This tutorial demonstrates how to draw snow, rain, wind, and other elements in anime and manga. Each step is explained in detail.
Many weather effects are important for anime and manga. They can be used to create a scene, set the mood, or indicate what season it’s in anime and manga.
This tutorial will show you how to draw better scenes with weather effects. It also suggests which scenes you might want to use them for.
Step-by-step instructions on how to draw anime snow
This tutorial’s easiest effect is snow. Scenes that create a romantic or holiday mood with large, slow-falling snowflakes such as the one in this example are quite common.
Step 1: Draw the largest snowflakes
Begin by drawing large and medium-sized snowflakes. Then, distribute them throughout the area. These shapes can be quite random, but you should keep them as smooth and straight as possible.
These snowflakes will be called the “foreground”. They will appear larger as they are closer to the viewer. This is why it is so important. We will explain the reason in the tutorial.
Step 2: Add more medium-sized snowflakes
To complete the foreground, add some medium-sized snowflakes. Some of them should be drawn in small groups around larger flakes, while others can be drawn in their own places. Try to make falling snow look natural by not using too many snowflakes.
Step 3 – Draw Background Snowflakes
Next, draw some small snowflakes to fill in the spaces between the larger ones. These will be your “background” snowflakes.
Sketching a Snowfall Scene Character
Now if you want to draw an actual character with the snowfall scene (draw them before the snow) like in the above example the foreground/background snowflakes become a little more important. The larger snowflakes should be drawn in front of your character, while the smaller background snowflakes should remain behind them. This will give your drawing depth.
You should also keep in mind that you want to draw the falling snow against a darker background. Make the snowflakes white and not have dark edges. When you draw the snowflakes, you can outline them and then blend them into the background to a color or shade them. You can draw the snowflakes on top of the digital scene if you’re drawing digitally. This can be done on paper using white non-transparent paint or a white correction pencil.
Tutorials showing how to draw an anime character from a 3/4 view, similar to the one shown in the example are available here:
- Drawing a Female Anime Face 3/4 View
- Drawing Anime Pouting Face Tutorial
Step-by-step instructions on how to draw anime rain
Drawing rain is a little like drawing snow, but with some minor differences.
Manga and anime often use heavy rainfall to create dramatic scenes. These scenes can be positive or negative. It could be, for example, a character walking in the rain alone after a bad event or a dramatic confession.
Step 1: Draw the Foreground Raindrops
Begin by drawing the large to medium-sized raindrops. Spread them evenly across the drawing area. With narrower tops, draw most drops more “bottom-heavy”. Some drops should be quite long, while others should be shorter. These will be similar to the snow.
Step 2: Add More Medium-Sized Raindrops
You can also draw in smaller or shorter drops. To give the drops more variety, you can also draw some of them breaking them down into smaller parts.
Step 3 – Draw the background raindrops
Finish the rain drawing by adding the “background” raindrops. These are simply lines of varying lengths.
It should be noted, however, that rain often appears in manga and anime with only one line per drop. If you wish to, this is an option. Drawings with larger raindrops, such as the one shown below, will look better in close-up scenes.
Draw a character in the rain
Draw an anime/manga character before the rain falls if you wish to create them in the rain. As with the snow, the raindrops should be hidden behind the characters. The larger drops can be drawn directly on the character, making small splashes.
Raindrops, like snowflakes, look best when drawn on a dark background. You can draw large raindrops using just an outline, unlike the snowflakes.
It can be difficult to shade around each drop of water when you draw with pencil and paper. You can either use dark outlines, or a white pen to add them over your pencil drawing.
This video explains how to draw wet hair anime like the one in the example.
Step by step Drawing Wet Anime Head Hair
See:
How to Draw 3dvkarts shoe Step by Step
Step-by-step instructions on how to draw anime wind
The wind is more difficult to show than rain or snow. Because you cannot see the wind, you’ll need to include some objects in the scene. You can use any object, but feathers, leaves, petals, paper, or paper are all common.
There are many uses for wind in manga and anime. Some scenes are dramatic, such as a character trying to walk against the wind in a snowstorm. Some scenes can be romantic, like the cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring breeze.
This tutorial focuses more on the former.
Step 1 – Draw the Front Wind Streams
You can make the object look like wind, and not like fallen leaves or petals. To do this, draw a series of wind streams or paths. To help you guide the petals/leaves, draw some lines like the one shown. Or imagine them in your mind.
We will be drawing some abstract objects, which can either be leaves or petals, for the purpose of this tutorial.
Begin by drawing the background and foreground. Draw the wind in larger amounts first.
Step 2: Draw the Farther Back Wind Streams
For more wind streams, add more lines to the background.
Assemble the petals and leaves from the back.
Step 3: Draw the Background Wind Streams
Add the wind from the back. Optionally, you can draw them with lines like in the example.
Although all the leaves should be slightly different in size, the ones in the background should be the smallest.
Draw a character in the wind
Similar to the rain and snow, if you want to draw characters in the wind, you should do so before the objects.
In this example, the largest stream/petal is directly in front of the character. The second largest is just behind her. The rest are further back.
The above image conveys that wind blowing is happening and not just as a result of falling leaves/petals.
Conclusion
Many anime and manga depict weather effects like snow, rain, and wind. They are also not very difficult to draw though it may be a little time-consuming depending on the amount of detail you want to put into drawing each snowflake/raindrop/leaf/petal, etc… Hopefully, you enjoyed this tutorial.
You can also find tutorials about anime and manga here:
- Step-by-step instructions on how to draw explosions, smoke, and fire
- Tutorial Drawing Manga Speech Bubbles
- How To Draw Anime Style Foods & Lunchbox
