After we've introduced the scenery, it's time to get to the characters!

These panels‘ job is to present characters to the reader, usually in a portrait-like way. This means that ideally they should be positioned in the center of the panel and be shown from head to bust, hip or even full-body.

A very important thought to consider:
What are your characters doing?

Yes, it's easy to draw a character who's just standing all cool and not doing much, but if you want to bring them to live, you need to occupy them with something!

Interaction is often tricky to draw (look for reference images or at yourself or a friend when in doubt). But don‘t avoid drawing interaction!
Even when there's nothing to do, people tend to lean on walls, straighten their neckties, do stretch excercises... and so on and so forth.

And if you can even get your characters to do things that reveal something about their personality (nervous finger tipping, eating with an open mouth and crumbs all over...) you're gold.

Ali's Tutorials » Drawing Manga Pages » 6

6

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