the bowl has. It’s pretty much circular, however, when it’s seen at an angle, it’ll appear to be oval.
You could also shade the bottom of the bow and the sides facing downwards of each chopstick.
So long as you place it in the correct place even a simple shading can help make drawings more intriguing and less boring.
Conclusion
Although it is fairly straightforward, this guide contains some important drawing guidelines. A well-structured drawing from the beginning on will ensure that your work looks great after it’s completed. If you’re not getting the structure right, then regardless of how much effort you put into the details of your drawing, it is likely to look sloppy.
It also demonstrates how to use very basic shading and color to help the drawing pop without a lot of effort.
For more tutorials on food-related topics, check out:
How to Draw a Slice of Cake Step by Step
- How to Draw Anime Style Food & Lunch Box
- How to Draw Sushi Step by Step
- How to Draw a Slice of Cake Step by Step
- How to Draw a Candy Apple Step by Step
- How to Draw Takoyaki Step by Step
