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How to Draw a Samurai

how to draw a realistic samurai

In this drawing tutorial, the team of Drawingforall.net will show you how to draw a samurai. Note that this drawing is pretty complex and detailed. There will be quite a lot of complex details here, which we will try to explain as best we can.

So, let’s start this tutorial and learn how to draw a samurai.

 

Step 1

At first, outline the general proportions and pose of the samurai. The pose of the samurai is very typical for the beginning of the battle. His head is slightly tilted forward, hands holding the sword, and the legs are very wide apart. So, first, outline an oval as a guide for the head. Then using straight and smooth lines sketch out the neck, spine, arms, and legs. Note, that in the first steps you should not press down too hard on the pencil.

how to draw a samurai

Step 2

This step seems too complicated, but it is not. First, sketch out the lines of the samurai’s facial symmetry. Draw the lines of the hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth. Note, that all the lines of the facial symmetry should be at the same distance from each other. Start to add volume to the body. Using straight lines draw the kataginu (a samurai’s vest). Then draw the wide sleeves and sketch out the hands. Using long and slightly curved lines draw the swords and sketch out the hakama (wide samurai pants).

how to draw samurai step by step

Step 3

The general outlines and shapes of the samurai are ready. Start adding the details. Start to work on the head. Using the lines from the second step portray the face. First, draw the eye using the middle line. Slightly above depict the eyebrow. Add some wrinkles around the eyes. Next draw the nose and cheekbone. Then depict the mouth and chin. Using the guidelines of the head draw the ear and start to draw the hair. First, draw the line of hair. Then using quick strokes add the texture of the hair. By using short and dark strokes draw the beard. Further, draw the lines of the neck and move to the next step.

how to draw a realistic samurai step by step

Step 4

This step is quite simple. Darken the lines of the upper part of the body. Erase all the unnecessary guidelines. Make the lines smooth and clean. Darken the lines of the pants. Erase the unnecessary guidelines and add some folds to the hakama.

how to draw a realistic samurai step by step

Step 5

Draw the arms and katana. Try to convey the tension of the hands. Depict the fingers, knuckles, and tendons. Erase all unnecessary guidelines and darken the lines of the arms. Draw the handle of the katana and patterns on it. Paint over the hair leaving a small strip of highlight.

how to draw samurai

Step 6

Add shadows to the upper part of the body. We recommend you add shadows using hatching and crosshatching. Before we begin to add shadows, we need to find the source of light. In our example, the light comes from the upper part of the drawing. First using light and short strokes add shadows to the face. Then, using the same method add shadows to the neck. Draw the stripes on the sleeves. Add shadows to the kimono, arms, and swords. Add these shadows to the areas where the light does not fall.

realistic samurai drawing

Step 7

Draw the feet and add the shadows to the lower part of the samurai. First, draw the fingers and geta (the footwear). Using the same method as in the previous step add shadows to the lower part of the samurai. Don’t forget to add more shadows to the areas where the light does not fall. Your strokes should be very fast but at the same time very neat.

samurai drawing

It was a tutorial on how to draw a samurai. We hope the tutorial was interesting and informative for you.

19 Comments

  1. I can draw like this from no image but pretty nice man or woman i give it a 8 and 1/2 out of ten.

  2. Okay so step 1, draw shapes
    Step 2, draw everything else, you should already know how

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